Trump Reserves Harshest Tariff Rates for Laos, Myanmar and Syria
The White House hasn't explained its rationale, and US trade with all three is small compared with its other partners.
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Wall Street Journal
a minute ago
- Wall Street Journal
U.S. Trading Partners Race to Secure Exemptions From Trump's Tariffs
U.S. trading partners are lobbying the White House for exemptions to sweeping new tariffs due to come into force on Thursday, as countries seek ways to muffle the impact on their economies of President Trump's push to reorder global trade. The diplomatic effort shows months of trade talks are far from over despite the run of agreements trumpeted by the White House in the past month.
Forbes
a minute ago
- Forbes
What's Next For Ether Prices?
Market observers highlighted multiple developments that traders should monitor. getty Ether has been trading within a relatively modest range recently, fluctuating between $3,300 and $3,800 in August following a big month where notable government developments helped boost regulatory clarity for the crypto space. Going forward, what major developments do ether investors need to monitor in order to keep up with this digital currency and make well-informed trades? When asked this very question, market observers highlighted a wide range of variables, ranging from Federal Reserve speculation to the rising incidence of so-called 'whales,' major investors who accumulate significant amounts of the digital currency. One analyst emphasized the importance of speculation surrounding the appointment of a new Fed chair, which could result in a reduction in the benchmark federal funds rate, which could in turn place downward pressure on broader borrowing costs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell currently holds the top role, but President Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned the possibility of replacing him. Markets seem to already be pricing in the possibility of such a development. Pierce Crosby, managing partner of strategy consulting firm Merchant Seven, spoke to these developments. 'Most notably, everyone's watching President Trump's next moves regarding the Federal Reserve chair,' he stated via email. 'There is a lot of contemplation as to what a 'short-term appointment' might look like for the market, and there are a LOT of potential outcomes here,' Crosby added. 'The market does not want the federal reserve to become politicized, but there is a lot of talk around this,' he continued. 'The understanding generally is that a political appointment near-term would be a bullish signal for the market, but even if it might be more short-term bullish, the longer-term implications are that a weaker dollar may improve cryptocurrency performance as a hedge against dollar deterioration,' Crosby noted. Another analyst emphasized the key role that the proliferation of stablecoins could play in impacting the price of ether. He made this statement shortly after Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) into law. This piece of legislation has provided some regulatory clarity for stablecoins, and could help them achieve a broader presence in the financial system. Austin King, the cofounder of Omni Network, commented on this situation, stating that through email that in the 'shorter term,' 'The biggest thing that traders are watching currently is progress around stablecoins being deployed on Ethereum." 'Many have priced in the announcements that many of the largest banks in the U.S. plan to launch stablecoins, but it will be the actual deployment that pushes $ETH to new highs,' he emphasized. King predicted that in the long-term, these digital currencies, which peg their value to a hard asset like the U.S. dollar, will be the single greatest determinant of ether's future price fluctuations. 'Stablecoins are the number one most important trend to watch when it comes to Ethereum's price movements,' he claimed. 'Standing as the most decentralized network, it is one of the number one places the world's leading institutions are eyeing launching their upcoming stablecoins.' 'Ethereum's growth from 30 cents to over $3,000 in its first 10 years was driven by grassroots developer adoption,' King noted. 'In the next 10 years, it will be the deployment of large scale financial products by the world's leading banks that will push Ethereum to new highs,' he predicted. A handful of analysts cited technical improvements as being bullish for ether prices. George Kailas, CEO of spoke to the upcoming Fusaka upgrade, the hard fork which is scheduled to take place later this year, noting via email that 'the blob increase and its effect on lowering gas costs would be huge for Ether as well as the security expansions in the upgrade.' Douro Labs CEO Mike Cahill also offered input in this particular area, stating that 'On the infrastructure side, Ethereum is nearing a critical point in its rollup roadmap.' 'If Layer 2s continue to drive down costs while maintaining composability, we'll see a renaissance of DeFi innovation that could increase network activity and valuation,' he continued. 'But institutional adoption isn't guaranteed. It will depend on credible, reliable data infrastructure, predictable costs, and compliance-friendly rails—all areas that the Ethereum ecosystem is rapidly improving,' Cahill noted. 'Traders should keep an eye on ETF flows, rollup throughput, and real-world asset integrations as key signals for what's next,' he asserted. Kailas also emphasized the key role that major investors, or whales, could play in ether's price movements going forward, noting that it is a key development he is monitoring closely. 'Nine new whale wallets accumulated over 628,600 ETH worth $2+ billion between late July and early August 2025,' he stated, adding that 'looks like we may be seeing some volatility now but we can expect some appreciation by November.' 'Galaxy also made a $300M purchase recently and Data from onchain analytics firm Glassnode highlights a notable surge in the number of Ethereum mega whale addresses—wallets holding over 10,000 ETH,' Kailas pointed out. 'Since early July, more than 200 new addresses have joined this elite category,' he noted. One market observer offered input that involved technical analysis, which observes an asset's price history in order to get a better sense of where it might go next. He pointed out that recently, both bitcoin and ether have been fluctuating 'in ranges which form lopsided pennants.' The chart below helps illustrate these price movements for ether: Ether prices following a pennant formation Tim Enneking 'Unfortunately, whether both pennants are broken to the up- or down-side probably depends more in the near-term on fiat equity markets than on events within the cryptosphere,' he wrote via comments emailed on August 5. 'Should equity markets correct (which more and more Wall Street pundits are predicting), ETH will follow, at least in the short term,' stated Enneking. 'Paradoxically, recent significant drops in tradfi have seen a much more rapid rebound in digital assets (which, after all, have little inherent correlation to fiat markets) than in those same tradfi assets,' he added. 'Should those pundits be proven wrong, ETH and BTC price trends will almost certainly break the pennants to the upside and we'll see new ATHs.' He followed up the next day, emphasizing that his previous prediction, that ether would more likely move to the upside in the near future, came to pass.
Bloomberg
a minute ago
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Daybreak Asia: Reciprocal Tariffs to Take Effect, Trump Threatens Chip Levies
After months of negotiations, US reciprocal tariffs are set to go into effect at 12:01am Eastern time. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods over its ongoing purchases of Russian energy, escalating a fight with a key Asian partner on the eve of his broad-based duties taking effect. Meantime, Switzerland's president Karin Keller-Sutter left Washington without announcing any success in lowering the 39% tariff on her country - the highest American tariff rate of any developed nation. For more, we heard from William Reinsch, Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He speaks with Bloomberg's Haidi Stroud-Watts and Haslinda Amin on The Asia Trade. Plus - President Trump said he would impose a 100% tariff on semiconductor imports, though would exempt companies moving production back to the United States. The announcement came as Apple CEO Tim Cook joined the President at the White House to announce a fresh $100 billion investment plan in US manufacturing. We get reaction from Emily Benson, Head of Strategy at Minerva Technology Futures.
