
Trump speaks of deal 'signed with China'
27 June 2025 11:45
WASHINGTON (dpa)US President Donald Trump on Thursday mentioned a signed agreement with China, without providing details."We just signed with China yesterday," the Republican said at an event at the White House while talking about making deals with other countries.The president also suggested that there could "maybe" be a "very big" deal with India.Since Trump launched a trade war in February with Beijing, the world's two largest economies have been locked in a tit-for-tat tariff fight that have unnerved global markets. In April, Trump increased tariffs on goods from China to as much as 145%.
There were signs of easing weeks ago. According to Trump's statements earlier this month, the two countries agreed in principle to reduce export restrictions on rare earths. He also spoke of an agreement in the tariff dispute.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Zawya
44 minutes ago
- Zawya
US consumer spending falls unexpectedly in May
U.S. consumer spending unexpectedly fell in May as the boost from the pre-emptive buying of goods like motor vehicles ahead of tariffs faded, while monthly inflation increases remained moderate. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, dropped 0.1% last month after an unrevised 0.2% gain in April, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending would edge up 0.1%. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, which have led businesses and households to front-run imports and goods purchases to avoid higher prices from duties, have muddled the economic picture. Economists warned it could take time for the tariff-related distortions to wash out of the data. A record goods trade deficit in the first quarter, thanks to a deluge of imports, accounted for much of the 0.5% annualized rate of decline in gross domestic product during that period. Consumer spending also nearly braked last quarter after being propelled by households pulling forward goods purchases. Households also spent less on services last quarter, helping to restrain growth in consumer spending to only a 0.5% pace, the slowest rate since the second quarter of 2020. That data potentially puts spending on a slow growth path in the second quarter. The combination of soft consumer spending and inflation is, however, unlikely to spur the Federal Reserve to resume cutting interest rates in July. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers this week that the U.S. central bank needed more time to gauge the impact of tariffs on prices before considering a rate cut. Economists argue that price increases have remained moderate because businesses are still selling inventory accumulated before the tariffs went into effect. They expect inflation will start picking up, beginning with consumer price data for June. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index gained 0.1% in May, matching the rise in April, the BEA said. In the 12 months through May, PCE inflation increased 2.3% after climbing 2.2% in April. Stripping out the volatile food and energy components, the PCE Price Index increased 0.2% last month. That followed a 0.1% rise in the so-called core PCE inflation in April. In the 12 months through April, core inflation advanced 2.7% after rising 2.6% in April. The Fed tracks the PCE price measures for its 2% inflation target. The central bank last week left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range, where it has been since December. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)


Zawya
44 minutes ago
- Zawya
UAE fund buys $100mln of Trump's World Liberty tokens
A United Arab Emirates-based fund has bought $100 million worth of digital tokens issued by World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture of U.S. President Donald Trump's family, becoming its largest publicly known investor. Aqua 1 Foundation said in a statement on Thursday its purchase of the tokens, known as $WLFI, sought to speed up the creation of a "blockchain-powered financial ecosystem" with stablecoins and tokenised traditional assets at its heart. A spokesperson for World Liberty confirmed the investment to Reuters. A so-called governance token, $WLFI cannot be traded but gives holders the right to vote on changes to the business' underlying code. World Liberty said this week it was "working behind the scenes" to make the token transferable. "WLFI and Aqua 1 will jointly identify and nurture high-potential blockchain projects together," Aqua 1 founding partner Dave Lee said in the statement. The fund's investment and compliance teams would help World Liberty expand in South America, Europe and Asia, it added. Despite its investment, Aqua 1 maintains a minimal online presence. Its X account has only three posts and approximately 1,120 followers while its website was created on May 28, according to data from two web domain trackers. World Liberty also plans to support the launch of a separate Aqua 1 fund aimed at boosting the "digital economy transformation" in the Middle East through blockchain and artificial intelligence, the statement said. Aqua 1 did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the World Liberty spokesperson had no further immediate comment. Launched two months before the 2024 U.S. presidential election by Trump and his business partners, World Liberty has yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Republican president's family business. World Liberty has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers and government ethics watchdogs over potential conflicts of interest. The Trump Organization has said the president's investments, assets and business interests are held in a trust managed by his children. World Liberty aims to open access to financial services via digital tokens, without intermediaries such as banks. It has launched a stablecoin called USD1 that was bolstered in May when an Abu Dhabi investment firm chose it for a $2 billion investment in giant crypto exchange Binance. (Reporting by Tom Wilson in London; Editing by Frances Kerry and Louise Heavens)


Zawya
an hour ago
- Zawya
US stock futures rise ahead of inflation data as investors anticipate dovish Fed
U.S. stock index futures surged on Friday, putting the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on track for record highs as investors geared up for a key inflation report amid signs of a dovish policy outlook from the Federal Reserve this year. Personal Consumption Expenditure data - the U.S. central bank's preferred inflation gauge - for May is due to be released at 08:30 a.m. ET and will be scrutinized to assess the Fed's interest-rate path as tariffs weigh on prices. As the ceasefire in the Middle East holds, investor focus has turned to the prospect of a dovish Fed after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump toyed with the idea of announcing Fed Chair Jerome Powell's replacement by September or October. "News that Donald Trump may announce his pick to be the new Fed chair with months to go has led the interest rate futures market to ramp up bets that interest rates in the U.S. will be cut sharply over the coming months and years," Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said in a note. A spate of economic data this week, including a weaker-than-expected first quarter GDP reading as well as jobless claims reaching multi-year highs, has supported the case for the central bank to cut borrowing costs this year. Traders now price in a 20.7% chance of a rate cut in July, compared with 14.5% last week, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. At 06:30 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 103 points, or 0.24%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 13.5 points, or 0.22%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 63.5 points, or 0.28%. Nike's shares rose 9.2% in premarket trading after the retailer forecast a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter revenue. Retailer Lululemon Athletica rose 1.4% after Nike's results, while Hoka-owner Deckers Outdoor added 2.1%. On the flip side, gold stocks slipped in premarket trading as bullion neared a one-month low. Top miners such as Newmont and U.S.-listed Barrick Mining were down 2.3% and 2%, respectively. The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are on track for their best weekly performance in six weeks, while the blue-chip Dow is set for a weekly advance, if gains hold. UBS Global Wealth Management raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 index to 6,200 from its prior forecast of 6,000, banking on softening trade uncertainty. Adding to the upbeat sentiment, Washington reached an agreement with China on expediting rare-earth shipments to the United States, a White House official said, days ahead of the July 9 deadline for Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs. Also on tap is the final reading of consumer sentiment for June, measured by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, due at 10:00 a.m. ET. Remarks from New York Fed President John Williams, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook are expected later in the day. (Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)