Trump to meet Xi in China; ECB cuts rate amid trade uncertainty
TGIF and welcome to the end of another working week. Here's a recap of your daily dose of international business and political news.
First this Friday, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone and agreed to further trade talks to resolve tariff disputes between the world's two largest economies, Bloomberg reported.
Trump said the trade relationship with China had got 'a little off track' but said 'we're in very good shape with China and the trade deal'.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would all represent Trump at the trade talks, Bloomberg noted.
Meanwhile, the BBC said Trump will visit China at some stage to help repair the fractured trade relationship after a "very good talk" with President Xi.
No other details were revealed about the suggested trip.
Elon Musk.
Elsewhere, tension between Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk escalated in full public view.
Trump called Musk 'CRAZY' in capital letters on social media, and suggested he might target Musk's government contracts, CNBC reported.
Trump wrote that Musk was 'wearing thin' by the end of his tenure as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 'I asked him to leave,' Trump said.
More broadly, the S&P 500 fell during Thursday trading, led by a drop in shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla, after Trump said he was 'very disappointed' with its CEO. Musk responded saying 'without me, Trump would have lost the election'.
Bloomberg reported that Trump's comments about ending Musk's government contracts and subsidies could cut to the heart of the businessman's fortune, especially at Tesla and Space Exploration Technologies.
Trump, meanwhile, banned people from 12 countries entering the US from Monday local time, while seven other countries faced partial bans.
He said that would protect Americans from 'dangerous foreign actors', the BBC reported. Trump noted a recent attack in Colorado as an example of foreign nationals entering the US without being 'properly vetted'.
ECB President Christine Lagarde.
The European Central Bank cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 2% overnight, while it also lowered its inflation expectations because of a stronger euro and lower energy costs, CNBC reported.
One governing council member did not support the decision to cut rates, ECB President Christine Lagarde said.
Eurozone inflation fell below the 2% target rate in May to 1.9%. The ECB's latest economic projections suggested inflation to average 2% this year, compared with a 2.3% forecast set in March.
Finally, people in English-speaking countries including the UK, US, Australia and Canada were more nervous about the rise of artificial intelligence than people in the largest EU economies, the Guardian reported.
The poll of 23,000 adults in 30 countries also showed a quarter of people globally still don't fully understand what AI actually is.
The poll also revealed very few people wanted AI-produced online news stories, films or advertisements, but most people predicted that AI would become the primary producer of all that content in the future, the Guardian noted.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Bill could create global ‘ripple effect'
EV advocates warn of Chinese dominance as a result of cuts to credits in the United States, writes Grant Schwab. The cuts to Biden-era tax credits in the budget passed by the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives could stunt the growth of the nation's still-fledgling electric vehicle industry and create ripple effects throughout the global vehicle market, clean energy advocates warn. "Anybody who claims to be concerned about Chinese dominance in battery minerals and supportive of US competitiveness in that sector needs to know: This bill is absolutely devastating to that goal," Zero Emission Transportation Association executive director Albert Gore said. The credits are meant to stoke both the domestic supply of critical minerals and advanced battery technologies and the demand for products that use those materials, namely next-gen, zero-emission vehicles. Environment-minded conservatives argue that broader tax breaks — which would be less targeted towards EVs and critical minerals — and regulatory rollbacks are instead best for growing those industries, and that Democrats are wrong to catastrophise over the changes. But with significant policy whiplash looming, advocates said multibillion-dollar investments in key sectors could shrivel thanks to the harsh realities of competing with the United States' chief economic rival. They also predicted political consequences for Republicans if the Senate follows suit and President Donald Trump, who has been critical of non-Tesla electric vehicles, signs a rollback into law. "The plan passed by House leadership will make it harder to produce the energy America needs, while simultaneously putting hundreds of projects, thousands of jobs and billions in investments at risk — mostly in Republican states that elected them," Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, a nonpartisan business group focused on energy and the environment, said in a statement. Even with those risks, House Republicans voted to pull back on EV-related credits in their tax and spending mega bill that passed along party lines on May 22 after all-night negotiations. The final version of the package seeks to eliminate four tax credits for EVs by the end of 2025 and modify another on manufacturing that industry leaders have said is crucial to building domestic battery prowess. The EV credits include offering $7500 on the purchase of qualifying new light-duty models, $4000 for used models, providing up to $40,000 for commercial vehicles and giving $1000 to individuals to install EV chargers. A manufacturing credit targets battery producers and upstream industries. Battery cells are each eligible for a credit of $35 per kilowatt-hour of energy they can store. Critical mineral miners, processors, purifiers and recyclers can claim a credit equal to 10% of their production costs. The bill proposes phasing out that credit a year earlier than initially planned and adding new requirements against the use of materials from certain foreign nations. "The production credit is critical for our industry, and it will be a significant impact for our industry if it goes away," Ford chief executive Jim Farley said at the Detroit Auto Show in January. "Many of our plants in the Midwest that have converted to EVs depend on the production credit". — TNS
1News
11 hours ago
- 1News
Musk threatens to withdraw Dragon spacecraft, a key link for NASA
As US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk argued on social media today, the world's richest man threatened to decommission a space capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. After Trump threatened to cut government contracts given to Musk's SpaceX rocket company and his Starlink internet satellite services, Musk responded via X that SpaceX "will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately'. It's unclear how serious Musk's threat was. But the capsule, developed with the help of government contracts, is an important part of keeping the space station running. NASA also relied heavily on SpaceX for other programmes including launching science missions and, later this decade, returning astronauts to the surface of the moon. The Dragon capsule SpaceX is the only US company capable right now of transporting crews to and from the space station, using its four-person Dragon capsules. ADVERTISEMENT Boeing's Starliner capsule has flown astronauts only once; last year's test flight went so badly that the two NASA astronauts had to hitch a ride back to Earth via SpaceX in March, more than nine months after launching last June. Starliner remains grounded as NASA decides whether to go with another test flight with cargo, rather than a crew. SpaceX also uses a Dragon capsule for its own privately run missions. The next one of those is due to fly next week on a trip chartered by Axiom Space, a Houston company. Cargo versions of the Dragon capsule are also used to ferry food and other supplies to the orbiting lab. NASA's other option: Russia Russia's Soyuz capsules are the only other means of getting crews to the space station right now. The Soyuz capsules hold three people at a time. For now, each Soyuz launch carries two Russians and one NASA astronaut, and each SpaceX launch has one Russian on board under a barter system. That way, in an emergency requiring a capsule to return, there is always someone from the US and Russian on board. ADVERTISEMENT With its first crew launch for NASA in 2020 — the first orbital flight of a crew by a private company — SpaceX enabled NASA to reduce its reliance on Russia for crew transport. The Russian flights had been costing the US tens of millions of dollars per seat, for years. NASA has also used Russian spacecraft for cargo, along with US contractor Northrup Grumman. SpaceX's other government launches The company has used its rockets to launch several science missions for NASA as well as military equipment. Last year, SpaceX also won a NASA contract to help bring the space station out of orbit when it is no longer usable. SpaceX's Starship mega rocket is what NASA has picked to get astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon, at least for the first two landing missions. Starship made its ninth test flight last week from Texas, but tumbled out of control and broke apart.
NZ Herald
13 hours ago
- NZ Herald
NZ stocks end flat amid Fletcher-SkyCity legal woes
The Fletcher Building-SkyCity legal imbroglio reared its head again, making for a mixed day's trading on a market already overshadowed by falls on major markets. The S&P/NZX50 Index ended 13.66 points or 0.11% down at 12,563.48, with 30.6 million shares, worth $118.4m, trading. There were 71 gainers and 67 decliners
