Trump-Xi to meet? US, China resume tariff talks to extend truce
While President Donald Trump secured a major breakthrough in trade deal with the European Union during his visit to Scotland. As part of that agreement, the EU accepted a 15% tariff on exports to the US and promised $600 billion in investments, along with large purchases of US energy and military equipment.However, no similar breakthrough is expected with China, reports claimed that both sides may agree to extend the current truce for another 90 days. This would give negotiators more time to work out a broader agreement and could set the stage for a possible meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.TARIFS KEEP TENSIONS HIGHAccording to the South China Morning Post, both sides are likely to hold off on new tariffs for another 90 days."We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," President Trump said.While the current talks focus mainly on tariffs and halted exports like rare earth minerals and US-made AI chips, deeper economic issues remain unresolved. The US has been criticising China's state-backed economic system, which it says floods global markets with cheap goods. Meanwhile, China argues that US export controls are unfairly targeting its tech sector.WILL TRUMP AND XI MEET?There is speculation that President Trump may visit China later this year. A successful round of talks in Stockholm has opened the door to that possibility, according to Wendy Cutler of the Asia Society Policy Institute.Bessent has stated that he wants to extend the current tariff truce past August 12 to avoid a surge in import duties — which could jump to 145% on the US side.China is also likely to ask the US to lower the 55% average tariffs it currently faces and ease restrictions on buying American high-tech goods. Beijing argues that buying more from the US could help reduce the trade deficit, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024.- EndsWith inputs from ReutersMust Watch
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
12 minutes ago
- India Today
Agra-born investor flies on 11-minute space joyride with Bezos's Blue Origin
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin completed its latest suborbital space tourism flight, NS-34, on a mission carrying India's Arvinder "Arvi" Singh Bahal, an Agra-born real-estate investor, to the edge of space on now a naturalised US citizen, has made it a personal quest to visit every country in the world. He holds both a private pilot's licence and helicopter training, and his latest journey with Blue Origin is the culmination of a lifetime devoted to exploration and launch took place from Launch Site One in West Texas at 6:00 pm (India time), and was live broadcast on Blue Origin's webcast, which started 30 minutes before liftoff. In 17 seconds of ignition, New Shepard cleared the tower, taking the NS-34 crew on their way to the edge of space. Seconds later, the capsule separation was completed successfully as the crew members felt 7 minutes and 25 seconds after liftoff, the New Shepard booster landed back on the ground. Neary after another 3 minutes and 30 secons, the capsule landed back on earth, completing a historic eleven-minute NS-34 mission saw Bahal, alongside Turkish businessman Gkhan Erdem, Puerto Rican journalist Deborah Martorell, British philanthropist Lionel Pitchford, American entrepreneur JD Russell, and Grenada's ambassador Justin Sun, soar above the Krmn line—the internationally recognised boundary of this mission, New Shepard has now launched 75 individuals into space, five of whom have flown on the spacecraft Joyce, Senior Vice President of New Shepard, reflected on the global representation aboard the flight. "Seeing participants from multiple countries come together is always inspiring. There's something profoundly unifying about viewing Earth from above — it changes perspectives in a way few other experiences can," he Bahal, this voyage is more than a personal milestone; it's symbolic of the growing presence of Indian-origin individuals in the emerging frontier of civilian spaceflight. 'Arvi's journey from Agra to the cosmos is a testament to curiosity and ambition without borders,' said a Blue Origin spokesperson ahead of the launch.- EndsMust Watch
Mint
12 minutes ago
- Mint
Why Mortgage Lenders Are Ignoring Trump's Rollback on Home Appraisal Reviews
At one midsized US mortgage lender, almost a quarter of customers who dispute property appraisals find that the value of their home had been miscalculated. It's an industrywide issue that has historically penalized minority groups, and now President Donald Trump has offered lenders the chance to ignore his predecessor's attempts to make it easier for homeowners to question the valuations assigned by property appraisers. Trump has scrapped some of the guidelines, part of his team's vow to stamp out what it sees as initiatives that support diversity, equity and inclusion. Many financial professionals agree that home appraisals can be unreliable, and that Black homeowners and other minorities are often put at a significant disadvantage. This can be especially damaging given that home ownership is the top wealth-creation tool in the US — and an appraisal is a key determinant of how much, if anything, someone can borrow. With their decision to end some of the requirements related to home valuations, however, Trump and his cabinet members may have little impact on lenders' practices. That's because there's fresh evidence that the changes the Biden administration put in place are supported by the industry. Some of the country's biggest lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and U.S. Bancorp, said they would make no policy changes as a result of the rollback. New American Funding, which also isn't planning to change its approach, was the only financial institution of more than 10 contacted by Bloomberg to disclose information about disputed home valuations. The Tustin, California-based mortgage lender, which provided roughly $14 billion of mortgage loans last year, said an average 2.5% of its customers request new valuations each month. Of those contested, roughly 22% are found to need an adjustment. New American didn't share a breakdown of borrowers' requests by race. 'The changes have made it much easier for the borrower,' said Michelle Rogers, New American's chief valuation officer. 'It's more transparent and the borrower knows they can initiate it.' The appraisal directives were put in place following a deep dive by the Biden administration into prejudices in the business. One of Trump's housing regulators, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, said rolling them back was part of an attempt by the president to put an end to the 'obsession' with DEI. The administration also has vowed to make deep cuts to the federal apparatus that enforced fair housing and fair lending laws, from slashing Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staff to gutting the Justice Department's Civil Rights division. A HUD official who spoke on background said the department's recent reforms simply reverted its stance to the way things were before Biden-era regulators imposed their standards. Lenders aren't being barred from letting borrowers dispute their appraisals, said the official who declined to be identified. The White House hasn't responded to a request for comment. Black homeowners have long reported having their homes valued more highly after taking down all evidence of their race. Research from the Brookings Institution and the federally controlled housing finance agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has shown that home appraisals can be affected by racial bias, which in turn affects the value of homes in entire neighborhoods. Brookings found, for example, that homes in neighborhoods where the majority of residents are Black are valued between 21% and 23% lower than comparable homes in white neighborhoods, with appraisal bias as one of several contributing factors. Economists at Freddie Mac reported in 2021 that greater percentages of homes in majority Black and Latino census tracts were undervalued compared with those in white census tracts, leading them to conclude that there was a 'valuation gap' between homes in different neighborhoods. The appraisal problem for minority borrowers also is a problem for lenders, since having low appraisals can prevent a homeowner from qualifying for a mortgage refinancing or a new home loan. That means the lender loses out on valuable business. Banks also suffer when appraisers make mistakes in the opposite direction, valuing properties too highly, because it means the bank can't safely rely on the value of a property as collateral for a loan. The reforms that the mortgage industry recently adopted to try to make the appraisal process fairer originated with a Biden administration task force called PAVE , which was formed in 2021. The group consisted of public officials from 13 different agencies, and its goal was to produce a report with recommended changes to a suite of different mortgage industry standards. PAVE recommended more training for home appraisers and higher standards for appraisers seeking to qualify for professional licenses. Those changes were handled by the Appraisal Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves as the regulator for home appraisers. A spokeswoman for the foundation declined to comment on the Trump administration's recent changes, but said that new education and licensing standards put in place last year are still in effect. PAVE also called for an industrywide requirement for mortgage lenders to let borrowers request 'a reconsideration of value' if they disagreed with an appraiser's determination. Last year, regulators began requiring mortgage lenders to decide how they would standardize their procedures and to explain them clearly to their customers. In a rare win for the government, the policy received support from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Federal housing regulation includes a web of rules issued by different agencies, including HUD and also Fannie and Freddie. The new home-appraisal guidance went into effect for all of the housing agencies. But so far, the Trump administration has only rolled back the policy for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, which help low- to moderate-income families attain home ownership. On July 17, Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, proposed a bill that would make mortgage lenders' ROV policies required by law. It also would expand public access to data on mortgage appraisals by forcing a federal housing regulator to more regularly share details. While fair-housing advocates support the proposal, the bill also has backing from a more unlikely source: the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. The group represents more than 500,000 mortgage brokers across the US. Its president, Jim Nabors, called the proposed bill 'critical' for ensuring fairness for homebuyers and added: 'Our entire board of directors and membership applaud Senator Warnock.' This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
The Hindu
12 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Chief Minister Naidu hails success of ‘She Leads Andhra' pilot project in Kuppam
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has commended the success of 'She Leads Andhra' pilot project implemented in Kuppam Assembly Constituency. The project enabled 93 rural SHG women to generate ₹15 lakh in business in just 90 days through digital commerce, said Project Director, Kuppam Area Development Authority (KADA), Vikar Marmat. Speaking to the media here on Sunday (August 3, 2025), the official said that the initiative, led by Frontier Markets in partnership with the Kuppam Area Development Authority (KADA), leverages AI-driven 'Meri Saheli App' to equip rural women with the tools to become digitally enabled storefront owners. Based on the success of the pilot project, the Chief Minister announced an action plan to expand the project across the State. While the first phase of the project targeted 30,000 women in Chittoor district, the scheme is expected to cover over one lakh women across Andhra Pradesh during a three-year action plan, covering 50 lakh households, Mr. Marmat added. The project replicated the proven success of Frontier Markets' national model 'She Leads Bharat Udyam,' which has already empowered over 15,000 women in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It may be mentioned here that during Mr. Naidu's recent visit to Kuppam, he held an interactive session with the women beneficiaries and received inputs first-hand from the grassroots level as how the model changed the landscape of rural living conditions, particularly the women, through linkage with 200-plus market partners, coupled with doorstep delivery in tier-5 and tier-6 villages. The project took shape after Frontier Markets Founder Ajaita Shah and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The initiative was later recognised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an effective move towards empowering rural women by grounding the strategic technology-enabled commerce modules, Mr. Marmat said.
