US interest rates on hold despite Trump demands to cut
There's more evidence that Donald Trump's campaign of tariffs is clouding the economic outlook in the United States.
The US Federal Reserve has once again defied Mr Trump by not cutting interest rates worried the tariffs war could stoke inflation and hurt the US labour market at the same time.
Also National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Irvine warns expected rate cuts in Australia risk stoking house prices.
Analysis by the ABC's Peter Ryan.
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News.com.au
22 minutes ago
- News.com.au
US, China seek to extend trade truce with London talks
After a round of talks in Geneva last month, the United States and China will sit down at the negotiating table in London on Monday to attempt to preserve a fragile truce on trade, despite simmering tensions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will lead the US delegation, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng -- who led Beijing's negotiating team in Geneva -- will also head the team in London, China's foreign ministry announced at the weekend. "The meeting should go very well," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News on Sunday: "We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva." While the government of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated that it was not involved in the content of the discussions in any way, a spokesperson said, "We are a nation that champions free trade." UK authorities "have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks," the spokesperson added. - 'Correcting the course' - The talks in London come just a few days after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping finally held their first publicly announced telephone talks since the Republican returned to the White House. Trump said the call, which took place on Thursday, had reached a "very positive conclusion." Xi was quoted by state-run news agency Xinhua as saying that "correcting the course of the big ship of Sino-US relations requires us to steer well and set the direction." The call came after tensions between the world's two biggest economies had soared, with Trump accusing Beijing of violating a tariff de-escalation deal reached in Geneva in mid-May. "We need China to comply with their side of the deal. And so that's what the trade team will be discussing tomorrow," Leavitt said Sunday. In April, Trump introduced sweeping worldwide tariffs that targeted China most heavily. At one point the United States hit China with additional levies of 145 percent on its goods as both sides engaged in tit-for-tat escalation. China's countermeasures on US goods reached 125 percent. Then in Switzerland, after two days of talks, the two sides agreed to slash their staggeringly high tariffs for 90 days. But differences have persisted, including over China's restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals used in tech products. The impact was reflected in the latest official export data released Monday in Beijing. Exports to the United States fell 12.7 percent on month in May, with China shipping $28.8 billion worth in goods last month. This is down from $33 billion in April, according to Beijing's General Administration of Customs. - 'Green channel' - Throughout its talks with Washington, China also has launched discussions with other trading partners -- including Japan and South Korea -- in a bid to build a united front to counter Trump's tariffs. On Thursday, Beijing turned to Canada, with the two sides agreeing to regularize their channels of communication after a period of strained ties. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese Premier Li Qiang also discussed trade and the fentanyl crisis, Ottawa said. Beijing proposed establishing a "green channel" to ease the export of rare earths to the European Union, and fast-tracking approval of some export licenses. That proposal from the commerce ministry in Beijing came after talks on Tuesday between China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.
AU Financial Review
41 minutes ago
- AU Financial Review
China's May exports slow, deflation deepens as tariffs bite
Beijing | China's export growth slowed to a three-month low in May as US tariffs slammed shipments, and factory-gate deflation deepened to its worst level in two years, heaping pressure on the world's second-largest economy on the domestic and external fronts. US President Donald Trump's global trade war and the swings in Sino-US trade ties have in the past two months sent Chinese exporters, along with their business partners across the Pacific, on a roller-coaster ride and hobbled world growth.
ABC News
44 minutes ago
- ABC News
Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Donald Trump deploys National Guard troops
Tensions in Los Angeles have escalated as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to US President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard. Protesters blocked off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Many protesters dispersed as evening fell on Sunday local time, and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don't leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Sunday's protests in Los Angeles were centred in several blocks of downtown, much like Saturday's protests. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Mr Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 National Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents. The National Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention centre where protesters concentrated. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were "overwhelmed" by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at demonstrations to cause trouble. Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted "shame" and "go home". After some closely approached the National Guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street. Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. The US Correspondent for 9News Australia, Lauren Tomasi, was hit by a rubber bullet fired by an LAPD officer while reporting live from the scene in downtown LA. Mr Trump told reporters soon after that he was watching the protests "very closely" and warned protesters if "they spit, we hit". Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon. Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles. Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening. California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom requested Donald Trump remove National Guard members in a letter on Sunday afternoon. He called their deployment a "serious breach of state sovereignty" and added Mr Trump's acts were "of a dictator, not a president". Mr Newsom was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and officials. The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor. Along with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Mr Newsom blamed the increasingly aggressive protests on Mr Trump's decision to deploy the additional forces. The pair called it a move designed to inflame tensions but urged protesters to remain peaceful. "What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration," Ms Bass said in an afternoon press conference on Sunday local time. "This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety." Mr Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities had the situation under control. He mocked Mr Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the National Guard on social media before troops had even arrived in Los Angeles, and said on MSNBC that the president never floated deploying the troops during a Friday phone call. He called Trump a "stone cold liar." The admonishments did not deter the administration, nor Mr Trump. "It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. And the president said "we have an incompetent Governor (Newscum) and Mayor (Bass) who were, as usual, unable to to handle the task," Mr Trump posted on Truth Social. Jim McDonnell, the LAPD chief, said the protests were following a similar pattern for episodes of civil unrest, with things ramping up to another level now. He pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out Friday after a series of immigration raids. His department responded as quickly as it could, and had not been notified in advance of the raids and therefore was not pre-positioned for protests, he said. In response, Mr Trump said that Mr McDonnell is a "highly respected LAPD Chief" but added he and the LAPD cant "let these thugs get away with this." The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighbouring Compton. The week-long tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above 100 on Sunday, federal authorities said. Asked if he planned to send US troops to Los Angeles, Mr Trump said: "We're going to have troops everywhere." "We're not going to let this happen to our country," he added without elaborating. About 500 marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 200 kilometres east of Los Angeles were in a "prepared to deploy status" on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Northern Command. Mr Trump said he had authorised the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard. AP/Reuters
