USA

Beijing’s tariffs on certain US agricultural goods in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s latest hike on Chinese imports came into force yesterday, as trade tensions mount between the world’s two leading economies. Since retaking office in January, Trump has unleashed a barrage of tariffs on major US trading partners, including China, Canada and Mexico, citing their failure to stop illegal immigration and flows of deadly fentanyl. After imposing a blanket 10 percent tariff on all Chinese goods early last month, Trump hiked the rate to 20 percent last week. Beijing reacted quickly and announced fresh measures of its own, with levies of 10 and 15 percent imposed on several US farm products, including chicken, wheat, corn and cotton. Soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, aquatic pr...

President Donald Trump says his administration is making “very big” moves and has acknowledged there’s likely a “period of transition” or “disturbance” that could result. When asked during an interview that aired this weekend on Fox News about the likelihood of a recession being one of those outcomes, Trump told Maria Bartiromo: “I hate to predict things like that.” Fears of a severe economic downturn have escalated in recent weeks, and stocks plunged Monday on Trump’s comments, continuing a steep selloff driven by concerns about the impact of tariffs on US economic growth. But are recession fears justified? Here’s what history and the current economic picture can tell us about the potential for a recession:What is a recession?The traditional (and official) definition of a US rec...

US tariffs have sparked widespread concern among American industry players, economists and media outlets over potential adverse impact on the US economy that could raise costs and burdens for US businesses and consumers, according to several US media reports. Highlighting growing concerns in the US, volatility returned to Wall Street on Monday, with most major US indices swinging to significant losses after the US administration dismissed concerns over the possibility of upcoming tariffs causing a recession, according to the Associated Press. Shortly after market opening on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 1 percent, while the S&P 500 shed 1.4 percent, CNBC reported. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that "economists fear that Trump's tariffs, once...

American President Donald Trump’s policy choices since he took office in January have seesawed, confusing markets. Tariffs have been declared on some of the US’ closest trading partners, but then withdrawn or postponed. However, few still doubt that Mr Trump intends to impose tariffs, rather than just threatening them as a negotiation tactic. The eventual timeline, extent, and applicability of these duties are still unknown, however. This makes their impact on any particular sector or the US economy as a whole hard to predict, and is weighing on sentiment. In fact, some in the US are now beginning to fear

A sell-off in the US stock market gathered steam on Monday, fuelled by rising concern about the cost of the trade war to the world's largest economy. The S&P 500, which tracks the biggest American companies, fell about 2% in early trade, while the Dow Jones dropped 0.9% and the Nasdaq sank more than 3.5%. The falls came after President Donald Trump ducked questions about whether the US economy was facing a recession or price rises as a result of tariff moves, while warning instead of a "period of transition". Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, insisted there would be no contraction in the US, although he acknowledged that the price of some goods may rise. Investors fear that tariffs - which are taxes on goods applied as they enter the country - will lead to higher...

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled potential changes for the US Fed's closely watched "dot plot" interest-rate projections as part of a policy framework review underway at the US central bank and expected to wrap up by the end of summer. Powell said that the US Federal Reserve is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the coming months as it waits for widespread uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump's policies. "On the communications…particularly our post-meeting communications, we're going to take a close look at the SEP and also compare ourselves to what other central banks around the world do," Jerome Powell said at a research conference in New York, referring to the US Fed's summary of economic projections. US Fed chair Powell said the Tr...

The U.S. central bank will be in no rush to cut interest rates while it waits for more clarity on how the policies of the new Trump administration affect the economy, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at an economic forum in New York City on Friday.Powell spoke at a volatile time, with stock markets and bond yields both declining in the wake of President Donald Trump's whipsaw announcements of steep import tariffs on major trading partners Mexico and Canada, followed by delays in implementing them. Trump has also doubled tariffs on imports from China.LINDSEY BELL, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, CLEARNOMICS, NEW YORK"Powell is giving a sense of calm to a market that's been moving very erratically. He said the economy is in a good place and inflation is still anchored despite some of the s...

The US on Friday asked India to bring down import tariffs for it under an all-encompassing trade deal that won’t leave even the latter’s sensitive agriculture markets out. In a televised address to an Indian audience from Washington, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick made it clear that the US is not interested in negotiating tariffs with India on product-by-product basis, and instead wanted a “macro and grand” pact that covers all areas. Lutnick’s statement came shortly after president Donald Trump repeated his criticism of India’s “high tariffs,”and indicated the country remained a prime target of reciprocal duties set to take effect April 2. It suddenly boosted expectations about the scope and scale of the proposed bilateral trade agreement between the two countries. An Indian ...