Tag: trade war

Dozens of Chinese companies added to US blacklist in latest Beijing rebuke

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The United States said on Friday it would add 33 Chinese firms and institutions to an economic blacklist for helping Beijing spy on its minority Uighur population or because of ties to weapons of mass destruction and China’s military.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s move marked the Trump administration’s latest efforts to crack down on companies whose goods may support Chinese military activities and punish Beijing for its treatment of Muslim minorities. It came as Communist Party rulers in Beijing on Friday unveiled details of a plan to impose national security laws on Hong Kong.

Seven companies and two institutions were listed for being “complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labour and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs” and others, the Commerce Department said in a statement.

Two dozen other companies, government institutions and commercial organizations were added for supporting the procurement of items for use by the Chinese military, the department said in another statement.

The blacklisted companies focus on artificial intelligence and facial recognition, markets that U.S. chip companies such as Nvidia and Intel have been heavily investing in.

Among the companies named is NetPosa, one of China’s most famous AI companies, whose facial recognition subsidiary is linked to the surveillance of Muslims.

Qihoo360, a major cybersecurity firm taken private and delisted from the Nasdaq in 2015, recently made headlines for claiming it had found evidence that CIA hacking tools were used to target the Chinese aviation sector.

The Commerce Department said it was adding the firms and institutions to its “entity list,” which restricts sales of U.S. goods shipped to them and some more limited items made abroad with U.S. content or technology. Companies can apply for licenses to make the sales, but they must overcome a presumption of denial.

Softbank Group Corp-backed CloudMinds was also added. It operates a cloud-based service to run robots such as a version of Pepper, a humanoid robot capable of simple communication. The company was blocked last year from transferring technology or technical information from its U.S. unit to its offices in Beijing, Reuters reported in March.

Qihoo, NetPosa and CloudMinds could not be immediately reached for comment.

Xilinx, which makes programmable chips, said at least one of its customers was on the list but that it believes the business impact will be negligible.

“Xilinx is aware of the recent additions to the Department of Commerce’s Entity List and is evaluating any potential business impact,” the company said. “We comply with any new U.S. Department of Commerce rules and regulations.”

The new listings follow a similar October 2019 action when Commerce added 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies — including some of China’s top artificial intelligence startups and video surveillance company Hikvision — to a U.S. trade blacklist over the treatment of Uighur Muslims.

The actions follow the same blueprint used by Washington in its attempt to limit the influence of Huawei Technologies for what it says are national security reasons. Last week, Commerce took action to try to further cut off Huawei’s access to chipmakers.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China set to post weakest growth in 29 years as trade war bites, investment sputters

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China is expected to report on Friday that economic growth slowed to its weakest in nearly three decades in 2019 amid a bruising trade war with the United States, and more stimulus steps are expected this year to help avert a sharper slowdown.

While recent data have pointed to some signs of improvement in the ailing manufacturing sector, and a newly-signed Sino-US trade deal has helped lift business confidence, analysts are not sure if the gains can be sustained.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect the economy to have grown 6.0 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous quarter’s pace, which was the slowest since the first quarter of 1992, the earliest quarterly data on record.

For the whole of 2019, growth is expected to slow from 6.6 percent in 2018 to 6.1 percent — the weakest since 1990 — and cool further to 5.9 percent in 2020, a separate Reuters poll showed, reinforcing views that Beijing will roll out more stimulus measures.

Policy sources have told Reuters that Beijing plans to set a lower economic growth target of around 6 percent this year from last year’s 6-6.5 percent, relying on increased infrastructure spending to ward off a sharper slowdown.

China will release its fourth-quarter and 2019 gross domestic product (GDP) data on Friday (0200 GMT), along with December factory output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment.

Data on Tuesday showed China’s exports rose for the first time in five months in December and by more than expected, with imports also beating estimates, signalling a modest recovery in demand as Beijing and Washington agreed to de-escalate their prolonged trade war.

Underlining the pinch caused by the trade war, growth of China’s exports slowed to just 0.5 percent last year from a near 10 percent gain in 2018, reflecting falling US sales.

The United States and China signed a partial trade deal on Wednesday that will roll back some tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of US products. But most of the tit-for-tat levies imposed by the two sides over the past 18 months remain in place and a number of thorny issues are unresolved, raising the risk of a renewed flareup in tensions.

Challenges Ahead

This year is crucial for the ruling Communist Party to fulfil its goal of doubling GDP and incomes in the decade to 2020 and turning China into a “moderately prosperous” nation.

Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, has said that gross domestic product is expected to approach 100 trillion yuan (11 trillion pounds) in 2019, with per capita GDP surpassing $10,000 for the first time.

Growth of about 6% this year could be enough to meet the long-term goal, but policy insiders say Chinese leaders will have to ensure the annual expansion of 5%-6% in the next several years to overcome the so-called “middle-income trap”, where incomes rise to a certain level then stagnate.

Beijing has been relying on a mix of fiscal and monetary steps to weather the current downturn, cutting taxes and allowing local governments to sell huge amounts of bonds to fund infrastructure projects.

Banks also have been encouraged to lend more, especially to small firms, with new yuan loans hitting a record 16.81 trillion yuan ($2.44 trillion) in 2019. But the economy has been slow to respond, and investment growth has been stuck at record lows.

The central bank has banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRR) – the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves – eight times since early 2018, most recently this month, alongside modest cuts in its key lending rate.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect further cuts in RRR and key interest rates this year. But Chinese policymakers have repeatedly said they will avoid unleashing the kind of massive stimulus used in past downturns, which quickly juiced growth rates but left a mountain of debt.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China, US sign initial trade pact but doubts and tariffs linger

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China will boost purchases of  US goods and services by $200 billion over two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs under an initial trade deal signed by the world’s two largest economies, defusing an 18-month row that has hit global growth.

Key world stock market indexes climbed to record highs after the deal was signed on Wednesday in Washington, but later stalled on concerns it may not ease trade tensions for long, with numerous thorny issues still unresolved.

While acknowledging the need for further negotiations with China to solve a host of other problems, President Donald Trump hailed the agreement as a win for the  US economy and his administration’s trade policies.

“Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families,” Trump said in rambling remarks at the White House alongside  US and Chinese officials on Wednesday.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He read a letter from President Xi Jinping in which the Chinese leader praised the deal as a sign the two countries could resolve their differences with dialogue.

“While markets seemed to take this deal as a risk-on signal, we should all be aware that headlines about trade, particularly  US China trade, are going to be a constant feature of 2020,” said Hannah Anderson, Global Markets Strategist, J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Hong Kong.

The centerpiece of the deal is a pledge by China to purchase at least an additional $200 billion worth of  US farm products and other goods and services over two years, above a baseline of $186 billion in purchases in 2017, the White House said.

Commitments include $54 billion in additional energy purchases, $78 billion in additional manufacturing purchases, $32 billion more in farm products, and $38 billion in services, according to deal documents released by the White House and China’s Finance Ministry.

Liu said Chinese companies would buy $40 billion in  US agricultural products annually over the next two years “based on market conditions” which may dictate timing of purchases in any given year.

Beijing had balked at committing to buy set amounts of  US farm goods earlier, and has inked new soybean contracts

with Brazil since the trade war started.

Liu later said the deal would not affect “third parties’ interests”, apparently in reference to deals made with other suppliers of farm goods.

Chinese companies will import  US agricultural goods according to consumers’ need, and demand and supply in the market, Liu told reporters, according to CCTV.

Although the deal could be a boost to  US farmers, automakers and heavy equipment manufacturers, some analysts question China’s ability to replace imports from other trading partners with more shipments from the United States.

The deal does not end retaliatory tariffs on American farm exports, makes farmers “increasingly reliant” on Chinese state-controlled purchases, and does not address “big structural changes,” Michelle Erickson-Jones, a wheat farmer and spokeswoman for Farmers for Free Trade, said in a statement.

Oil prices rose, helped by expectations of more Chinese purchases of  US oil and gas.

Trump, who has embraced an “America First” policy aimed at rebalancing global trade in favour of  US companies and workers, said China had pledged action to confront the problem of pirated or counterfeited goods and said the deal included strong protection of intellectual property rights.

Washington’s insistence on enforcement mechanisms “with real teeth” could tear the deal apart if any tariffs are re-imposed for non-compliance.

US Speaker of the House of Representative Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s China strategy had “inflicted deep, long-term damage to American agriculture and rattled our economy in exchange for more of the promises that Beijing has been breaking for years,” in a statement.

Earlier, top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Fox News the agreement would add 0.5 percentage point to US gross domestic product growth in both 2020 and 2021.

Aviation industry sources said Boeing Co was expected to win a major order for wide-body jets from China, including its 787 or 777-9 models, or a mixture of both.

The deal touted new wins for US companies looking to access China’s $40 trillion financial sector, but many of the changes were already in the works with Beijing stepping up the pace of opening up in the past year.

China’s central bank said Chinese financial institutions are completely capable of coping with foreign competition and it will strengthen financial supervisions as the sector is freed up.

TARIFFS TO STAY

The Phase 1 deal cancelled planned US tariffs on Chinese-made cellphones, toys and laptop computers and halved the tariff rate to 7.5 percent on about $120 billion worth of other Chinese goods, including flat-panel televisions, Bluetooth headphones and footwear.

But it will leave in place 25 percent tariffs on a $250-billion array of Chinese industrial goods and components used by US manufacturers, and China’s retaliatory tariffs on over $100 billion in US goods.

Market turmoil and reduced investment tied to the trade war would likely cut global growth in 2019 to its lowest rate since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund said in October.

Trump, who has been touting the Phase 1 deal as a pillar of his 2020 re-election campaign, said he would agree to remove the remaining tariffs once the two sides had negotiated a “Phase 2” agreement.

“We’ve already begun discussions on a Phase 2 deal,” Vice President Mike Pence said in a Fox Business Network interview.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How China tariffs on US commodities, energy stand after Phase 1 trade deal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China and the United States have agreed to terms of a Phase 1 trade deal on January 15 but Beijing has not reduced or waived tariffs on any commodities or energy further.

A senior Trump administration official confirmed on Wednesday that China will need to issue waivers or adjustments to tariffs to meet its buying commitments.

But so far Beijing has not committed to any new waivers or adjustments.

Late last year, the United States reduced some tariffs and Beijing cancelled retaliatory duties that were scheduled to take effect on December 15.

Before December 15, 2019, deal,  US corn, sorghum, wheat, undenatured ethanol and refined copper cathodes had faced an additional tariff of 10 percent on shipments to China. Propane, cotton, aluminium scrap, copper scrap and rare earth magnets were all set for an additional 5 percent duty.

Below is a list and timeline showing how China’s tariffs on key  US commodities and energy items stand after the Phase 1 accord.

CRUDE OIL

China imposed a 5 percent tariff on  US crude oil shipments from Sept. 1, 2019, the first time  US oil had been targeted since the trade war between started more than a year ago. The 5 percent tariff was not affected by the Phase 1 deal.

China, the world’s biggest crude importer, has cut  US shipments from a record high in 2018. Chinese customs data showed imports in the first 11 months of 2019 fell by nearly half year-on-year to 6.35 million tonnes. Full year imports by origin will be available at the end of January.

PROPANE

China already removed an additional 5 percent tariff on  US propane shipments that was set to take effect from December 1, 2019. A 25 percent duty that China imposed on  US propane on August 23, 2018, has remained in place. No new waivers came into effect on January 15.

Chinese firms process  US propane into petrochemicals such as propylene. Imports in 2018 were worth an estimated $2 billion. The punitive tariffs nearly killed the business in the first 11 months of 2019, with imports from the  US at 2,443 tonnes.

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG)

China imposed a 10 percent punitive tariff on  US LNG shipments in September 2018, raising it to 25 percent in June 2019. LNG duties were not affected by the Jan 15 deal.

Imports of the super-chilled fuel from the  US in the first 11 months of 2019 were 258,955 tonnes, much lower than the 2.15 million tonnes imported in the 12 months of 2018, according to Chinese customs. This is a tiny fraction compared to China’s total LNG imports in the January-November 2019 period at 53.85 million tonnes.

METHANOL, ETHYLENE GLYCOL (MEG)

China imposed tariffs of 25 percent on  US methanol and MEG in June 2019. They were not affected by the Jan 15 2020 deal.

Imports of  US methanol from January to November 2019 dropped to 109 tonnes compared with 75,118 tonnes in full-year 2018. China imported only 69,600 tonnes of  US MEG in the first 11 months of 2019, compared with 147,890 tonnes bought through the whole year of 2018.

These were also a tiny part of China’s total January-November 2019 methanol imports at 9.7 million tonnes and MEG imports at 9.03 million tonnes.

SOYBEANS

No additional duties have been removed as of Jan 15 but there have been some hefty goodwill waivers on tariffs in recent months.

A 25 percent tariff on soybeans in July 2018 had halted all buying by commercial buyers, but Chinese crushers went back to the  US market following a trade truce in December 2018. An additional 5 percent duty came into effect in September. The Chinese government has given tariff exemptions to some  US soybean imports.

China bought 13.85 million tonnes of soybeans from the United States in January-November, down 16.4 percent from same period in 2018.

PORK

American pork faces total import duties of 72 percent after including the 12 percent “most-favoured-nation” tariff. These duties were not changed in the Jan. 15 deal, but China is expected to boost  US meat imports. An outbreak of African swine fever in China has decimated the world’s largest pig herd and sent domestic pork prices soaring to record levels.

Total import tariffs on  US frozen pork went down to 68 percent from Jan. 1, after a cut in tariff rates on frozen pork shipments from all countries. This did not apply to carcasses, chilled pork and offal.

US pork exports to China and Hong Kong were up 49 percent year-on-year in value at $1.18 billion from January to November 2019.

SCRAP METAL

No changes to duties on scrap metal on Jan 15. An additional duty of 5 percent on  US aluminium scrap, which would have been effective on Dec. 15, 2019, was cancelled last month. The material was already affected by an initial 25 percent tariff in April 2018, followed by another 25 percent in August 2018.

Shipments of aluminium scrap to China were down only 19.7 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2019, but those of  US scrap copper, subject to a 25 percent tariff since August 2018, crashed by 75.7 percent over the same period.

RARE EARTHS

China in 2019 raised the prospect of restricting rare earth exports to the United States but has not announced any formal curbs or export duties. In the other direction, it has levied 25 percent tariffs on imports of  US rare earth ore and rare earth magnets since June 2019 but cancelled an additional 5 percent tariff on the latter that was due to take effect in December 2019.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Oil prices slip on concerns US-China trade deal may not boost demand

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Oil prices slipped on Wednesday on concerns that the pending Phase 1 trade deal between the United States and China, the world’s biggest crude users, may not lead to more fuel demand as the US intends to keep tariffs on Chinese goods in place.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said late on Tuesday that the tariffs would remain even as a trade deal is set to be signed on Wednesday. That could temper China’s oil demand growth by limiting its access to its second-largest trading partner. Chinese demand has been the main driver of global fuel consumption growth.

Concerns about increasing supply also pressured prices after a government report on Tuesday said that output from the US, currently the world’s largest producer, will increase in 2020 by more than previously forecast. Additionally, an industry report late on Tuesday said US crude inventories increased last week.

Brent crude was down 21 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $64.28 per barrel by 0206 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 23 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $58.00 a barrel.

“Investors are incredibly concerned about the well documented non-OPEC supplies coming to market in 2020, and those worries came to the fore as oil prices headed lower after a bearish to consensus inventory build was reported,” Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader said in a note.

US President Donald Trump is slated to sign the Phase 1 agreement with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House on Wednesday. That agreement is expected to include provisions for China to buy up to $50 billion more in US energy supplies.

However, the Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said in a television interview that the US will keep the tariffs until the completion of a second phase of the agreement.

US crude inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed, countering expectations for a draw. Gasoline and distillate inventories also climbed.

US oil production is expected to rise to a record of 13.30 million barrels per day in 2020 mainly driven by higher output in the Permian region of Texas and New Mexico, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US to maintain tariffs on Chinese goods until Phase 2 deal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The United States will maintain tariffs on Chinese goods until the completion of the second phase of the US-China trade agreement, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday, a day before the two sides sign an interim deal.

Mnuchin told reporters that President Donald Trump could consider easing tariffs if the world’s two largest economies move quickly to seal a follow-up agreement.

“If the president gets a Phase 2 in place quickly, he’ll consider releasing tariffs as part of Phase 2,” Mnuchin said.

Trump is slated to sign the Phase 1 trade agreement with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. (1630 GMT). The signing occurs a week before the US Senate is due to begin its impeachment trial of the US president.

Trump became only the third US president to be impeached when the House last month approved charges that he abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation into Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden and obstructed Congress.

Concerns about the trade deal weighed on US stocks on Tuesday, sending shares lower after a Bloomberg report suggested US tariffs could remain in place until after the November presidential election.

New data showed that the costs of Trump’s trade wars were proving more widespread, deeper and longer-lasting here to American manufacturing competitiveness and jobs than previously believed.

Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said earlier there was no agreement in place with China on further tariff reductions.

In a joint statement, they said all aspects of the Phase 1 trade deal with China would be made public on Wednesday, except a confidential annex that will detail US products and services to be purchased by China.

“There are no other oral or written agreements between the United States and China on these matters, and there is no agreement for future reduction in tariffs. Any rumours to the contrary are categorically false,” they said.

After the Phase 1 deal was reached last month, Washington agreed to suspend tariffs on $160 billion (123 billion pounds) in Chinese-made cellphones, laptop computers and other goods that were due to take effect on December 15 and to halve existing tariffs on $120 billion (92 billion pounds) of other goods to 7.5 percent. It kept in place 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion of other Chinese goods.

Bearing the cost

The US companies have paid $46 billion in tariffs since Trump began restructuring relationships with nearly all of Washington’s major trading partners, U.S. data showed.

Trump insists the tariffs are paid by the countries against which they are levied, but US economists and businesses say they bear the brunt of the costs.

Americans for Free Trade, a coalition of more than 150 business associations that oppose tariffs, said the Phase 1 trade deal would do little to alleviate the burden of billions of dollars in tariffs being paid by US businesses.

“The vast majority of the tariffs – which are taxes paid by Americans and not China – will remain in place, continuing to damage the American economy,” said spokesman Jonathan Gold.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US Treasury drops China currency manipulator label ahead of trade deal signing

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday dropped its designation of China as a currency manipulator days before top officials of the world’s two largest economies were due to sign a preliminary trade agreement to ease an 18-month-old tariff war.

The widely expected decision came in a long-delayed semi-annual currency report, reversing an unexpected move by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last August at the height of U.S.-China trade tensions.

Mnuchin had accused China of deliberately holding down the value of its yuan currency to create an unfair trade advantage, just hours after President Donald Trump, angered at the lack of progress in trade negotiations, had also accused China of manipulating its currency.

The Treasury Department had not labeled China a currency manipulator since 1994. Beijing had recently met just one of the department’s three criteria needed for such a designation – a large bilateral trade surplus with the United States.

In its latest currency report, the Treasury said that as part of the Phase 1 trade deal, China had made “enforceable commitments to refrain from competitive devaluation” and agreed to publish relevant data on exchange rates and external balances.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He arrived in Washington on Monday for a White House ceremony to sign the trade deal with Trump. People familiar with the negotiations said that although the manipulator designation had no real consequences for Beijing, its removal was an important symbol of goodwill for Chinese officials.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday told Fox Business that the translation of the U.S.-China trade agreement was almost completed and the text of the deal would be made public on Wednesday before the ceremony.

The currency report said the Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi, had depreciated as far as 7.18 per U.S. dollar in early September, but had rebounded in October and was currently trading at about 6.93 per dollar.

“In this context, Treasury has determined that China should no longer be designated as a currency manipulator at this time,” the report said.

It said, however, China should take decisive steps to avoid a persistently weak currency and allow greater market openness to strengthen its long-term growth prospects.

There was no immediate reaction from Beijing. In August, China’s central bank denied it had intervened to weaken the yuan, and said Washington’s designation of China as a currency manipulator seriously harmed international rules.

Mark Sobel, a former senior Treasury official and adviser to the London-based OMFIF economy policy think tank, said China “was errantly designated at a moment of presidential pique.”

“It should never have happened in the first place,” he said. “China manages, but does not manipulate its currency.”

Sobel said China’s current account surplus was small as a share of gross domestic product and it had not intervened in currency markets for years. The August move came at a time when the yuan had fallen against the dollar because of market apprehension over Trump’s “ratcheting up of trade tariffs,” he said.

Switzerland added to the monitoring list

Treasury report also cited continued concerns about the currency practices of eight other countries – Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam – and added a ninth, Switzerland, to its list.

It raised particular concerns about Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, which it said continued to have the world’s largest current account surplus and was slipping into recession. It said the German government had a responsibility to undertake tax cuts and boost domestic investment.

The Treasury report said the continued strength of the U.S. dollar was “concerning,” given the International Monetary Fund’s judgment that the dollar was overvalued on a real effective basis.

It said the real dollar remains about 8 percent above its 20-year average, noting that sustained dollar strength would likely exacerbate persistent trade and current account imbalances for the United States.

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, a fierce critic of China’s currency and trade practices, blasted the Trump administration for its decision to “back down” from labeling China a currency manipulator.

“China is a currency manipulator – that is a fact,” Schumer said in a statement. “Unfortunately, President Trump would rather cave to President Xi (Jinping) than stay tough on China.”

The yuan reached five-month highs earlier on Monday ahead of the expected signing of the trade deal.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Global gold prices dip as US-Iran tensions ebb

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Global gold prices slipped further on Tuesday from the previous session’s near seven-year high, as Middle East tensions cooled and investors booked profit, while palladium touched a new high.

Spot gold fell 0.4 percent — its biggest daily percentage decline in about a month — to $1,559.11 per ounce by 0341 GMT. In the previous session, prices had touched $1,582.59, the highest since April 2013.

US gold futures dipped 0.5 percent to $1,561.00.

“With no immediate retaliation from Iran, some of the tensions have simmered. Also, we’ve seen some profit-taking coming in,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst for the Asia-Pacific region at OANDA.

“If things de-escalate (with Iran), then gold will hit lower quite quickly. We would see it go down below $1,500.”

Gold, considered a safe asset in times of political and economic uncertainty, had jumped in the last two sessions on concerns of a wider conflict after a US airstrike killed Iran’s top military commander Qassem Soleimani last week.

Markets were worried about conflicting reports about American military repositioning troops in preparation for leaving Iraq.

Further weighing on gold, Asian shares rebounded on ebbing Middle East tensions.

Additionally, oil prices relinquished gains on speculation that Iran might not strike against the United States in a way that would disrupt supplies.

However, risks of escalating tensions persisted, with the United States denying a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that would have let him attend a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday.

“With $15-$20 setbacks the new intraday norm (in gold), look for volatility to remain elevated,” Stephen Innes, a market strategist at AxiTrader, said in a note.

Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.10 percent to 896.18 tonnes on Monday, their highest since Nov. 27.

Speculators increased their bullish positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Dec. 31, data showed.

Elsewhere, spot palladium fell 0.3 percent to $2,024.75, off an all-time peak of $2,032.94 an ounce hit earlier in the session.

The industrial metal, suffering from sustained supply woes, gained about 54 percent in 2019.

Silver slipped 0.5 percent to $18.05 an ounce, after touching a more than three-month high at $18.50 in the previous session, while platinum advanced 0.3 percent to $965.76.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

FPIs pull out Rs 2,418 crore in first three trading sessions of 2020

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) began the year with profit booking as they withdrew a net sum of Rs 2,418 crore from the Indian capital markets in the first three trading sessions of January.

As per latest depositories data, Rs 524.91 crore was pulled out of equities and Rs 1,893.66 crore from the debt segment between January 1-3. This resulted in a cumulative net outflow of Rs 2,418.57 crore.

In 2019, FPIs invested a net sum of Rs 73,276.63 crore in the domestic markets (both equity and debt). Barring January, July and August, FPIs were net buyers for rest of the months in the year gone by.

Umesh Mehta, head of research at Samco Securities said that “given the massive rally of the previous year, FPIs have started booking profits in 2020. It is likely that they are building up their war-chest to enable buying in huge quantities just before the Budget in February.”

Himanshu Srivastava, senior analyst manager research at Morningstar Investment Adviser India, said “there was an apparent cautiousness” among FPIs.

This could be attributed to some of the negative trends such as political issues in India, re-emergence of the trade war between the US and China and the continuing slowdown in the Indian economy. Besides, year-end profit-booking by FPIs could also be one of the factors for relatively low net inflow, he added.

Ajit Mishra, VP research at Religare Broking Ltd, said, “FPIs were net sellers as they booked profits at higher levels. Going forward, if geopolitical tension between US-Iran escalates further, it could restrict FPI flows.”

However, in the long term, FPIs remain confident about the Indian markets as they are anticipating positive measures and reforms would continue to aid economic recovery, Mishra added.

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Donald Trump says US-China trade deal to be ratified at a signing ceremony

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a signing ceremony to sign the first phase of the US-China trade deal agreed to this month.

“We will be having a signing ceremony, yes,” Trump told reporters. “We will ultimately, yes, when we get together. And we’ll be having a quicker signing because we want to get it done. The deal is done, it’s just being translated right now.”

United States trade representative Robert Lighthizer said on December 13 that representatives from both countries would sign the Phase 1 trade deal agreement in the first week of January.

Beijing has not yet confirmed specific components of the deal that were released by US officials. A spokesman for China’s commerce ministry said last week the details would be made public after the official signing.

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