Five American small businesses asked a U.S. court on Tuesday to halt President Donald Trump’s "Liberation Day" tariffs, arguing that he overstepped his powers by declaring a national emergency to impose across-the-board taxes on imports from nations that sell more to the United States than they buy.
The easing of trade tensions between the United States and China is a step in the right direction and helps reduce European fears of being flooded with Chinese goods redirected from the U.S. market, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.
U.S. consumer prices rose at a slower than anticipated rate in April, but remained slightly above the Federal Reserve’s target level, as economists assessed the impact of rapidly-evolving U.S. trade policies.
Asian stock markets were mixed on Wednesday, with Hong Kong and South Korea climbing, mirroring overnight tech gains on Wall Street, while Japan slipped amid a stronger yen.
Oil prices dipped in Asian trading on Wednesday, pausing a four-day rally fueled by a U.S.-China tariff truce and soft inflation data, as investors weighed an unexpected rise in crude inventories from an industry report.
Most Asian stocks rose on Tuesday as investors cheered a sharp deescalation in the U.S.-China trade war, although Chinese markets lagged amid some profit-taking and speculation over a delay in more local stimulus.