INK WIRE

President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States would acquire a 10% stake in Intel (INTC.O), opening a new tab under a deal with the financially troubled chipmaker that turns government grants into equity shares. This is the White House's most recent extraordinary intervention in corporate America. Following Trump's recent statement that Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan should resign due to conflicts of interest, the agreement improves relations between the two men. It will guarantee that roughly $10 billion will be given to the chipmaker to build or expand factories in the United States. The deal calls for the U.S. to pay $8.9 billion, or $20.47 per share, for a 9.9% stake in Intel. This is roughly $4 less than Intel's closing share price of $24.80 on Friday. The $5.7 billion in unpaid grants from the Biden-era CHIPS Act and the $3.2 billion given to Intel for the Secure Enclave program—also given under Trump's predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden—will b...

In a significant reversal of its position on digital assets, China is thinking of permitting the use of yuan-backed stablecoins for the first time in an effort to encourage broader adoption of its currency internationally, according to people familiar with the situation. According to the sources, China's cabinet, the State Council, will examine and potentially approve a roadmap later this month for increased currency usage worldwide, which includes catching up with the United States' push on stablecoins. They stated that the roadmap will also include guidelines for risk prevention and that the plan is anticipated to include targets for the use of the Chinese currency in international markets as well as the duties of domestic regulators. According to one of the sources, the nation's top leaders are also anticipated to convene for a study session as early as the end of this month, with an emphasis on stablecoins and yuan internationalization, which are gaining traction glo...

On  Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Department raised steel and aluminum tariffs on more than 400 products, including wind turbines, mobile cranes, appliances, bulldozers, railcars, motorcycles, marine engines, furniture, and hundreds more. The department added 407 product categories to the list of “derivative” steel and aluminum products covered by sectoral tariffs, which apply a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum content and the country rate on non-steel and non-aluminum content. In a research note, Evercore ISI estimated the move will raise the effective tariff rate by 1 percentage point for more than 400 product codes representing over $200 billion in imports last year. The department is also adding imported parts for automotive exhaust systems and electrical steel for electric vehicles, buses, air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, and dryers to the new tariffs. The department was advised not to add the parts by foreign automakers, who said the U.S. cannot meet demand. Tesla crea...

With just hours before U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods were set to return to triple-digit rates, a White House official announced Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump had signed an executive order extending a tariff truce with China by an additional ninety days. The order came a day after Trump urged Beijing to quadruple its purchases of U.S. soybeans and gave reporters a vague response when asked if he would extend the lower tariff rates. On Tuesday at 00:01 ET (04:01 GMT), a tariff truce between Washington and Beijing was scheduled to end. With Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods expected to reach 125%, the order keeps U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from skyrocketing to 145%, which would have effectively created a trade embargo. When asked how he intended to extend the deadline, Trump responded at a press conference, "We'll see what happens." "They've been getting along just fine. My relationship with President Xi (Jinping) is excellent. Washington imposed 30% tarif...

Oil prices saw their biggest weekly losses since late June due to a tariff-hit economic outlook, but they remained stable on Friday as markets anticipated a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in the coming days. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures remained steady at $63.88, but Brent crude futures ended the day 16 cents, or 0.2%, higher at $66.59 a barrel. WTI closed 5.1% below last Friday's close, and Brent dropped 4.4% over the week. After Bloomberg News reported that Washington and Moscow were seeking to reach an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine that would lock in Russia's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, U.S. crude fell more than 1% earlier in the day. According to the report, which cited people familiar with the situation, U.S. and Russian officials are trying to reach a territorial agreement for a summit meeting between Trump and Putin that is scheduled to begin as early ...

Following two days of negotiations in Stockholm to defuse a growing trade war between the two largest economies in the world that is endangering global growth, U.S. and Chinese officials decided Tuesday to seek an extension of their 90-day tariff truce. President Donald Trump will have to decide whether to extend a trade truce that ends on August 12 or possibly allow tariffs to rise back to triple-digit levels, according to U.S. officials, who did not announce any significant progress. Trump has negotiated trade agreements with the European Union, Japan, and other countries after months of threatening high tariffs on trading partners. However, these negotiations are complicated by China's dominant economy and control over global rare earth flows. In May, both parties retracted their plans to impose triple-digit tariffs on one another, which would have effectively created a bilateral trade embargo. But in the absence of an agreement, global supply chains and financial markets may e...

On Sunday, a framework trade deal was struck between the United States and the European Union, including a 15% import tariff on most of the EU goods. This tariff could have evolved into a confrontation between two allies that represent nearly a third of global trade.  The announcement came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen flew in to meet with U.S. President Trump at his golf course in western Scotland to finalize the hard-fought deal. "I think this is the biggest deal ever made," Trump said to reporters after the meeting lasted for an hour with von der Leyen, who stated that the 15% tariff was imposed "across the board." "We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability," she said.  Hence, this deal will definitely bring some much-needed clarity for EU companies, along with $600 billion in investment by the EU int...

In advance of ministerial-level consultations scheduled for next week and the ending of the U.S. tariff pause on August 1, the South Korean Presidential Office announced on Saturday that it would seek to craft a mutually acceptable trade package with the United States.  The statement goes on to explain that the package would incorporate cooperation in the shipbuilding area, which is of utmost interest to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, as he discussed it with South Korea's Minister of Industry, Kim Jung-Kwan, on Friday.  The meeting on Friday was a follow-up, reiterating the commitment to reaching a trade deal by August 1, which Lutnick and Kim had arrived at the day before, after the joint meeting by the finance ministers and top trade envoys was postponed from Friday.  Under an unintended tariff on 25%, South Korea is rushing to seam a trade agreement from Washington, as National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac visited the U.S. last week for high-level talks and th...

The United Kingdom and India have signed a trade agreement aimed at reducing tariffs on goods ranging from textiles to whisky, cars, and spices, and to provide businesses with increased market access. Terming the agreement a "landmark moment" for both countries, Starmer hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talks at Chequers, the country estate northwest of London, where UK and Indian trade ministers Jonathan Reynolds and Piyush Goyal formally signed the trade agreement. In May, Starmer and Modi announced that they had reached a free trade agreement after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides rushing to seal an agreement in the wake of the tariff turmoil unleashed by United States President Donald Trump. The deal now has to be ratified by the UK Parliament. "This is not the extent or the limit of our collaboration with India," Starmer said. "We have unique bonds of history, of family, and of culture, and we want to strengthen our rela...

Officially described as the US's first law to address the nation's cryptocurrency matters, it is, therefore, entering a significant moment. A still-cited major statute for that formerly fringe business with those sectors emerged after the long-lingering debates on congressional regulation, and $20 million was dumped into the 2020 polls for selected candidates, including Donald Trump. This law sets up a framework for regulating so-called stable coins, a type of cryptocurrency that has asset backing considered reliable, e.g., the dollar. It would be signed into law by Trump on Friday after getting House approval on Thursday, alongside the Senate's approval last month. Known as the Genius Act, it is one of three Trump-supporting bills on cryptocurrencies moving through Washington. The president once called crypto a scam, but his mood shifted after the sector stood behind him, and he became an active participant himself, having business ties involving firms like World Liberty ...

The major European indices suffered heavy losses on Monday as EU ministers met to discuss their reaction to Trump’s alliance to start levying a 30% tariff against the bloc’s goods from August 1. Germany’s DAX was down almost 0.9 percent by 08:30 GMT, while the CAC 40, IBEX 35, and FTSE MIB were down from 0.7 to 0.8 percent. The STOXX 600 index declined about 0.5 percent. UK’s FTSE 100 would try to hold the rally, up by 0.2 percent. Asia markets remained broadly tentative with Japan’s Nikkei 225 retreating by about 0.3 percent while the Hang Seng dipped by the same amount. Off-hours US futures fell early Monday, with those for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite index plunging by over half a percent. Markets are jittery with the August 1 deadline looming for US trade partners to strike trade deals with the other side. No agreements have been announced by the Trump administration aside from the UK, China, and Vietnam, despite the long negotiations. If Brussels and Washington cannot ...

US President Donald Trump has issued a new round of tariff letters to the six countries of Algeria, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, and the Philippines. The letters were sent out on Wednesday. They propose tariff levels of 30 percent on Algeria and Iraq, 25 percent on Brunei, Libya, and Moldova, and 20 percent on the Philippines—the highest among the trading partners announced this Wednesday. Implementation of the tariffs is slated for August 1. The letters went up on Truth Social a few days after the expiration of the 90-day negotiating period in which the baseline levy had been 10 percent. Trump is letting the countries bargain more before his August 1 deadline but is insisting that no extensions will be made for any countries that receive letters. The US reports a trade inequality with six countries. According to the Census Bureau, last year the US had a trade imbalance in goods of 1.4 billion dollars with Algeria, 5.9 billion with Iraq, 900 million with Libya, 4.9 billion with the P...