U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Macomb Community College on April 29, 2025, at Warren, Michigan, U.S.<\/p>\n
Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images<\/p>\n
After U.S. President Donald Trump shattered \u2014 or at least fractured \u2014 global trade relationships and supply chains, there are promising signs of reconstruction in recent days. Indeed, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC<\/a> on Monday the country is “very close to some deals.” <\/p>\n On Tuesday, newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met Trump at the White House, potentially resetting a bilateral relationship that has been strained since January. And Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng is scheduled to meet Bessent in Switzerland\u00a0this week for trade talks.<\/p>\n But enter the hurricane that is Trump, again. “We don’t have to sign deals, they have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of their market,” Trump said<\/a> during his meeting with Carney, contradicting top White House officials’ claim for weeks that such deals are the administration’s top priority. Markets fell after his comments.<\/p>\n The growing protectionism of the U.S., ironically may help other countries forge closer economic ties with each other. The U.K. and India agreed on a bilateral trade agreement<\/a> that will remove tariffs on most items within a decade. Meanwhile, ASEAN and China are set to meet on May 19 to negotiate improvements to a free-trade agreement, according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n They may be new bridges being built in the aftermath of Trump tariffs. But those connections could bypass the U.S. \u2014 which, according to Trump, does not need deals anyway.<\/p>\n What you need to know today<\/p>\n Officials from U.S. and China to meet<\/strong> The UK and India reach a trade agreement<\/strong> Markets fall on Trump’s trade comments<\/strong> AMD beats earnings estimates, warns of chip controls<\/strong> India says it carried out strikes on Pakistan<\/strong> [PRO] U.S. “not a good place to hide”: JPMorgan And finally…<\/p>\n An empty container ship of COSCO Shipping sails to a container terminal in Qingdao in east China’s Shandong province Wednesday, April 16, 2025. <\/p>\n Feature China | Future Publishing | Getty Images<\/p>\n
U.S. Treasury Secretary\u00a0Scott Bessent\u00a0and trade representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their\u00a0Chinese\u00a0counterparts<\/a> in\u00a0Switzerland\u00a0this week to discuss economic and trade matters, their offices announced Tuesday. Later in the day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Vice Premier He Lifeng, Beijing’s top official for China-U.S. economic and trade matters, will meet with Bessent in Switzerland, NBC News reported.<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom and India struck a bilateral trade agreement<\/a> Tuesday, under which a majority of goods traded between India and the U.K. will become “fully tariff-free within a decade,” according to the British government. India will begin slashing tariffs on key U.K. exports such as whisky and automotives, while the U.K. will remove all tariffs on 99.1% of imports once the agreement comes into force, the Indian government said.<\/p>\n
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday<\/a> after Trump gave belligerent comments on trade deals. The S&P 500<\/a> declined 0.77%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> lost 0.95% and the Nasdaq Composite<\/a> retreated 0.87%. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600<\/a> index dropped 0.18%, ending its 10-day winning streak<\/a>. Shares of Deliveroo<\/a> rose 1.9% after the British food delivery company said it had agreed to a takeover offer from American rival<\/a> DoorDash<\/a> that values the company at \u00a32.9 billion ($3.9 billion).<\/p>\n
Advanced Micro Devices<\/a> on Tuesday\u00a0reported\u00a0earnings<\/a> for its first fiscal quarter that topped expectations<\/a> and gave strong guidance for the current quarter. The forecast includes $800 billion in costs because of U.S. export limits on artificial intelligence chips. On a related note, Nvidia<\/a> CEO Jensen Huang said Tuesday that China’s artificial intelligence market will likely reach about $50 billion in the next two to three years, and that missing out on it would be a “tremendous loss<\/a>.”<\/p>\n
India early Wednesday said its armed forces had conducted strikes against Pakistan<\/a> and what it calls Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, targeting “terrorist infrastructure.” The operation follows a militant attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed last month and targeted nine sites, the statement said.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>U.S. exceptionalism \u2014 in which the American economy and financial market have outperformed those of other countries since the pandemic \u2014 might be a thing of the past. This time, the U.S. “is not a good place to hide<\/a>” if global economic growth slows down, wrote JPMorgan strategist Mislav Matejka\u00a0in a note on Tuesday.<\/p>\n