Global Trade War

Thus far in calendar year 2024 (CY24), Brent crude oil prices hit a low of around $69 a barrel before breaching the $91 a barrel mark in April 2024 as geopolitical concerns rose

For the first time in more than two decades, Mexico last year surpassed China as the leading source of goods imported to the United States. The shift reflects the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as US efforts to import from countries that are friendlier and closer to home. Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department show that the value of goods imported to the United States from Mexico rose nearly 5% from 2022 to 2023, to more than $475 billion. At the same time, the value of Chinese imports imports tumbled 20% to $427 billion. The last time that Mexican goods imported to the United States exceeded the value of China's imports was in 2002. Economic relations between the United States and China have severely deteriorated in recent years as Beijing has fought aggressively on trade and made ominous military gestures in the Far East. The Trump administration began imposing tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018, arguing that Beijing's trade practices

The UN trade body sounded an alarm on Thursday that global trade is being disrupted by attacks in the Red Sea, the war in Ukraine, and low water levels in the Panama Canal. Jan Hoffmann, a trade expert at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development known as UNCTAD, warned that shipping costs have already surged and energy and food costs are being affected, raising inflation risks. Since attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea began in November, he said, major players in the shipping industry have temporarily halted using Egypt's Suez Canal, a critical waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and a vital route for energy and cargo between Asia and Europe. The Suez Canal handled 12 per cent to 15 per cent of global trade in 2023, but UNCTAD estimates that the trade volume going through the waterway dropped by 42 per cent over the last two months, Hoffmann said. Since November, the Iranian-backed Houthis have launched at least 34 attacks on

If disruptions worsen, they could stall the slump in food-commodity costs that had started to filter through to cheaper grocery bills

Multiple commercial ships in the area reported the impact of the missiles in surrounding waters, CENTCOM added

Trade measures introduced by G20 member countries have become more restrictive in recent months, according to a report from the World Trade Organisation (WTO). According to the 30th WTO Trade Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures, between mid-May and mid-October 2023, the countries have introduced more trade-restrictive than trade-facilitating measures on goods. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has called on the G20 to show leadership and contribute to economic stability and growth by unwinding recent and longstanding restrictions on trade. G20 members include India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US, among others. "Trade measures introduced by G20 economies have become more restrictive in recent months," the WTO said.

US and China have a long way to go

Trump doesn't regret starting a trade war but he does have second thoughts on whether he should have hit the Chinese even harder, clarified White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham

Trump said that Chinese officials had made two "very, very good calls" and that "they want to make a deal"

The IMF said its latest World Economic Outlook projections show 2019 GDP growth at 3.0%, down from 3.2% in a July forecast, largely due to increasing fallout from global trade friction

The world's two largest economies have been locked in a bruising trade war since Trump in March last year imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on $250 billion of Chinese goods

Trump has introduced or threatened tariffs on $300 billion-worth of Chinese imports. In response, China has targeted US farmers with retaliatory tariffs.

The tariffs of 10 per cent and 5 per cent take effect on two batches of goods on September 1 and December 15, the official Xinhua News Agency said

International benchmark Brent crude futures were at $58.70 a barrel by 0039 GMT, down 24 cents, or 0.41%, from their previous settlement and trading near seven-month lows

MSCI's broadest index of APAC shares outside Japan edged down 0.3 per cent

While crude prices falling could help to reduce inflation, a delayed monsoon could lead to rising food prices

Apart from direct bets against the rupee, look out for higher export growth

Xi was merely outlining China's strategy to open up further and had nothing to do with trade friction with the US

Even markets such as India, despite low exposure to the US economy and their stock markets, has seen high turbulence

The world is struggling with how to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump, who imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on allies