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President Donald Trump is planning a USD 12 billion farm aid package, according to a White House official a boost to farmers who have struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war. According to the official, who was granted anonymity to speak ahead of a planned announcement, Trump will unveil the plan Monday afternoon at a White House roundtable with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers and farmers who raise cattle and grow corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, rice, wheat, and potatoes. Farmers have backed Trump politically, but his aggressive trade policies and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny because of the impact on the agricultural sector and because of broader consumer worries. The aid is the administration's latest effort to defend Trump's economic stewardship and answer voter angst about rising costs even a
China's exports returned to growth in November following an unexpected contraction the month before, although shipments to the United States dropped nearly 29% from a year earlier in an eighth straight month of double-digit declines. Overall exports from China were 5.9% higher than last year in November in dollar terms, customs data released on Monday showed, at $330.3 billion, better than economists' estimates. That was an improvement from a 1.1% contraction in October. While exports from China to the US have fallen for most of the year, shipments have surged to other destinations, including Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. China's imports increased 1.9% in November, better than October's 1% growth, even though a persistent downturn in the property sector is still weighing on consumer spending and business investment. A year-long trade truce between China and the US was reached at a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in late October in
China said Monday it is making good on its pledge to crack down on chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl, a key issue for President Donald Trump during recent talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they aimed to take steps to ease a trade war. Beijing announced new export restrictions on 13 drug-making chemicals to the United States, Canada and Mexico, including those that are used to produce the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S. every year. After meeting Xi in South Korea last month, Trump said China would help end the fentanyl crisis and he would ease a related tariff from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. It shows the back-and-forth nature of U.S.-Chinese cooperation on fentanyl over the years and lessens the recent tensions after Trump launched his campaign of tariffs, including those against the country that is the top exporter of pharmaceutical ingredients, such as the chemicals used to make fentanyl. What the Trump administration ha
China's factory activity contracted for the seventh consecutive month in October, the government said Friday, as a newly announced truce in the trade war between the US and China offers some hope for a stronger recovery in exports. The official manufacturing purchasing managers index slipped to 49 in October from 49.8 in September, worse than forecast, the China's National Bureau of Statistics reported, based on a survey of factory managers. Measured on a scale between 0 and 100, a PMI reading below 50 indicates contraction. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said the US will cut its fentanyl-related tariffs on China from 20 per cent to 10 per cent after his meeting in South Korea with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, bringing down US tariffs on Chinese goods from 57 per cent to 47 per cent. China has been diversifying exports from the US, with shipments to regions including Southeast Asia and Africa growing. Exports to the US, however, have dropped by double-digits for six straight
China's promise to delay its newest restrictions on the export of the rare earths that are crucial to many high-tech products for one year as part of a trade agreement President Donald Trump secured creates an opportunity for the US and its allies to bolster their own production and processing capabilities. But it will be hard to undercut China's stranglehold on the market. The restrictions China imposed on rare earths this year have been a key issue in the trade talks between Beijing and Washington. Trump responded angrily to China's latest rules with a threat to impose an additional 100% tariff on all Chinese imports, but he has since dropped that demand as part of this agreement. This week's deal will delay the regulations that would have required foreign companies to get special approval to export items that contain even small traces of rare earths elements sourced from China even if those products were made elsewhere by foreign companies, but it doesn't eliminate restrictions ..