Amid complex trade talks with the US, China dropped a months-long antitrust probe into Google (GOOG) amid discussions of a TikTok deal — while also increasing pressure on domestic purchases of Nvidia (NVDA) chips.

“Drop one case but seize the other,” a person familiar with the matter told FT. “China is trying to narrow its retaliatory targets to make them more potent.”

Meanwhile, Trump's visit to the UK saw some deals and announcements. The UK has shelved plans to talk with the US on removing British steel tariffs, meaning current duties will stay in place, according to a report in Bloomberg.

British drugmaker GSK (GSK) said on Wednesday they will invest $30 billion in US research and development. GSK is the largest pharmaceutical firm to scale up its US footprint as Trump threatens to impose import tariffs on the industry and seeks more domestic manufacturing.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the US delegation during talks with Chinese trade officials in Spain this week, said that he is confident a trade deal with China is near.

With reciprocal tariffs set to take effect in November, Bessent told reporters he expects further talks to happen before then.

Bessent also reiterated that he expects a finalized TikTok deal to be announced after President Trump and Xi Jinping talk on Friday.

In the background, the Supreme Court is reviewing a high-stakes legal challenge to President Trump's tariffs, setting up a resolution as early as this fall.

The high court put the case on track for oral arguments in early November. That puts the case on an unusually quick track to resolution.

The tariffs at stake are the sweeping "reciprocal," country-specific duties Trump has outlined in various steps this year (which you can see in the graphic below). Those duties range from 10% to 50%. Trump has used a 1977 law known as "IEEPA" — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — to justify imposing the tariffs.

The appeals court allowed the tariffs to stay in place while the case moves through the legal process.

Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet

Here are the latest updates as the policy reverberates around the world.

The Trump administration is drawing up plans to use tariff revenue to fund a program to support US farmers, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told the Financial Times.

The plans come as farmers head into harvest time grappling with a drop in export sales and a rise in input costs.

The FT reports:

“There may be circumstances under which we will be very seriously looking to and announcing a package soon,” Rollins told the Financial Times on Wednesday. “We are reviewing markets every day.”

She added that financing the bailout through “tariff income that is now coming into America” was “absolutely a potential.”

The move follows mounting pressure from farm groups after China curbed purchases of new crop US soyabeans and as tariffs have pushed up costs for fertiliser, machinery and other imported inputs. With the soyabean harvest already under way, farmers warn the crisis is deepening. ...

US soyabean farmers have been hit particularly hard by the trade war with China. Historically, more than half of the soyabeans produced in the US have been sold to the Asian giant.

Read more here.

China is dropping an antitrust probe into Google (GOOG), as Beijing and Washington step up negotiations over TikTok, Nvidia (NVDA), and trade, per the Financial Times.

The move comes as tensions run high between the US and China, which held three days of talks in Madrid this week.

A Chinese antitrust investigation into Nvidia is moving ahead after authorities said this week that a preliminary probe found it had violated anti-monopoly law. Meanwhile, Beijing has effectively banned China's big tech companies from ordering Nvidia's AI chips.

The Financial Times reports:

The State Administration for Market Regulation has decided to terminate its competition investigation against Google, a status known as “zhongzhi” in Chinese, said two people briefed on the decision.

The Google investigation, which was formally opened in February, centred on the dominance of the US group’s Android operating system and its impact on Chinese phonemakers, such as Oppo and Xiaomi, that use the software.

The decision signals a tactical recalibration by Beijing, which is now concentrating its regulatory firepower on Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, as a point of leverage in US-China trade talks, according to the two people.

At the same time, dropping the Google investigation sends a positive signal to Washington that Beijing can be flexible in the negotiations, said one of the people.

“Drop one case but seize the other,” said the other person familiar with the matter. “China is trying to narrow its retaliatory targets to make them more potent.”

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Swiss watch exports tumbled in August as Chinese demand remained weak and stiff US tariffs went into effect.

Exports fell about 17% from a year earlier, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement Thursday. All main markets saw double-digit declines, with China down 36% and the US — the watch industry’s largest market — falling 24%. ...

“The broad-based downturn underscores the formidable headwinds the Swiss watch industry continues to face,” Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy said in a note. “Recent reports from several watch brands suggested pockets of resilient US demand and a tentative stabilization in China. Today’s data, however, largely negate those signals,” he said.

The 39% levy the US applied on Switzerland — higher than the European Union and other developed economies — went into effect on Aug. 7 and has shaken the watchmaking industry.

Read more here.

US drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to sell 60% ownership in a pharmaceutical joint venture in China.

As tariffs take hold and President Trump seeks more investment from companies into the US, many firms are exiting foreign investments in a bid to lower the impact higher levies may have.

Reuters reports:

\\"As part of our long-term strategy, we continue to align our resources to support evolving business needs across our global network,\\" a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed response to Reuters' queries about a local media report.

The spokesperson said Bristol Myers was \\"committed to supporting all impacted employees\\" and was \\"grateful for their contributions\\", but said it does not comment on transaction details, citing policy.

Read more here.

FedEx (FDX) will report a quarterly profit hit from President Trump's decision to end tariff-exempt treatment for popular direct-to-consumer shipments, such as small parcels under $800.

Reuters reports:

FedEx's fiscal first quarter, which ended on August 31, captures the impact from the May 2 end of \\"de minimis\\" exemptions for packages from China and Hong Kong. They accounted for roughly three-quarters of the roughly 1.4 billion annual packages that had been admitted to the U.S. under the exemption that let shipments valued at less than $800 enter duty free.

The U.S. also removed de minimis exemptions for the rest of the world on August 29, with full financial effects yet to come.

\\"The key focus for investors is likely to be the end of the de minimis exemption globally and potential quantification of this, which could be a negative surprise,\\" Morgan Stanley (MS) analysts said in a recent note.

Read more here.

Pharmaceutical company GSK (GSK) said on Wednesday that it will invest $30 billion in US research and development, as well as supply chain infrastructure over the next five years, after President Trump arrived in Britain and in a bid ease tariffs.

Reuters reports:

The company said its new facilities in the U.S., which made up half its revenue last year, would \\"bridge R&D and manufacturing across both the U.S. and UK, strengthening the two countries' leadership in life sciences.\\"

GSK's investment includes $1.2 billion to build a new factory in Pennsylvania that will produce new medicines for respiratory disease and cancer, with construction to commence in 2026.

It will invest in AI, digital technology, new drug substance manufacturing, and improved device assembly at GSK's five U.S. sites.

London-based GSK is the latest drugmaker to scale up its U.S. footprint as Trump threatens to impose import tariffs on the industry and seeks to boost domestic manufacturing. The sector has historically been spared from trade disputes.

\\"This landmark investment will create tens of thousands of American jobs and ensure that critical medicines and technologies are developed and manufactured right here on U.S. soil—where they belong,\\" U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement shared by GSK.

Read more here.

President Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi have finally spoken in a move that some hope will help ease tensions between the two economies amid a fight over tariffs and New Delhi's Russian oil purchases.

Bloomberg News reports:

Trump said he had a “wonderful” call with the Indian leader and wished him a happy birthday, in a social media post on Tuesday.

“He is doing a tremendous job,” Trump added. “Narendra: Thank you for your support on ending the War between Russia and Ukraine!”

The call comes as the two nations resumed trade negotiations this week, discussions both sides characterized as positive as they look to reset ties following Trump’s move last month to levy 50% tariffs on exports from the South Asian nation. The president had doubled the 25% import tax rate on Indian goods — aimed at countering the country’s tariffs and other trade barriers — to also punish New Delhi for its continued Russian energy buys.

Modi in a post on X said that India supported Trump’s “initiatives towards a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.”

Ukraine and its allies say purchases of Russian energy by India and China are undercutting global sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin that aim to pressure the Kremlin to end the war on its neighbor. Indian officials have defended the country’s energy purchases and insisted that they will continue to buy Russian oil as long as it is financially viable to do so.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Japan's exports fell for a fourth straight month in August, government data showed on Wednesday, as elevated U.S. tariffs took a deeper toll on the country's automotive and other manufacturing sectors.

\\"Japanese automakers are still mostly absorbing the tariff costs by cutting export prices to maintain U.S. sales volumes,\\" said Saisuke Sakai, chief Japan economist at Mizuho Research.

\\"But some of them, unable to withstand rising costs, have begun increasing prices to pass them on to consumers,\\" he said.

\\"Coupled with growing uncertainties over the U.S. economy, the tariff impact on Japan's exports and output is set to intensify towards the year-end.\\"

Total exports by value dropped 0.1% year-on-year in August, the data showed, less than a median market forecast for a 1.9% decrease and following a 2.6% fall in July.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday it will consider industry requests to impose tariffs on additional imported auto parts in the coming weeks on national security grounds.

In May, Trump imposed 25% auto tariffs on more than $460 billion worth of imports of vehicles and auto parts annually, but has since struck deals to reduce those tariffs on some countries. The department said Monday domestic producers of automobiles or automobile parts, or any industry association can ask for tariffs on additional parts to be imposed that have national security impacts.

\\"The automotive industry is in a state of rapid development for various technologies, including in the areas of alternative propulsion systems, autonomous driving capabilities, and other advanced technologies,\\" the department said, adding the industry needs \\"the opportunity to identify new and emerging automotive products with importance for defense applications.\\"

Read more here.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he is confident a trade deal with China is near.

With reciprocal tariffs set to take effect in November, Bessent said during an interview with CNBC that he expects further talks to happen before then.

“We’ll be seeing each other again,” he said during a wide-ranging exchange on Squawk Box. “Each one of those talks has become more and more productive. I think the Chinese now sense that a trade deal is possible.”

Reuters reports:

Wall Street is bracing for another bumpy ride ahead of a forthcoming Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of tariffs that could throw Corporate America into turmoil and raise questions over the country's fiscal health.

The plunge in asset prices in early April in the wake of U.S. President Trump's Liberation Day tariff announcements offers Wall Street a taste of what some believe may be in store if courts opt to overturn a tariff regime to which market participants have become accustomed.

Since then, the administration has announced an array of trade deals and companies have found ways to absorb some of the costs. Markets in turn have recovered and moved on to set fresh highs.

Read more here.

The European Union said on Tuesday it will delay presenting its new Russia sanctions after President Trump pushed for tougher European measures before the US proceeds with its own.

Bloomberg News reports:

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, was due to present the proposal, it’s 19th, on Wednesday. On Friday, the US pressured its allies in the Group of Seven to impose tariffs as high as 100% on China and India for their purchases of Russian oil, as well as other measures, to push President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table with Ukraine.

G-7 officials are currently working on a new sanctions package and are aiming to finalize a text in the next two weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The EU is weighing sanctioning companies in India and China that are enabling Russia’s oil trade, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Read more here.

The Financial Times reports:

South Korea and the US are struggling to finalise the terms of their trade deal, as Seoul resists pressure from Washington to allow Donald Trump to decide where billions of dollars of its capital should be invested in the US.

Seoul’s trade minister Yeo Han-koo is in Washington for talks with US trade representative Jamieson Greer, more than two months after the two sides announced South Korea would make $350bn in American investments in exchange for the US reducing its threatened tariffs from 25 to 15 per cent.

“The devil is in the details. We are in tense negotiations over the details,” Yeo said upon arriving in Washington on Monday.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Swatch (UHR.SW) will hike its prices in the United States by between 5% and 15% after the 39% tariff President Donald Trump imposed on Switzerland last month, the Swiss watchmaker's Chief Executive Nick Hayek said in a newspaper interview.

Hayek told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper at the weekend that the U.S. tariffs could be mitigated through transfer prices, margins and the cost of the company's products.

\\"Depending on the brand, we will increase prices in the range of 5 to 15 percent. But since we also have a strong presence in Canada and Mexico, there will be opportunities there too for American consumers,\\" Hayek said.

Read more here.

China ruled on Monday that Nvidia (NVDA) violated anti-monopoly laws with a high-profile deal in 2020, increasing the pressure on Washington during sensitive trade negotiations continue in Madrid.

Nvidia's stock fell almost 3% before the bell.

Bloomberg News reports:

The US chipmaker was found in violation of antitrust regulations after the acquisition of networking gear maker Mellanox Technologies Ltd., the State Administration for Market Regulation said after concluding a preliminary investigation. Nvidia’s shares fell about 2% in pre-market trading, while US stock index futures pared gains.

The surprise announcement emerged with US and Chinese officials heading into a second day of wide-ranging negotiations in Madrid over tariffs, which could shape the relationship between the world’s two largest economies. Nvidia has this year found itself at the center of those discussions, because of its central role in driving future technologies including artificial intelligence.

In December, Beijing opened a probe into Nvidia’s acquisition of Mellanox, taking aim at the world’s most valuable company. Beijing gave approval for the $7 billion acquisition deal four years ago, on condition Nvidia not discriminate against Chinese companies.

Read more here.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed on Monday that they are \\"very close\\" to resolving the TikTok issue with China, as trade discussions resumed in Madrid.

Bloomberg News reports:

The American official touted progress in the negotiation before he and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began a second day of dialog with their Chinese counterparts in the Spanish capital.

“I think on the TikTok deal itself, we are very close or we’ve resolved the issue. There are a range of other asks that are unresolved,” Bessent said.

He stated that the Chinese side, led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, made an “aggressive ask” in talks, without saying what that was about.

Greer said the two sides have had general discussions about trade imbalances, although they have not “found a path forward on that.”

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

China on Monday said it firmly opposed the United States calling on the G7 and NATO countries to impose secondary tariffs over purchases of Russian oil, pledging to take measures to safeguard its rights and interests.

Read more here.

US and Chinese officials met on Sunday to discuss trade, the economy and TikTok in high-level talks in Madrid, a senior Treasury official said, as diplomacy between the two countries steps up.

Bloomberg News reports:

A US delegation helmed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and a Chinese group led by Vice Premier He Lifeng met for almost six hours on Sunday, the official said.

“We’ll start again in the morning,” Bessent said late Sunday as he waved and climbed into an SUV after the meeting.

Included in the agenda are national security issues and the status of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, which faces a deadline this week to reach a deal to continue operations in the US. Officials were also expected to lay the groundwork for a potential meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping as soon as October, when they’re scheduled to attend a summit in South Korea.

Trump told reporters later on Sunday that the talks are “going fine,” but said that TikTok’s fate will be determined by Beijing’s actions.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

President Donald Trump’s most concrete step to rein in unprecedented US budget deficits — sweeping tariff hikes — faces the danger of a legal reversal that would put the nation’s finances on an even shakier footing.

Trump and top aides including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have argued that federal borrowing needs will shrink in coming years as Republican tax cuts, reduced regulation and big-ticket investment pledges from companies and foreign nations stoke economic growth and goose federal revenues. Many economists question that outlook, but few disagree that tariff hikes are indeed generating a new stream of cash for the Treasury.

Customs duties — paid overwhelmingly by American importers — have totaled $165 billion for the 2025 fiscal year with one month left to go, Treasury Department figures showed Thursday. That’s up some $95 billion on the year before.

Most of the jump is thanks to tariffs Trump imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) Bloomberg Economics analysis shows. But an Aug. 29 federal appeals court ruling has called the legality of that maneuver into question. Unless the Supreme Court, which has agreed to review the case, decides in the president’s favor, Bessent has warned the government could be liable to refund large sums of money.

Read more here.

President Trump's tolerance with Russian President Putin is wearing thin. In a Fox News interview on Friday, Trump made the comment that his patience with Putin was “running out fast” and threatened Moscow with new economic sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Bloomberg News reports:

“It’ll be hitting very hard on with sanctions to banks and having to do with oil and tariffs also,” Trump said Friday in an interview on Fox News.

Still, the president insisted that he had already “done a lot” to punish Russia, noting expanded tariffs he placed on India for purchasing Russian energy and argued that “this is a Europe problem, much more than our problem.”

Russia on Friday said negotiations with Ukraine were on “pause” despite Trump’s push following a meeting with Putin last month for direct talks between the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“Communication channels exist, they are established, our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through these channels, but for now, perhaps, we can talk about a pause,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, without elaborating.

Read more here.