Switzerland is offering to buy more American weapons and energy products and make more investments in the US, in a fresh push to persuade the Trump administration to lower its tariffs on Swiss imports.

“We have had some good progress lately. Negotiations are still ongoing, but I would not be hopeful for an imminent deal,” said Rahul Sahgal, chief executive of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce.

Meanwhile, South Korea's economy could fall into crisis rivalling its 1997 financial meltdown if the government accepts US demands, President Lee Jae Myung told Reuters.

Washington agreed to lower South Korean tariffs in exchange for a $350 billion investment from Seoul.

"Without a currency swap, if we were to withdraw $350 billion in the manner that the US is demanding and to invest this all in cash in the US, South Korea would face a situation as it had in the 1997 financial crisis," Myung said.

In other developments, following a Friday call between Trump and China's President Xi Jinping, Trump said in a social post that an agreement to spin off the TikTok app in the US had been reached. Trump said the two leaders plan to conduct a series of meetings in the coming months, Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reported, with the first meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, scheduled for Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

Trump said that Xi would reciprocate with a US visit "at an appropriate time."

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.

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.

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 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.

South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung told Reuters that if Seoul cave into US demands around tariffs and its $350 billion investment it could fall into financial crisis rivalling its 1997 meltdown.

Reuters reports:

Seoul and Washington verbally agreed to a trade deal in July in which the U.S. would lower President Donald Trump's tariffs on South Korean goods in exchange for $350 billion in investment from South Korea, among other measures.

They have yet to put the agreement to paper because of disputes over how the investments would be handled, Lee said.

\\"Without a currency swap, if we were to withdraw $350 billion in the manner that the U.S. is demanding and to invest this all in cash in the U.S., South Korea would face a situation as it had in the 1997 financial crisis,\\" he said through a translator.

Read more here.

Bloomberg News reports:

The top lawmakers on the House China committee called on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate Chinese electronics and phone accessory manufacturer Anker Innovations Technology Co. for what they called unfair pricing and possible illegal evasion of US tariffs.

The Chinese consumer tech company deploys “unlawful methods” to avoid US tariffs, including misclassifying product codes and illegally routing products through Southeast Asian countries to duck payment of trade levies, the lawmakers said, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg News. Anker’s shares slid 8% Monday in their biggest slide since April.

The House Select Committee on China sent the letter to Lutnick on Friday, per its date and signature. In their letter, Republican Chairman John Moolenaar and Democratic Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, urged Lutnick to direct the Commerce Department to probe the company’s practices. The lawmakers also said that Anker received at least $12 million in subsidies from the Chinese Communist Party in 2023, allowing it to gain “unfair access” to the US market.

Anker said in an emailed message that it has “initiated an internal review procedure and will hire a US adviser to assist in checking facts and evaluating relevant compliance issues.”

Read more here.

Reuters report:

Euro zone consumers have altered their consumption habits in anticipation of U.S. tariffs, moving away from American products and reducing discretionary spending, a study published by the European Central Bank on Monday found.

Euro zone consumers, sitting on ample savings built up in the years since the pandemic, have been cautious in making purchases all year as uncertainty over tariffs kept key parts of the bloc's economy in limbo.

\\"In response to tariff-related concerns, consumers are altering their spending habits in notable ways,\\" the ECB said in an Economic Bulletin article.

The ECB found that around 26% of its survey respondents reported switching away from U.S. products. Around 16% indicated they have reduced their overall spending.

\\"High-income households are more likely to switch away from U.S. goods, while lower-income households are more inclined to cut back their overall spending,\\" the ECB said, adding that financial literacy also impacted these decisions.

Read more here.

Shares in Porsche (PAH3.DE, P911.DE, POAHY) fell 6% on Monday after the German luxury sports carmaker paused rollout of its electric models due to weak demand and tariffs, which led to the company slashing its 2025 profitability outlook.

Reuters reports:

Its parent Volkswagen and holding company Porsche SE, Volkswagen's biggest shareholder, fell by 3.9% and 4.3%, respectively, at market open.

Porsche cut its profitability guidance on Friday and announced a delay in the launch of some all-electric models in further signs of trouble for the company, whose profits were nearly wiped out completely in the second quarter amid pressure in its key market China and higher U.S. tariffs.

As a result of the product delays, Porsche now expects its profit margin this year to reach a maximum of 2%, down from a previously guided range of 5-7%.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

ZURICH — Novartis (NVS) has increased its stockpiles of pharmaceuticals in the United States and is well prepared should its products be hit by President Donald Trump's tariffs, its chief executive said in an interview published on Saturday.

Pharmaceuticals are currently exempt from the 39% tariffs Washington imposed on Switzerland last month, although the industry is awaiting the outcome of a investigation which could lead to sectoral import duties.

The U.S. also reached a bilateral trade deal with the European Union in July, which includes a 15% tariff on pharmaceuticals, except for some generic drugs.

Read more here.

Bloomberg News reports:

US stocks are trading at record levels with earnings season right around the corner, and improving expectations for Corporate America’s profit growth indicate that the rally can keep going.

Among the companies in the S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) that provided guidance for their third-quarter results, more than 22% were expecting to beat analysts’ expectations — the highest reading in a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. In addition, the share of firms issuing worse-than-expected profit forecasts was the lowest in four quarters as well.

The improving profit outlook flies in the face of what many Wall Street pros had been expecting as the initial wave of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump started to hit.

“People have been crying wolf regarding tariffs, but the wolf has yet to appear,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “And the real question is, has the wolf been delayed or eliminated? It seems like corporations are absorbing most of the tariffs costs.”

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Automakers have been absorbing billions in added expenses since U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs took effect in April, sparing American car shoppers from sticker shock. So far.

Car prices were supposed to have bolted higher by now, auto executives and analysts predicted. But that has not happened, mirroring some other industries where companies have decided to eat added expenses rather than passing them on to consumers.

The average manufacturer’s suggested retail price, or MSRP, on new vehicles in the U.S. rose less than 1% from mid-March to mid-August, according to car-shopping site Edmunds.

That restraint from the automakers has carried into this autumn, as car brands are implementing only modest price increases as they roll out their 2026 model-year lineups. Car brands tacked on 3.3% to their average sticker prices in August, according to Cox Automotive, up from last year's increase, but in line with historical averages.

But now that it appears many of Trump’s tariffs are likely to stick, carmakers are under growing pressure to raise prices, analysts and dealers said.

General Motors (GM) said it will face up to $5 billion in gross tariff-related costs this year, while Ford cited a $3 billion gross hit. The car companies have a few levers they can pull before burdening customers with that added cost, from absorbing it internally to asking suppliers or dealers to shoulder some.

Read more here.

Bloomberg News:

Arabica-coffee futures (KC=F) slid to the lowest in almost a month in New York as the Washington Post reported that US lawmakers plan to introduce a bill to exempt coffee-product imports from tariffs.

Arabica, the variety favored for specialty brews, dropped as much as 5.9% in New York, reversing an earlier gain. Robusta, the type most used in instant coffee, also slid in London.

The bipartisan legislation would seek to exempt coffee products from any tariff imposed after Jan. 19, the day before President Donald Trump took office, the paper said, citing draft legislation. It could be introduced as soon as Friday.

The exemption would apply to roasted and decaffeinated coffee, as well as coffee husks, skins, and other products containing coffee, the newspaper reported. The legislation would still need Trump’s sign-off even if it were to succeed in the House and Senate, the paper said.

Read more here.

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady on Friday but decided to start selling its holdings of risky assets. BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda said rate hikes will depend on the impact of tariffs.

Reuters reports:

RATE HIKE DEPENDS ON IMPACT OF US TARIFFS, FOOD INFLATION

\\"We need to look at the extent to which downside risks from U.S. tariffs on Japan's economy could materialise, as well as whether food inflation will subside.\\"

PROFITS HOLD UP AS TARIFF IMPACT ON JAPAN REMAINS LIMITED

\\"As for the current quarter, we're seeing some downturn in exports following front-loading in shipments. Manufacturers' profits are falling somewhat. But all in all, exports are moving sideways and corporate profits remain elevated. Capital expenditure is solid. Consumption is somewhat weak but remains resilient. So far, we're not seeing a major impact from U.S. tariffs on Japan's economy.\\"

Read more here.

For the first time since the 1990s, China hasn't purchased any US soybeans at the start of the export season. Some say this is a sign that Beijing is using agriculture as leverage in its trade fight with Washington.

Bloomberg News:

As the world’s top soybean buyer, China wields enormous influence over global markets. Now it’s reviving a familiar tactic of holding back on US purchases — deployed during the first trade war under President Donald Trump — as the two countries navigate a fragile truce.

Data from the US Department of Agriculture show China hadn’t booked a single cargo as of Sept. 11, almost two weeks into the new marketing season — the first time in records going back to 1999. Last year, the US made up a fifth of China’s soybean imports, worth more than $12 billion, and accounting for over half of total US soy export value.

Beijing, with healthy stockpiles in hand, is signaling it has the patience and capacity to wait — and that it’s willing to use commodities as a bargaining chip in broader trade talks. President Xi Jinping is set to speak with Trump on Friday, as the two countries spar over restrictions on semiconductors and rare earths. In the run-up, China has ratcheted up pressure by announcing that a preliminary probe found Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) in violation of anti-monopoly laws.

Read more here.

There are high expectations today for President Trump's call with China's President Xi Jinping. Yahoo Finance's Washington Correspondent, Ben Werschkul, delves into what appears to be the most anticipated call of the year.

President Trump has set high expectations for his call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

He described a deal over TikTok as all but completed on Thursday, adding that he is looking to make progress on broader issues like tariffs.

The president spoke about a deal around the social media app in the past tense — even as some issues remain publicly unresolved — promising that the final company will be controlled by \\"all American investors.\\"

Trump added during the appearance in the UK that he is also looking to discuss an array of issues with his counterpart, saying. \\"On a much bigger scale, we're pretty close to a deal.\\"

The highly anticipated call between the leaders of the world's two largest economies is set for Friday, reportedly at 9 a.m. ET.

Read more here.

Threats to the global economic order have come quick and fast since President Trump took office back in January, however, the reaction from world equity and bond markets has been a \\"somewhat remarkable shrug.\\"

Reuters reports:

The global economy has kept growing, stock prices have surged and inflation fears remain muted.

While many players worry that things could still unravel given the right spark, it is a far cry from the most dour predictions early in Trump's term, when recession odds soared, markets plummeted, and headlines even fretted over the cancellation of Christmas in a collapse of global trade.

\\"The global economy continues to exhibit considerable resilience amid heightened policy and political uncertainty,\\" BNP Paribas economists wrote recently, attributing it to \\"supportive financial conditions, robust household and corporate balance sheets, the promise of an AI-driven productivity boost, and lower energy prices, among other factors.\\"

Perhaps the biggest factor is that one of the deepest early fears - of a trade war of steadily rising tariffs and a halt to global shipping - has not materialized.

Deals, albeit sketchy, are in place with exporting nations in Europe and Asia. And while the landscape remains in flux, the accommodation shown by U.S. trading partners threatened with sky-high tariffs resulted in more modest levies that are being shared by exporters, importers and consumers in what economists feel has become a manageable distribution.

Read more here.

TikTok is expected to be top of the agenda list for Friday morning's call between President Trump and China's President Jinping, as both sides seek to help keep the video app stay online in the US and ease tensions between the two sides that are currently locked in a trade standoff.

Reuters reports:

The agreement is at the top of the agenda alongside trade for the leaders' first known call in three months, expected on Friday morning, U.S. officials said.

China has not confirmed plans for the call.

Trump and Xi's effort to steady relations comes as the two governments have been discussing a potential in-person summit between Xi and Trump during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea on October 30-November 1, Reuters has reported.

Beijing's sign-off is one of the hurdles Trump needed to clear to keep TikTok open. Congress had ordered the app shut down for U.S. users by January 2025 if its U.S. assets weren't sold by Chinese owner ByteDance.

Read more here.

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.