President Trump's trade deals with Asian allies are under threat after South Korea said Washington's terms were unrealistic and Japan hinted that their agreement may need to be reviewed.

“We are not able to pay $350 billion in cash,” South Korea’s National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said. “It is objectively and realistically not a level we are able to handle.”

Seoul and Washington agreed in July to a $350 billion investment pledge as part of a trade deal to lower US tariffs to 15% from 25%. A similar pledge made by Japan worth $550 billion also remains unclear.

Last week, Trump announced new tariffs on pharmaceuticals, heavy trucks, and furniture, including a 100% duty on patented drugs, with some exemptions.

This move is one of Trump's new industry-focused duties and shows the rapid expansion of his tariff regime. While the president has long previewed the pharma tariffs, the other goods represent new trade targets.

The new tariffs range from 30% to 100%. Exceptions for pharmaceuticals apply if the producer is building a manufacturing plant in the US or if the country has a trade agreement that covers drugs, according to the White House.

The US is also planning to ask chipmakers to manufacture at home as many chips as their customers import in a bid to curb reliance on foreign supply. The Trump administration would levy tariffs on firms that do not maintain a 1:1 ratio over time, a report said.

Earlier in the week, Trump floated using revenue the US has accrued from his tariffs to offer bailouts to farmers struggling with the early effects of the duties.

Trump said farmers are, "for a little while, going to be hurt until the tariffs kick into their benefit."

It's unclear what mechanism the administration would use to provide relief to farmers, and it could run into issues with a looming Supreme Court review of the tariffs. An unfavorable ruling to the administration, which would follow lower court decisions, could force the administration to refund billions of dollars of that revenue.

Elsewhere, the US and China are reportedly in the final stages of negotiations for a "huge" Boeing (BA) aircraft deal that could end up as a "centerpiece" of a broader trade agreement.

The US and China have made progress toward various contours of a broader deal following a call between Trump and China's President Xi Jinping last week. Trump said after that call that the countries had reached an agreement to spin off the TikTok app in the US, with the White House later naming Oracle (ORCL) as part of the consortium of investors.

Trump said the two leaders plan to conduct a series of meetings in the coming months, as Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reported.

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.

President Trump's trade deals with South Korea and Japan face a fresh threat as both Seoul and Tokyo push back on their investment pledges in the US.

South Korea agreed in July to a $350 billion investment promise as part of a trade deal to lower US tariffs to 15% from 25% and Japan pledged a similar investment worth $550 billion but the deals now appear to be in jeopardy.

Bloomberg News reports:

“We are not able to pay $350 billion in cash,” South Korea’s National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said in a Channel A News television interview on Saturday evening, referring to Seoul’s investment pledge with Washington. “It is objectively and realistically not a level we are able to handle.”

“Our position is not a negotiating tactic,” he added.

Wi’s comments came after Trump described the investment pledges agreed by South Korea and Japan as “up front.”

Seoul and Washington agreed in July to a $350 billion investment pledge as part of a broader trade deal to lower US tariffs to 15% from 25%, but the two sides remain divided over how it should be structured. A similar pledge made by Japan worth $550 billion also remains unclear on the specifics of implementation, while the details that have emerged from the deal have alarmed officials in Seoul.

South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said in an interview with Bloomberg News last week that without a currency swap arrangement with the US, the investment could deliver a severe blow to the national economy. The sum of $350 billion is equivalent to more than 80% of South Korea’s foreign reserves.

Read more here.

AstraZeneca (AZN) plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and has pledged a $50 billion investment in US manufacturing by 2030 in a bid to attract more global investors but also avoid hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical imports.

Reuters reports:

AstraZeneca plans to directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, instead of its current depositary receipts structure, to attract more global investors, the drugmaker said on Monday, but will remain listed and headquartered in London.

The move will be of some relief to UK investors after media reports suggested the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker - London's most valuable company - was considering ditching its British listing in favour of the U.S. That had raised worries about the shrinking London stock market as companies seek higher valuations and access to deeper capital markets elsewhere.

AstraZeneca has also pledged to invest $50 billion in U.S. manufacturing by 2030, amid global drugmakers' efforts to avert hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical imports into the country, and will cut some direct-to-patient U.S. drug prices as demanded by President Donald Trump's administration.

Read more here.

Bloomberg News reports:

Chinese firms are mostly less profitable than comparable US companies, leaving exporters at risk of a further hit to earnings as President Donald Trump’s tariffs sap demand, according to new research from Bloomberg Economics.

While Chinese companies can defend their “razor-thin margins by leveraging their market dominance” in the short term, at some point US customers will have to raise prices in response, wrote Bloomberg’s China economists Chang Shu and David Qu.

“Tariffs will eventually pass through to consumers, weighing on demand — a pattern seen in the first trade war in the late 2010s,” they said. “The hit could be even harsher this time, as tariffs are broader and US restrictions on transshipments stricter.”

Thinner profitability will likely make the US even less of a draw for Chinese exporters, as American consumers show signs of moving away from products most directly exposed to tariffs. China’s shipments to the US have already seen five months of double-digit declines, a slump more than offset by improved sales in other major markets.

Read more here.

Despite a \\"handshake deal\\" the two countries made in July to lower US tariffs on South Korea, a top aide to South Korea's president said the country can't afford to make the payment upfront, as US President Trump has suggested, Reuters reports:

South Korea has said the $350 billion in investment would be in the form of loans and loan guarantees as well as equity.

Trump in remarks this week said South Korea would provide the investment \\"upfront\\", despite Seoul's contention that kind of outlay could plunge Asia's fourth largest economy into a financial crisis.

\\"The position we're talking about is not a negotiating tactic, but rather, it is objectively and realistically not a level we are able to handle,\\" South Korea's National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said on Channel A News television.

\\"We are not able to pay $350 billion in cash,\\" he said.

South Korea, which pledged $350 billion toward U.S. projects in July, has balked at U.S. demands for control over the funds and South Korean officials say talks to formalize their trade deal are at a deadlock.

Read more here.

China has stopped buying US soybeans amid a rising trade war with Washington, the Associated Press reports, and farmers are feeling anxious:

Beijing, which traditionally has snapped up at least a quarter of all soybeans grown in the U.S., is in effect boycotting them in retaliation for the high tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on Chinese goods and to strengthen its hand in negotiations over a new overall trade deal.

It has left American soybean farmers fretting over not only this year's crop but the long-term viability of their businesses, built in part on China's once-insatiable appetite for U.S. beans.

“This is a five-alarm fire for our industry,” said [Caleb] Ragland, who leads the American Soybean Association trade group.

The situation might even be enough to test farmers’ loyalty to Trump, although he still enjoys strong support throughout rural America. If no deal is reached soon, they hope the government will come through with aid as it did during Trump's first term, but they see that only as a temporary solution. Trump said Thursday he is considering an aid package.

U.S. and Chinese officials have held four rounds of trade talks between May and September, with another likely in the coming weeks. No progress on soybeans has been reported.

Getting closer to harvest, “I’m honestly getting worried that the time is running out,” said Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

The Trump administration is considering imposing tariffs on foreign electronic devices based on the number of chips in each device, according to three people familiar with the matter, as it seeks to drive companies to shift their manufacturing to the United States.

According to the plan, which has not previously been reported and could change, the Commerce Department would impose a tariff on the imported product that is equal to a percentage of the estimated value of the chip content of the item.

If implemented, the plan would show the Trump administration is seeking to hit a wide range of consumer products, from toothbrushes to laptops, potentially driving up inflation as it seeks to ramp up U.S. manufacturing.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on pharmaceutical imports will not apply to countries with negotiated agreements with the US that contain provisions on drugs, according to a White House official, delivering promised relief to economies including the European Union and Japan.

Duties on pharmaceuticals from the EU will be capped at 15% per the terms of its framework deal, the official said Friday. Japanese drugs will also be charged the rate spelled out in its pact, the official added. The US-Japan joint statement says American tariff rates on Japanese drugs and semiconductors should not exceed those applied to others, including the EU.

The UK, another country that exports pharmaceuticals to the US, would face the 100% tariff, according to a White House official. London also negotiated a trade agreement with Washington that included provisions for similar exemptions, but the two countries have not yet agreed on a rate for pharmaceuticals.

Read more here.

Concerns around whether people would boycott US products grew after President Trump announced tariffs earlier this year. However, it seems foreign investors buying US equities \\"Buy America\\" was key.

Bloomberg News reports:

When it comes to US equities, the opposite happened. Foreign purchases rose to a record in the second quarter, according to Federal Reserve Board data. Demand has been so brisk that stocks now make up nearly 32% of foreigners allocations to US assets — breaking a record that’s been in place since 1968.

While data show that foreigners have scaled back on travel to the US along with some purchases of US-made products, the American stock market has proven too enticing to quit. Part of that owes to the dominance of firms chasing riches in artificial intelligence, which has swelled the share prices of Nvidia Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc., among others. And while they have been buying stocks, foreign investors have sent the dollar sharply lower, perhaps hedging exposure to the US.

Read more here.

Daimler Truck (DTG.DE, DTRUY) and Traton (8TRA.ST) shares fell on Friday after President Trump announced tariffs on heavy-duty trucks.

Bloomberg News reports:

Together with a barrage of tariffs in other sectors, including on pharmaceuticals, Trump said on Thursday the U.S. would impose duties of 25% on imports of heavy-duty trucks from October 1.

Daimler Truck's stock was down 3.3% at 0952 GMT, making it the biggest decliner in Germany's blue-chip index. Shares in Volkswagen-owned Traton, were 2.8% lower.

Citi said a 25% tariff on trucks assembled in Mexico would likely have a 700-800 million euro ($818-$934 million) impact on earnings for Daimler Truck, although the group could be able to absorb around half of that in the near term via price increases.

Neither Daimler Truck nor Traton export to the United States from Europe as they have factories in the U.S. and sites in Mexico that are covered by the USMCA free trade pact.

Analysts at Bernstein said it had not been explicitly said that Trump's announcement would apply to the USMCA-compliant Mexican sites, but that they assumed it to be the case.

\\"Finally, it's also not clear if the industry-specific tariffs will come on top of the country-based tariffs, although some countries including the EU have negotiated agreements that prevent tariff 'stacking',\\" the analysts said.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that South Korea would provide billions of dollars in investments \\"upfront\\", despite Seoul's contention that it would be plunged into a financial crisis if it met the U.S. demands without safeguards.

Trump's remarks contradict South Korea's understanding of its trade deal with the United States, however, a government official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

\\"We have never thought about making the investments in lump sum,\\" the South Korean official added, adding that both South Korea and Japan intended to provide financing for projects only after a \\"capital call\\" made by the United States.

Read more here

The US plans to ask chipmakers to manufacture at home as many chips as their customers import in a bid to reduce reliance on foreign supply.

Reuters reports:

The Trump administration would levy tariffs on firms that do not sustain a 1:1 ratio over time, the report said, citing people familiar with the plan.

The plan stems from President Donald Trump's remarks last month that tech firms manufacturing domestically could avoid roughly 100% tariffs on semiconductors.

The move, tied to Trump's efforts to revive U.S. manufacturing, has motivated international companies to invest more, sending billions into the country.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick floated the idea with semiconductor executives, telling them it might be necessary for economic security, the Journal said.

\\"America cannot be reliant on foreign imports for the semiconductor products that are essential for our national and economic security,\\" the newspaper cited White House spokesperson Kush Desai as saying, adding that any reporting about policymaking should be treated as speculative, unless officially announced.

Read more here.

President Trump's announcement that he will impose tariffs on pharma imports, which includes a 100% duty on patented drugs, unless the producer is building a manufacturing plant in the US. Those tariffs will come alongside duties on heavy trucks, kitchen cabinets, and furniture items.

Trump posted on Truth Social that the tariffs would come into effect on Oct. 1, 2025.

Trump's post was one of several that focused on industry-specific tariffs. Imported heavy trucks will be subject to a 25% duty, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities will be hit with a 50% levy, and upholstered furniture imports will be taxed at 30%.

This latest move from Trump is a sign of the rapid expansion of his tariff agenda. Both markets and analysts have already started to react.

Bloomberg News reports:

Most European drugmakers slumped in early trading, led by a drop of as much as 3.1% in Novo Nordisk (NVO, NOVO-B.CO) A/S. GSK Plc (GSK, GSK.L) slid as much as 1.1%, while AstraZeneca Plc (AZN, AZN.L) fell as much as 1.6%.

“Trump is never going to be done with tariffs,” Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at Hinrich Foundation, said on Bloomberg Television.

Trump’s posts offered no further details. The pharmaceuticals plan, as described by the president, may allow for wide exemptions for companies with presences in the US. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more specifics.

The levy on branded pharmaceuticals may raise the average US tariff rate by up to 3.3 percentage points, according to Bloomberg Economics, though the impact may be offset by the exemption for companies building local manufacturing facilities. Singapore and Switzerland are the countries most exposed to the move.

Major drugmakers, including Merck & Co., AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, have announced billions of dollars in planned US manufacturing investments in the months since Trump’s inauguration, following the president’s repeated threats to impose levies on drugs imported from overseas.

“The actual comment from the President is direct but its impact may be somewhere between nebulous and negligible,” Mizuho Securities health-care specialist Jared Holz said in a note. “All major players have some production presence domestically and almost all have announced increased investment directly tied towards local manufacturing.”

Still, some could be left vulnerable. Multinational drugmakers have said they primarily rely on plants in the US to supply the domestic market, but not all of them have broken ground on their promised expansions.

Read more here.

In the most recent of a trio of posts on Truth Social, President Trump said the US would impose tariffs \\"on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products\\" alongside \\"a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture.\\"

Trump cited a \\"FLOODING\\" of the products into the US from foreign countries as the reason behind the tariffs.

We will be imposing a 50% Tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products, starting October 1st, 2025. Additionally, we will be charging a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture. The reason for this is the large scale “FLOODING” of these products into the…

— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) September 25, 2025

Trump also posted \\"we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America.\\"

Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America. “IS BUILDING” will be defined as, “breaking ground” and/or “under construction.”…

— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) September 25, 2025

Trump's first post in the flurry of announcements was the declaration of a 25% on all heavy truck manufacturers. He declared that \\"Heavy (Big!) Trucks\\" from overseas would be targeted in the first move in that industry.

In order to protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition, I will be imposing, as of October 1st, 2025, a 25% Tariff on all “Heavy (Big!) Trucks” made in other parts of the World. Therefore, our Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as…

— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) September 25, 2025

President Trump on Thursday floated using some of the tariff revenue the US has taken in so far to provide cash bailouts to farmers struggling with the early effects of the duties.

\\"We're going to take some of that tariff money and give it to our farmers,\\" Trump said.

He admitted that farmers are, \\"for a little while, going to be hurt until the tariffs kick into their benefit.\\"

The administration has for weeks said it is looking into the potential relief for farmers, though it's unclear how they would attempt to provide it. The Trump administration provided billions in farmer aid during the trade wars of his first term, mostly due to the effects of retaliatory tariffs from China.

Trump: \\"We're gonna take some of that tariff money that we've made, we're gonna give it to our farmers who for a little while are going to be hurt until the tariffs kick in to their benefit.\\" pic.twitter.com/F3djjloDHB

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2025

Reuters reports

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Thursday said the U.S. has made enormous progress on trade talks with China in the last few months but considerable work remains.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are discussing a range of things including Chinese purchases of Russia's oil exports, Hassett said in an interview with Fox Business Network. Washington has highlighted China and India as contributors to the Russia-Ukraine war due to their purchases of oil from Moscow.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are talking to their counterparts practically every day. \\"I feel like compared to a few months ago, we've made an enormous amount of progress,\\" Hassett said.

Read more here.

Trade Representative Maros Sefcovic said on Thursday that European automakers are set to save up to $700 million a month now that the EU-US trade deal is in place.

AP reports:

Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said that the deal establishing a 15% tariff on most EU goods took effect with publication in the U.S. Federal Register instructing customs officials what to charge. That would reduce the tariff from a painfully high 27.5% rate set earlier by Trump.

The reduction eases a major burden on EU automakers and is a chief selling point for the deal as presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The deal is retroactive to Aug. 1 so “what we expect now is that the tariffs will be returned to the automakers as of the first of August, which is something like 500, 600 million euros per month,” Sefcovic said ahead of a meeting with Southeast Asian trade ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The 15% tariff is still much higher than tariffs from before Trump took office, which averaged in the single digits, and the trade deal has been criticized by business associations and some members of the European Parliament.

Read more here.

When asked if China will start purchasing US soybeans again, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said the US must remove \\"unreasonable tariffs\\" first.

Reuters reports:

China, the world's biggest buyer of soybeans, has yet to book any U.S. soybean cargoes from its autumn harvest, traders have said, opting for South American supply instead.

U.S. farmers stand to miss out on billions of dollars of soybean sales because of unresolved trade tensions that have halted exports to China.

Senior Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang on Monday met political and business leaders from the U.S. Midwest, where the bulk of American soybeans are harvested, signalling that the world's second-largest economy could purchase some American soybeans ahead of more wide-ranging trade talks.

However, disagreement on technical details appears to be complicating negotiations, with Chinese and U.S. trade officials set to meet again at the U.S. Treasury on Thursday.

\\"Regarding the trade of soybeans, the United States should take positive action to cancel the relevant unreasonable tariffs to create conditions for expanding bilateral trade,\\" commerce ministry spokesperson He Yadong told a news conference.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Philips (PHIA.AS, PHG) is actively engaged with policymakers in Washington about investigations into U.S. imports of medical technology items but does not expect an immediate impact from the probes, it said on Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce said on Wednesday it had opened new national security investigations into the import of personal protective equipment, medical items, robotics and industrial machinery.

The so-called Section 232 investigations, which were opened on September 2 but not publicly disclosed previously, could be used as a basis for higher import tariffs on a wide swath of medical and industrial goods.

That could mean increased levies on imported face masks, syringes and infusion pumps as well as robotics and industrial machinery like programmable computer-controlled mechanical systems and industrial stamping and pressing machines.

\\"At this stage, details are limited, and a range of potential outcomes remain under discussion,\\" Philips told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Read more here.

China has urged its companies doing business in the US to not engage in a price war, a sign that Beijing is keen to maintain the fragile trade truce it has with Washington.

Bloomberg News reports:

Commerce Minister Wang Wentao made the comments in a meeting in New York on Tuesday with representatives from 10 Chinese firms in industries such as e-commerce, telecommunications and auto parts, the ministry said in a statement.

Wang said China and the US “have reached a series of important consensus results after several rounds of economic and trade consultations” and it was hoped that businesses understood the situation and “respond positively.” He also called on them to “oppose internal and external involution,” referring to intense competition sparked by excess capacity that forces people to overwork despite diminishing returns.

In July, China’s top leadership emphasized its determination to rein in the phenomenon. The decision-making Politburo vowed to ramp up its management of overcapacity in key industries, and pledged that local government practices in attracting investment would also be regulated.

Read more here.

The Trump administration is planning to launch an investigation into imports of robotics, industrial machinery and medical devices, a sign it could introduce new duties as President Trump looks to expand his tariff plans.

Bloomberg News reports:

The Department of Commerce is conducting the probes under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, according to Federal Register notices. The inquiries started on Sept. 2. Under the law, which allows the president to tariff goods deemed critical to national security, the department has 270 days to deliver its policy recommendations.

The newly announced probes expand the potential sectors that could be exposed to tariffs, as Trump looks to encourage domestic manufacturing in key industries by hiking the cost of imports.

Investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, aircraft, critical minerals, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and other products are currently ongoing. The Trump administration has already used the law to impose levies on automobiles, copper, steel and aluminum.

Any levies resulting from the industry-specific probes would come in addition to Trump’s country-based tariffs, though some major economies such as the European Union and Japan have struck agreements to prevent the charges from stacking on top of one another.

Read more here.