The US is poised to agree on a major pharmaceuticals deal with the UK, which will equal zero import tariffs on pharmaceutical products.

The news, which was first reported in The Times on Monday, follows the agreement made by the two sides back in April, where a 10% US tariff was placed on most UK imports.

President Trump said on Thursday his administration may cut income tax completely over the next two years because of the government revenue generated from tariffs.

"Over the next couple ‍of years, I think we'll substantially be cutting and maybe cutting out completely,‌ but we'll be cutting income tax," Trump told US ⁠military service members on a video call.

On Wednesday, Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping "pretty much" agreed to increase the speed and size of the country's agricultural purchases. Trump and Xi held their first call Monday since the US and China struck a trade and tariff truce last month.

The White House is quietly preparing a backup plan as the US Supreme Court is set to decide whether Trump had the authority to issue them in the first place. Trump on Monday claimed the "full benefit" of tariff policies would take effect soon, arguing that foreign buyers who stockpiled inventory would be forced to buy more goods.

"Tariffs will be paid on everything they apply to, without avoidance, Taiwan to new investment and training of US workers in semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced industries

The president invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy blanket tariffs on goods from other countries. But Congress is the branch of the US government with oversight of taxation and spending — not the president. It's not clear when SCOTUS will make its ruling.

Meanwhile, Trump further expanded tariff breaks on Brazilian goods, part of moves to lower costs on some everyday goods as consumers grapple with price struggles.

The push to reduce food prices comes after electoral wins for Democrats across a number of key state and local races where candidates stressed affordability concerns. Trump has also in recent weeks floated the possibility of a tariff "dividend" for many Americans in the form of a $2,000 check.

Trump recently acknowledged that US consumers are "paying something" for his tariffs.

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

The Trump administration is also negotiating a deal that would commit Taiwan to new investment and training of US workers in semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced industries.

Meanwhile, friction between the US and EU continues to build as the two nations look to implement the framework agreement struck earlier this year. The EU is seeking lower tariffs on certain goods, but it rejected a demand to ease tech rules.

President Trump announced on Thursday that his administration may be in a position over the next two years to slash income tax due to the revenue generated from tariffs.

The US president made the statement on a Thanksgiving video call to US military service members.

This latest move from Trump follows the idea floated in recent weeks of a tariff \\"dividend\\" for Americans in the form of a $2,000 check. It also comes on the heels of electoral wins for Democrats across several key state and local races, where candidates stressed affordability concerns.

Trump himself has said previously that the American people are \\"paying something\\" for tariffs.

Reuters reports:

\\"Over the next couple ‍of years, I think we'll substantially be cutting and ​maybe cutting out completely,‌ but we'll be cutting income tax. Could be almost completely cutting it because the money we'⁠re taking in ​is going to ​be so large,\\" Trump told U.‍S. ⁠military service members on a video call.

Read more here.

The US and UK are ready to agree on a trade deal that would equal zero import tariffs on UK pharmaceutical products into the US.

Reuters reports:

This latest news could lead to an increase in NHS spending on medicines,‍ The Times reported on Monday.

The UK government is understood to have ​agreed to lower an industry ‌sales rebate rate on NHS drug prices and to also improve the NHS's cost-effectiveness measure for drugs, the ⁠report said, ​citing industry sources.

The British ​government will commit to increasing the percentage of the ‍NHS budget ⁠that it spends on medicines, it said.

Reuters couldn't ⁠immediately verify the report.

Read more here.

Taiwan is hoping for tariffs on its exports to the US to be cut to 15% from 20% now, and helping to train US workers is not among the conditions, according to senior Taiwanese officials on Monday.

Reuters reported last week that the US was negotiating a trade deal with Taiwan that would allow US workers to be trained in semiconductor manufacturing.

Taiwan, a major chip producer, has repeatedly said its offer to the United States in talks has been the \\"Taiwan model\\", to help replicate the island's success in building tech clusters around dedicated science parks.

Reuters reports:

TSMC (TSM), the world's largest contract chipmaker,‌ is investing $165 billion in the United States to build factories in Arizona.

If TSMC needed government help in training its workers, that could be discussed, Taiwan Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said, adding, \\"This is not one of the negotiating conditions,\\" in the U.S. talks, however.

Neither Kung nor Yang would give ⁠an exact timeframe for a pact to be ​struck, though Yang said the government would work ​to complete it before the end of this year.

Taiwan's semiconductor exports are not subject to the U.S. tariffs of 20%.

In August,‍ Trump said the ⁠United States semiconductor imports would face a tariff of about 100%, but exempted companies manufacturing in the United States, or those which have committed to ⁠do so.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Asia's manufacturing powerhouses struggled with sluggish demand in November, extending declines in factory activity as progress in U.S. trade negotiations ​failed to translate into a significant recovery in orders.

A raft of purchasing managers' indexes (PMIs)‌ on Monday showed diverging conditions across the region, with China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all reporting declines in ‌activity while Southeast Asian economies mostly saw growth.

In China, the world's largest manufacturer, factory activity slipped back into contraction, a private-sector PMI showed, a day after Beijing's official measure showed activity falling for the eighth consecutive month albeit at a slower pace.

\\"Container throughput at Chinese ports was little changed last month compared ⁠to October. To the extent that ‌demand did improve, it didn't do much to support production amid already high inventory levels - the output component dropped to a four-month low,\\"‍ said Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics.

\\"And while the output price component edged up slightly, it stayed at a low level, pointing to persistent deflationary pressures.\\"

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Taiwan is aiming for tariffs on its exports to the United States to be cut to ​15% from 20% now, though help in training U.S.‌ workers is not among the \\"conditions\\" figuring in their trade talks, senior Taiwan officials said ‌on Monday.

A major semiconductor producer, Taiwan has repeatedly said its offer to the United States in talks has been the \\"Taiwan model\\", to help replicate the island's success in building tech clusters around dedicated science parks.

Responding to questions in parliament, Taiwan's ⁠top trade negotiator, Jenni ‌Yang, said the aim was for the rate to be dropped to 15%.

Read more here.

Bloomberg News reports:

China complained to Malaysia and Cambodia about the trade deals they signed with the US last month, underscoring the delicate balance countries must strike in the rivalry between Beijing and Washington.

Beijing has “grave concerns” with certain portions of the US-Malaysia trade deal, Chinese Ministry of Commerce officials said in a meeting with Malaysia on Tuesday. “We hope Malaysia will fully consider and properly handle this matter in light of its long-term national interests.”

The readout added officials from the Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry explained and clarified the issues of China’s concerns, without elaborating on what those are.

The meeting follows a similar sitdown between Chinese and Cambodian officials last Tuesday, where China’s trade envoy Li Chenggang also urged Phnom Penh to handle concerns and the Cambodians clarified some issues.

Read more here.

It wasn't so long ago that a social media post from President Trump would cause a flurry of excitement among multinational companies, the media, and foreign governments. However, things may have changed. Markets and investors are no longer fazed by Trump's aggressive tariffs, according to the FT's senior trade writer Alan Beattie.

The FT reports:

Last week, having remained composed in the face of Trumpian invective against the criminal prosecution of his coup-fomenting predecessor, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was rewarded with massive cuts in US tariffs on food. Fellow Central and South American countries Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador got similar relief, and so probably will the EU.

Canada has yet to be clobbered with the additional 10 per cent tariffs Trump threatened for the heinous crime of accurately quoting Ronald Reagan in a TV ad. Reports suggest he will soften or shelve forthcoming tariffs on semiconductors. There’s a Supreme Court ruling coming up too that might force him to reconstruct the tariff wall at high speed using other legal instruments, drawing more attention to a policy that’s already unpopular with the public and businesses.

In this context, Trump’s continued pro-tariff ramblings in an attempt to turn round hostile public opinion have a slightly pathetic air. Reality has let him down, and railing at it won’t help.

In fact, there’s probably worse to come. The effects that economists predicted have so far only partially come through, not least because the big swath of tariffs promised on April’s so-called “liberation day” didn’t arrive until August and because the president has been forced to punch holes in them to relieve particular industries. Tariff revenue relative to import values remains just below 10 per cent — and that tax take is nothing close to enough to fund the supposed “tariff dividend” handout of $2,000 Trump has promised to voters.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

European Union governments want to put in place safeguards and a review clause in the tariff deal the bloc ​struck with the United States, to counter concerns that a possible surge ‌of U.S. imports could damage EU industry.

Under the end-July deal, the United States is broadly ‌imposing 15% import taxes on EU goods, while the European Union removes many of its duties on U.S. imports, a step that the European Parliament and EU governments need to approve.

Envoys from the 27-nation bloc's governments reached agreement on a common position on ⁠the legislation on Friday.

Read more here.

President Trump's tariffs have created chaos for many US small businesses. When Trump threatened 180% tariffs on Chinese imports in April, small businesses scrambled to find cheaper production facilities, with many exploring Thailand. But when rates in China were cut to 20%, the alternative factories proved more costly. As a result, orders were delayed, and many businesses were left short on stock.

Reuters reports:

\\"It's been very difficult to prepare.‌ We have sold down to extremely low stock levels - we probably have about 10% of the inventory we need,\\" he said earlier this week.

For Matt Hassett, founder of New York-based sleep wellness brand Loftie, the year-end holiday rush has always kept him on his toes.

But this time, it has turned chaotic as import tariffs ​on China, from where Loftie sources its sunrise lamps and phone-free alarm clocks, disrupted supply chain.

U.S. President Donald Trump'‌s tariff flip-flop on goods from China, a lifeline for U.S. retailers, have forced small firms such as Loftie to choose between paying steep levies or finding new suppliers at even higher cost.

November and December typically account for a third of U.S. retailers' annual profits.

Other small business owners are ‍also struggling to balance inventory and changes to supplies, risking low stocks in warehouses and shelves during Black Friday.

Brooklyn-based Lo & Sons, which sells travel bags and accessories online, scouted up to eight factories between April and June in multiple countries, including India and Cambodia, before returning to its long-time supplier in China.

Read more here.

The FT reports:

Swiss euphoria at securing lower US trade tariffs has given way to a backlash over “oligarch diplomacy” and the role executives played from companies including Rolex and Richemont.

An outline agreement Washington and Bern announced this month would reduce average US levies on Swiss industrial exports from 39 per cent to 15 per cent. Swiss officials lauded the pact as a significant achievement after months of lengthy negotiations and at times deadlock with the White House.

However, the manner in which the deal was reached has drawn criticism at home that may delay the political process needed to conclude the full agreement and could threaten its ratification.

The agreement on the broad terms of a tariff deal followed a visit to the White House by top executives from watchmaker Rolex, Cartier owner Richemont, commodity trader Mercuria, private equity firm Partners Group, shipping company MSC and refiner MKS PAMP.

The executives met President Donald Trump and gave him a specially engraved gold bar and a Rolex clock as they sought to impress upon the president the damage the 39 per cent tariffs, the highest imposed on any developed economy, were wreaking on the European nation.

The president of Switzerland’s Green party Lisa Mazzone called the deal a “poisoned chalice” and said her country obtained the concessions through “dubious methods and golden handouts”. The Greens argue the pact sacrifices Swiss agriculture by opening up the heavily protected sector to imports of US products such as beef.

Read more here.

Some of China's top companies are training their AI models overseas to access Nvidia's (NVDA) chips and bypass efforts to prevent their development of the powerful technology.

Alibaba (BABA) and ByteDance are among some of the tech groups training their largest language models in data centres across south-east Asia, according to people familiar with the matter.

The FT reports:

These people said there had been a steady increase in training in offshore locations after the Trump administration moved in April to restrict sales of the H20, Nvidia’s China-only semiconductors.

“It’s an obvious choice to come here,” said one Singapore-based data centre operator. “You need the best chips to train the most cutting-edge models and it’s all legally compliant.”

Over the past year, Alibaba’s Qwen and ByteDance’s Doubao models have become among the top-performing LLMs worldwide. Qwen has also become widely adopted outside China by developers as it is a freely available “open” model.

Data centre clusters have boomed in Singapore and Malaysia, fuelled by Chinese demand. Many of these data centres are equipped with high-end Nvidia products, similar to those used by US Big Tech groups to train LLMs.

According to those familiar with the practice, Chinese companies typically sign a lease agreement to use overseas data centres owned and operated by non-Chinese entities. This is compliant with US export controls as the Biden-era “diffusion rule” designed to close this loophole was scrapped by US President Donald Trump earlier this year.

Read more here.

The price of coffee is not going down anytime soon, according to Italian roaster Illycaffe SpA. Coffee lovers hoping for a quick fix with prices will have to wait a little longer as the expected pullback from a reduction in US tariffs will take some time to materialize.

Bloomberg News reports:

The company, known for the high-end espresso sold in silver-and-red cans, plans to raise prices again in January after two increases this year, Chief Executive Officer Cristina Scocchia said in an interview.

The cost of Arabica coffee beans surged to a record last month when US tariffs on top exporter Brazil coincided with lackluster harvests across the globe. Prices have eased slightly since US President Donald Trump expanded tariff breaks for Brazilian coffee, but still remain at historically high levels.

“There is a limit to how much a company can absorb a level of green coffee price, which is so unhealthily high,” Scocchia said, referring to the surge in unroasted bean costs. “We’ll increase the price in all the countries and in all the channels.”

Read more here.

The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it will extend tariff exemptions on hundreds of Chinese products until November 2026, citing the new trade deal between the US and China as the reason for the extension.

What this means is that the US will continue to let certain Chinese imports skip paying taxes for one year, keeping a temporary break that was already in place due to their disputes over technology and trade secrets.

Reuters reports:

\\"The extension of ​the exclusions follows the ‌historic trade and economic deal reached between President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China announced ⁠by the White ​House on ​November 1, 2025,\\" the Office ‍of ⁠the U.S. Trade Representative said in ⁠a statement.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

South Korea’s ruling party has proposed a special bill to implement the country’s $350 billion investment pledges to the US, paving the way for American tariffs on Korean automobiles to be lowered to 15% starting this month.

The submission of the bill — which outlines how the pledged investments will be executed — was a prerequisite for reducing the 25% levy on South Korean vehicles to 15%, South Korean officials have said.

“With the introduction of this special bill, the conditions are now in place to retroactively apply the tariff cut on automobiles and auto parts — from 25% to 15% — as of Nov. 1,” South Korea’s Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

South Korea notified the US Secretary of Commerce of the move and requested a prompt publication of a notice in the Federal Register to confirm the modification to the tariffs as agreed, the ministry said. The bill said that a Korea-US strategic investment fund will be established, while a separate entity dedicated to running the fund up to 20 years will be set up to ensure efficient management.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Canada will add new tariffs to a list of steel derivative products, including many US-made items, as Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to protect an industry badly hurt by the trade war and a flood of cheap Chinese metal.

Carney announced the new 25% levy Wednesday as part of a suite of measures to help steel and softwood lumber producers. The tariff will apply to products including wind towers, prefabricated buildings, fasteners and wires. About 40% of the items on the list are typically imported from the US, a government official said in a background briefing.

The new tariff will apply starting Dec. 26.

The move marks the first time Carney has added new import taxes to US products since he dropped most of Canada’s retaliatory tariffs in September. A broad 25% tariff on US steel and aluminum remains, and the prime minister has resisted calls to match Trump’s 50% levy on those metals.

Carney has struck a conciliatory tone with Trump for months in an effort to reach a deal to lower the US sectoral tariffs. But Trump called off the talks on Oct. 23 after he was angered by an Ontario government anti-tariff ad, and it appears unlikely the negotiations will resume anytime soon.

Read more here.

President Trump said on Tuesday that China's leader Xi Jinping \\"pretty much\\" agreed to expand Beijing's purchase of US agricultural products.

“I think he’s going to very much surprise you on the upside,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. “I think he’s going to — I asked him, ‘I’d like you to buy a little faster, I’d like you to buy a little more.’ And he’s more or less agreed to do that.”

Bloomberg News reports:

Trump and Xi held an hour-long phone call on Monday to discuss trade and ongoing tensions between China and Japan over Taiwan. Trump also spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to brief her on the conversation, and the US president described that discussion as “great.”

“I think that part of the world is doing fine,” Trump said.

China and Japan have been locked in a row after Takaichi said earlier this month that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could result in a military response from Tokyo. Beijing views the island as its own territory and has denounced Takaichi’s remarks, demanding a retraction.

Read more here.

The Trump administration is in talks with Taiwan on a trade deal that would commit Taiwan to fresh investment and training of US workers in chip manufacturing and other advanced industries, according to Reuters.

Under the agreement, Taiwanese companies, such as TSMC (TSM), the world's largest contract chipmaker, would invest new capital and workers to expand their US operations — and also train US workers.

Reuters reports:

Taiwan's exports to the United States are currently subject to a 20% tariff, and Taipei has been in talks to reduce that figure as part of ‌an overarching deal with Washington. Semiconductors, vital for all kinds of high-tech products, are currently exempt from tariffs while the U.S builds domestic capacity.

One of the people said the total U.S. investment to be pledged by Taiwan would be smaller than that of its main regional economic rivals, and ‌would include support to help Washington build science park infrastructure drawing on Taiwanese know-how. The person and others spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

South Korea and Japan have pledged a total of $350 billion and $550 billion in investment in the U.S., respectively, under deals to trim U.S. tariffs on most of their goods to 15% from 25%.

It was unclear when the Taiwan deal would close or what specifics would make it into the final agreement, according to the people. They cautioned that any deal terms could change until they were finalized in negotiations. The workforce training aspect of the deal has not previously been reported.

Read more here.

President Trump held back-to-back calls with the leaders of China and Japan on Monday, in an effort to maintain ties with allies in Tokyo while also trying to keep the one-year trade truce with Beijing in good standing.

Trump held an hourlong conversation with China's President Xi Jinping, marking the first time the two had spoken since their countries agreed to a trade truce. Tensions between Japan and China have escalated over recent weeks due to statements made by Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi over Taiwan.

Bloomberg News reports:

Japan’s new prime minister enraged Beijing by suggesting her nation’s troops could be drawn into a Taiwan crisis. Xi told his US counterpart Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order,” in a call the Chinese Foreign Ministry later said was “initiated by the US.”

“I just had a very good telephone call with President Xi,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without making mention of Taiwan. The two leaders discussed Ukraine and elements of the pact struck in South Korea, he added: “Now we can set our sights on the big picture.”

Hours later, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters Trump reached out to reaffirm ties with Tokyo and update her on the situation with China. “We’ve been able to further confirm the close relationship between the US and Japan,” she said. “He told me I’m a very close friend and that I could call him any time.”

Stocks in Hong Kong and China cheered Trump’s efforts to prevent ties spiraling, with a tech rally leading a rise in shares.

The row between Japan and China over Taiwan — the self-ruled island Beijing considers its territory — has injected fresh uncertainty into the Trump-Xi relationship. Any hint Washington is siding with Tokyo could imperil a truce that saw the US lower fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing agree to suspend certain restrictions on the export of rare earths.

Read more here.

The Trump administration will announce an aid package for US farmers and a deal on Chinese soybean purchases within two weeks, US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Monday.

Reuters reports:

The administration of President Donald Trump has said for months that it would issue aid for farmers hit by low crop prices and trade disputes, but has not yet issued any plan or amount for the aid. U.S. farmers lost billions in soybean sales this year as top buyer China turned to Brazil and Argentina amid tense trade talks with Washington.

\\"We'll have an announcement probably in the next week or two on what that's going to look like,\\" Rollins, the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told CNBC of the farmer aid.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said on Monday that the aid is \\"urgently needed\\" as farmers face the compounding pressures of higher input costs and lower crop prices.

In October, after Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, China agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of American soybeans through January, according to the Trump administration. China purchased nearly 1.6 million metric tons of soybeans over three days last week, its largest single-week tally in two years, buoying crop prices.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Two cargo vessels were headed for grain port terminals near New Orleans on Monday to load with the first U.S. soybean shipments to China since May, according ‌to a shipping schedule seen by Reuters.

A third vessel was en route to a Texas Gulf Coast grain ‌terminal to be loaded with China-bound U.S. sorghum in the coming days in what will be the first American shipment of the feed grain to China since mid-March, the shipping schedule showed.

U.S. farmers and grain traders have been ⁠awaiting shipments to China to ‌resume after Beijing shunned U.S. crops for months due to a trade war with Washington, costing U.S. farmers ‍billions on lost trade.

China has booked nearly 2 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans and a smaller volume of wheat since a meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in ​South Korea in late October, when the White House said Beijing agreed to ‌buy 12 million tons of soybeans by the end of the year. China has not confirmed the deal and questions about the agreement or when any sales would ship have fueled uncertainty in grain markets.

Read more here.