The US Supreme Court is poised in the weeks ahead to decide the legality of the majority of President Trump's tariffs. 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.

As he has publicly braced for the high court's decision, Trump has 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. 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 also in recent days floated the possibility of reducing — or completely eliminating — personal income tax.

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

The US announced a major pharmaceuticals deal with the UK on Monday, which will lead to zero import tariffs on pharmaceutical products. The news, 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.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has announced that the general tariff rate on imports from South Korea , which includes autos, will drop to 15% retroactive to November 1 because South Korea has started to implement the its US investment commitments.

The Trump administration is negotiating a deal that would commit Taiwan to new investment and training of US workers in semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced industries. Taiwan is pushing for tariffs on its goods to be cut to 15%.

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 last week since the US and China struck a trade and tariff truce.

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 said 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.

US Cyber Monday spending slowed in comparison to Europe, according to data released by Salesforce Inc. (CRM). This is seen as a new phenomenon and reflects the impact of President Trump's trade war on consumer spending.

While global online spending, mainly from Europe, rose 5.3% as of 12 pm ET compared with a year ago, US spending rose by only 2.6%. Salesforce, which tracks the transactions of 1.5 billion consumers, said that Black Friday spending grew twice as fast as US sales.

Trump has said that he plans to take action to help US consumers feeling the pinch due to tariffs, such as cutting income tax due to the revenue from tariffs, alongside providing Americans with a $2,000 tariff \\"dividend\\" check.

Bloomberg News reports:

Online holiday spending typically rises more quickly in the US, said Caila Schwartz, Salesforce’s director of consumer insights. She attributes this year’s result to tariff-stung US shoppers and the economic boost European countries are seeing from a series of interest rate cuts that began last year. The estimate could change if US shoppers stampede online in the final hours of Cyber Monday.

“After a relatively soft 2024 in key markets like the UK, Germany and France, coupled with the lowering of interest rates, the EU consumer is ready to buy this Cyber Week,” Schwartz said in an interview.

The trade war, government shutdown and weakening labor market are weighing on consumer confidence and making it hard to predict how the holiday shopping season will go this year.

Adobe Inc. (ADBE) issued a slightly more bullish forecast for Cyber Monday in the US than Salesforce, projecting that consumers will spend 6.3% more than they did a year earlier. In an update, the firm said Cyber Monday sales in the US were up 4.5% as of 6:30 pm New York time to $9.1 billion, with peak spending hours of the late evening still to come. Hot-selling items included luggage, exercise equipment, video games and blankets, according to Adobe.

Read more here. 

Reuters reports:

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday confirmed that the general tariff ​rate on imports from South Korea, including on autos, would ‌drop to 15% retroactive to November 1 because South Korea has introduced legislation in parliament to ‌implement the country's strategic U.S. investment commitments.

In a statement posted on X, Lutnick said that the move unlocks the \\"full benefit\\" of South Korea's trade deal with President Donald Trump.

\\"In response, the U.S.⁠ will lower certain tariffs ‌under the deal — including auto tariffs — to 15%, effective November 1. We are ‍also removing tariffs on airplane parts and will 'un-stack' Korea’s reciprocal rate to match Japan and the EU.\\"

The bilateral trade deal also caps any future national security ​tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals at 15%, putting South Korea on ‌an equal footing with key Asian rivals Japan and Taiwan.

Read more here.

The US announced a major deal on Monday to secure zero tariffs on British pharmaceutical imports and medical device technology in return for Britain spending more on medicines and overhauling how it values drugs.

Under the new deal, the UK will raise the net price it pays for new US medicines by 25%. In return, UK-made drugs and medical devices will be exempt from Section 232 sectoral tariffs and any future Section 301 country ‌tariffs.

Reuters reports:

\\"The United States and the United Kingdom announce this negotiated outcome pricing for innovative pharmaceuticals, which will help drive investment and innovation in both countries,\\" United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.

UK CHANGES SYSTEM FOR ASSESSING IF DRUGS ARE COST-EFFECTIVE

The ‌deal includes a significant change to the value appraisal framework at NICE, the UK body that determines whether new drugs are cost-effective for the NHS.

NICE's \\"quality-adjusted life year\\" threshold, currently 30,000 pounds ($39,789) per year, will rise to 35,000 pounds.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

US manufacturing contracted for the ninth straight month in November, with factories facing slumping orders and higher prices for inputs as the drag from import tariffs persisted.

The Institute for Supply Management survey on Monday also showed some manufacturers in the transportation equipment industry linking layoffs to President Donald Trump's sweeping duties, saying they were ​\\"starting to institute more permanent changes due to the tariff environment.\\" They added \\"this includes reduction of staff, new guidance to shareholders and development of additional offshore manufacturing that would have otherwise been ‌for U.S. export.\\"

Trump in May imposed 25% 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 Republican president has issued some tariff relief since then on parts and ‌engines. A new 25% duty on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks and parts came into effect on November 1.

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.

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.