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

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed on Wednesday that China is on track to keep "every part" of the trade agreement made with the US last month. Bessent who spoke at the New York Times summit said: "I ​will say that China is on track to ‍keep every ⁠part of the deal, every part of the deal."

The OECD raised its forecast for US growth this year — to 2%, up from the 1.6% it had forecast in June. Still, the American economy would have grown considerably more slowly than it did in 2024 (2.8%).

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

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 Nov. 1. The move comes as South Korea has started to implement 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 also 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.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that China is on track to meet \\"every part\\" of the trade agreement reached last month between Washington and Beijing.

Reuters reports:

\\"I ​will say that China is on track to ‍keep every ⁠part of the deal, every part of the deal,\\" ⁠he said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent ​said he was very ‌optimistic about the U.S. economy next ‌year, given increased capital investments, but said interest rate cuts were needed given a ⁠weakening in ‌certain sectors including housing.

Bessent told the New ‍York Times Dealbook summit that China was on track to complete ​its commitments under a ‌U.S.-China trade agreement, including the purchase of 12 million metric tons of soybeans, which he said would be finished ⁠by the end ​of February 2026.

Read more here.

Switzerland may need to get used to US tariffs despite securing a deal last month with President Trump, according to a top Swiss trade negotiator.

Reuters reports:

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 39% tariff on Switzerland, the highest on any country in Europe, though Bern and Washington struck a preliminary agreement last month to lower the tariffs to 15%, the same rate the EU has.

Read more here.

Data from the World Trade Organization (WTO) indicate that the global goods trade slowed in the last quarter. The data found that the boost seen earlier this year from front-loading of orders ahead of US tariffs faded.

Bloomberg News reports:

“On balance, the indices show signs of moderation in global trade growth,” the WTO said.

The WTO’s goods barometer dropped to 101.8 in September from 102.2 for June, the Geneva-based organization said on Friday. The baseline of 100 indicates growth over the next quarter that’s in line with medium-term trends.

The data for air freight and container shipping “continue to signal expansion,” even as they weakened from June, “indicating a cooling-off in the transportation of goods worldwide,” the report said. The barometer’s automotive and electronics indexes stabilized and agriculture stayed in contraction, while new export orders showed improvement.

Read more here.

China is expected to increase its US soybean purchases to meet its promise to buy at least 12 million tons by the end of the year, according to multiple traders. The belief underscores a wider market hope that, at least when it comes to agriculture, the trade truce between the US and China will hold.

Bloomberg News reports:

State-owned importers including Cofco will take more shipments in the coming weeks, said traders from commercial and state buyers, who asked not to be named as they are not authorized to speak with the media. Those volumes will help China fulfill commitments made in late October, they added, though the timing and scale of shipments remains uncertain.

After Chinese leader Xi Jinping met US counterpart Donald Trump in South Korea just over a month ago, Washington said Beijing had promised to book at least 12 million tons of soybeans this year. That would be followed by additional purchases of at least 25 million tons annually over the next three years, apparently resolving a major point of disagreement. China has not officially confirmed that target, but has moved to reduce tariffs on the crop and lifted import bans on three American exporters.

Read more here.

The world economy has shown itself to be resilient in the face of President Trump's tariffs, according to data released on Tuesday from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD upgraded its outlook for global and US economic growth this year and now forecasts that the world economy will grow 3.2% this year, down slightly from 3.3% in 2024 but a big improvement on the 2.9% it predicted in June.

Its economic forecast for US growth this year has risen to 2% up from its 1.6% June forecast.

The AP reports:

The organization, which does economic research and promotes international trade and prosperity, expects global growth to slow to 2.9% next year.

Still, even with the upgrade for the US, the American economy – the world’s largest — would have grown considerably more slowly than it did in 2024 (2.8%).

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has overhauled U.S. trade policy, imposing taxes on imports to build a protectionist wall around the previously open American economy.

The trade barriers were widely expected to slow growth and push up costs. But his tariffs have come in lower than the ones he threatened to impose in the spring. Many companies beat the levies by importing foreign goods into the United States before they took effect. And the U.S. and world economies are getting a boost from massive investments in artificial intelligence.

Read more here.

US Cyber Monday spending slowed in comparison to Europe, according to data released by Salesforce (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, primarily from Europe, increased 5.3% as of 12 p.m. ET compared to the same period a year ago, US spending rose by only 2.6%. Salesforce, which tracks the transactions of 1.5 billion consumers, said global Black Friday sales grew twice as fast as those in the US.

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. 

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed that the tariff rate on imports from South Korea, which include autos, will drop to 15% retroactive to Nov. 1.

The announcement from Lutnick came on Monday, following South Korea's implementation of the country's US investment commitments.

Reuters reports:

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 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.

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.