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

China's trade surplus in goods exceeded $1 trillion for the first time this year. Meaning it exported more goods to other countries than it imported. Its US shipments, however, dropped 29% due to the trade war between the US and China.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Politico that Trump is considering exiting the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Currently, under the USMCA, both Canada and Mexico pay little to no tariffs on products that meet the agreement's rule of origin.

Trump praised Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday, saying the executive is a "smart man" and aware of the chips that his company is allowed to give to China. "He knows," Trump said.

Several US companies, such as Costco (COST), have filed lawsuits and claims to the US government for tariff refunds in the belief Trump's tariffs will be struck down by the US Supreme Court. If the courts rule against Trump's tariffs, the president may be forced to repay billions of dollars in collected revenue from imports, according to a report in the New York Times.

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

China's trade surplus in goods exceeded $1 trillion for the first time this year. Meaning it exported more goods to other countries than it imported. Its US shipments, however, dropped 29% due to the trade war between the US and China, which began after President Trump announced his \\"Liberation Day\\" tariffs in April.

In the first 11 months of the year, China's trade surplus was $1.076T, according to data released by Beijing's customs administration. The record surplus comes in the wake if a de-escalation in trade tensions between the US and China, which resulted in a one-year truce being agreed in October.

But China's export success has drawn criticism from trading partners, such as France, with President Macron pointing to “unbearable” imbalances on a visit to the country last week.

The FT reports:

The data on Monday showed exports rose 5.9 per cent in November on a year earlier, after they fell unexpectedly in October.

Imports rose 1.9 per cent in November, leading to a surplus of $112bn for the month.

China’s exports to the US have cratered in recent months, and fell 29 per cent last month year on year. But shipments to other regions, especially south-east Asia, have grown rapidly. Economists believe some of these shipments to south-east Asia, which added 8 per cent last month, are later trans-shipped to the US.

“I think the crux of the matter . . . is that the US hasn’t clamped down on trans-shipments of goods via third-party countries,” said Carlos Casanova, senior economist for Asia at UBP.

He said US demand had been “stable”, adding: “Because you don’t see a decline in US demand, the region continues to see a surge in exports, and China is benefiting indirectly from that.”

Beijing has relied heavily on exports to drive economic activity amid weak domestic demand and a property slowdown now entering its fifth year.

Read more here.

China's exports are likely to have returned to growth in November, following a dip in October. Manufacturers rushed to move inventory to take advantage of the one-year trade truce with the US.

Reuters reports:

In a deal in late October ‌that followed a sharp escalation in tensions between the world's top two economies, President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart ‌Xi Jinping agreed to trim their tariffs and pause a raft of other measures.

Outbound shipments from the world's second-biggest economy in November were expected to have risen by 3.8% by value year-on-year, according to the median forecast of 20 economists in a Reuters poll, after a 1.1% contraction a ⁠month earlier - the worst performance since ‌February.

Imports were forecast to have climbed 2.8%, compared with a lacklustre 1.0% gain the month earlier, as a protracted property slump continues to drag ‍on consumer confidence and the broader economy.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

IKEA plans to source more products from factories in the United States, the Swedish furniture group's top supply chain executive told Reuters, as President Donald Trump's tariffs drive up the cost of importing bookcases, mattresses and sofas.

This marks a big shift for ‌IKEA after the share of the company's U.S.-made products declined over the past decade. Inter IKEA, the brand franchiser, used to have a factory in ‌Danville, Virginia, but shut it in 2019 and moved production back to Europe.

IKEA's push to source products closer to where it sells them aims to support the retailer's expansion in the U.S., its second-biggest market, and the wider region, where it has stores in Canada, Mexico, Chile and Colombia, with plans to open in Costa Rica and Panama.

\\"We are designing our supply chain network to ⁠be much more resilient, robust, and responsive,\\" ‌Susanne Waidzunas, Global Supply Manager at Inter IKEA said in an interview with Reuters, adding that the company's stores in North and South America are very dependent on furniture being shipped in, ‍with long lead times.

Read more here.

China signalled on Thursday that it might be open to relaxing restrictions on rare earth exports, after Beijing introduced curbs which caused turmoil for businesses globally.

\\"To my knowledge, the Chinese government has promptly authorized all compliant export applications for civilian purposes,\\" said spokesman He Yadong from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

The one-year trade truce reached between President Trump and China's Xi Jinping last month helped suspend the October restrictions Beijing placed on rare earth materials.

DPA reports:

At the same time, Beijing was \\"actively\\" applying facilitative measures such as general licences to promote compliant trade in dual-use goods and maintain the security of global production and supply chains, he added.

Beijing imposed export restrictions on rare earths in April amid a trade dispute with the United States.

China is the world's leading producer of rare earths, which are highly sought-after in industry as well as in the high-tech and defence sectors.

Read more here.

President Trump is considering withdrawing from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), according to a report in Politico on Thursday. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told the publication that Trump may decide next year to withdraw from the USMCA.

The USMCA is a free trade agreement, and its main function is to allow most products that meet its primary rules of origin to be traded between the US, Canada, and Mexico largely duty-free.

The agreement this year has taken much of the bite out of Trump's warnings toward Canada and Mexico, as only certain goods face the hefty tariffs the president has imposed or threatened on the US's neighbors.

Politico reports:

“I mean, that’s always a scenario,” Greer said. “The president’s view is he only wants deals that are a good deal. The reason why we built a review period into USMCA was in case we needed to revise it, review it or exit it.”

— Reminder: One of Trump’s time-honored negotiation tactics is to threaten the wrecking ball. He mused about tearing up the North American Free Trade Agreement during the negotiations that led to USMCA.

— Side deals: Greer also raised the idea of negotiating separately with Canada and Mexico and dividing the agreement into two parts. He said he talked with Trump about that possibility just this week.

“Our relationship with the Canadian economy is totally different than our relationship with the Mexican economy,” Greer said. “I mean, the labor situation is different. The stuff that’s being made is different. The export and import profile is different. It actually doesn’t make a ton of economic sense why we would marry those three together.”

Read more here.

President Trump praised Nvidia's (NVDA) CEO, Jensen Huang, on Wednesday and said the executive was aware of where he stood regarding export controls on Nvidia AI chips.

Trump called Huang a \\"smart man\\" when questioned about the meeting. The US president also added that he made clear to Huang his views on export controls and the types of chips that the company is allowed to give to China.

Reuters reports:

\\"He knows,\\" Trump said.

Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Huang's meeting with Trump comes as ⁠the administration is considering whether ‌to allow Nvidia to sell its H200 chips, which are one generation behind its current flagship chips, to China.

Huang was in ‍the U.S. capital meeting with lawmakers, where he told them that state-by-state U.S. regulations would slow the progress of AI development, he told CNBC.

Nvidia had also opposed a separate proposed ​piece of legislation that would have required it to offer to sell its ‌chips to U.S. customers before obtaining licenses to sell those chips to \\"countries of concern.\\" Nvidia had argued the bill would restrict global competition in AI markets.

Read more here.

Businesses across the US are lining up for tariff refunds and betting that the US Supreme Court will rule against President Trump's tariffs, as they believe Trump will be forced to repay billions of dollars collected on imports.

From Costco (COST) to Bumble Bee Foods, several companies have hired lawyers and filed claims to the US government in the hope that they will receive a payout if Trump's tariffs are struck down.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule, but it seems companies are waiting in the wings to see if the verdict goes against Trump's flagship tariffs.

The New York Times reports:

For the moment, the fate of the money collected from his sweeping tariffs rests in the hands of the Supreme Court justices. At oral arguments last month, they seemed skeptical of the president’s vast assertions of power to tax imports at a whim, stoking suspicions that they could deliver a defining blow to Mr. Trump’s economic strategy.

A ruling against the president could also force the Trump administration to pay back a substantial portion of the roughly $200 billion it has collected in duties since the start of the year. While the Supreme Court offered little indication as to whether it would order such refunds, some businesses have started the legal legwork to obtain them anyway, aiming to beat the rush and recover their full tariff costs.

The latest lawsuit arrived on Friday, as lawyers for Costco asked a federal trade court to invalidate the president’s tariffs and “ensure that its right to a complete refund is not jeopardized” as the justices deliberate.

Read more here.

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.