China's smartphone champion has triumphed where Apple failed
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Reuters
7 hours ago
- Reuters
U.S. to help Argentina reenter visa waiver program, DHS says
BUENOS AIRES, July 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking steps to bring Argentina back into its visa waiver program in the coming years, the agency said on Monday during Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's visit to Buenos Aires. Argentina was part of the program between 1996 and 2002. The scheme allows citizens of certain countries to travel to the U.S. for business or tourism for up to 90 days without a visa, if their home nations meet counter-terrorism, law enforcement and immigration requirements. Noem in a statement said that Argentina had the lowest visa overstay rate among Latin American countries, and that Argentine travel to the U.S. had been increasing. She noted that Argentina had become an "even stronger friend" to the United States under President Javier Milei. Libertarian Milei has sought to align himself with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has lauded Milei's deregulation efforts and called the Argentine leader his 'favorite president." The DHS announcement comes shortly after Argentina decided to loosen visa requirements for Chinese visitors, saying those with valid U.S. entry visas would not need Argentine visas to enter the country for tourism or business.
Reuters
9 hours ago
- Reuters
Exclusive: Taiwan's Lai set to push back U.S. stopover as U.S.-China trade talks continue, sources say
WASHINGTON/TAIPEI, July 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te is set to delay a diplomatically sensitive trip his team had floated to the Trump administration for August that would have included stops in the United States, according to three people familiar with the matter. Such a trip was bound to infuriate Beijing at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to negotiate a deal on trade with China. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim Taiwan rejects, and regularly denounces any shows of support for Taipei from Washington. The trip, which could have included visits to Guatemala, Belize and Paraguay, was never formally confirmed but had been discussed with the governments involved, according to a person familiar with the matter. Lai had considered stopping in New York and Dallas on the way to and from Latin America. Lai is set to delay the trip until at least later this year for a handful of reasons, including the need to organize his government's response to extreme weather in Taiwan, one of the sources said. Two of the sources also pinned the delay on the ongoing U.S. tariff talks with Taipei and Beijing, respectively. Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials huddled in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday to resume talks. The White House and China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Taiwan's Presidential Office was not immediately available for comment late on Monday night. "There's no such thing as cancelling the trip. In fact, further arrangement for the trip will be made later this year," according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who said stopovers were likely to include Texas and another city in the U.S. mainland. Responding to media inquiries earlier on Monday, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo said once the president's overseas visit itinerary is finalized, it will be announced to the public in a timely manner. "However, considering the recent typhoon disaster recovery efforts in southern Taiwan, the U.S.-Taiwan reciprocal tariff measures and regional developments, the president currently has no plans for overseas visits in the near future," Kuo said. The decision comes as Trump has tried to lower tensions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and potentially have a summit in Asia with him this autumn. Lai has yet to visit the U.S. since Trump took office in January, though late last year he stopped over in Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam while visiting the Pacific. The U.S., like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its strongest international backer, bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. Washington is the island's top arms supplier. China has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future. Taiwan says it is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name. Trump administration spokespeople have previously said "transits of the United States by high-level Taiwan officials, including presidents, are in line with past practice, and fully consistent with our longstanding policy." China's Foreign Ministry has previously condemned what it has called "sneaky visits" to the U.S. by Taiwanese leaders under any pretext. They have said the U.S. must understand how sensitive the Taiwan issue is and act with the utmost caution.
Reuters
11 hours ago
- Reuters
Dollar gains against major peers after US-EU trade pact
NEW YORK/LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - The dollar gained against major currencies including the euro and yen on Monday with sentiment lifted by a trade agreement between the U.S. and the EU, which brings market certainty and averts a global trade war. U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached a framework trade agreement, which provides for an import tariff of 15% on EU goods, half the rate Trump had threatened from August 1. That follows last week's U.S. agreement with Japan, while top U.S. and Chinese economic officials will resume talks in Stockholm on Monday aiming to extend a truce by three months and keep sharply higher tariffs at bay. The dollar rose against the safe-haven Swiss franc , up 0.82% at 0.80155 francs. It rose against the Japanese yen , up 0.29% at 148.12. The euro was last down 0.81% at $1.164275 , set for its biggest daily loss since mid-May, reversing an initial knee-jerk rise in Asia trade as investors' focus shifted to what an easing in global trade tensions meant for the dollar overall. "While the USD's strength today may reflect the perception that the new US-EU deal is lopsided in favor of the US, the USD's strength may also reflect a feeling that the US is reengaging with the EU and with its major allies," Thierry Wizman, global FX & rates strategist at Macquarie Group, said in an investor note. "Rather than the 'divorce' between the US and its partners that was seemingly foretold in February-June, the US and its key partners are instead in 'marriage counseling', and thus still 'talking about their feelings.'" The dollar tumbled sharply earlier this year, particularly against the euro, as fears that dramatically higher tariffs on trade with most of its major partners would hurt the U.S. economy caused investors to consider shifting out of U.S. assets. Normally the gap between yields on government bonds is a major factor for currency moves, but at present the euro is significantly higher than the gap between U.S. and eurozone yields would imply. "If you think about what we expected in the beginning of the year, no one really thought that the euro is going to be so strong. We all thought that, especially post Liberation Day, that the dollar will remain strong," said Anthi Tsouvali, multi-asset strategist at UBS Wealth. "We continue to see the dollar weakening, it has consolidated recently a little bit but we think that in the long term it will get weaker." The euro fell against the yen and sterling, having hit a one-year high on the Japanese currency and a two-year high on the pound at the start of trade. , The dollar strengthens against the pound, which was 0.24% lower at $1.3422. As concerns subside about the economic fallout from punishing tariffs, investor attention is shifting to corporate earnings and central bank meetings in the United States and Japan in the next few days. Both the Fed and the Bank of Japan are expected to hold rates steady at policy meetings this week, but traders will watch subsequent comments to gauge the timing of the next moves. Investors will also be watching to see Trump's reaction to the Fed's decision. The U.S. president has been putting the Fed under heavy pressure to make significant rate cuts, and Trump appeared close to trying to fire Powell last week, but backed off with a nod to the market disruption that would likely follow. In addition, quarterly results are due in coming days from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook parent Meta Platforms META.O, opens new tab, four of the whose stocks heavily influence benchmark indexes. They matter for currency investors if strong results cause an acceleration of flows back into U.S. assets.
