South Korea Q2 GDP +0.6% q/q, stronger than expected
Gross domestic product expanded 0.6% in the April-June period from a quarter earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, after contracting 0.2% in the preceding three months.
It was stronger than the median 0.5% increase tipped in a Reuters poll and the fastest quarterly growth since the first quarter of 2024.
On an annual basis, Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 0.5% in the second quarter, compared with zero growth in the first quarter and a 0.4% expansion expected by economists.
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Reuters
21 minutes ago
- Reuters
US, Europe strike trade deal averting tariff threats
The United States has struck a framework trade deal with Europe, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, averting a spiraling row between two allies who account for almost a third of global trade.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Out-gunned Europe accepts least-worst US trade deal
LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) - In the end, Europe found it lacked the leverage to pull Donald Trump's America into a trade pact on its terms and so has signed up to a deal it can just about stomach - albeit one that is clearly skewed in the U.S.'s favour. As such, Sunday's agreement on a blanket 15% tariff after a months-long stand-off is a reality check on the aspirations of the 27-country European Union to become an economic power able to stand up to the likes of the United States or China. The cold shower is all the more bracing given that the EU has long portrayed itself as an export superpower and champion of rules-based commerce for the benefit both of its own soft power and the global economy as a whole. For sure, the new tariff that will now be applied is a lot more digestible than the 30% "reciprocal" tariff which Trump threatened to invoke in a few days. While it should ensure Europe avoids recession, it will likely keep its economy in the doldrums: it sits somewhere between two tariff scenarios the European Central Bank last month forecast would mean 0.5-0.9% economic growth this year compared to just over 1% in a trade tension-free environment. But this is nonetheless a landing point that would have been scarcely imaginable only months ago in the pre-Trump 2.0 era, when the EU along with much of the world could count on U.S. tariffs averaging out at around 1.5%. Even when Britain agreed a baseline tariff of 10% with the United States back in May, EU officials were adamant they could do better and - convinced the bloc had the economic heft to square up to Trump - pushed for a "zero-for-zero" tariff pact. It took a few weeks of fruitless talks with their U.S. counterparts for the Europeans to accept that 10% was the best they could get and a few weeks more to take the same 15% baseline which the United States agreed with Japan last week. "The EU does not have more leverage than the U.S., and the Trump administration is not rushing things," said one senior official in a European capital who was being briefed on last week's negotiations as they closed in around the 15% level. That official and others pointed to the pressure from Europe's export-oriented businesses to clinch a deal and so ease the levels of uncertainty starting to hit businesses from Finland's Nokia ( opens new tab to Swedish steelmaker SSAB ( opens new tab. "We were dealt a bad hand. This deal is the best possible play under the circumstances," said one EU diplomat. "Recent months have clearly shown how damaging uncertainty in global trade is for European businesses." That imbalance - or what the trade negotiators have been calling "asymmetry" - is manifest in the final deal. Not only is it expected that the EU will now call off any retaliation and remain open to U.S. goods on existing terms, but it has also pledged $600 billion of investment in the United States. The time-frame for that remains undefined, as do other details of the accord for now. As talks unfolded, it became clear that the EU came to the conclusion it had more to lose from all-out confrontation. The retaliatory measures it threatened totalled some 93 billion euros - less than half its U.S. goods trade surplus of nearly 200 billion euros. True, a growing number of EU capitals were also ready to envisage wide-ranging anti-coercion measures that would have allowed the bloc to target the services trade in which the United States had a surplus of some $75 billion last year. But even then, there was no clear majority for targeting the U.S. digital services which European citizens enjoy and for which there are scant homegrown alternatives - from Netflix (NFLX.O), opens new tab to Uber (UBER.N), opens new tab to Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab cloud services. It remains to be seen whether this will encourage European leaders to accelerate the economic reforms and diversification of trading allies to which they have long paid lip service but which have been held back by national divisions. Describing the deal as a painful compromise that was an "existential threat" for many of its members, Germany's BGA wholesale and export association said it was time for Europe to reduce its reliance on its biggest trading partner. "Let's look on the past months as a wake-up call," said BGA President Dirk Jandura. "Europe must now prepare itself strategically for the future - we need new trade deals with the biggest industrial powers of the world."
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
US-EU deal sets a 15% tariff on most goods and averts the threat of a trade war with a global shock
The United States and the European Union agreed on Sunday to a trade framework setting a 15% tariff on most goods, staving off — at least for now — far higher imports on both sides that might have sent shockwaves through economies around the globe. The sweeping announcement came after President Donald Trump and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen met briefly at Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland. Their private sit-down culminated months of bargaining, with the White House deadline Friday nearing for imposing punishing tariffs on the EU's 27-member countries. 'It was a very interesting negotiation. I think it's going to be great for both parties,' Trump said. The agreement, he said, was 'a good deal for everybody' and 'a giant deal with lots of countries.' Von der Leyen said the deal 'will bring stability, it will bring predictability, that's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.' Many facets will require more work As with other, recent tariff agreements that Trump announced with countries including Japan and the United Kingdom, some major details remain pending in this one. Trump said the EU had agreed to buy some $750 billion worth of U.S. energy and invest $600 billion more than it already is in America — as well as make a major military equipment purchase. He said tariffs 'for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15%' and meant that U.S. exporters 'have the opening up of all of the European countries.' Von der Leyen said the 15% tariffs were 'across the board, all inclusive' and that 'indeed, basically the European market is open.' At a later news conference away from Turnberry, she said that the $750 billion in additional U.S. energy purchases was actually over the next three years — and would help ease the dependance on natural gas from Russia among the bloc's countries. 'When the European union and the United States work together as partners, the benefits are tangible,' Von der Leyen said, noting that the agreement 'stabilized on a single, 15% tariff rate for the vast majority of EU exports" including cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. '15% is a clear ceiling,' she said. But von der Leyen also clarified that such a rate wouldn't apply to everything, saying that both sides agreed on 'zero for zero tariffs on a number of strategic products,' like all aircraft and component parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. It is unclear if alcohol will be included in that list. 'And we will keep working to add more products to this list,' she said, while also stressing that the 'framework means the figures we have just explained to the public, but, of course, details have to be sorted out. And that will happen over the next weeks' Further EU approval needed In the meantime, there will be work to do on other fronts. Von der Leyen had a mandate to negotiate because the European Commission handles trade for member countries. But the Commission should now present the deal to member states and EU lawmakers — who will ultimately decide whether or not to approve it. Before their meeting began, Trump pledged to change what he characterized as 'a very one-sided transaction, very unfair to the United States.' "I think both sides want to see fairness,' the Republican president told reporters. Von der Leyen said the U.S. and EU combined have the world's largest trade volume, encompassing hundreds of millions of people and trillions of dollars and added that Trump was 'known as a tough negotiator and dealmaker." 'But fair,' Trump said. Trump has spent months threatening most of the world with large tariffs in hopes of shrinking major U.S. trade deficits with many key trading partners. More recently, he had hinted that any deal with the EU would have to 'buy down' a tariff rate of 30% that had been set to take effect. But during his comments before the agreement was announced, the president was sked if he'd be willing to accept tariff rates lower than 15%, and said 'no.' First golf, then trade talk Their meeting came after Trump played golf for the second straight day at Turnberry, this time with a group that included sons Eric and Donald Jr. In addition to negotiating deals, Trump's five-day visit to Scotland is built around golf and promoting properties bearing his name. A small group of demonstrators at the course waved American flags and raised a sign criticizing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who plans his own Turnberry meeting with Trump on Monday. Other voices could be heard cheering and chanting 'Trump! Trump!' as he played nearby. On Tuesday, Trump will be in Aberdeen, in northeastern Scotland, where his family has another golf course and is opening a third next month. The president and his sons plan to help cut the ribbon on the new course. The U.S. and EU seemed close to a deal earlier this month, but Trump instead threatened the 30% tariff rate. The deadline for the Trump administration to begin imposing tariffs has shifted in recent weeks but is now firm and coming Friday, the administration insists. 'No extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set, they'll go into place, Customs will start collecting the money and off we go," U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told 'Fox News Sunday" before the EU deal was announced. He added, however, that even after that 'people can still talk to President Trump. I mean, he's always willing to listen.' Without an agreement, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes. If Trump eventually followed through on his threat of tariffs against Europe, meanwhile, it could have made everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the United States. 'I think it's great that we made a deal today, instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all,' Trump said. 'I think it's the biggest deal ever made.' __ Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Cincinnati and Samuel Petrequin in London contributed to this report.
