US President Donald Trump said Friday he no longer feels the need for a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this month, slamming Beijing for hostile trade practices and threatening "massive" tariffs.

US and European stock markets mostly rose while Asian equities fell as investors also kept tabs on the AI investment boom and the prospect of further US interest rate cuts this year.

The WTO raised its forecast for trade volume growth in 2025 to 2.4 percent -- up from 0.9 percent in August -- and slashed its 2026 outlook from 1.8 percent to 0.5 percent.

Hanoi, Vietnam -- Vietnam recorded economic growth of 8.2 percent in the third quarter, among the highest increases in more than a decade, the government said Sunday, despite fresh US tariffs taking effect. Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang said the figure -- excluding the surge in 2022 driven by a...

The Fed's likely move would follow a monthslong push from President Donald Trump to slash rates, and comes amid growing concern about political pressure on the independent central bank.

Paris, France -- Global oil supply hit a record high in August as OPEC+ and other countries ramped up production, with a looming surplus keeping prices in check, the International Energy Agency said Thursday. Eight key members of OPEC+ group, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, have been gradually increasing production...

Gains for oil prices were relatively modest, while gas futures were unmoved after Israel's strikes Tuesday against Hamas in gas-rich Qatar. Gold, a traditional safe haven investment, traded close to its recent record highs.

Oil ministers in the V8 grouping -- comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman -- decided to increase production by 137,000 barrels a day (bpd) from next month.

Beijing, China -- China's factory output ticked up in August but still recorded a fifth straight month of contraction, official data showed Sunday, as Beijing and Washington press on with trade talks. The Purchasing Managers' Index -- a key measure of industrial output -- was 49.4, the National Bureau of...

Dubai, UAE -- The United Arab Emirates has continued to attract global companies looking to establish regional or global headquarters. In 2025, several major corporations, including PayPal and Veon, have either announced or completed the relocation of their headquarters to the UAE. This trend is supported by the country's legislative...

The Trump administration said late last month that it will abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the United States from August 29.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports rose by 17.8 percent in the second quarter of 2025, according to official data. The increase included a 46.2 percent rise in re-exports, while national non-oil exports excluding re-exports grew by 5.6 percent, the General Authority for Statistics of Saudi Arabia reported....

Mumbai, India -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to slash consumption taxes on everyday goods could deliver billions of dollars in annual relief and boost demand in an economy bracing for painful US tariffs, experts say. US President Donald Trump has threatened to double import duties on India from...

Last year, the Fed chair used his keynote speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium to indicate the time had come for interest rate cuts. This time, however, the picture is murkier.

Hong Kong, China - Asian markets edged mostly upward in muted morning trading on Thursday, one day before a key speech expected to offer signals about future interest rate cuts in the United States. US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has resisted public demands by President Donald Trump to...

Washington, United States -- President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the US central bank Wednesday, calling for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to step down -- after his recent criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates sooner. "Cook must resign, now!!!" Trump wrote on his...

Markets were also waiting for a key speech by the US Federal Reserve chief this week for clues on interest rate cuts that could bolster the world's biggest economy.

Muscat, Oman -- The latest data released by the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat) showed that the value of gross national income (the total income earned by citizens and companies) of the GCC countries at current prices in 2023 amounted to...

"I'll be setting tariffs next week and the week after, on steel and, I would say, chips. Chips and semiconductors, we'll be setting sometime next week, the week after," Trump said.

Bitcoin hit a new peak at $124,514.59 in Asian trading, before cooling to around $121,500. The world's biggest cryptocurrency is benefitting from expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut US interest rates before 2026.

Human Health and Social Work activities registered the highest growth rate, rising 26 percent compared to the same period last year.

The two former Soviet republics "are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Trump said at the event.

The figure, calculated by the two organizations, stands in contrast with the 2.4 percent rate in force at the time of President Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20.

The US president unveiled the levy at the White House on Wednesday ahead of the imposition of sweeping tariffs on goods from dozens of countries, with chips so far exempt. It comes with the United States and China locked in a high-stakes race to develop the high-end semiconductors used to...

Since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's new authorities have worked to attract investment for the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed in the country's devastating civil war.

We’re witnessing a period of dramatic adjustment in international trade, as tariffs and geopolitical tensions disrupt or reorient supply chains. However, despite these upheavals, globalization is unlikely to abate. History has shown that even the most challenging twists and turns cannot put a brake on its forward momentum.

The tariffs are a demonstration of raw economic power that Trump sees putting US exporters in a stronger position while encouraging domestic manufacturing by keeping out foreign imports.

The last-gasp scramble to strike bilateral accords came as an appeals court in Washington considered the legality behind Trump's strategy of invoking emergency economic powers to declare sweeping duties on imports.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.9 percent in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), flash estimates of GDP for Q2 2025, released today by the General Authority for Statistics...

Looking ahead, the IMF expects the world economy to expand 3.1 percent next year, an improvement from the 3.0 percent it earlier predicted.

Muscat, Oman -- The nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries reached US$587.8 billion by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, up from US$579 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, reflecting a growth rate of 1.5 percent. The latest...

Washington, United States -- The US deadline of August 1 for imposing tariffs on its trading partners is firm and there will be no extensions, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday. "So no extensions, no more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set. They'll go into place. Customs will...

Policymakers at the independent Federal Reserve have kept the benchmark lending rate steady since the start of the year as they monitor how Trump's sweeping tariffs are impacting the world's biggest economy.

When both governments and international institutions are explicitly warning businesses about geopolitical risks, traditional corporate approaches to navigating international relations are no longer sufficient. The solution isn't merely better government relations or enhanced risk management; it's the emergence of an entirely new C-suite role: the Chief Geopolitical Officer (CGO), he...

Chinese Premier Li Qiang dismissed EU fears over Beijing's allegedly excessive subsidies to its industry, telling the bloc's leaders "we can't afford it" in markedly candid remarks during a tense summit.

Abu Dhabi, UAE --  Renewables maintain their cost leadership in global power markets, IRENA’s new report on Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024 confirms. The report confirms that renewables maintained their price advantage over fossil fuels, with cost declines driven by technological innovation, competitive supply chains, and economies of scale....

US indices were near record highs two hours into the Wall Street session with all eyes on an incoming earnings reports, notably for streaming giant Netflix.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday condemned US President Donald Trump's threat to impose 30-percent tariffs on the European Union, calling on the bloc to "resolutely defend European interests."

In its latest annual report on the outlook for oil demand, OPEC sees global oil demand rising by 18.6 percent from 103.7 million barrels per day in 2024 to around 123 mbd in 2050.

After Congress gave Trump a big win last week with his fiscal package, the Republican's aggressive trade posture has returned with a vengeance this week. On Tuesday, he added threatened levies on copper and pharmaceuticals to a laundry list of countries warned of higher tariffs.

While Trump imposed a sweeping 10 percent tariff on goods from almost all trading partners in April, higher rates customized to dozens of economies were unveiled, then halted until July 9. But the president this week again delayed their reimposition, pushing it back to August 1.

BRICS leaders on Sunday described Trump's stop-start tariff wars as "indiscriminate", damaging, and illegal, drawing a quick rebuke from the pugilistic US president.

Washington, United States -- US tariffs will kick in on August 1 if trading partners from Taiwan to the European Union do not strike deals with Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday. The rates will "boomerang back" to the sometimes very high levels which President Donald Trump had announced...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro from Sunday are expected to decry US President Donald Trump's "indiscriminate" trade tariffs, saying they are illegal and risk hurting the global economy. Emerging nations, which represent about half the world's population and 40 percent of global economic...

Jakarta, Indonesia -- Indonesia broke ground Sunday on a $5.9 billion megaproject for EV battery production backed by Chinese giant CATL, despite NGOs raising concerns over a lack of environmental guarantees. Indonesia is the world's largest nickel producer and it is trying to capitalize on its vast reserves, with a...

The deal will see US companies benefit from a "side-by-side" solution under which they will only be taxed at home, on both domestic and foreign profits, the G7 said in a statement released by Canada, which holds the group's rotating presidency.

Dubai, UAE -- A planned trade corridor linking the landlocked Sahel to the Atlantic is at the heart of an ambitious Moroccan project to tackle regional instability and consolidate its grip on disputed Western Sahara. The "Atlantic Initiative" promises ocean access to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger through a new...

Beirut, Lebanon -- The World Bank announced on Wednesday it had approved $250 million to support Lebanon's post-war reconstruction and a $146 million grant to rehabilitate neighboring Syria's electricity sector. Lebanon is reeling from last year's devastating war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, while Syria faces massive needs after Islamist-led...

The Fed has a duty to prevent a one-time spike in prices from becoming an "ongoing inflation problem," said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before the House Committee on Financial Services.

Economists at MUFG warned of "high uncertainty of the outcomes and duration of this war", giving a "scenario analysis" of an oil price increase of $10 per barrel.