Reuters

Ukraine, sidelined in Trump-Putin summit

Small bands of Russian soldiers thrust deeper into eastern Ukraine on Tuesday before a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, which European leaders fear could end in peace terms imposed on an unlawfully shrunken Ukraine.

In one of the most extensive incursions so far this year, Russian troops advanced near the coal-mining town of Dobropillia, part of Putin’s campaign to take full control of Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

Ukraine’s military dispatched reserve troops, saying they were in difficult combat against Russian soldiers.

Trump has said any peace deal would involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Russia and Ukraine, which has depended on the U.S. as its main arms supplier.

But because all the areas being contested lie within Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his European Union allies fear that he will face pressure to give up far more than Russia does.

In the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, Putin and Trump will meet on Friday at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, two White House officials said.

Trump’s administration on Tuesday tempered expectations for major progress toward a ceasefire, calling the summit a “listening exercise.”

Along that line, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the president wanted to size up Putin directly.

“The president feels like, look, I’ve got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face to face. I need to hear him one on one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him,” Rubio told WABC radio in New York on Tuesday.

Zelenskiy and most of his European counterparts have said a lasting peace cannot be secured without Ukraine at the negotiating table, and a deal must comply with international law, Ukraine’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity.

Read more: Zelensky warns on ‘decisions without Ukraine’ before US-Russia summit

They will hold a virtual meeting with Trump on Wednesday to underscore those concerns before the Putin summit.

“Substantive and productive talks about us without us will not work,” Zelenskiy said in an interview on Tuesday with NewsNation. “Just as I cannot say anything about another state or make decisions for it.”

Zelenskiy has said Russia must agree to a ceasefire before territorial issues are discussed. He would reject any Russian proposal that Ukraine pull its troops from the eastern Donbas region and cede its defensive lines.

Asked why Zelenskiy was not joining the U.S. and Russian leaders at the Alaska summit, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters the bilateral meeting had been proposed by Putin, and Trump accepted to get a “better understanding” of “how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.”

Trump is open to a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskiy later, Leavitt said.

August 13, 2025
South Korea’s former first lady arrested

South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee has been arrested after a court late on Tuesday issued a warrant to arrest her following accusations of graft that she denies, a special prosecutor leading a wide-reaching probe said.

Kim is South Korea’s only former first lady to be arrested, joining her husband, ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, in jail as he faces trial following his ouster in April over a botched bid to impose martial law in December.

Earlier in the day, Kim, wearing a black suit, bowed as she arrived at court, but did not answer reporters’ questions or make a statement. After the hearing ended she left to await the ruling at a detention centre in Seoul, the capital, in line with customary practice.

The court issued the warrant for Kim’s detention, the special prosecutor appointed in early June said in a brief message. The prosecutor’s office did not provide further details.

The charges against her, punishable by years in prison, range from stock fraud to bribery and illegal influence peddling that have implicated business owners, religious figures and a political power broker.

She has been accused of breaking the law over an incident in which she wore a luxury Van Cleef pendant reportedly worth more than 60 million won ($43,000) while attending a NATO summit with her husband in 2022.

The item was not listed in the couple’s financial disclosure as required by law, according to the charge.

Kim is also accused of receiving two Chanel bags together valued at 20 million won and a diamond necklace from a religious group as a bribe in return for influence favourable to its business interests.

Read more: South Korean region hit by most rainfall in 120 years

The prosecution sought Kim’s arrest because of the risk of her destroying evidence and interfering with the investigation, a spokesperson for the special prosecutor’s team told a press briefing after Tuesday’s hearing.

The court accepted the argument on the risk of destroying evidence, Yonhap news reported.

The spokesperson, Oh Jeong-hee, said Kim had told prosecutors the pendant she wore was a fake bought 20 years ago in Hong Kong.

The prosecution said it was genuine, however, and given by a domestic construction company for Kim to wear at the summit, Oh said.

Kim’s lawyers did not immediately comment on Tuesday but they have previously denied the accusations against her and dismissed as groundless speculation news reports about some of the gifts she allegedly received.

Yoon is on trial on charges of insurrection, which could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

The former president, who also faces charges of abuse of power among others, has denied wrongdoing and refused to attend trial hearings or be questioned by prosecutors.

August 13, 2025
Spirit Airlines raises doubts months after exiting bankruptcy

Aug 12, 2025: Spirit Airlines has warned of going-concern doubts, just months after emerging from bankruptcy as weak domestic demand and dwindling cash reserves strain its operations, sending its shares tumbling 42%.

Adverse market conditions such as elevated domestic capacity and weak demand for leisure travel in the second quarter has resulted in a tough pricing environment for airline, it said in its quarterly report on Monday.

The company expects these pressures to persist through the rest of the year, adding to operational uncertainty. Last month, Spirit said it would furlough about 270 pilots, while demoting another 140, to conserve cash.

Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy protection

“Its liquidity covenants require faster financial improvement than is currently expected,” said Tim Hynes, head of Global Credit Research at Debtwire.

The Florida-based airline, known for its bright yellow livery, had filed for bankruptcy protection last November, after years of losses, failed merger attempts and heavy debt.

It was the first major U.S. carrier to file for Chapter 11 since 2011. It emerged from bankruptcy in March after a court approved restructuring backed by its creditors.
Uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and budget cuts have prompted travelers to curb spending and reassess plans.

The airline said on Monday that its credit-card processor has asked it to set aside more funds as collateral or risk losing its contract, which is set to expire on Dec. 31.

To address the concerns, Spirit said it plans to bolster liquidity by selling or monetizing aircraft and real estate and shedding excess airport gate capacity.

Uncertainty over meeting minimum liquidity covenants and the outcome of talks with stakeholders have raised substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern over the next 12 months, it said.

August 12, 2025
Companies plan stablecoins under new US law

Washington: Financial companies from Bank of America to Fiserv are preparing to launch their own dollar-backed crypto tokens now that a new U.S. law has established the first-ever rules for stablecoins, but experts warn the path forward could be anything but simple.

U.S. President Donald Trump on July 18 signed the GENIUS Act into law, setting federal rules and guidelines for cryptocurrency tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar known as stablecoins. This U.S. law, the first designed to facilitate crypto usage, could pave the way for the digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money, experts said.

The use of stablecoins, designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 U.S. dollar peg, has exploded in recent years, notably among crypto traders moving funds to and from other tokens, such as bitcoin and ether.

Now, a slate of companies are entertaining their own stablecoin strategies to capitalize on the promise of instant payments and settlement that stablecoins offer. Payments on traditional banking rails can take several days to arrive, or take even longer across international borders.

Among the companies considering stablecoins are Walmart and Amazon, the Wall Street Journal reported in June. Walmart and Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

However, the new law will not immediately open the floodgates, experts said. The newfound opportunity to dabble in stablecoins can lead to numerous tricky considerations for firms, both strategic and technical.

Companies have to embark on a lengthy process to deploy their own stablecoins, or decide whether it makes more sense to integrate existing stablecoins, like issuer Circle’s USDC, into their business.

Companies first have to decide the purpose of their stablecoins. For example, a retail platform could make a stablecoin available to customers to buy goods, which could appeal to crypto-savvy users. Some companies could use them internally for cross-border payments, given that stablecoins can enable near-instant payments, often with lower fees.

How a company plans to use a stablecoin could affect whether it creates a stablecoin or works with a partner.

“The intended use is going to matter a lot,” said Stephen Aschettino, a partner at Steptoe. “Is this something really designed to drive customers to engage with the issuer, or is the issuer’s primary motivation to have a stablecoin that is more ubiquitous?”

For nonbanks, stablecoins will bring new compliance costs and oversight requirements, given that the GENIUS Act requires issuers to comply with anti-money laundering and “know your customer” (KYC) requirements.

“Those that already have robust KYC risk management and regulatory change management programs or working towards implementing these program elements may have a competitive advantage,” said Jill DeWitt, senior director of compliance and third-party risk management solutions at Moody’s.

One group likely to enjoy that advantage is banks, which are no strangers to screening for sanctions-related risks and verifying the identities of their customers.

Bank of America and Citigroup are actively considering issuing their own stablecoins, the CEOs of both banks said in earnings calls last month. Others like Morgan Stanley are closely monitoring stablecoin developments. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank will be involved in stablecoins, without giving details.

Banks need to weigh several factors before going live with stablecoins, including how holding the tokens might affect liquidity requirements, said Julia Demidova, head of digital currencies product and strategy at FIS.

Banks holding assets like stablecoins on their balance sheets might be required to hold more capital under current U.S. bank rules.
“The GENIUS Act is great, but if the bank is treating their stablecoin on the balance sheet under prudential banking regulation, you still need to look at the risk weight of the asset,” she said.

Another crucial question is how to issue stablecoins. Like other cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are created on a blockchain, a digital ledger that records transactions.

Hundreds of blockchain networks exist today, two of the most popular being ethereum and solana. Both are considered public or “permissionless” blockchains because all transactions on those networks are available for anyone to see.

Still, it is unclear which attribute companies issuing stablecoins would prioritize. Banks, in particular, could opt for their own private, or “permissioned,” blockchains instead, Demidova said.

“The banks would desire and demand that very clear governance and structure,” she said. “In that permissionless environment, you don’t have the governance and controls in place.”

Others like said Nassim Eddequiouaq, CEO of Bastion, a provider of infrastructure for companies to issue their own stablecoins, see merits to permissionless blockchains.

“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of interest for existing blockchains that have seen user adoption, that have been battle tested at scale, including during activity spikes,” he said.

Although the GENIUS Act has been signed into law, its effective date is potentially several years off, with federal banking regulators expected to issue rules in the meantime to fill in certain gaps.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, for instance, is expected to issue rules to outline several risk management and compliance requirements. Under the new U.S. framework, the Treasury Department will have to issue a rule on foreign stablecoin regulatory regimes and their compatibility with the new U.S. framework.

“These things are going to have to phase in,” said Aschettino.

August 12, 2025
South Africa level T20 series after Brevis ton flattens Australia

South Africa levelled the three-match AUS vs SA T20I series against Australia after Dewald Brevis smashed an unbeaten 125 off 56 balls to set up their emphatic 53-run victory in the second match in Darwin on Tuesday.

Brevis smashed the highest score by a South African batsman in a T20 International to power the tourists to a commanding 218-7 despite a top order wobble at the Marrara Stadium.

Australia were bundled out for 165 in 17.4 overs as their nine-match winning streak in the format came to an end.

Player of the match Dewald Brevis said after being reminded of his record: “I haven’t really thought of it like that, to be honest, but I’m just extremely grateful to God and it’s been great.

“You obviously want to win and come back stronger after the first game, so that was fantastic.

“Everyone played their part, whatever it was. We took our catches, the guys nailed their plans, and it was just great.”

Put in to bat, South Africa began briskly but slumped to 57-3 inside seven overs with skipper Aiden Markram among the dismissed trio.

Australia part-time spinner Glenn Maxwell, who opened the attack with Josh Hazlewood, had Markram (18) caught at mid-off and removed Lhuan-dre Pretorius (10) stumped in his next over.

Dewald Brevis combined with Tristan Stubbs (31) and counter-attacked in spectacular fashion to prop up South Africa in the second AUS vs SA T20I.

The 22-year-old raced to a 41-ball hundred, his first in T20 Internationals, and remained unbeaten after a knock studded with eight sixes and 12 fours.

Australia wobbled early in their reply, losing opener Travis Head to Markram’s part-time spin in the second over.

Teenaged left-arm pacer Kwena Maphaka (3-57) conceded five fours in his first over but claimed the important wicket of Cameron Green and returned to remove Maxwell and Mitchell Owen.

Tim David (50) hit his second half-century of the series but Australia kept losing wickets, which derailed their chase.

The teams meet in Cairns on Saturday for the AUS vs SA decider.

August 12, 2025
Europe’s wildfires hit tourism spots and forests

MADRID/LISBON, Aug 12: Firefighters across Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans were battling wildfires on Tuesday with another heatwave pushing temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of Europe.

Global warming is giving the Mediterranean region hotter, drier summers, scientists say, with wildfires surging each year and sometimes whipping up into “whirls”.

“We are being cooked alive, this cannot continue,” said a mayor in Portugal, Alexandre Favaios, as three fires burned.

On the outskirts of the Spanish capital Madrid, a fire killed a man working at a horse stable and reached some houses and farms but was contained by Tuesday, regional authorities said.

To the south in Tarifa, on Spain’s coast close to Morocco, beachgoers and celebrity chef Jose Andres filmed flames and black smoke on the hills above elegant whitewashed villas.
More than 2,000 people were evacuated from Tarifa as the fire – believed to have started in eucalyptus and pine forests – spread, officials said. Helicopters doused the blaze with seawater.

In Albania and Montenegro, authorities issued a heatwave warning as temperatures reached 100F (38-39C).

Germany issued heat warnings for much of the country on Monday, with temperatures above 86F (30C) expected until Friday.

In Italy, red heat alerts were issued for 16 cities while in France, authorities declared red or orange weather alerts for much of the country.

In Spain, temperatures were set to reach 111.2F (44C) in some regions, according to meteorology service AEMET. Minimal rainfall and windy conditions were expected to exacerbate the risk.

SPANISH MILITARY HELPS

Spain’s Interior Ministry declared a “pre-emergency”, putting national services on standby to support firefighting. Almost 1,000 members of the armed forces are already helping.

Spain’s largest region, Castile and Leon, had 32 wildfires raging on Tuesday with more than 1,200 firefighters involved.

Five of the fires were categorised as a direct threat to nearby populations. In Leon province, around 3,780 residents were evacuated, while over 600 residents of seven towns in Zamora were also ordered to leave their homes.

In north Portugal, more than 1,300 firefighters backed by 14 aircraft were battling three large fires. One of them, in the Vila Real area, has been burning for 10 days.

Local mayor Favaios pleaded for more government help. “It’s been 10 days of extremely hard fight against the flames, 10 days that our population is in panic, without knowing when the fire will knock on their door,” he told broadcaster RTP.

With two Portuguese waterbombing planes in need of repair, authorities on Monday requested help from Morocco, which sent two replacement planes.

A heatwave that brought temperatures of around 40C to north Portugal in the past week showed signs of abating on Tuesday, with rain and thunderstorms expected, according to the weather service IPMA.

Across the region in Albania, swathes of forest and farmland have been burnt by wildfires in the past week.

Helicopters from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United Arab Emirates assisted the Balkan state to contain 19 separate wildfires stoked by strong winds on Tuesday.

In neighbouring Montenegro, authorities backed by helicopters from Serbia and Croatia contained a wildfire near the capital Podgorica on Tuesday, with the city covered by smoke.
Resident Dragana Vukovic told Reuters against the backdrop of her home’s smouldering rafters: “Everything that can be paid for and bought will be compensated, but the memories that burned in these four rooms and the attic cannot be compensated.”

‘OUT OF CONTROL’

In Greece at Europe’s southernmost tip, wildfires in some cases fanned by gale-force winds forced the evacuation of several villages and a hotel on the tourist islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea along with four other parts of the mainland.

“Winds are strong and the wildfire is out of control,” Zakynthos mayor Yiorgos Stasinopoulos told Greek public broadcaster ERT.

Another 85 firefighters and 10 aircraft fought to stop a fire reaching houses near the western Greek town of Vonitsa.

The picture was similar in Turkey where a large blaze in the northwestern province of Canakkale burned for a second day after hundreds of residents were evacuated in precaution.

Wildfires in Canakkale’s Ezine and Ayvacik districts, which saw Canakkale airport and the Dardanelles Strait closed on Monday, were largely brought under control by Tuesday. But blazes in the city centre in the southern part of the strait were still burning, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said in a post on X.

August 12, 2025
Hamas hostage videos silenced Israeli media’s talk of Gaza aid crisis

A growing willingness among Israeli news media to critically explore the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has all but evaporated in recent weeks after fighter group Hamas released videos of two emaciated Israeli hostages.

In late July, as images of starving Gazans stirred international outcry, some Israeli press and broadcasters began to carry reports on the worsening conditions there, urging a more robust aid response.

Yonit Levi, the main news anchor of Channel 12, branded the humanitarian crisis in Gaza a “moral failure” live on air, and the heads of some universities and the national Holocaust memorial appealed to the government to help hungry Gazans.

Israeli media has largely focused during 22 months of war on the trauma and impact on Israelis of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, in which, according to Israeli tallies, some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Coverage has concentrated on the fate of the hostages and the casualties suffered by the Israeli army.

Some Israelis welcomed Levi’s comment and the spate of reports discussing conditions in Gaza as evidence of a readiness to examine the impact of the war on Palestinian civilians.

But the mood in Israel hardened dramatically when, on July 31, Hamas released a video of the skeletal 21-year-old Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, weeping and in pain. It was followed three days later by a video of Evyatar David, 24, who said he was being forced to dig his own grave.

The videos – which one Palestinian source said were designed to show the terrible impact of restricted aid flows in Gaza – backfired, shutting down the growing sympathy in Israel towards civilians there.

Amid international condemnation of Hamas, thousands of protestors took to the streets in Israel to demand the immediate return of the hostages. About 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only around 20 of them are thought to still be alive.

Uri Dagon, deputy editor-in-chief of Yisrael Hayom, Israel’s most widely circulated newspaper, said that with hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, Israelis “don’t have the ability to experience the pain of the other side.”

“I know that sounds terrible but it’s the truth,” he said.

Dagon accused foreign media of falling into a “campaign of lies” about starvation in Gaza: while his paper had published articles on suffering there, it emphasized that Hamas was to blame. He questioned why foreign outlets that published photos of emaciated Gazans had not given the same prominence to the harrowing images of Evyatar David.

“I suggest senior editors in the international press review themselves and only then discuss how the Israeli press is conducting itself,” Dagon said.

DENIALS OF STARVATION

Polls in the wake of Oct. 7 that showed most Palestinians approved of the attack sowed anger in Israel. Videos of Gazans crowding around hostages in the immediate aftermath of the raid, filming them on their mobile phones, spitting on them and beating them also fuelled lasting resentment.

Harel Chorev, a senior researcher Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University specializing in media and Palestinian society, said such incidents made it difficult for many Israelis to feel sympathy for people in Gaza.

While international media, barred by Israel from entering Gaza, have relied on Palestinian journalists, many Israelis have little faith in their reporting. Some cite the lack of press freedom in Gaza under Hamas’ authoritarian rule.

“I don’t think there is a famine in Gaza,” said Orit Maimon, 28, a lawyer from Tel Aviv. “I don’t think the situation there is ideal or very good but I don’t think there is a famine.”

The Gaza health ministry says 222 people have died of starvation and malnutrition, including 101 children, since the war began.

Right-wing Channel 14 has devoted coverage in recent weeks to discrediting some reports of starving children. When a child featured in a front-page photograph in Britain’s Daily Express newspaper was discovered to have a pre-existing health condition, some Israeli outlets reacted with outrage.

A poll released this month by The Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based think tank, found that 78% of Jewish Israelis think Israel is making a substantial effort to avoid Palestinian suffering while only 15% think Israel could do more and chooses not to.

The Israeli offensive makes reporting in Gaza perilous. According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, a professional body, Israel has killed more than 230 journalists in Gaza since November. Reuters was unable to verify those figures independently.

Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists and says many of those killed were members of militant groups working under the guise of the press.

On Sunday, Israel’s military said it killed an Al Jazeera journalist in an airstrike: it accused 28-year-old Anas Al Sharif of being a Hamas cell leader. Al Sharif had rejected the accusations, which Israel made before he was killed, and rights advocates said Al Sharif was targeted for his reporting.

More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign, according to Gaza health officials

CRITICISM OF THE GOVERNMENT

Polls conducted over the course of the war found that around 70% of the Israeli public wants to see Israel make a deal to release the hostages, even if that means ending the war immediately.

Several Israeli media have criticized Netanyahu’s government for failing to bring the hostages home or to enunciate a clear plan for Gaza after the conflict. Amongst its most outspoken critics has been left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, which has also published considerable reporting on the suffering in Gaza, including investigative pieces on army operations there.

In November, Netanyahu’s cabinet – which includes far-right ultranationalist parties – approved a ban on officials talking to Haaretz and government advertising boycott of the paper, accusing it of supporting “the enemies of the state in the midst of a war”.

The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment for this story.

Netanyahu’s ministers have also put forward a proposal to privatize Channel 11, the public broadcaster, which a spokesperson for his Likud party criticized for serving the radical left and damaging Israelis’ morale. Some media experts have warned this could have a chilling effect on media coverage of the government.

Asa Shapira, head of the Marketing and Advertising studies at Tel Aviv University, said the government’s actions impact what Israeli channels decide to show.

While editorial decisions to focus on the fate of Israeli hostages was a response to public concern, there was also fear of attracting government disapproval, he said.

August 12, 2025
Oil gains as US-China tariff pause extension boosts trade hopes

Oil prices rose on Tuesday as the United States and China extended a pause on higher tariffs, easing concerns an escalation of their trade war would disrupt their economies and crimp fuel demand in the world’s two largest oil consumers.

Brent crude futures gained 26 cents, or 0.39%, to $66.89 a barrel by 0015 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 22 cents, or 0.34%, to $64.18.

US President Donald Trump extended a tariff truce with China by another 90 days, a White House official said on Monday, staving off triple-digit duties on Chinese goods as US retailers prepared for the critical end-of-year holiday season.

This raised hopes that an agreement could be attained between the world’s two largest economies, and could help sidestep a virtual trade embargo between them. Tariffs risk slowing down economic growth, which could sap global fuel demand and drag oil prices lower.

Investors are also looking ahead to a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

The meeting is set amid heightened US pressure on Russia, with the threat of harsher penalties on Russian oil buyers such as China and India if no peace deal is reached that could upset oil trade flows.

Read more: US, China extend tariff truce by 90 days, staving off surge in duties

“Any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine would end the risk of disruption to Russian oil that has been hovering over the market,” ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes wrote in a note.

Trump set a deadline of last Friday for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or have its oil buyers face secondary sanctions, while pressing India to reduce purchases of Russian oil.

Washington has also been pressing Beijing to stop buying Russian oil, with Trump threatening to impose secondary tariffs on China.

The risk of those sanctions being enacted has receded ahead of the August 15 Trump-Putin meeting.

Also on the radar is US inflation data later in the day, that could hint at the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path. Any sign that the central bank may cut rates soon would support crude prices.

August 12, 2025
US, China extend tariff truce by 90 days, staving off surge in duties

The United States and China on Monday extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other’s goods as US retailers get ready to ramp up inventories ahead of the critical end-of-year holiday season.

US President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had signed an executive order suspending the imposition of higher tariffs until 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT) on November 10, with all other elements of the truce to remain in place.

China’s Commerce Ministry issued a parallel pause on extra tariffs early on Tuesday, also postponing for 90 days the addition of US firms it had targeted in April to trade and investment restriction lists.

“The United States continues to have discussions with the PRC to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationship and our resulting national and economic security concerns,” Trump’s executive order stated, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “Through these discussions, the PRC continues to take significant steps toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements and addressing the concerns of the United States relating to economic and national security matters.”

The tariff truce between Beijing and Washington had been due to expire on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT). The extension until early November buys crucial time for the seasonal autumn surge of imports for the Christmas season, including electronics, apparel and toys at lower tariff rates.

Read more: Trump says he will take control of DC police, deploy National Guard to US capital

The new order prevents US tariffs on Chinese goods from shooting up to 145%, while Chinese tariffs on US goods were set to hit 125% – rates that would have resulted in a virtual trade embargo between the two countries. It locks in place – at least for now – a 30% tariff on Chinese imports, with Chinese duties on US imports at 10%.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump told a news conference earlier on Monday, highlighting what he called his good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China said the extension was “a measure to further implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their June 5 call,” and would provide stability to the global economy.

Trump told CNBC last week that the US and China were getting very close to a trade agreement and he would meet with Xi before the end of the year if a deal was struck.

“It’s positive news,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade official who is now a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “Combined with some of the de-escalatory steps both the United States and China have taken in recent weeks, it demonstrated that both sides are trying to see if they can reach some kind of a deal that would lay the groundwork for a Xi-Trump meeting this fall.”

August 12, 2025
In India, Trump’s tariffs spark calls to boycott American goods

NEW DELHI: From McDonald’s and Coca-Cola to Amazon and Apple, U.S.-based multinationals are facing calls for a boycott in India as business executives and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supporters stoke anti-American sentiment to protest against U.S. tariffs.

India, the world’s most populous nation, is a key market for American brands that have rapidly expanded to target a growing base of affluent consumers, many of whom remain infatuated with international labels seen as symbols of moving up in life.

India, for example, is the biggest market by users for Meta’s WhatsApp and Domino’s has more restaurants than any other brand in the country. Beverages like Pepsi and Coca-Cola often dominate store shelves, and people still queue up when a new Apple store opens or a Starbucks cafe doles out discounts.

Although there was no immediate indication of sales being hit, there’s a growing chorus both on social media and offline to buy local and ditch American products after Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on goods from India, rattling exporters and damaging ties between New Delhi and Washington. McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Amazon and Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters queries.

Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of India’s Wow Skin Science, took to LinkedIn with a video message urging support for farmers and startups to make “Made in India” a “global obsession,” and to learn from South Korea whose food and beauty products are famous worldwide.

“We have lined up for products from thousands of miles away. We have proudly spent on brands that we don’t own, while our own makers fight for attention in their own country,” he said.

Read More: Modi to visit China for first time in 7 years as tensions with US rise

Rahm Shastry, CEO of India’s DriveU, which provides a car driver on call service, wrote on LinkedIn: “India should have its own home-grown Twitter/Google/YouTube/WhatsApp/FB — like China has.”

To be fair, Indian retail companies give foreign brands like Starbucks stiff competition in the domestic market, but going global has been a challenge.
Indian IT services firms, however, have become deeply entrenched in the global economy, with the likes of TCS, and Infosys providing software solutions to clients world over.

On Sunday, Modi made a “special appeal” for becoming self-reliant, telling a gathering in Bengaluru that Indian technology companies made products for the world but “now is the time for us to give more priority to India’s needs.”

He did not name any company.

DON’T DRAG MY MCPUFF INTO IT

Even as anti-American protests simmer, Tesla launched its second showroom in India in New Delhi, with Monday’s opening attended by Indian commerce ministry officials and U.S. embassy officials.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch group, which is linked to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, took out small public rallies across India on Sunday, urging people to boycott American brands.

“People are now looking at Indian products. It will take some time to fructify,” Ashwani Mahajan, the group’s co-convenor, told Reuters. “This is a call for nationalism, patriotism.”

He also shared with Reuters a table his group is circulating on WhatsApp, listing Indian brands of bath soaps, toothpaste and cold drinks that people could choose over foreign ones.

On social media, one of the group’s campaigns is a graphic titled “Boycott foreign food chains”, with logos of McDonald’s (MCD.N), opens new tab and many other restaurant brands.

In Uttar Pradesh, Rajat Gupta, 37, who was dining at a McDonald’s in Lucknow on Monday, said he wasn’t concerned about the tariff protests and simply enjoyed the 49-rupee ($0.55) coffee he considered good value for money.

“Tariffs are a matter of diplomacy and my McPuff, coffee should not be dragged into it,” he said.

August 11, 2025