Mōrena and welcome to your Monday summary of the key international business and political stories making headlines over the weekend.
First today, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said “there is a path” to an agreement with China over trade tariffs after he had discussions with counterparts in Washington, the Guardian reported.
“I had interaction with my Chinese counterparts, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings,” Bessent told the ABC. “I don’t know if President [Donald] Trump has spoken with President Xi,” he added.
Bessent warned that a trade deal “can take months” and said negotiations with other significant US trading partners were progressing. “Some of those are moving along very well, especially with the Asian countries,” he said.
Last week, Trump claimed that the US and China held talks on Thursday local time to resolve the trade war between the two superpowers. However, China’s Commerce Ministry said there were “currently no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States”.
Earlier this month, China retaliated against Trump’s tariffs by imposing a 125% tariff in turn, which Bessent described as unsustainable.
Meanwhile, China’s industrial profits returned to growth in the March quarter, with official data showing cumulative profits of China’s industrial firms rose 0.8% to 1.5 trillion yuan from a year earlier, CNBC reported.
Bloomberg also reported that the European Central Bank was preparing to lower interest rates further because of “lasting damage” from the US tariffs, even if Trump softened his stance.
Over the Ditch, Australian Coalition leader Peter Dutton pointed to China as the biggest threat to Australia's national security. He also asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese whether ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremonies were overdone, during the final leaders’ debate before this weekend’s election, the ABC reported.
National security dominated the fourth election campaign debate on Channel 7, with Dutton noting concern from intelligence and defence officials about China, particularly possible conflict and trade restrictions.
In developing news, Israel has carried out an air attack on southern Beirut after issuing a forced evacuation warning, Al Jazeera reported.
The broadcaster said footage showed a huge plume of black smoke rising over the capital’s southern suburbs after the attack.
CNN reported the target of the strike was a Hezbollah facility in Beirut which stored precision missiles, according to a joint statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In other news, Trump suggested stronger sanctions on Russia and questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to stop the war against Ukraine, CNBC reported.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!” Trump said.
Meanwhile, the White House said that Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky “had a very productive discussion,” last week on the sidelines of the funeral for Pope Francis. Zelensky also said it was a good meeting. “[A] very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
