International News via Reuters:

International News via Reuters:

China is ready to have discussions about trade policies, including tariffs and subsidies, that Washington has identified as obstacles to reforming the World Trade Organization, a senior delegate at China’s mission to the WTO said.

China had heard “every word” the U.S. had said at the WTO about its trade practices and is open to discussing tariffs, industrial policy and some benefits it gains from its developing country status, as part of broader conversations on reform ahead of a 2026 ministerial meeting in Cameroon, the delegate said.

The official declined to be identified. China’s mission does not publicly identify delegates below ambassador rank. China recalled its WTO ambassador in April to become a trade negotiator and the vacant position has yet to be filled.

The delegate’s remarks follow months of trade tension between the world’s two largest economies over sweeping tariffs imposed by the U.S. and retaliatory measures by China.

Washington argues there can be no meaningful WTO reform until China and other major economies relinquish privileges known as Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) granted to developing countries, which the U.S. says give them an unfair advantage.

Some major economies, including China and Saudi Arabia, self-identify as developing countries, granting them access to SDT benefits such as setting higher tariffs and using subsidies.

The delegate said China’s developing country status was non-negotiable, but it might forgo SDT in upcoming negotiations, as it did recently on fisheries and domestic regulations.

“I see that in the coming negotiations, generally speaking, I don’t think China will ask for the SDT,” the delegate told Reuters.

However, former WTO spokesperson Keith M. Rockwell, a senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, was sceptical that China would fully relinquish SDT in areas like agriculture.

The U.S. opposes countries picking and choosing SDT benefits, and wants China to completely renounce them.

The delegate said China was open to discussing subsidies to ensure a fairer playing field provided it was met with goodwill in return. But it would not accept any attempts to try to change its economic system, they added.

Following positive trade talks in Geneva and London, China indicated openness towards discussing tariffs within the WTO.

“We welcome the U.S. to come back to the WTO,” the delegate said. “We are ready to renegotiate on Article 28 if the U.S. raises their requests here at the WTO.”

Article 28 of the WTO Agreement allows members to modify tariff commitments under certain conditions, providing a potential pathway for adjustments.

Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Dave Graham and Ros Russell

International News via Reuters:

The U.S. dollar weakened on Tuesday, falling the most against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc, as President Donald Trump’s massive tax-cut and spending bill stoked fiscal worries and uncertainty around trade deals weighed on sentiment.

Investors have also started wagering on a quicker pace of monetary policy easing by the Federal Reserve this year ahead of a slew of U.S. economic data this week, headlined by Thursday’s nonfarm payrolls report.

That spurred dollar-selling, which slipped 0.33% to a new 10-year low and fetched 0.790 Swiss francs, while the greenback dropped 0.64% to 143.08 Japanese yen. The yen capped the first half of the year with a 9% gain – its strongest performance since 2016.

The euro was perched at a near four-year high of $1.1781. The single currency surged 13.8% in the January-June period, its strongest-ever first half performance, LSEG data showed.

Sterling inched up 0.2% to $1.3757, not far from the three-and-a-half-year high it touched last week, while the dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six others, slipped to 96.698, its lowest since February 2022.

“There are many reasons not to like the USD. Some are structural, like the erratic trade policies and fiscal risks,” said Moh Siong Sim, a currency strategist at Bank of Singapore.

“They have earlier caused the USD to weaken despite its relative yield advantage. But the risk of a more dovish Federal Reserve eroding USD’s yield advantage is the latest source of USD weakness.”

Goldman Sachs now expects Fed to deliver three quarter-point interest rate cuts this year compared with its earlier forecast of a single reduction in December, citing muted tariff effects and labour market weakness.

Investors are also grappling with uncertainty over the U.S. Senate’s efforts to pass Trump’s budget bill, which faces internal party divisions over its projected $3.3 trillion addition to the national debt. The fiscal concerns have dampened sentiment and prompted some investors to diversify.

The world’s reserve currency is down more than 10% this year, its biggest first-half dive since the era of free-floating currencies began in the early 1970s.

TRUMP VERSUS FED

Meanwhile, Trump has continued hammering the Fed to ease monetary policy, sending Fed Chair Jerome Powell a list of central bank interest rates around the world adorned with handwritten commentary saying the U.S. rate should be between Japan’s 0.5% and Denmark’s 1.75%.

Trump’s constant tirade against the Fed and Powell has fuelled investor worries about the central bank’s independence and its credibility. Trump cannot fire Powell over a policy dispute, but last week urged him to resign.

Investor focus will be on comments from Powell, who joins several other central bank chiefs at the European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal, on Tuesday. Traders are now pricing in 67 basis points of easing from the Fed this year.

A survey on manufacturing activity along with a report on job openings is due later in the day in the U.S., ahead of Thursday’s pivotal nonfarm payrolls figures.

Analysts say that any signs of labour market weakness could bolster bets for more interest rate cuts by the Fed and spark a new wave of dollar weakness.

With the July 9 deadline for Trump’s tariffs fast approaching, investors are also keeping an eye on trade deals between the U.S. and its partners although there have not been many agreements so far.

Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore and Johann M Cherian; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Alex Richardson