The State Department announced last week that it would temporarily recall U.S. ambassadors to the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama for consultations in Washington. The meetings will focus on recent decisions by Latin American countries to no longer recognize Taiwan and ways the U.S. can support strong. independent, democratic institutions and economies throughout Central America and the Caribbean
Stocks in Europe reversed earlier gains by Thursday's close to finish lower, as investors digested fresh news out of the central banking sphere. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed down 0.15%, with the majority of sectors falling into negative territory. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.43% by the close, while France's CAC 40 ended a touch lower, off 0.08%, and Germany's DAX rose 0.19%.
World stock markets pushed lower on Wednesday amid simmering trade tensions and the spreading financial firestorm across emerging market currencies. MSCI’s emerging markets equity index dropped for the sixth straight day, losing more than 1% in Asia and nearly fully reversing the late August bound in the benchmark.
The U.S. trade deficit rose to a five-month high in July, with the politically sensitive gap with China hitting a record high, which economists said could embolden the Trump administration to aggressively pursue its “America First” agenda.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States was not yet ready to come to an agreement over trade disputes with China but he said talks would continue.
An annual U.S. soy exporters' conference wrapped up on Wednesday without any known sales to Chinese buyers, in sharp contrast to previous years when billions of dollars of the main U.S. cash crop have been signed over to China in elaborate ceremonies.
India announced it expected to spend less than 100 billion rupees (US$1.43 billion) on its first manned space mission to be launched by 2022, suggesting it is likely to be cheaper than similar projects by the United States and China.
Argentina's beef exports could double in 2018 for a total of US$ 1.8 billion thanks to increased Chinese demand and a sharp devaluation of the peso currency, according to analysts and industry experts.
China which is home to the world’s largest pig herd, reported its fourth outbreak of the deadly African swine fever on Thursday, with more than 400 pigs infected as the disease entered a fourth province, fanning worries about its rapid spread. The infection killed 340 hogs on three farms in the coastal city of Wenzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement.
United States and China are expected to impose fresh tariffs on US$ 16bn of each other's goods on Thursday as their tit-for-tat trade war rages on. The second round of tariffs will see a total of US$ 50bn worth of goods from each side that will now be taxed. Since the opening salvo in July, tensions between the world's two largest economies have escalated, hurting their companies and economies.