
United States president Donald Trump escalated his trade war with Beijing, imposing 10% tariffs on about US$ 200 billion worth of imports in a move one senior Chinese regulator said “poisoned” the atmosphere for negotiations.

United States President Donald Trump has instructed staff to move forward with the next round of tariffs on Chinese goods, US media have reported. The tariffs are expected to apply to about US$ 200bn worth of imports from China, including electronic parts and consumer goods such as handbags.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that the U.S. likely surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia earlier this year to become the world’s top crude oil producer. The EIA based its disclosure on preliminary estimates in its Short Term Energy Outlook which is released every month.

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%.

Under fire over his handling of Russian election meddling, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to strengthen election security by imposing sanctions on foreign countries or people who try to interfere in the US political process. The order, coming only eight weeks before congressional elections on November 6, drew immediate criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers as too little, too late.

United States voters love the performance of the economy, but it has failed to translate into higher approval for President Donald Trump, according to one new poll. The disconnect is perhaps the biggest challenge facing Republicans as they battle to keep control of Congress in November's midterm elections.

Eight alleged criminals were killed on Sunday at the most important military complex in Venezuela amid the revelations about plans for a coup supported by the government of the United States.

Top members of Donald Trump's administration are so alarmed by the president's erratic and amoral behavior that they are actively working to undermine him, an anonymous senior official wrote in The New York Times on Wednesday.

A number of top US officials have denied that they are the author of a damning anonymous editorial that attacks President Donald Trump. The New York Times article, said to be written by a senior White House official, point out Mr Trump's appointees are trying to stifle his 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.