U.S., China Cease-Fire on Tariffs Only Kicks the Can Down the Road
President Trump lauded his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires as "extraordinary" after the two sides agreed to a pause in tariff increases for 90 days. But Hagar Chemali, CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, said investors shouldn't start the ticker tape parade just yet.
Make no mistake, a temporary cease-fire in what was becoming a full-fledged trade war gives both sides time to cool off and re-assess, said Chemali. "At least both nations agree that they don't want to go down this path of economic cold war."
But the agreement was "not very substantive" and did not get to the root of the issues that led to tariffs, according to Chemali.
Trump holds most of the leverage going into the 90-day cool-off period, since the U.S. was prepared to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods up to 25 percent after the first of the year. But Chemali said that without the united front of our allies' support, it may be harder for China to back down, especially on unresolved issues relating to the country's theft of American intellectual property.
In 90 days, don't be surprised to hear about another 90-day extension, she said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/trump-leaves-g20-with-trade-truce).
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
It’s an annual tradition: the Fed’s banking ‘stress test.’ A year after the regional banking crisis, there are good reasons to make sure they’re prepped.
Summer is upon us, which means weddings, trips overseas, and trips to see Taylor Swift. Avoid a “Cruel Summer” with these budget-friendly tips and tricks.
While Nvidia's meteoric rise led it to briefly dethrone Microsoft as the world's biggest public company, there's a lot more going on in this market than A.I.
