07/08/2025
PETER’S BUSINESS & FINANCE BRIEFING – Friday 8 August 2025, 06:00 Hong Kong
Quick Summary - 4 Things To Know Before Asian Markets Open
1. Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs officially took hold Thursday, as he pushed forward with his unprecedented plan to reshape global trade. Following a series of turbulent negotiations, the European Union, Japan and South Korea accepted 15% duties on their products, including key exports such as automobiles which otherwise face a 25% levy. Taiwan, a crucial chips exporter, will pay a tariff of 20%. Other countries were simply assigned rates, ranging from 10% to much higher. Some last-ditch efforts by countries to get better deals failed. The Swiss president left Washington on Wednesday without any success in lowering its 39% duty and Trump doubled levies on Indian goods to 50% starting in three weeks as a punishment for buying Russian oil. Negotiations on higher levies on goods from three of the US’s biggest trading partners, Mexico, Canada and China, are proceeding on a separate track. Taken together, the Budget Lab at Yale University estimates that the average effective tariff rate imposed by the US on goods imports stood at 18.2%, the highest since 1934.
2. India’s central bank governor said the country contributes more to global growth than the US, responding to President Donald Trump’s recent remarks dismissing the South Asian nation as a “dead” economy. “We have a very robust growth rate,” Governor Sanjay Malhotra told reporters. “We are contributing about 18% which is more than the US, where the contribution is expected to be much less at about 11% or something. Malhotra also cited the latest growth forecasts by the International Monetary Fund, which had estimated economic expansion of 6.4% for India and 1.9% for the US in 2025. Last week, Trump lumped India with Russia as “dead economies,” criticizing the country for its trade barriers and continued purchases of Russian weapons and energy.
3. Three Fed officials have voiced fresh concerns over the US labour market. Sitting Fed Governor Lisa Cook called the July jobs report and its grim assessment of previous months “concerning,” saying that rising unemployment could signal an inflection point for the US economy. “These revisions are somewhat typical of turning points,” Cook said Thursday. The comments were echoed by San Francisco Fed president, Mary Daly, and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president, Neel Kashkari. Both voiced concerns about the US labour market, pointing to a potential interest-rate cut in September. New data released Thursday showed US continuing jobless claims rose to the highest since the end of 2021.
4. The Bank of England cut interest rates by 25 bps to 4.0%, the lowest level in two years, in a knife-edge vote that prompted investors to rein in their expectations for further loosening. The central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) was split on reducing or holding interest rates with four members wanting to hold rates and four others voting to cut. One MPC member voted for a larger 50 bps cut. The MPC was forced to hold an unprecedented second round of voting to arrive at a majority decision to cut rates by 25bps. In June, the MPC’s decision to hold rates was less fractured with a 6-3 majority.
On Friday’s “Peter Lewis’ Money Talk” podcast, I’ll be joined by Andrew Sullivan, founder of Asian Market Sense and Louis Kuijs, Chief Asia Economist at S&P Global Ratings. With a view from Australia, is Toby Lawson, the former CEO at Statton Partners.
The podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Studio and Spotify.
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/7Lhinpp9qyGshENd0vCAnw
YouTube Studio
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnwqOJD9ie5gHH29bNfuG1Nscy8rdJo6O
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-lewis-money-talk/id1677731892
https://open.substack.com/pub/peterlewismoneytalk/p/peters-business-and-finance-briefing-320?r=2mzv7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
● Trump’s reciprocal tariffs take effect ● China’s exports accelerate but trade with US slumps ● 3 Fed policymakers voice concerns about the US labour market
