• U.S. officials will meet their Chinese counterparts later this week in Switzerland to discuss trade matters.
• The U.K. and India have struck a bilateral trade agreement that will cut tariffs on most goods within a decade.
• China’s central bank and financial regulators announced sweeping policy steps to bolster growth.
• U.S. markets fell after U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the idea that the U.S. needs deals.
• Advanced Micro Devices reported better-than-expected earnings for its first fiscal quarter and gave strong guidance for the current quarter. 
• India said early on Wednesday that its armed forces had conducted strikes against Pakistan.
• The U.S. "is not a good place to hide" in the event of a global economic slowdown, according to JPMorgan.

After U.S. President Donald Trump shattered — or at least fractured — global trade relationships and supply chains, there are promising signs of reconstruction in recent days. Indeed, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday the country is "very close to some deals."

On Tuesday, newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met Trump at the White House, potentially resetting a bilateral relationship that has been strained since January. And Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng is scheduled to meet Bessent in Switzerland this week for trade talks.

But enter the hurricane that is Trump, again. "We don't have to sign deals, they have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don't want a piece of their market," Trump during his meeting with Carney, contradicting top White House officials' claim for weeks that such deals are the administration's top priority. Markets fell after his comments.

The growing protectionism of the U.S., ironically may help other countries forge closer economic ties with each other. The U.K. and India that will remove tariffs on most items within a decade. Meanwhile, ASEAN and China are set to meet on May 19 to negotiate improvements to a free-trade agreement, .

They may be new bridges being built in the aftermath of Trump tariffs. But those connections could bypass the U.S. — which, according to Trump, does not need deals anyway.

What you need to know today

Officials from U.S. and China to meet
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer will in Switzerland this week to discuss economic and trade matters, their offices announced Tuesday. Later in the day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Vice Premier He Lifeng, Beijing's top official for China-U.S. economic and trade matters, will meet with Bessent in Switzerland, 온라인카지노사이트 News reported.

The UK and India reach a trade agreement
The Tuesday, under which a majority of goods traded between India and the U.K. will become "fully tariff-free within a decade," according to the British government. India will begin slashing tariffs on key U.K. exports such as whisky and automotives, while the U.K. will remove all tariffs on 99.1% of imports once the agreement comes into force, the Indian government said.

China's central bank eases monetary policy
The People's Bank of China will by 10 basis points to 1.4% from 1.5%, bringing down the loan prime rate by around 0.1%, Governor Pan Gongsheng said at a press briefing Wednesday. The central bank will also lower the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points, unleashing additional liquidity of 1,000 billion yuan ($138.6 billion) to the market.

Second straight losing day for U.S. indexes
after Trump gave belligerent comments on trade deals. The declined 0.77%, the lost 0.95% and the retreated 0.87%. . Hong Kong's popped as much as 2% on news of the PBOC's policy measures, before trimming its gains to roughly 0.6%.

AMD beats earnings estimates, warns of chip controls
on Tuesday reported  for its first fiscal quarter that and gave strong guidance for the current quarter. The forecast includes $800 billion in costs because of U.S. export limits on artificial intelligence chips. On a related note, CEO Jensen Huang said Tuesday that China's artificial intelligence market will likely reach about $50 billion in the next two to three years, and that missing out on it would be a "."

India says it carried out strikes on Pakistan
India early on Wednesday said its armed forces had and what it calls Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, targeting "terrorist infrastructure." The operation, which the ministry said was aimed at nine sites "from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed," follows a militant attack last month in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed.

[PRO] U.S. "not a good place to hide": JPMorgan
U.S. exceptionalism — in which the American economy and financial market have outperformed those of other countries since the pandemic — might be a thing of the past. This time, the U.S. "" if global economic growth slows down, wrote JPMorgan strategist Mislav Matejka in a note on Tuesday.

And finally...

If people are spending in China, it's likely to be on travel — and businesses want a slice of that.

The popularity of Datong's  — a Unesco heritage site from around 1,500 years ago — skyrocketed after its statues were featured in the hit video game . More than 43,700 people visited the caves on May 1 alone, up over 10% from a year earlier, according to . The Grand Canyon  last year.

Nationwide, China  314 million domestic tourist trips over the May Labor Day holiday, continuing the steady increase in recent years and well above the pre-Covid level of.