South Korea’s exports unexpectedly expanded for a third consecutive month in April, even as President Trump’s sweeping tariffs have started to hurt international trade, the Wall Street Journal reported. Exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy rose 3.7% to $58.21 billion from a year earlier, following a revised 3.0% gain in March, according to preliminary data released by the trade ministry on Thursday. Shipments of computer chips and smartphones remained strong, rising 17% and 61%, respectively, and offsetting the decline in auto exports, which took a hit from Trump’s levies.

Thailand's economy is expected to encounter temporary "air pockets" due to the impact of tariffs, the finance minister said on Thursday, and the country plans to negotiate to align its tariffs more closely with those of its trade competitors, Reuters reported. "No matter how much the tariff will end up, if it is at an equal level and equal to our competitors, it will not affect us," Pichai Chunhavajira said at a ministry event. "With our proposal, we should be at a point where we would get what we want," he added. Thailand is among Southeast Asian nations hardest hit by U.S.

China’s manufacturing activity fell more than expected to a near two-year low, sliding into contractionary territory in April as the escalating trade war with the U.S. hurts bilateral trade, CNBC.com reported. The official purchasing managers’ index came in at 49.0 in April, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, falling below the 50-level threshold, which determines expansion from contraction, for the first time since January.

China's solar manufacturers reported losses this week as U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war put further pressure on demand in an industry where top manufacturers were already facing low prices and tariffs on exports to the United States, Reuters reported. Top producers Longi Green Energy and JinkoSolar both reported a net loss of 1.4 billion yuan ($193 million) for the first quarter, while losses for peers JA Solar and Trina Solar totaled 1.6 billion yuan and 1.3 billion yuan, respectively.

The Thai central bank cut its benchmark rate and flagged the possibility of slower economic growth, as ongoing global uncertainties cloud the Southeast Asian nation’s outlook, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Thailand’s monetary policy committee voted 5-2 on Wednesday to lower the policy rate to 1.75% from 2.00%, with two members voting to hold rates steady.

Core inflation in Australia slowed to a three-year low in the first quarter as costs in the services sector cooled markedly, data showed on Wednesday, supporting the case for another cut in interest rates in coming weeks, Reuters reported. Investors are fully expecting a quarter-point rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia on May 20 given the darkening outlook for global growth caused largely by U.S. tariffs, even as a stronger-than-expected reading in headline inflation saw some scale back aggressive bets for five rate cuts this year.

China’s leaders are downplaying the potential impact from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war, saying they have the capacity to protect jobs and limit damage from higher tariffs on Chinese exports, the Associated Press reported. The briefing on Monday by several senior officials of different government ministries appeared aimed at shoring up confidence with promises of support for companies and the unemployed, easier lending conditions and other policies to counter the impact of combined tariffs of up to 145% on U.S. imports from China.

The escalation of the tariff war in April will aggravate stress for MSMEs particularly entities in the sectors where the impact of the tariff war is negative, said credit rating and research firm India Ratings and Research in a statement on Tuesday, FinancialExpress.com reported. Analysing 1,898 listed and unlisted MSMEs and 1,055 mid-corporates (MCs), the research firm said MCs have a greater cushion against unanticipated financial shocks with only 11 per cent of them under stress in comparison to MSMEs with 23 per cent of them being stressed.

China's three biggest airlines reported deeper first-quarter losses on Tuesday from the same period a year ago, amid intensifying competition and economic pressures on consumers, and a worsening trade war with the United States, Reuters reported. State-owned China Southern Airlines, Air China, and China Eastern have struggled to return to a break-even position after the COVID-19 pandemic, posting five consecutive years of annual losses.

China will not dump its goods in other countries due to its trade and tariff war with the U.S., Beijing's ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, wrote in an article on Tuesday, trying to allay fears of cheap Chinese goods flooding other markets, Reuters reported. In tit-for-tat tariffs between the world's two biggest economies, China and the U.S. have hiked levies on each other's goods to over 100% since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, rattling global markets, opens new tab.