The temporary reduction in tariffs that the United States and China announced in Geneva on Monday will lift, at least for now, the de facto trade embargo that had been in place between the two countries for the past month, the New York Times reported. It will reduce the chances that American shoppers will face empty shelves during the holiday season and perhaps limit the price increases they will have to endure. It sent stock prices soaring around the world. But the deal does little to clear the cloud of uncertainty that has hung over the U.S.

South Korea has prepared support measures for small and medium-sized firms expected to be hurt by U.S. tariffs, the government said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The measures include financing support worth 4.6 trillion won ($3.25 billion), subsidies to ease the burden of logistics costs, and other policies to help expand export markets.

Australian wages picked up in the March quarter led by government pay rises, data showed on Wednesday, while subdued growth in the private sector suggested a tight labour market was still no bar to a cut in interest rates, Reuters reported. Investors remain confident the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut by a quarter point to 3.85% at its May 20 meeting, due to cooling inflation at home and global uncertainty caused by U.S. tariff policies.

Pakistan has received the second tranche of special drawing rights worth 760 million ($1,023 million) from the International Monetary Fund under the extended fund facility programme, the country's central bank said in a post on X on Wednesday. The amount will be reflected in its foreign exchange reserves for the week ending May 16, the State Bank of Pakistan said. Read more.

A struggling technology company that has ties to China and relies on TikTok made an unusual announcement this week. It had secured funding to buy as much as $300 million of $TRUMP, the so-called memecoin marketed by President Trump, the New York Times reported. GD Culture Group, a publicly traded firm with a Chinese subsidiary, has only eight employees, its public filings show, and recorded zero revenue last year from an e-commerce business it operates on TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has dismissed an insolvency petition against PepsiCo India Holdings after observing that provisions of IBC cannot be turned into a debt-recovery proceeding, the Times of India reported. The appellate insolvency tribunal has upheld the earlier order passed by the Chandigarh bench of the National Company Law Tribunal, which had rejected SNJ Synthetic's plea.

India is looking at levying import duties on some products made in the United States to counter Washington's tariffs on steel and aluminium products, a document submitted to the World Trade Organization shows, Reuters reported. "The proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations takes the form of an increase in tariffs on selected products originating in the United States," the document dated May 12 said.

The United States will cut the "de minimis" tariff for low-value items imported from China, a White House executive order said on Monday, further de-escalating a potentially damaging trade war between the world's two largest economies, Reuters reported. The tariff relief, which affects big Chinese e-commerce players including Shein and Temu, follows a deal between Beijing and Washington to unwind most of the duties imposed on each other's goods since early April, after weekend talks in Geneva.

Bank of Japan board members have signaled their intention for further rate hikes while citing the need to stay vigilant due to the potential economic impacts from U.S. tariff measures, according to a summary of opinions from their April 30 to May 1 meeting, Bloomberg News reported. "The bank’s stance to continue to raise the policy interest rate is unchanged” given low real rates and the outlook for its price goal to be met, one of the nine board members said at the gathering, according to the summary released Tuesday, which doesn’t disclose speakers’ identities.