U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports are biting into the income of some American retail-focused companies, with at least two already in bankruptcy court and others forecasting significant losses, the South China Morning Post reported. Exporters were shouldering a relatively small share of duties on goods sent from China to the US, leaving American firms to absorb the remaining costs or pass them on to consumers, according to minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting on July 29-30, citing the views of its participants.

The Panama Canal Authority plans to sell rights to two, yet-to-be-built ports to bring in more operators and limit the influence of any one group, specifically Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co. and China’s state-run Cosco, the Wall Street Journal reported. The head of the authority, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, said he wants to bring in more competition now that MSC and China’s largest shipping company have emerged as significant players in a clash between the U.S. and China over who controls two existing Panama Canal ports. In March, U.S.

In a factory in Hekinan, a seaside town southwest of Tokyo, machines spit hot metal rods into baskets. On a recent Monday, afternoon light poured in through yellowed windows, and the air inside was hot and smelled of metal shavings, the New York Times reported. The plant, operated by an 84-year-old Japanese automotive parts maker, Asahi Tekko, produces components that are fitted into Lexus and Land Cruiser models at nearby Toyota factories. Many of those vehicles are then shipped to the United States.

Silicon Valley startup Lyten will need to convince carmakers it can succeed where bankrupt Swedish EV battery maker Northvolt failed - creating a European champion to reduce the region's reliance on China, Reuters reported. Lyten, which develops lithium-sulfur batteries, unexpectedly announced on August 7 it was buying Northvolt's assets, offering a lifeline to future European battery production for electric vehicles.

The European Union is pushing for U.S. tariffs on European cars and auto parts to be reduced retroactively to August 1 under the terms of a framework trade deal reached in July, CBTNews.com reported. The move could provide quick relief for European automakers that have faced steep U.S. tariffs in recent years. Under the agreement, Washington committed to lowering its current 27.5% tariff on cars and auto parts from the EU once Brussels introduces legislation to cut duties on U.S. goods.

Switzerland soon hopes to finalise a new business offer for Washington to ease its tariff burden, which will likely include more defence spending and greater access for U.S. energy interests, Reuters reported. Switzerland was stunned when U.S. President Donald Trump this month hit it with one of the highest tariff rates worldwide - 39% - after complaining about the U.S. trade deficit with the country on a call with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter.

International postal services are suspending shipments to the United States after an exemption on tariff duties for small packages is set to expire, CNN.com reported. Beginning Friday, the de minimis exemption, which allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to enter the United States duty free, will be eliminated. European and Asian postal services have taken matters into their own hands by announcing plans to halt shipments as early as Monday. Singapore’s SingPost and India’s Department of Posts said they will also temporarily suspend some shipments to the United States.

Canada will remove many retaliatory import tariffs on U.S. goods and intensify talks with the United States on striking a new trade and security relationship, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday, Reuters reported. Canadian tariffs on U.S. autos, steel and aluminum will remain for now, he said. Carney noted that the United States had recently made clear that it would not impose tariffs on Canadian goods that were compliant with the three-nation U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, something he called a positive development.

The United States and the European Union on Thursday published much-anticipated details of the trade agreement they struck verbally last month, which will see Washington maintain high tariffs on vehicles imported from the 27-nation bloc until it takes steps to lower its levies on many American industrial and agricultural products, the New York Times reported.

Japan’s exports sustained their steepest drop in more than four years in July as U.S. tariffs continued to weigh on global commerce, clouding the outlook for economic growth at a time when personal spending remains unsteady, Bloomberg News reported. Exports fell 2.6% in value from a year earlier, sliding more than the median forecast of a 2.1% decline, the Finance Ministry reported on Wednesday. The downturn, led by cars, auto parts and steel, was the biggest since February 2021. Export volumes rose by 1.2%, suggesting exporters are continuing to absorb U.S.