Trump ‘America First’ policy helping or hurting the US?

• European companies and more specifically German companies are worried that U.S. President Trump is increasingly thinking only of America’s interest and does not consider the effect of the actions on other countries.
• Lately the US has pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and Germany has acknowledged things could get tough for companies doing business with Iran. German companies also face the prospect of possible extra levies with the imposed tariff on steel imports and on aluminium.
• America First seems to be becoming America Alone, according to DIHK President Eric Schweitzer and also added that the fact makes German businesses really worried. France is looking to see if the European Union could compensate European companies that might face U.S. sanctions for doing business with Iran, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday.
• Further negative comments regarding difficulties of European companies doing business could hurt the EUR.

U.S & China put trade war on hold

• The world’s largest economies agreed to put aside their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday.
• On Saturday, Beijing and Washington said they would keep talking about measures under which China would import more energy and agricultural commodities from the United States in order to reduce the $335 billion annual U.S. goods and services gap with China.
• Vice Premier Liu He, a representative of China’s President Xi Jinping said both sides agreed to stop “slapping tariffs” on each other and called his visit “positive, pragmatic, constructive and productive”.
• Further good news on the US China relationships could strengthen the USD.

Today’s other economic highlights

Speakers: As for speakers FOMC member Bostic (16:15, GMT) and Philadelphia Fed President Harker (18:15,GMT), speak today.

As for the rest of the week:

• On Wednesday: We get Japan’s, France’s, Germany’s and Eurozone’s preliminary Manufacturing PMI’s for May, UK inflation data for April and Eurozone’s preliminary Consumer Confidence for May
• On Thursday: We get the UK retail sales growth rates for April
• On Friday: We get Germany’s Ifo Business Climate for May, UK’s GDP growth rate for Q1 and the US Durable Goods Orders data for April as well as the final Michigan Consumer Sentiment for May

IronFX Daily Report ‘May 21st’