Global Daily: Master of the House

Markets last week were understandably in risk-on mode in reaction to the sit-down meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi on the sidelines of the APEC conference. The US agreed to cut fentanyl-related tariffs in half to 10ppts in return for cooperation from China on stemming the flow of precursor compounds into the United States. China agreed to delay the imposition of export controls on critical rare earths for one year, and to resume purchases of US soybeans to the tune of 12mmt this season and 25mmt in each of the next three years. Both sides agreed to delay the introduction of port service fees and the US – crucially – made no commitments to provide China with access to NVIDIA’s advanced Blackwell chips or revise its position on Taiwan.