Trump disappointed with Putin; Nvidia to resume China exports

Happy Wednesday and welcome to your morning wrap of the latest business and political headlines from around the world.

First up, US President Donald Trump has said he is disappointed but not done with Vladimir Putin, in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

Trump was speaking hours after he announced plans to send weapons to Ukraine and threatened severe tariffs on Russia if the two warring nations did not agree to a ceasefire within the next 50 days.

Asked whether he trusted his Russian counterpart, Trump replied: “I trust almost nobody.”

He also said that he believed a deal to end the war was on the cards on four different occasions. Trump has long had a history of making positive and admiring comments about Putin, which has prompted criticism that he is “soft on Russia”.

But the US President has become increasingly frustrated with his Russian counterpart over the war in Ukraine. When asked by the BBC if he was done with Putin, Trump replied: “I’m disappointed in him, but I’m not done with him. But I’m disappointed in him.”

Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Reuters broke the story that Putin is unfazed by the threat of tougher sanctions and intends to continue fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace. His territorial demands may also widen as Russian forces advance.

The report, based on information provided by three sources close to the Kremlin, said Putin believed Russia’s economy and military were strong enough to withstand any additional Western measures.

To business news, chipmaker Nvidia said it had won approval from the Trump administration to sell to China its advanced computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence, Associated Press reported.

The company said in a blog post that the US government had assured Nvidia that licences would be granted and that deliveries to China would start soon.

Bloomberg reported that rival firm AMD also planned to restart sales of its computer chips to China.

The Trump administration said in April it would restrict the sale of Nvidia’s advanced chips, as well as those made by AMD, to China, citing national security concerns.

Nvidia warned the tighter controls would cost the company an extra $5.5 billion.  It has been lobbying Trump, along with other tech leaders, to reverse the decision.

Nvidia and AMD’s shares were up 4% and 6% respectively on the news.

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang.

In other news, China’s economy grew by 5.2% in the second quarter, slightly ahead of economists’ estimates of 5.1%, CNN reported.

Retail sales in the world’s second-largest economy slowed to 4.8%, which was below forecast; catering sales, which include food and beverages, increased by just 0.9% – its worst reading since December 2022; and industrial output expanded by 6.8%, which was well above expectations.

Meanwhile, the country’s housing market is slowing again after investment in the sector fell by 11.2%.

Nick Marro, principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNN that while the trade war with the United States had dragged on market sentiment, it had not been the massive shock to Chinese economic performance that investors initially feared.

In crypto news, the head of JPMorgan Chase said the bank would get involved in stablecoins. Jamie Dimon made the comments during an earnings call when he was asked whether the bank was exploring the technology.

“We’re going to be involved in both JPMorgan deposit coin and stablecoins to understand it, to be good at it,” Dimon said. “I think they’re real, but I don’t know why you’d want to [use a] stablecoin as opposed to just payment.”

Dimon has long been a critic of certain cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, but acknowledged that failure to adapt would cede ground to fintech players.