Ata mārie and welcome to your Tuesday recap of the main international business and political news from overnight.
First, a deal has been reached between powerhouse economies China and the United States over trade for the next 90 days.
There’s plenty of reaction and analysis filtering through from global news organisations.
The top two economies agreed to significantly cut tariffs after talks in Switzerland. The BBC reported that it will come into effect from Wednesday local time, with the US reducing tariffs on China to 30%, down from 145%. In turn, China will reduce tariffs to 10%, down from 125%.
BBC business correspondent Theo Leggett said the cut was bigger than expected. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump gave cryptic comments after the deal. He said China had “agreed to open up” but he offered few other details, CNBC reported.
He said it was possibly “the most important thing” to come out of the weekend talks. “We have to get it papered. But they’ve agreed to open up China.”
He also said tariffs would not go back to 145%, even if a long-term deal wasn’t reached after 90 days. “But they would go up substantially,” Trump added.
US President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg reported it was a win for Chinese President Xi Jinping after he stood his ground firmly against Trump. The broadcaster said the deal met nearly all of China’s core demands and the two sides agreed to take “aggressive actions” to stem the flow of fentanyl.
Research firm Trivium China co-founder Trey McArver said it was the best outcome that China could have hoped for because “the US backed down”.
“Going forward, this will make the Chinese side confident that they have leverage over the US in any negotiations.”
On Wall Street, investors were optimistic, with the Dow Jones and S&P500 up more than 2.5% when trading started on Monday local time, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 3.3%.
Meanwhile, Trump is due to visit Gulf states this week, with a focus on securing new investment for the US economy, the BBC reported. Trump is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia to meet the country's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He will also attend a summit of Gulf leaders, before travelling to Qatar and then the United Arab Emirates on the three-day trip.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Elsewhere, US-Israeli captive Edan Alexander has been released from Gaza and returned to Israel, after an agreement was reached between Hamas and the US administration, Al Jazeera reported.
The militant group said it agreed to release the 21-year-old as part of efforts by mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to send mediators to Qatar to discuss the release of other captives. Al Jazeera also said the release of Alexander had led to a pause in Israeli attacks on Gaza.
“Edan Alexander has come home. We embrace him, and we embrace his family,” Netanyahu said. “This was achieved thanks to our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by President Trump. This is a winning combination.”
Finally, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government won’t hesitate to use force to neutralise terrorist camps in Pakistan, Bloomberg reported.
“If we talk to Pakistan, it’ll only be on terrorism. If we have a dialog with Pakistan, it will only be on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” Modi said.
Following four days of airstrikes, Trump said on Saturday that he’d mediate a truce between the two countries, which upset senior officials in India.
