This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia<\/a>, Europe\/Africa<\/a> or Americas<\/a> edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Good morning and welcome back. We start today with the 90-day truce in US-China trade war \u2014 and whether the global economy has made it through the worst of Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs. Also in FirstFT Asia: <\/p>\n Modi claims Indian victory after clashes with Pakistan<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A new Taiwanese TV drama depicts a Chinese invasion<\/p>\n<\/li>\n How Xi sparked China\u2019s electricity revolution<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n US stocks soared yesterday on hopes among investors that Washington and Beijing\u2019s tariff d\u00e9tente meant Trump\u2019s trade war was moving beyond its most intense phase. <\/p>\n Investor optimism:<\/strong> The US and China said yesterday that they would both cut tariffs for at least the next 90 days<\/a>, following talks in Geneva at the weekend. US tariffs would be lowered to 30 per cent, while China\u2019s would go down to 10 per cent. Wall Street stocks soared on the news<\/a>. The blue-chip S&P 500 ended the day 3.3 per cent higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed up 4.4 per cent. The dollar jumped 1.5 per cent against a basket of six peers, leaving it on track for its biggest daily rise since Trump\u2019s election on November 5.<\/p>\n What analysts said:<\/strong> \u201cPeak tariffs are very much in the past. We will take a growth hit this year, but that is different from a recession,\u201d said Ajay\u00a0Rajadhyaksha, global chair of research at Barclays.\u00a0\u201cMarkets are defaulting to assuming we\u2019re now in a 10-30 world: 10 per cent\u00a0(tariffs) on most of the world, 30 per cent on China,\u201d said\u00a0Rajadhyaksha, who does not believe there will be significant changes to policy after the 90 days are up.<\/p>\n But Priya Misra, a fixed income portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, said \u201cthe uncertainty is still with us\u201d. She added: \u201cCompanies still have to think about supply chains, investment, hiring\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009some damage has been done. The dust hasn\u2019t fully settled yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Who blinked first?<\/strong> A secret meeting held almost three weeks ago in the basement of the IMF headquarters paved the way to the US and China\u2019s trade war ceasefire agreed in Geneva. Despite both sides warning they were willing to dig in for a long haul, the truce proved easier and faster to agree than expected. One overriding question has significant implications for the negotiations to come: did Beijing or Washington flinch first<\/a>?<\/p>\n FT View:<\/strong> The three-month d\u00e9tente in the US-China trade war is undoubtedly a relief for the global economy, but uncertainty<\/a> around Trump\u2019s trade war has not gone away.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Opinion:<\/strong> Tariffs are a bet on the free market<\/a> \u2014 that it can deliver better outcomes than a global market dominated by state-subsidised national champions \u2014 writes Oren Cass.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n For more analysis, sign up<\/a> for Alan Beattie\u2019s Trade Secrets newsletter if you\u2019re a premium subscriber, or upgrade<\/a> your subscription. Here\u2019s what else we\u2019re keeping tabs on today:<\/p>\n Economic data:<\/strong> India and the US publish April CPI inflation figures.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Carmakers:<\/strong> Honda, Nissan and Tata Motors report full-year results. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n China-Latin America ties:<\/strong> Beijing hosts a ministerial forum<\/a> with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, where President Xi Jinping will deliver the opening speech.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Trump visits the Gulf:<\/strong> The US president is scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia today for the first official foreign tour since he returned to the White House, with high expectations of securing a raft of multibillion-dollar deals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House has triggered heightened tensions with China, raising big questions for global business, markets and the rest of the world. Join us on May 28 for insights into the most consequential geopolitical rivalry of our time. <\/em>Register now and put questions to our panel<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n 1. India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his country has proved its military \u201csuperiority\u201d in clashes with Pakistan<\/strong> that brought the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war. In a triumphant televised address yesterday, Modi also warned that New Delhi had \u201cdrawn a new line\u201d for Islamabad<\/a> and that it had \u201conly suspended\u201d its military operation.<\/p>\n 2. CATL, the world\u2019s biggest producer of batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, said it would raise at least $4bn<\/strong> in what is set to be Hong Kong\u2019s biggest share sale and the largest listing globally so far this year. The shares will start trading on May 20, according to a prospectus filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday<\/a>. <\/p>\n 3. The Kurdistan Workers\u2019 party (PKK) said yesterday it would end \u201cthe armed struggle\u201d with the Turkish state and disband.<\/strong> The PKK, which is designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its western allies, has been in conflict with the Turkish state for more than 40 years. The historic move will have major political and security implications for the region<\/a>.<\/p>\n 4. Perplexity, the artificial intelligence search engine, is finalising a funding round that would value the start-up at $14bn,<\/strong> a $5bn jump from the valuation it secured six months ago. The $500mn round is being led by venture capital firm Accel, and comes as Perplexity aims to break Google\u2019s two-decade dominance of the search market<\/a>.<\/p>\n 5. Trump has defended a plan for the US to accept a $400mn jumbo jet from Qatar \u201cfree of charge\u201d<\/strong> after Democrats criticised the move as \u201ccorruption in plain sight\u201d<\/a>. The president called Qatar\u2019s offer a \u201cgreat gesture\u201d and complained about how long it was taking to replace the US\u2019s own Air Force One.<\/p>\n In a scene from the upcoming Taiwanese television drama Zero Day, <\/em>a TV anchor reads the news without blinking: China has imposed a blockade on Taiwan and appears poised to attack. When the broadcast shifts to the defence ministry, she turns incredulously to her producer and asks: \u201cIs there really going to be war?\u201d The controversial series \u2014 the first work of mass entertainment to realistically portray a Chinese invasion<\/a> \u2014 aims to have a real world impact by forcing the country\u2019s public to ask itself the same question.<\/p>\n Tehran\u2019s caf\u00e9 culture:<\/strong> Young Iranians are embracing the rest of the world<\/a>, writes Najmeh Bozorgmehr \u2014 one pastry at a time. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n Trump\u2019s \u2018America First\u2019 policy:<\/strong> When you\u2019re running a superpower, you can\u2019t just ignore the outside world, as last week\u2019s India-Pakistan clashes proved<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Interview \ud83c\udfac:<\/strong> Trump ally Steve Bannon told the FTWeekend festival that the US president \u201cwill serve a third term\u201d<\/a> with the help of constitutional \u201cworkarounds\u201d. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n China is on its way to becoming the world\u2019s first \u201celectrostate\u201d, with a growing share of its energy coming from electricity and an economy increasingly driven by clean technologies. Today\u2019s Big Read explores what that means for global trade, the Chinese economy and geopolitical tensions with the US<\/a>.<\/p>\n The FT tested top apps from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and more with requests to write emails, book travel and summarise the news. See how the leading AI agents compared on routine work tasks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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Five more top stories<\/h3>\n
News in-depth<\/h3>\n
We\u2019re also reading and watching\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/h3>\n
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Chart of the day<\/h3>\n
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Take a break from the news<\/h3>\n
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