US considers dropping some tariffs on China - FT

The Financial Times (FT) carried a report last minutes, citing that the US administration officials are mulling whether to remove some existing tariffs on Chinese goods as a concession to seal a partial deal that would pause the trade war with Beijing as early as this month. 

The FT quoted five people briefed on the discussions, as saying that “the White House is considering whether to roll back levies on $112bn of Chinese imports — including clothing, appliances, and flat screen monitors — that were introduced at a 15 per cent rate on September 1. “

Earlier today, Politico cited one of the people with the knowledge of the matter, saying that Beijing is pushing the US to withdraw a round of tariffs scheduled to go into effect in mid-December as well as remove 15% tariffs imposed in September before signing the key US-China “phase one” deal.

The above headlines bolstered the risk sentiment in early trades, sending the USD/JPY pair nearly 20-pips higher to 108.75 while Treasury yields and S&P 500 futures extend Monday’s rally.