Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he plans to cut the number of US troops stationed in Germany to 25,000, until Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government increases defense spending. “Germany’s delinquent. They’ve been delinquent for years,” he told reporters at the White House in the first official confirmation of a move that was reported earlier this month. “They owe NATO billions of ...

Bloomberg Australian foreign minister Marise Payne criticised China for creating “disinformation” during the coronavirus pandemic, saying it “will cost lives.” “It is troubling that some countries are using the pandemic to undermine liberal democracy to promote their own more authoritarian models,” Payne said in a speech in Canberra on Tuesday. She cited a European Union report that said foreign actors ...

Bloomberg Secretary of State Michael Pompeo was expected to travel to Hawaii on Tuesday for meetings with his Chinese counterpart, according to two people familiar with the plans, as tensions between the countries run high over trade, coronavirus, the future of Hong Kong and other issues. Secrecy around the planned encounter between Pompeo and Yang Jiechi, the ruling Communist Party’s ...

Bloomberg The US tumbled further in a ranking of most competitive world economies, dragged down by the weight of President Donald Trump’s trade wars. After losing the top spot to Singapore in 2018, the US dropped further down the list to 10th place from third, according to an annual ranking from the Institute for Management Development (IMD), a business school ...

Bloomberg UK jobless claims more than doubled to almost 3 million during the virus lockdown, adding urgency to the Bank of England and government’s efforts to cushion the blow. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits increased by more than 1.5 million in the two months through May, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. The figures show the ...

Bloomberg Some of Argentina’s largest creditors presented a new debt proposal to the government over the weekend as the two sides edge closer to a $65 billion restructuring deal, according to people familiar with the matter. The Ad Hoc Bondholder Group and Exchange Bondholder Group submitted an offer in which they agreed to accept losses on a net-present value basis ...

Bloomberg Investors see some signs that the recovery in Europe’s largest economy has started to take off. A ZEW gauge of current conditions in Germany advanced in June, and expectations for the next six months continued to improve. The data underscore hopes that the economy will grow again in the second half of 2020. The country’s government has made more ...

Bloomberg Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego called on government health officials to stop imposing “authoritarian” policies to contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreak that the mogul said were damaging the economy. Salinas Pliego, who owns bank and appliance dealer Grupo Elektra and the country’s second largest TV network TV Azteca, said Mexicans needed to be free to decide what ...

Bloomberg Stocks advanced alongside US equity futures as plans for more American stimulus revived investor sentiment. A gauge of European corporate debt risk fell the most in two months. Carnival Plc and EasyJet Plc rallied more than 7%, helping lead gains in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. The dollar weakened against almost all of its major peers. The pound climbed ...

Bloomberg Indian equities pared gains, while the rupee and sovereign bonds declined, after a skirmish between the nation’s soldiers and Chinese troops in a border area reignited geopolitical risks. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index rose 1.1% as of 2:32 pm in Mumbai, after earlier climbing as much as 2.4% after the Indian army said three soldiers died in the ...