Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day.
• US President Trump said trade letters are signed and are going out on Monday addressed to 12 countries but declined to say which countries or the different tariff levels involved.
• OPEC+ said eight member countries agreed to raise oil output by 548k bpd in August (prev. 411k bpd increases) and will next meet on August 3rd.
• Looking ahead, highlights include Japanese Labour Cash Earnings & Leading Index, Australia ANZ Job Advertisements and Thailand CPI.

More Newsquawk in 2 steps:

1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

2. Trial Newsquawk’s premium real-time audio news squawk box for 7 days

LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include Japanese Labour Cash Earnings & Leading Index, Australia ANZ Job Advertisements and Thailand CPI.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US President Trump said trade letters are signed and are going out on Monday addressed to 12 countries but declined to say which countries or the different tariff levels involved.
• US Treasury Secretary Bessent said President Trump will send letters to trading partners notifying them if no deal is reached, they will revert to April 2nd tariff levels with the tariffs to take effect on August 1st, while Bessent added that they are close to several deals and expect to see some big announcements in the next days. Furthermore, Bessent said 100 smaller countries will get set a tariff rate and many never even contacted the US.
• White House Economic Adviser Hassett said it is possible that some trade negotiations will push past the deadline, while he added that trade deals with the UK and Vietnam provide guidelines for additional agreements with other countries, according to a CBS interview.
• EU diplomats said on Friday that EU negotiators failed to achieve a breakthrough in US trade talks and negotiations to continue into the weekend, while EU negotiators were looking to secure a US tariff pause extension if no wider trade deal is agreed. It was also separately reported that the US threatened the EU with a 17% tariff on food exports, according to FT.
• Japan’s tariff negotiator Akazawa held in-depth phone talks with US Commerce Secretary Lutnick on Thursday and Saturday, according to Japan’s government.
• China retaliated against the EU ban regarding public tenders for medical devices by imposing import restrictions on medical devices. China’s Finance Ministry said it is to exclude imports of medical devices exceeding CNY 45mln from the European Union from July 6th, while imports of medical devices from non-EU countries should not contain EU-made components worth more than 50% of the contract value.
• India and the US are likely to take the final decision on a mini trade deal in the next 24-48 hours, with an average tariff under the mini trade deal likely to be 10%, while talks have currently only been completed on a mini-trade deal and negotiations on a larger bilateral trade agreement will begin after July 9th, according to CNBC-TV18.
• Thailand is to offer the US more trade concessions to avert a 36% tariff with Thailand’s Finance Minister expected to submit the revised orders before July 9th with a proposal to boost bilateral trade volume and reduce Thailand’s USD 46bln trade surplus with the US by 70% within 5 years, according to Bloomberg.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law at the White House.
• Elon Musk launched a new political party and commented regarding why he changed his stance on Trump, as well as noted that increasing the deficit from USD 2tln under Biden to USD 2.5tln is insane and will bankrupt the US.

GLOBAL

• Russian President Putin told BRICS through a video link that it is important to enhance cooperation at BRICS and the usage of national currencies, while he commented that the liberal globalisation model is becoming obsolete.

COMMODITIES

• OPEC+ said eight member countries agreed to raise oil output by 548k bpd in August (prev. 411k bpd increases) and will next meet on August 3rd.
• Saudi Arabia set the August Arab light crude to Asia at plus USD 2.20/bbl vs Oman/Dubai average, while it set OSP to NW Europe at plus USD 4.65 vs ICE Brent and set the OSP to the US at plus USD 3.90 vs ASCI.
• Qatar set August Marine Crude official selling price at Oman/Dubai plus USD 1.40/bbl and Land Crude OSP at Oman/Dubai plus USD 1.30.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• Israeli military issued an evacuation order to people at Yemen’s ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Al-Salif, as well as to those inside the Hodeidah Power Station, while it announced to carry out airstrikes in those areas due to military activities being conducted there and explosions were later heard by residents.
• A Liberia-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier was attacked 51NM off Yemen’s Hodeidah, while the UKMTO later announced that all crew abandoned a ship that was attacked southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah.
• Israeli PM’s office said the changes requested by Hamas to the Qatari proposal are not acceptable to Israel, while the negotiating team will depart to Qatar for Gaza talks.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu said he is determined to ensure hostages’ return to Israel and remove the Hamas threat from Gaza, while he said his negotiators in ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve an agreement under conditions Israel has accepted. Furthermore, Netanyahu said ahead of his White House meeting that he believes the discussion with US President Trump can certainly help advance these results.
• US President Trump said he will discuss Iran with Israeli PM Netanyahu, while he added that Iran’s nuclear program was set back permanently but they may restart in a different location. Furthermore, Trump said there could be a Gaza deal during the week ahead.
• Hamas government office rejected a US State Department accusation that Hamas was involved in an attack on Americans at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site on Saturday.
• UK government re-established diplomatic relations with Syria.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• US President Trump said they won’t be sending patriot missiles to Ukraine but talked about it and noted they have to be protected, while he said Russian President Putin is worried about sanctions and understands it may be coming.
• Russian military forces gained control of Sobolivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Piddubne in Donetsk region, according to TASS.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US President Trump said pretty much have a deal on TikTok and the US will start talks with China regarding TikTok on Monday or Tuesday. It was separately reported that TikTok is building a new version of the app planned to be released in the US with the existing app to eventually shut down in the US in March 2026, according to The Information.
• South Korea passed an expanded extra budget worth KRW 31.8tln.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• UK ministers are to launch a GBP 500mln scheme to help struggling families, according to FT.
• EU is to stockpile critical minerals due to war risk, according to FT.