Beijing announced benchmark rate cuts plus a major liquidity injection on Wednesday, shortly after the US and China said officials will meet in Switzerland for trade talks this weekend

Asian currencies have surged on the back of a wave of dollar selling, which suggests regional investors are baulking at the long trend of investing in US assets

Japan says tariffs imposed on autos, steel and aluminium cannot be excluded from trade talks, because the auto sector is a core national industry

Analysts say there is renewed appetite for a global yuan as aggressive tariffs shake faith in the American currency and other US assets

Banking sources say the net payments system is designed for large corporations and works directly with 11 Chinese provinces

Beijing says the ramping of US tariffs is becoming a joke; meanwhile it is canvassing trading partners on how to deal with its trade crisis

Trump announces a 3-month pause on tariffs he imposed on dozens of countries last week. All now face a 10% base tariff, bar China, where exporters face a 125% tariff

The yuan sank to its weakest level in more than 17 years on Wednesday with US-China trade tipped to be halved by new US tariffs, while US Treasuries were also subject to intense selling

Analysts said both sides seem "unwilling to back down" and they fear "the worst may be yet to come." In that event, China may move to boost domestic consumption, and start war games

State media outlet says "countermeasures" will likely include tariffs and non-tariff measures, with US agricultural and food products "most likely be listed"

World stocks were on track for their worst week since mid-December, slumping more than 2% as threats of sweeping US tariffs unnerved investors

"The likelihood of achieving the BOJ's outlook has been rising," the central bank said, as many firms say they will continue to raise wages steadily in this year's annual wage negotiations