This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe\/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today\u2019s newsletter: <\/p>\n
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Trump\u2019s latest attack on the Fed chair<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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US set to ban Chinese tech in submarine cables<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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FT investigates US immigration detention facilities<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Donald Trump asked lawmakers whether he should fire Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell in a move that fuelled a fresh bout of concerns over the central bank\u2019s independence and hit the dollar. <\/p>\n
What happened:<\/strong> Trump asked Republican members of Congress during an Oval Office meeting late on Tuesday whether he should remove Powell, according to a White House official. Lawmakers supported the idea, the official said. Speaking in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump pushed back at the prospect that he would imminently sack Powell, who the president has relentlessly criticised in recent weeks for declining to cut interest rates. \u201cWe\u2019re not planning on doing anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The dollar swung in volatile trading, with an index tracking the currency against its peers sliding as much as 0.9 per cent, before trimming its losses to roughly 0.3 per cent. <\/p>\n
![\"Line](\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd6c748xw2pzm8.cloudfront.net%2Fprod%2F5491ac50-6264-11f0-8278-d5ddb5826e4b-standard.png?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1\")
<\/picture><\/figure>\nFed independence under attack:<\/strong> Trump has repeatedly pressured the Fed chair to slash rates, saying lower borrowing costs would help reduce the public debt burden of his \u201cbig, beautiful\u201d budget bill. However, Powell and many other members of the Fed\u2019s policy-setting board are worried Trump\u2019s tariffs could increase inflation. JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon on Tuesday warned \u201cthe independence of the Fed is absolutely critical \u2014 and not just for the current Fed chair, whom I respect, Jay Powell, but for the next Fed chair\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Maga split:<\/strong> Trump has attacked his \u201cpast supporters\u201d, accusing them of pushing \u201cthe Jeffrey Epstein Hoax\u201d, as his administration\u2019s handling of the files relating to the late paedophile financier continues to divide his political movement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Here\u2019s what else we\u2019re keeping tabs on today:<\/p>\n
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Economic data:<\/strong> Japan reports monthly trade data. Australia and Hong Kong publish June employment figures.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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Results: <\/strong>TSMC and Volvo Cars report second-quarter earnings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Five more top stories<\/h3>\n
1. The US telecoms regulator is poised to introduce a measure that would bar companies <\/strong>from connecting submarine communication cables to America that include any Chinese technology or equipment. The new rule was partly influenced by a massive Chinese ongoing attack on US telecoms networks called Salt Typhoon that Washington is struggling to tackle because of the cost of replacing vulnerable systems.<\/p>\n
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Nvidia CEO in Beijing:<\/strong> Jensen Huang said the AI chipmaker would \u201caccelerate the recovery\u201d of its China sales, after a d\u00e9tente between Beijing and Washington allowed the company to resume shipments of a key processor specifically designed for the Chinese market.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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US-China business:<\/strong> Almost half of the big US companies operating in China have been adversely affected by overcapacity in the country, according to a new survey.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
2. China has sentenced a Japanese pharmaceutical executive to three and a half years in prison for espionage. <\/strong>The decision will heighten concerns among foreign businesses in China over the transparency of the country\u2019s judicial system, given that few details of the allegations against the executive have been disclosed. Read the full story.<\/p>\n
3. Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s plan for the EU\u2019s biggest ever budget has sparked uproar inside the European Commission,<\/strong> with colleagues warning the president\u2019s ultra-centralised style has already compromised the \u20ac2tn cash call. The revolt has underscored the long-bubbling resentment at her \u201crubber stamp\u201d approach towards the commission.<\/p>\n
4. Israel carried out strikes near Syria\u2019s presidential palace and on the military headquarters in Damascus yesterday,<\/strong> a significant escalation of its bombing campaign in the neighbouring country. The Israeli military also carried out strikes in southern Syria, where deadly sectarian violence raged for a fourth day<\/p>\n
5. A dispute between the government of Vietnam and renewable energy developers over subsidies<\/strong> is threatening to disrupt power supplies, a move that could hit manufacturers that have moved to the country in droves from China. In a letter to Vietnam\u2019s ministry of industry and trade, state utility EVN warned that government cuts to subsidies risks country\u2019s credibility and may lead to power shortages. <\/p>\n
Visual investigation<\/h3>\n
![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F5d3d3cd8-3172-413d-9e8e-0645855896cb.png?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1\")
<\/picture>Trump has launched the largest domestic deportation operation in US history, and his administration is establishing more facilities to take in a record number of detainees. The majority are run by for-profit companies \u2014 a multibillion-dollar industry that has exploded over four decades. An FT investigation found a number of sites housing hundreds more people than they were designed to hold, while lawyers and detainees said some people have been sleeping on the floor.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200bWe\u2019re also reading\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/h3>\n
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GM\u2019s Korea plants:<\/strong> The company\u2019s key South Korean factories principally serve the North American market, leaving the Detroit carmaker fully exposed to US tariffs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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\u2018Fire\u2019 and \u2018ice\u2019: <\/strong>Markets will be closer in the future to a singe from inflation than a freeze in growth and prices, writes Pimco co-founder Bill Gross.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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Zohran Mamdani: <\/strong>The socialist mayoral candidate won over some of his critics at a private meeting with New York\u2019s business elites.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Chart of the day<\/h3>\n
America\u2019s trading partners have largely declined to retaliate against Trump\u2019s tariff war, with only China and Canada hitting back so far. This has allowed a US president taunted for \u201calways chickening out\u201d to raise nearly $50bn in extra customs revenues at little cost, US Treasury data shows.<\/p>\n
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Take a break from the news<\/h3>\n
Does the perfect hat exist? The FT\u2019s Robert Armstrong writes that his bald head \u2014 a \u201cheat-leaking, solar-radiation-collecting roof panel\u201d \u2014 requires coverage. Style-wise, this creates challenges.<\/p>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F3f304fc1-fb3c-4904-a1ce-4b1fb2de42ef.png?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1\")
<\/picture>The key to a panama is to wear it confidently, not sheepishly<\/span> \u00a9 Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n #Donald #Trump #floats #firing #Feds #Jay #Powell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe\/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today\u2019s newsletter: Trump\u2019s latest attack on the Fed chair US set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[109,549,522,548,550,523,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-donald","9":"tag-feds","10":"tag-firing","11":"tag-floats","12":"tag-jay","13":"tag-powell","14":"tag-trump"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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