BEIJING/WASHINGTON — US President Donald J. Trump’s stunning decision to pause the hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries brought relief for battered global stock markets on Thursday, even as he ratcheted up a trade war with China.

Mr. Trump’s turnabout on Wednesday, which came less than 24 hours after steep new tariffs kicked in on most trading partners, followed the most intense episode of financial market volatility since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The upheaval erased trillions of dollars from stock markets and led to an unsettling surge in US government bond yields that appeared to catch Mr. Trump’s attention.

“I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know,” Mr. Trump told reporters after the announcement, referring to the jitters sportspeople sometimes get.

US stock indexes shot higher on the news, with the benchmark S&P 500 index closing 9.5% higher, and the relief continued into Asian trading on Thursday with Japan’s Nikkei index surging more than 8%.

European futures also pointed to big gains, but there were already signs the rally may be short-lived with US stock futures trading lower. Oil prices also fell around 1%, extending a grim spell fuelled by fears that the trade tensions could push the global economy towards recession.

Since returning to the White House in January, Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asserted that the pullback had been the plan all along to bring countries to the bargaining table. Mr. Trump, though, later indicated that the near-panic in markets that had unfolded since his April 2 announcements had factored into his thinking.

Despite insisting for days that his policies would never change, he told reporters on Wednesday: “You have to be flexible.”

But he kept the pressure on China, the world’s No. 2 economy and second biggest provider of US imports. Mr. Trump immediately hiked the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% level that kicked in on Wednesday.

Chinese companies that sell products on Amazon are preparing to hike prices for the US or quit that market due to the “unprecedented blow” from the tariffs, the head of China’s largest e-commerce association said.

Beijing may again respond in kind after slapping 84% tariffs on US imports on Wednesday to match Mr. Trump’s earlier tariff salvo. It has repeatedly vowed to “fight to the end” in the escalating trade war between the world’s top two economies.

“We are not afraid of provocations. We don’t back down,” China’s Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning posted on X on Thursday, sharing a video of a defiant speech by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong from 1953 during its war with the United States on the Korean peninsula.

The Korean War ended in a stalemate later that year.

Mr. Trump said a resolution with China on trade is also possible. But officials have said they will prioritize talks with other countries with Vietnam, Japan and South Korea among those lining up to try and strike a bargain.

“China wants to make a deal,” Mr. Trump said. “They just don’t know how quite to go about it.”

Beijing said it had held talks with the European Union and Malaysia on strengthening trade in response to the tensions, although Australia said it had rebuffed an offer from China, its top trading partner, to work together to counter the tariffs.

“We are not going to be holding hands with China in respect of any contest that is going on in the world,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told Sky News.

Hopes of state support helped prop up Chinese stocks on Thursday, even as its yuan currency fell to its weakest level since the global financial crisis.

US investment bank Goldman Sachs revised down its forecasts for China’s gross domestic product growth to 4% in 2025, from previous projections of 4.5%, citing the negative effects of tariffs.

‘GOADED CHINA’
Mr. Trump’s reversal on the tariffs imposed on other countries is also not absolute. A 10% blanket duty on almost all US imports will remain in effect, the White House said. The announcement also does not appear to affect duties on autos, steel and aluminum that are already in place.

The 90-day freeze also does not apply to duties paid by Canada and Mexico, because their goods are still subject to 25% fentanyl-related tariffs if they do not comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) rules of origin. Those duties remain in place for the moment, with an indefinite exemption for USMCA-compliant goods.

Mr. Trump’s tariffs had sparked a days-long selloff that erased trillions of dollars from global stocks and pressured US Treasury bonds and the dollar, which form the backbone of the global financial system. Canada and Japan said they would step in to provide stability if needed — a task usually performed by the United States during times of economic crisis.

Treasury Secretary Bessent shrugged off questions about market turmoil and said the abrupt reversal rewarded countries that had heeded Mr. Trump’s advice to refrain from retaliation. He suggested Mr. Trump had used the tariffs to create maximum negotiating leverage. “This was his strategy all along,” Mr. Bessent told reporters. “And you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position.”

Mr. Bessent is the point person in the country-by-country negotiations that could address foreign aid and military cooperation as well as economic matters. He declined to say how long negotiations with the more than 75 countries that have reached out might take. — Reuters

ALVARADO, TEXAS/PARIS — Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire Chief Executive Officer Bernard Arnault and President Donald J. Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands.

But since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees told Reuters. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, according to three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff.

The plant’s problems — which haven’t previously been reported — highlight the challenges for LVMH as it attempts to build its production footprint in the US to avoid Mr. Trump’s threatened tariffs on European-made goods.

“The ramp-up was harder than we thought it would be, that’s true,” Ludovic Pauchard, Louis Vuitton’s industrial director, said in an interview on Friday in response to detailed questions about Reuters findings.

The Texas site, situated on a 250-acre ranch, has struggled due to a lack of skilled leather workers able to produce at the brand’s quality standards, the three former workers told Reuters. “It took them years to start making the simple pockets of the Neverfull handbag,” one source familiar with operations at the plant said, referring to the classic Louis Vuitton shoulder tote bag.

Errors made during the cutting, preparation and assembly process led to the waste of as many as 40% of the leather hides, said one former employee with detailed knowledge of the factory’s performance. Industry-wide, typical waste rates for leather goods are generally 20%, a senior industry source said.

Several former employees who spoke to Reuters described a high-pressure environment. To boost production numbers, supervisors routinely turned a blind eye toward methods to conceal defects, and in some cases encouraged them, four former employees told Reuters.

Mr. Pauchard acknowledged there had been such cases in the past, but said the issue had been resolved. “This dates back to 2018 and one particular manager who isn’t part of the company anymore,” he said.

Poorly crafted handbags deemed unfit for sale are shredded on-site and carted away in trucks for incineration, two of the sources with knowledge of the firm’s supply chain said.

A former production supervisor who often traveled to the site, said Louis Vuitton mostly used the Texas plant for less sophisticated handbag models, producing its most expensive products elsewhere.

Mr. Pauchard said the company was being “patient” with “a young factory.”

“Any bag that goes out of it must be a Louis Vuitton bag, we make sure it meets exactly the same quality,” he said. “I am not aware of any kinds of issues suggesting the quality coming from Texas is any different from that coming from Europe.”

MADE IN USA
Perched behind a hill, the handbag maker’s two production facilities were built on grounds near grazing cattle and a gas well. Louis Vuitton named the site Rochambeau in tribute to a French general who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Workers at the site make components and entire models of Louis Vuitton handbags like Felice pochettes and Metis bags — with “Made in USA” tags inside. The items sell for around $1,500 and $3,000 at high-end boutiques.

LVMH declined to comment when asked which handbag models are fully or partially made in Texas but former workers interviewed by Reuters mentioned the Carryall, Keepall, Metis, Felice and Neverfull handbag lines among the plant’s products.

In its marketing material, Louis Vuitton says its handbags — typically made at French, Spanish or Italian leather ateliers by artisans known as petites mains — are assembled using a process that it has perfected since the mid-19^th century. After cutting canvas and leather using hand tools and laser-cutting machines, they stitch pieces together using industrial sewing machines.

Workers at the Texas facility, which includes dedicated floors for cutting and for assembly as well as a warehouse, were initially paid $13 per hour. As of 2024, base pay for a leather worker position at the plant was $17 per hour, according to two people who recently applied for positions. The minimum wage in Texas is $7.25 an hour.

A former leather worker who arrived as a migrant in the US some years before, said she felt proud when she was hired by the prestigious French brand, but said some workers struggled to meet the brand’s quality standards and production targets.

“We were under a lot of pressure to make the daily goals,” said the former worker, who left the factory at the end of 2019.

Another person who worked at the facility until 2023 said she cut corners, like using a hot pin to “melt” canvas and leather to conceal imperfections in a particularly difficult piece called the Vendome Opera Bag.

Another former leather worker said they’d seen people melt material to hide holes or other imperfections in stitching.

Damien Verbrigghe, Louis Vuitton’s international manufacturing director, conceded some at the Texas plant had chosen to change jobs or leave because of its stringent quality requirements.

“There are artisans that we hire, who we train and who, after several weeks, or months, realize in light of the expectations, the level of detail that is required, they would rather work in other fields like logistics,” he said. “Some people chose to leave us, because it’s true that it’s a job that requires a lot of savoir faire.”

Three former workers at the plant said they received between two and five weeks of training. A current Louis Vuitton employee in France said receiving just a few weeks of training wasn’t unusual as most learning happens on the production line supervised by more experienced craftspeople.

“Knowledge of sewing on leather/canvas is a plus, but not required. We offer comprehensive training,” the company said in a job posting for artisan positions in Alvarado published on its website in January.

Mr. Verbrigghe said training in Texas is “exactly the same program that we have in all our workshops,” that is, six weeks on the training line, where new artisans do nothing but learn basic operations and skills before going on to train on the assembly line. There, he said, they are “accompanied and continuously mentored by trainers.”

TAX BREAKS
LVMH got a host of tax breaks and incentives from Johnson County, including a 10-year, 75% property tax cut, promising the company an estimated $29 million in savings. ”We look forward to serving this exceptional company,” wrote the county’s top executive, Roger Harmon, in 2017 correspondence seen by Reuters.

In its 2017 application letter for the tax abatement, obtained by Reuters through records request, LVMH said it was aiming to hire 500 people within the first five years of the plan. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony in 2019, Mr. Arnault said, “We will create approximately 1,000 high-skilled jobs here at Rochambeau over the next five years.”

Three former staffers, however, said headcount stood at just under 300 workers in February 2025, a figure Mr. Verbrigghe confirmed.

The White House did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Mr. Pauchard said initial recruitment difficulties were largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed, adding that a decline in local demand also played a role.

Despite the problems, LVMH is planning to move even more jobs to Texas. LVMH said in its 2017 filing that its first Texas production facility would cost around $30 million. A second filing from 2022 to local authorities put the cost of its second workshop, completed last year, at $23.5 million.

At a town hall last fall, workers at one of two California production sites were told that it would close in 2028 and they could move to Texas or quit, according to a former employee who was present.

Mr. Pauchard confirmed the town hall and said Louis Vuitton intended to streamline its California operations and transfer more skilled artisans to Texas — with so far limited success. Its executives, he said, “underestimated the fact that Texas is far away from California.” — Reuters

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s well-known food scene has been battered by closures in the past year, affecting low-cost hawker stalls, mid-sized operators and Michelin-star restaurants, who say costs are rising and consumers are spending less.

Closures in the food and beverage sector have averaged 307 per month so far this year, up from 254 per month in 2024 and around 230 a month in 2023 and 2022, government data shows.

Alvin Goh, a co-founder of Wine RVLT, is set to add to the statistics later this year.

He said he will not renew his lease when it runs out in August after almost a decade of serving natural wines and bar bites in the wealthy Asian financial hub of 6 million people.

“We’ve been in the red since 2023 June. We’ve been topping up money to ensure that rent, salaries and suppliers are being paid,” he said.

Like other operators, Mr. Goh has been hit by rising costs for goods, utilities, rent and salaries. He has fewer patrons and those who do dine and wine are spending less than during what Mr. Goh called the 2022 “euphoria of opening up” following the COVID pandemic.

The ratio of closures to openings in 2025 and 2024 was higher than before and during the pandemic, pointing to a shrinking sector.

Closures since last year have affected a range of establishments, from low-cost hawker stalls to rooftop bar Smoke & Mirrors and a string of Michelin-starred restaurants such as Art di Daniele Sperindio and Sommer and Braci.

Maybank economist Brian Lee expects closures to remain elevated in 2025. Operating costs remain high and many Singaporeans are prioritizing travel over dining out, he said.

One of those is Glenn Chew, 26, who works in public relations. He said he travels to other Southeast Asian cities where dining out can cost 30-40% less than in Singapore.

The concern is that closures will lead to a loss of the island’s culinary heritage and its status as an Asian food capital, said food blogger Seth Lui, 40.

“We will start to see more fast food-style concepts with automation and franchise brands everywhere rather than having unique, quaint concepts,” he said.

Still, there are hopefuls like Jay Gray, 34, co-owner of Club Street Laundry restaurant which opened this year, his sixth venture in 11 years.

“I guess I believe in the Singapore market enough and I do believe if you focus on hospitality, which is the most important thing, you’ll be able to sustain it,” he said. — Reuters