China-U.S. Talks, Japan Stealth Taper, Trump Unpopular: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Asia. Here’s the latest news from Bloomberg Economics:

• The U.S. has proposed another round of trade talks with Beijing to avoid further escalation in its trade war with China. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve says tariffs are curbing investment and raising input costs
• After six weeks to fully digest the Bank of Japan’s July policy tweaks, most economists characterize the changes as “stealth tapering.” The BOJ is also seen keeping monetary policy on hold until after a sales-tax increase in 2019
• President Trump’s unpopularity is unprecedented given the strength of the economy
• The Federal Reserve’s Lael Brainard sees gradual rate rises over the next year or two, possibly to more than 3 percent
• China is finding that it can’t just flick a switch to increase lending, argues Chang Shu
• The European Central Bank is set to tweak its forecasts lower for euro-area economic growth as global trade tensions damp external demand. Meanwhile, the governor of Denmark’s central bank says there shouldn’t be a limit to how high capital requirements for lenders can rise
• Vietnam’s Communist rulers are doing everything they can for the economy to emerge from the U.S.-China trade war unscathed -- and potentially even better off
• Over in the Philippines, a brewing inflation crisis is hurting the nation’s consumers

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Chris Bourke

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.