Tariff Pause, China Inflation, Lagarde’s Ambitions: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

Welcome to Tuesday Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• The U.S. is unlikely to impose extra tariffs on a new $160 billion swath of Chinese goods including toys and smartphones come Sunday, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said
• ECB President Christine Lagarde is discovering that her grand ambitions for fighting climate change will have to take a back seat to her new job of reviving inflation.
• French President Emmanuel Macron is bracing for round-two of a clash with labor unions over his plan to upend France’s pension system, in what could become the defining moment of his presidency
• As he approaches his third year as Fed chairman, Jerome Powell is again sounding confident that the economy and monetary policy are in a good place, calibrated to help extend the record-long U.S. economic expansion
• Paul Volcker, the former Fed chairman who broke the back of U.S. inflation in the 1980s and three decades later led President Barack Obama’s bid to rein in the investment risk-taking of commercial banks, has died. He was 92
• President Donald Trump’s administration plans to sign off on adjustments to a free-trade deal with Mexico and Canada on Tuesday, easing the path for a vote in the House of Representatives as soon as next week
• U.S. manufacturers expect to reduce capital spending in 2020, a trend that could limit a rebound in the sector even as companies see profits improving
• Record commodity prices and low global interest rates have encouraged African countries to borrow like they did in the 1990s, but now some are struggling to pay up as their revenue slows along with economic growth
• China’s consumer inflation accelerated to a seven-year high in November while producer prices extended their run of declines. Bloomberg Economics’ David Qu says headline inflation should peak in January or February 2020 as pork prices reverse

To contact the reporter on this story: Jiyeun Lee in Hong Kong at jlee1029@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Jackson at pjackson53@bloomberg.net, James Mayger

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