Trump Demands Large Fed Cut, Attacks `Rip-Off' China: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Wednesday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• President Donald Trump stepped up attacks on the Fed, demanding a “large cut” in interest rates at today’s meeting where it’s expected to ease by a quarter point. Policy makers would be wise to use recent upbeat data to outline parameters for a modest rate recalibration, writes Carl Riccadonna
• Trump also lashed China for its unwillingness to buy agricultural products and said it continues to “rip off” the U.S., just as talks resumed in Shanghai. The president plans to meet with his Mongolian counterpart, seeing the country landlocked by China and Russia as strategically important
• Trump’s assault on the WTO -- and the system of rules that guide global businesses -- may be quietly scoring a major victory
• China announced priorities for economic policy in the second half, pledging to tackle tensions over trade “effectively” while offering incremental additions to stimulus. Meantime, the latest bad news on the economy is coming from corporate earnings
• Here’s one thing dollar bulls and bears can agree on: If the U.S. intervened to weaken its currency, it’d be a good time to buy
• In Thailand, the central bank knocked the baht from its perch, but the weakness could be short-lived. Boris Johnson has managed something similar with the pound over his refusal to back down from his threat to take the U.K. out of the EU without a deal. Dan Hanson says sterling could plunge a further 13% in that scenario
• As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s desire for lower rates reshapes Turkey’s policy, it’s the central bank’s latest take on inflation that will guide what may be the biggest easing push in emerging markets.
• Meantime, as some of the EU‘s eastern members embrace more state-led models, Ukraine is turning to the playbook that helped rebuild the continent’s ex-communist wing back in the 1990s

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

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