French President Emmanuel Macron met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, pledging to jointly promote multilateralism and strengthen coordination against hegemonic conflicts and bloc confrontation.

The French side looks forward to strengthening policy coordination with China on international economic, financial, and global governance issues, jointly addressing global challenges, injecting more vitality into multilateralism, and preventing the world from falling into hegemonic conflicts and bloc confrontations, Macron said. He expressed hope to visit China again at an appropriate time.

Wang said China is willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with France and hopes that the French side will provide a more favorable and fair environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in France.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visited to Argentina to gain strategic and economic significance. Gustavo Idigoras, Executive Director of the India-Argentina Business Council (IABC), revealed that India and Argentina aim to boost bilateral trade from $5 billion to $8 billion, with a target of $14 billion by 2040. He also emphasized Argentina’s keen interest in signing a Free Trade Agreement with India.

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US President Donald Trump said on Friday, he has signed a set of letters to be sent to 12 countries notifying them of the tariff rates they will face on their exports to the United States. He declined to say which countries will receive the letters.

Trump said the tariffs will range in value "from 60 or 70 percent to 10 or 20 percent", and that the countries will start to pay the levies on August 1. The Trump administration is expected to continue last-minute negotiations with its trade partners as the pause in what it calls reciprocal tariffs is due to expire on Wednesday.

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The world's major oil producing group OPEC Plus said it will further increase crude oil production in August. Eight OPEC Plus members, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed during an online meeting on Saturday to raise output by 548,000 barrels per day next month.

In April, the eight countries began scaling back their voluntary output reductions of 2.2 million barrels per day. Since then, they have been gradually expanding crude oil production. The further increase in August is a jump from monthly increases of 411,000 barrels per day that OPEC Plus had approved for May, June and July. In June, the benchmark WTI futures index rose to the mid-78 dollars per barrel range following US attacks on Iran.

The index fell after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran was announced.Recently, the WTI has stabilized at around 67 dollars per barrel. Analysts say the output increase planned by OPEC Plus could drive down crude oil prices.

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Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shaked hands with Brazilian President Lula da Silva as they mark an important step in bilateral trade, celebrating the first export of Brazilian beef to Viet Nam and Vietnamese tilapia to Brazil. The meeting, held ahead of the BRICS summit, also included the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to boost cooperation in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

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France on Friday praised China's steps to settle a trade dispute over European brandy imports. The signs of a thaw in the row over the alcohol came as China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met French President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris.

In recent months China and the European Union have butted heads over Beijing's generous subsidies for its domestic industries. In the latest salvo, China will from Saturday require European brandy exporters to raise prices or risk anti-dumping taxes of up to 34.9 percent. Beijing said 34 European brandy makers, including several French cognac producers, had signed an accord to avoid tariffs as long as they stick to an agreed minimum price.

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Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that ongoing discussions about creating a new regional currency are 'extremely important', during his speech at the New Development Bank's annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

Lula highlighted that a regional trading currency among BRICS or broader South American nations could decrease dependency on the USD, reducing vulnerabilities and lowering transaction costs. He stressed that establishing such a currency demands “seriousness, caution, and technical solidity”—acknowledging complexity, yet insisting the conversation cannot be delayed.

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Viet Nam Party General Secretary To Lam and US President Donald Trump discussed bilateral relations and reciprocal tariff negotiations during their phone talks on July 2. The two leaders voiced satisfaction with the strong and positive progress in Viet Nam–US ties. They welcomed the negotiating delegations of both sides reaching consensus on a joint statement that outlines a fair and balanced framework for a reciprocal trade agreement.

President Trump praised Viet Nam’s commitment to offering preferential market access for US goods, including large-engine automobiles. He affirmed that his nation would significantly reduce reciprocal tariffs on a range of Vietnamese exports and pledged to continue working with Viet Nam to resolve outstanding trade issues, particularly in areas of mutual priority.

The Vietnamese Party chief called on the US to soon recognize Viet Nam as a market economy and lift export controls on certain high-tech products.

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France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that he wanted an EU-US trade deal "as soon as possible, with the lowest tariffs possible", with a Washington-set deadline looming to reach an accord.

The EU commission, which leads trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, has until Wednesday next week to strike an agreement. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said earlier on Thursday that the European Union was "ready for a deal" with the United States.

Macron said he had hoped for a deal to include "zero for zero" percent tariffs, but what seemed more realistic was "to obtain what is today the minimum for the Americans" which was "10 percent for 10 percent" in custom fees. The French president said he hoped EU "defence efforts" encouraged by Washington, as well as plans to buy US "liquefied gas" to help reduce dependency on Russia, would weigh in the bloc's favour in talks.

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China is willing to work with the United States to jointly promote the sound, stable and sustainable development of bilateral economic and trade relations, said Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yongqian at a press briefing in Beijing on Thursday. She made the remarks in response to a media query about a recent report claiming that U.S. President Donald Trump is considering a trip to China with a delegation of dozens of CEOs.

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