{"id":66499,"date":"2026-08-13T21:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-rally-as-trump-imposes-drone-tariffs-and-orders-navy-tech-reversal\/66499\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T21:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:08:18","slug":"global-markets-rally-as-trump-imposes-drone-tariffs-and-orders-navy-tech-reversal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-rally-as-trump-imposes-drone-tariffs-and-orders-navy-tech-reversal\/66499\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Markets Rally as Trump Imposes Drone Tariffs and Orders Navy Tech Reversal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Asian markets surged<\/strong> as the <strong>KOSPI jumped nearly 3%<\/strong> and the <strong>TOPIX rose 1.06%<\/strong>, driven by moderating U.S. inflation data and a pullback in <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">oil prices<\/a> that lowered the probability of a September Fed rate hike to <strong>under 40%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>President Trump signed a proclamation imposing 100% tariffs<\/strong> on Chinese drones and components sensitive to national security, while simultaneously ordering the U.S. Navy to <strong>revert aircraft carrier technology to steam-powered catapults<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pony.ai (<a href=\"\/stock\/PONY\">PONY<\/a>) and Uber (<a href=\"\/stock\/UBER\">UBER<\/a>) announced a major expansion<\/strong> to deploy over <strong>2,000 robotaxis across Europe<\/strong>, building on their initial commercial launch in Zagreb, Croatia.<\/li>\n<li><strong>SMIC (<a href=\"\/stock\/0981.HK\">0981.HK<\/a>) reported a 3.6-fold increase in quarterly profit<\/strong> to $479.2 million, as AI-driven demand and China\u2019s push for domestic chip localization fueled record production.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geopolitical tensions escalated in the Middle East<\/strong> as Bahrain and the UAE condemned Iranian missile attacks on two ADNOC tankers in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, threatening global energy security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Market Dynamics: Inflation Relief Sparks Asian Rally<\/h2>\n<p>Asian equities traded sharply higher on Friday after evidence of cooling U.S. inflation reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain current interest rates. <strong>MSCI\u2019s Asia Pacific index gained 0.4%<\/strong>, while South Korea&#39;s <strong>KOSPI (<a href=\"\/stock\/KOSPI\">KOSPI<\/a>) outperformed with a 3% surge<\/strong>, following a record-breaking session for the <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a> and Nasdaq 100.<\/p>\n<p>In Japan, the <strong>TOPIX climbed 1.06% to 4,220.31<\/strong>, even as the <strong>Yen consolidated<\/strong> on the prospect of future Bank of Japan rate hikes. Government bond yields showed signs of easing, with the <strong>5-year JGB yield falling 1.5 basis points to 2.105%<\/strong> and the <strong>2-year yield dipping to 1.635%<\/strong>, tracking gains in U.S. Treasurys.<\/p>\n<h2>Trade and Defense: Trump Targets Drones and Carrier Tech<\/h2>\n<p>President Donald Trump intensified his trade stance against Beijing, imposing <strong>100% ad valorem tariffs<\/strong> on Chinese drones weighing over 25kg or equipped with thermal imaging. The White House also established a <strong>25% tariff on smaller drones<\/strong> and a <strong>15% levy on imports from the EU and Japan<\/strong>, aiming to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign drone technology.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate move that surprised naval leadership, Trump issued a memorandum ordering the U.S. Navy to <strong>return to steam-powered catapult systems<\/strong> for the upcoming <em>Gerald Ford<\/em>-class aircraft carriers. The directive targets the <strong>USS Doris Miller<\/strong>, requiring the removal of the advanced Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) in favor of older hydraulic technology, a shift estimated to cost <strong>billions of dollars<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Tech and Mobility: Pony.ai Scales Europe as SMIC Profits Soar<\/h2>\n<p>Autonomous driving leader <strong>Pony.ai (<a href=\"\/stock\/PONY\">PONY<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Uber (<a href=\"\/stock\/UBER\">UBER<\/a>)<\/strong> are set to scale their partnership significantly, targeting the deployment of <strong>2,000+ robotaxis in four additional European cities<\/strong>. This expansion follows the successful commercial debut of their service in <strong>Zagreb<\/strong>, marking a major milestone for Level 4 autonomous commercialization outside of China and the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s semiconductor giant <strong>SMIC (<a href=\"\/stock\/0981.HK\">0981.HK<\/a>)<\/strong> continues to capitalize on the AI boom, reporting that <strong>second-quarter profit more than tripled<\/strong> to $479.2 million. Co-CEO <strong>Zhao Haijun<\/strong> noted that AI demand will continue to drive capacity expansion through the second half of 2026, with the company accelerating new production lines to mitigate industry-wide supply constraints.<\/p>\n<h2>Energy and Geopolitics: Hormuz Attacks and Sector Outlook<\/h2>\n<p>Oil prices edged lower despite significant disruptions in the Middle East, where <strong>two UAE tankers were targeted<\/strong> by Iranian missile strikes in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>. Bahrain joined the UAE in condemning the &quot;treacherous&quot; attacks, which have raised concerns over the stability of global energy transit routes as Iran maintains an effective blockade of the waterway.<\/p>\n<p>In the financial sector, <strong>Fitch Ratings<\/strong> projected <strong>modest growth for Chinese insurers<\/strong> through 2026. While solvency remains adequate across the industry, the agency warned that <strong>tighter regulations on bancassurance commissions<\/strong> and increased equity exposure could pressure the capitalization of smaller life insurers in the near term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Asian markets surged as the KOSPI jumped nearly 3% and the TOPIX rose 1.06%, driven by moderating U.S. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[4390,5112,5816,6714,21320,21600,21601,21602],"class_list":["post-66499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-us-china-trade","tag-jgb","tag-uber-uber-stock-uber","tag-asian-markets","tag-aerovironment-avav-stock-avav","tag-pony-ai-pony-stock-pony","tag-smic-0981-hk-stock-0981-hk","tag-emals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}