{"id":66740,"date":"2026-08-18T22:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T02:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-react-to-trumps-canada-tariff-pause-and-nvidias-china-breakthrough\/66740\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T22:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T02:38:08","slug":"global-markets-react-to-trumps-canada-tariff-pause-and-nvidias-china-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-react-to-trumps-canada-tariff-pause-and-nvidias-china-breakthrough\/66740\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Markets React to Trump\u2019s Canada Tariff Pause and Nvidia\u2019s China Breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>President Trump paused 50% tariffs on Canada<\/strong> for three days, citing a deal awaiting finalization, causing the <strong>U.S. Dollar to drop 0.2% to C$1.3877<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>China relaxed restrictions on <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/NVDA\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"15\" title=\"stock: NVDA\">Nvidia<\/a> (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>) H200 chips<\/strong>, with tech giants ByteDance and Tencent (<a href=\"\/stock\/TCEHY\">TCEHY<\/a>) reportedly receiving <strong>10,000 units each<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Australian wage growth met expectations at 3.2% Y\/Y<\/strong> for Q2, signaling a steady labor market that may influence central bank policy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Japanese Government Bond (JGB) yields fell across the curve<\/strong>, with the 10-year yield declining to <strong>2.910%<\/strong> amid shifting global macro sentiments.<\/li>\n<li><strong>U.S.-Iran tensions remain high<\/strong> as a 60-day memorandum period expired without a final agreement, leaving Washington to weigh further sanctions or military pressure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Trump Pauses Canada Tariffs Amid Pipeline Talks<\/h2>\n<p>President Donald Trump has announced a <strong>three-day reprieve on proposed 50% tariffs against Canada<\/strong>, stating that a bilateral agreement is currently awaiting document finalization. The news immediately impacted currency markets, sending the <strong>U.S. Dollar down 0.2% against the Canadian Dollar to C$1.3877<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In a move that could reshape North American energy policy, Trump also signaled that the <strong>Keystone XL Pipeline could be resurrected<\/strong>. This development suggests a broader shift toward energy cooperation as part of the emerging trade deal between the two nations.<\/p>\n<h2>Nvidia Gains Ground in China\u2019s AI Race<\/h2>\n<p>According to reports from the <em>Financial Times<\/em>, China has eased limits on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/NVDA\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"15\" title=\"stock: NVDA\">Nvidia<\/a> (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>) H200 chips<\/strong>, marking a significant turn in the escalating global AI race. Major Chinese tech firms, including <strong>ByteDance<\/strong> and <strong>Tencent (<a href=\"\/stock\/TCEHY\">TCEHY<\/a>)<\/strong>, have reportedly received approximately <strong>10,000 H200 processors each<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this breakthrough for <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/NVDA\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"15\" title=\"stock: NVDA\">Nvidia<\/a>, other sectors of the Chinese tech market faced pressure. The <strong>CSI Robot Index slid over 5%<\/strong>, and <strong>China Unicom (<a href=\"\/stock\/CHU\">CHU<\/a>)<\/strong> shares listed in Hong Kong plummeted more than <strong>10%<\/strong>, reflecting volatility in the broader regional tech landscape.<\/p>\n<h2>Asia-Pacific Economic Shifts<\/h2>\n<p>Australia released its <strong>Wage Price Index (WPI)<\/strong> for the second quarter, showing a <strong>0.8% Q\/Q increase<\/strong> and a <strong>3.2% Y\/Y rise<\/strong>. These figures matched economist estimates, suggesting that while wage pressure remains, it is not accelerating at a pace that would force immediate hawkish action from the Reserve Bank of Australia.<\/p>\n<p>In Japan, bond markets saw a significant rally as yields fell. The <strong>10-year JGB yield dropped 2.5 basis points to 2.910%<\/strong>, while the <strong>40-year yield slid 3 basis points to 4.175%<\/strong>. This flattening of the yield curve comes as investors navigate a &quot;macro rift&quot; between China\u2019s falling long-end yields and multi-year peaks seen in other global markets.<\/p>\n<h2>Geopolitical and Corporate Developments<\/h2>\n<p>The Pentagon announced it will <strong>sharply cut back and end joint military drills with South Korea<\/strong> one week ahead of schedule. This move coincides with reports that Seoul is seeking a presidential summit with China on the sidelines of the upcoming <strong>APEC summit in Shenzhen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In the energy sector, <strong>Shell (<a href=\"\/stock\/SHEL\">SHEL<\/a>)<\/strong> announced a new supply project in Queensland, Australia, expected to support <strong>300 jobs<\/strong>. Meanwhile, in the aviation sector, <strong>Japan Airlines (<a href=\"\/stock\/JAPNY\">JAPNY<\/a>)<\/strong> is set to reduce fuel surcharges on international tickets as global fuel prices continue to soften.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways President Trump paused 50% tariffs on Canada for three days, citing a deal awaiting finalization, causing the 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":[289,4539,5096,5112,5822,7510,9793],"class_list":["post-66740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-wpi","tag-ai-chips","tag-global-markets","tag-jgb","tag-nvidia-nvda-stock-nvda","tag-us-canada-relations","tag-trump-tariffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66740","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=66740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66740\/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=66740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}