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Good morning, happy Friday and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter:
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The Trump-Musk alliance collapses
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US and China agree to new trade talks
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Inside the rise of Akio Toyoda
Donald Trump has attacked Elon Musk as “crazy” and threatened to rip up his government contracts. Here’s what to know about the feud between two of the world’s most powerful men.
War of words: Speaking in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in the Tesla boss for criticising his signature tax bill, and suggested he was trying to defend his business interests. “I took away his EV Mandate . . . and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. As the row deepened, Musk insinuated in a post on X that Trump was associated with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, adding: “Have a nice day, DJT!” Read the full story.
Market reaction: Tesla’s market value suffered its biggest one-day drop on record yesterday, after Trump signalled he could terminate US government contracts with Musk’s companies. The Tesla sell-off reverberated through US stock markets, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ending the session down 0.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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Economic data: Vietnam and Thailand report May CPI inflation figures.
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India monetary policy: The Reserve Bank of India is widely expected to cut rates today. (Reuters).
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
Five more top stories
1. Trump agreed with Xi Jinping to launch a new round of high-level trade talks between the US and China as the leaders of the two countries sought to ease commercial tensions that have been rattling the global economy. Trump and Xi spoke on the phone yesterday, in their first known conversation since the US president returned to the White House.
2. Citigroup has laid off 3,500 technology staff in mainland China as part of the bank’s push to cut costs and streamline its global operations amid a broader turnaround effort. Here are the divisions affected.
3. EU businesses are lobbying Beijing to set up a special channel to fast-track Chinese approval of rare earth export licences for “reliable” companies, as China’s strict controls on shipments of the critical minerals threaten supply chains worldwide. European officials have warned that their factories are at risk of shutdowns owing to the Chinese measures.
4. Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus has vowed to stay in power until as late as mid-2026, despite growing political turmoil and calls from opponents and parts of the military to hand the reins to an elected government sooner. The Nobel laureate, who heads an interim government named after last year’s overthrow of Sheikh Hasina, is now himself facing accusations of clinging to power.
5. Indonesia has introduced $1.5bn of stimulus measures to boost consumer spending, hoping to counter slowing growth as falling commodity prices and trade concerns hit south-east Asia’s largest economy. Jakarta began providing discounts on transport fares yesterday and wage subsidies for millions of households for two months.
FT Magazine
There’s no corporate leader quite like Akio Toyoda. More than 20 people who know the scion of Toyota’s founding family, spoke to FT Magazine on his rise — and the strains in his reign over a vast empire.
We’re also reading . . .
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Nicotine pouches: Industry leaders hope the rising popularity of products such as Zyn will boost revenues. But can it save Big Tobacco?
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Why Maga world hates Europe: Trump’s team is taking its US culture war across the Atlantic with implications for the western alliance.
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Builder.ai collapse: The likes of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Microsoft are realising they may have backed a business that largely reported artificial revenues.
Chart of the day
Test your knowledge of how Trump’s trade war has actually affected import duties. These charts are all incomplete — they form an interactive test of the Trump Taco theory. How accurately can you fill them in?
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Take a break from the news
A 120-year-old Japanese stationery company has launched a self-declared “micromotivation” device — a gizmo that attaches to your pen or pencil to measure how much handwriting you have done (and pit your progress against everyone else). Leo Lewis explains how it works, and what it says about our obsession with self-quantification.
