Dollar struggles to regain ground

THE dollar recouped some of its losses yesterday, supported by reports that the US administration may ease planned tariffs, although investor caution lingered over whether a meaningful de-escalation in the US-China trade conflict was in motion.

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The administration of US President Donald Trump was set to take steps yesterday to soften the impact of his automotive tariffs.

The US and China in recent days seemed to have softened their respective stances, with Washington signalling openness to reducing tariffs and Beijing exempting some US imports from its 125% levies.

Still, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that it was up to China to de-escalate on tariffs - the latest in a slew of conflicting signals over progress on trade talks between the world’s two largest economies.

The US dollar index =USD, a measure of the greenback’ value relative toa basket of foreign currencies, strengthened 0.15% to 99.23 after falling 0.58% the previous day.