Japan's and the United States agreed on Friday to hold working-level meetings from early next month to accelerate progress towards a bilateral trade agreement, Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.
Many leaders of the world's top 20 economies on Friday voiced concern over trade tensions and the risk they pose to global growth, but were at loggerheads on key issues such as World Trade Organization (WTO) reform, Japanese and Russian delegates said.
Oil prices eased on Friday as traders awaited any update on the Sino-U.S. trade war from a scheduled weekend meeting of the two countries' presidents at the G20, and eyed next week's OPEC gathering.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected a productive meeting with China's President Xi Jinping on Saturday, highly anticipated talks on the sidelines of the G20 Summit amid the U.S.-Chinese trade tensions.
The number of major U.S. defense contractors has shrunk to the point of becoming a national security concern, according to the U.S. Air Force's acquisition head, who said his service needed to have more frequent competitions to benefit smaller companies.
Buyers in Europe's physical cocoa market are having to pay top dollar for quality beans from leading global producers Ivory Coast and Ghana to compete with stronger U.S. prices, raising cost fears for grinders and chocolate makers.
Kouakou Kinimo is a pretty typical Ivory Coast cocoa farmer. He works a small holding. At 52, he's roughly the mean age for a West African grower. And, like many farmers, he doesn't want any of his six children to follow in his footsteps.
Work on the final G20 documents is not going easy, the group's Russia sherpa Svetlana Lukash said on Friday, naming World Trade Organisation reform, information security, climate change and migration as among issues members were struggling to agree.
Asian shares stumbled on Friday and gold jumped amid rising doubts that a highly anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this weekend could lead to an easing of trade tensions.
Japan and the United States agreed on Friday to hold working-level meetings intensively from early next month to accelerate progress towards a two-way trade agreement, Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.
World shares were steady on Friday as uncertainty ahead of a meeting on trade between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping deterred traders from making bold directional bets.
Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on Friday canceled plans to hold his first press conference since his arrest after journalists were notified earlier in the day about a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ).
Deutsche Bank's shares rose as much as 4.8% on Friday after Germany's biggest bank passed an annual health check by the U.S. Federal Reserve, in a boost to its Wall Street operations.
Madame Tussauds owner Merlin said on Friday it had agreed to be acquired by the investment vehicle of Lego's founding family and private equity firm Blackstone Group LP in a $7.5 billion deal.
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Inc said on Friday that it has found no systematic flaws in its vehicles following the investigation of a vehicle that caught fire in Shanghai.