This is MONIIFYās coverage of President Donald Trumpās first 100 days in office.
Day 2 of Donald Trumpās second act is here, and he finally let the cat out of the bag: possible 10% tariffs on China, which could land on 1 February. This comes after an earlier threat of 25% tariffs against neighbors Canada and Mexico.
But these threats are mild. Wall Street was expecting that Trump would unleash his tariffs diktats in full force on Day 1, and there was palpable relief when that fizzled. The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average all edged higher overnight.
And after an awkward silence on the crypto front during his first 24 hours, the Securities and Exchange Commission was the unlikely bearer of good news: a crypto task force, which crypto watchers hope will lower regulatory barriers.
Bitcoin, the worldās largest cryptocurrency, was up 3% and zoomed past $107,000 a token following the announcement by the US markets regulator, before giving up these gains in choppy trading.
Read more: Trump and crypto: Will the rising tide lift all boats?
Ctrl+Z Biden
Trump is on a spree to undo the legacy of Joe Biden, his predecessor. One of the latest casualties is a landmark agreement on a 15% universal corporate minimum tax.
The 2021 arrangement negotiated by the Biden administration with nearly 140 countries āhas no force or effect,ā Trump declared.
ā Tabita Diela
Read more: Looking to Trump-proof your portfolio? Hereās the cheat sheet
Larry joins the queue for TikTok
After President Donald Trump ordered a 75-day pause on enforcing a TikTok ban, he told the media on Tuesday that he was open to Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison purchasing the platform.
A day earlier, TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi was spotted at Trumpās inauguration alongside other big tech head honchos, including Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.
ā Khamila Mulia
$500bn investment
When SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison are in the same room as Trump, you know something big is coming.
Indeed, the trio will join forces to form a Texas-based joint venture called Stargate, investing up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure over the next four years.
ā Victor Loh
Read more: Indiaās textile industry isnāt rattled by Trump tariff threats
Offshore wind freeze
Trump kicked off his first day in office on Monday by signing executive orders to undo anything remotely green. Among the targets: revoking Joe Bidenās 50% EV adoption goal for 2030 and freezing offshore wind farm leases.
The fallout was immediate, with Europe feeling the heat. Ćrsted, the worldās largest offshore wind developer, plunged 17.5% on Tuesday, while wind turbine makers Nordex and Vestas dropped 4% and 5.6%, respectively.
ā Noorhan Abusamra
Read more: Southeast Asiaās clean energy boom looks like the real deal
Bitcoinās rollercoaster ride
Bitcoin pared its peak of $109,114, dropping to $102,454 as of 12.12 p.m. Tuesday in Singapore.
This comes after President Donald Trump didnāt mention Bitcoin or crypto in his inauguration speech. Some traders were further disappointed when the president didnāt sign an executive order on crypto.
ā Hermi De Ramos
Read more: Governments are about to HODL harder than ever
Stocks skittish?
Index futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.2% in Asian trading hours Tuesday, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index was up over 1%. The dollar index was down by about 1% on Monday after Trump avoided signing any tariffs into law on his first day.
ā Ronojoy Mazumdar
AI risks
Trump has rescinded the Biden administrationās AI regulation order, ending key safety and transparency measures for AI developers. Bidenās 2023 mandate required companies to share safety test results and data with the government, and the US AI Safety Institute was created under the Commerce Department to develop voluntary AI guidelines.
Trump had previously said that the AI regulations hinder tech innovation.
ā Yuvraj Malik
Read more: Tell me, ChatGPT: Whoās winning the AI race?
What climate crisis?
Trumpās going all in on oil and gas projects. He declared a national energy emergency on Monday, allowing fossil fuel projects to get permits faster.
And in a widely expected move, Trump also withdrew the US from the 2015 Paris climate pact.
āThe United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity,ā Trump said to his supporters who had gathered in Washington to watch him sign his executive orders.
ā Victor Loh
Read more: Trumpās oil obsession is back. But will it pay off this time?
Day-1 tariffs?
The day-one tariff salvos that Trump promised to unleash is bluster, for now.
China and neighbors Canada and Mexico were the first targets in his crosshairs, but Trump appears to be holding fire. Instead, he has ordered his administration to investigate unfair trade practices and allegations of currency manipulation.
ā Victor Loh
Can DOGE dodge the lawsuits?
The āDepartment of Government Efficiencyā, aka DOGE, led by Elon Musk, has sparked immediate lawsuits from government employee unions, watchdog groups, and public interest organizations over alleged violations of federal transparency rules due to its push for dramatic cuts to the US government.
ā Khamila Mulia
Read more: The DOGE man is the wild card in Trump 2.0Ā
China hawk
Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who was once a Trump nemesis, was confirmed by the US Senate as his secretary of state and the first member of his new cabinet.
Rubio’s time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Intelligence Committee cemented his reputation as a China hawk.
Read more: Are Southeast Asiaās businesses safe from little Marcoās big stage?
ā Victor Loh
