China ends tariffs on US imports including farm goods but soy bean levies remain; M&S profits hammered by cyber-attack – business live | Business

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China will suspend retaliatory tariffs on US imports following last week’s high-stakes meeting of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. This includes lifting levies on farm goods, Beijing confirmed on Wednesday, but imports of US soybeans will still face a 13% tariff.

The State Council’s tariff commission announced it would remove duties of up to 15% it imposed on certain US agricultural goods from 10 November – while maintaining the 10% levies prompted by Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.

Investors were cheered last week when US and Chinese presidents met in South Korea, but Beijing did not provide details of what had been agreed.

Even Rogers Pay, a director at Beijing-based research firm Trivium China, told Reuters:

Broadly, it’s a great sign that the two sides are making rapid progress in putting the deal into effect. It shows they’re aligned and that the agreement is likely to hold up.

However, Chinese buyers of US soybeans still face 13% tariffs, which traders said makes US shipments too expensive for commercial buyers compared to Brazilian alternatives.

Over here, British retailer Marks & Spencer reported a 55% drop in profits in the past six months, as sales were hit by a damaging cyber-attack in April that forced it to suspend online clothing orders for seven weeks.

The cyber attack also hit food availability at its stores. M&S, one of the biggest names on the UK high street, made an adjusted profit before tax of £184.1m in the six months to 27 September, down from £413.1m a year earlier.

Clothing and homewares sales fell by 16.4%. Food sales rose by 7.8%, better than expected, as M&S said it was “largely recovered” from the effects of the attack.

We are confident we will be recovered and back on track by the financial year end.

In May, the retailer estimated that the cyber attack would cost it £300m in lost operating profit in the year to March 2026, although it hopes to halve that through insurance and cost cuts. Its insurer has paid out £100m. M&S is now aiming to achieve £600m in cost savings this year – £100m more than previously targeted – after it was also hit by a new packaging recycling levy.

Stuart Machin, the chief executive, said:

The retail sector is facing significant headwinds – in the first half, cost increases from new taxes were over £50m – but there is much within our control and accelerating our cost reduction programme will help to mitigate this.

Asian stock markets are mostly down, with Japan’s Nikkei falling by 2.5% (after reaching a record high on Tuesday) and the South Korean Kospi slumping by 2.9%. The FTSE 100 index in London is also expected to open lower.

Shares on Wall Street tumbled on Tuesday, when the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2%, on fears that technology stocks had soared too high, with a cooling in the artificial intelligence boom. Last week, US stock indices hit record highs and analysts say that some investors are taking profits, especially in AI-related stocks.

The Agenda

• 8.15am-8.55am: Spain, Italy, France, Germany PMI final surveys for October

• 9am GMT: UK New car sales for October

• 9.05am GMT: Bank of England Khan speech

• 9.30am GMT: UK Services and composite PMIs final for October

• 10am GMT: Eurozone producer prices for September

• 1.15pm GMT: US ADP Employment for October

• 3pm GMT: US ISM Services PMI for October