Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
President Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines has reiterated his country will no longer participate in any U.S.-led war as it has gained nothing from its past participation “except brutality and agony.” “I am addressing America right now. Whatever expeditions that you will conduct, any wars that you will fight in any other countries, count us out,” Duterte said in a speech before new graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy in Silang, Cavite Wednesday. The latest U.S.-led war that the Philippines was involved in was the 2003 Iraq invasion, which just marked its 15th anniversary Tuesday. “We did not benefit (from these expeditions) all these years of sacrifice except brutality and agony. We will stand on our own,” Duterte said. The Philippines is a treaty ally of the United States. Both countries hold joint military exercises to improve the inter-operability of troops. However, their relations have been strained in recent years. Duterte has repeatedly sa...