Ticker: US-China tariff talks closely watched; Tariffs on South Korea’s products threaten the ‘K-beauty’ boom

Top trade officials from China and the United States launched a new round of talks on Monday in a bid to ease tensions over tariffs between the world’s two biggest national economies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng were meeting at the offices of Sweden’s prime minister for two days of talks, which Bessent has said will likely lead to an extension of current tariff levels.

But other possible outcomes will be scrutinized by markets and businesses for signs of a rapprochement, after brinkmanship earlier this year.

Analysts say the talks could set the stage for a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

Tariffs on South Korea’s products threaten the ‘K-beauty’ boom

South Korea is one of the countries that hopes to secure a trade deal before the Aug. 1 date President Donald Trump set for enforcing nation-specific tariffs. A not-insignificant slice of the U.S. population has skin in the game when it comes to Seoul avoiding a 25% duty on its exports.

Asian skin care has been a booming global business for a more than a decade, with consumers in Europe, North and South America, and increasingly the Middle East, snapping up creams, serums and balms from South Korea, Japan and China.

In the United States and elsewhere, Korean cosmetics, or K-beauty for short, have dominated the trend. A craze for all-in-one “BB creams” — a combination of moisturizer, foundation and sunscreen — morphed into a fascination with 10-step rituals and ingredients like snail mucin, heartleaf and rice water.

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/Sq0Px9H