FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank held interest rates for a third consecutive time Thursday, reiterating that it is happy with the status quo.

As Frederik Ducrozet from Pictet Asset Management noted on X, “The characterisation of the shifts in the balance of risks (less negative on growth; broadly unchanged on inflation) suggests that the bar for cuts remains high.” In other words, there’s plenty of more of the same in the pipeline when it comes to interest rates, which is the sentiment of most analysts.

This is especially true with growth and inflation in acceptable realms. “We are in a good place,” ECB President Christine Lagarde told journalists in Florence, Italy, the site of this month’s rate decision meeting and press conference. “Is it a fixed good place? No, but we will do whatever is needed to stay in a good place.”

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spent much of his first six months in office trying to persuade the U.S. to lower tariffs on Canadian goods. With hopes for a speedy resolution now dashed, Carney is turning to America’s biggest rival, China.

Carney is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday at the APEC leaders summit in South Korea. It will be the first official meeting between the two countries’ leaders since 2017, when Justin Trudeau was Canada’s prime minister, and marks a significant thaw in a relationship that has been mired in acrimony for several years.

Repairing relations with China has become a priority for Carney, who is seeking other markets to offset the damage caused by U.S. tariffs on Canadian exports like steel, aluminum and lumber. Canada is trying to reopen the Chinese market to agricultural products like canola oil, pork and seafood, on which China has imposed tariffs in retaliation for Canadian duties on its electric vehicles.

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WASHINGTON—President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to immediately lower tensions between Washington and Beijing after their Thursday meeting in South Korea. Here is what to know:

How much are U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports now?
After the meeting, the U.S. agreed to cut tariffs on China related to fentanyl production to 10%. That would put the average tariff rate on many Chinese products around 47%, although duties may vary by product. That includes some fentanyl-related tariffs, Trump’s baseline global tariff, existing duties from Trump’s first term and sector-specific levies.

What commitments did China make around fentanyl?
Trump said the tariff reduction came in exchange for a promise by China to take “very strong action” on chemicals used to produce fentanyl. The U.S. has pressed China for years to do more to control the export of chemicals used to make the drug, a synthetic opioid blamed for hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S.

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