Economy

Fed vs. inflation
Possible replacement ready to cut: “Need to start”

Fed member Christopher Waller wants to cut interest rates at the next meeting in mid-September and follow up with further cuts in the fall.

– We need to start cutting interest rates at the next meeting, he said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday and believes that the board should then monitor developments.

– We can see where things are going because people are still worried about tariff inflation. I don't, but everyone else is.

Waller has been painted as a possible candidate to take over the Fed chairmanship next spring, following Jerome Powell.

Senators are low on Cook: "The court will decide"

When the US Senate returned yesterday after a month-long recess, several senior Republican politicians kept a low profile regarding Donald Trump's move to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook. Politico reports.

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy states that "he believes in an independent Fed", but that the issue now lies with the court, which will decide Cook's fate.

His South Dakota colleague Mike Rounds is on the same track. According to him, it is "absolutely crucial" that the Fed is independent, partly for the president's future economic policy.

- He must make the central bank seen as independent if we want to continue to have demand for our government securities globally.

The future of free trade
EU Commission proposes agreement with Mercosur countries

Today, the EU Commission presented a final version of the trade agreement with the Mercosur countries. The agreement is now for approval by the EU member states, reports Reuters.

Among the EU countries that have so far been most critical of the agreement is France. On X, the country's Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin expressed cautiously positive views on the EU's proposal.

"It is worth noting that the agreement contains strengthened protection for agricultural products. It is a step in the right direction," he writes.

Risk that Mercosur agreement will trigger a "meat war" 

One of the major contentious issues when the EU member states and the EU Parliament are to vote on an agreement with the Mercosur countries will be the issue of imports of South American agricultural products into the EU. According to TT, there is a risk that the agreement will trigger a "meat war".

France and Ireland, two countries with large meat production, have been skeptical of the agreement. They are worried that large quantities of cheap meat from the South American Mercosur countries will be allowed into Europe and put pressure on European agriculture.

In France, farmers are now ready to take to the streets in protest with their tractors. But resistance is also widespread in other political groups in the country, including the environmental movement.

The problems for Polestar
Tariff blow for Polestar – takes a seven billion write-down

The electric car manufacturer Polestar writes down the value of one of its SUV models by 739 million dollars in the second quarter, equivalent to almost seven billion kronor. The reason is higher US tariffs and continued weak demand for electric cars, writes Bloomberg.

The write-down contributed to lowering the result to a loss of 1.03 billion dollars, compared to 268 million dollars in the same period last year. At the same time, revenue increased by 37 percent.

Michael Lohscheller comments on the result.

"Our operational results in the first half of 2025 confirm that we are doing the right things in a difficult market: we are increasing our commercial presence, selling more cars and focusing purposefully on cost and inventory management," he writes in the CEO's message.