Chinese banks extended 280 billion yuan ($38.87 billion) in new yuan loans in April, below analysts' forecasts and plummeting from March's 3.64 trillion yuan, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the People's Bank of China.

Global markets rose after the US and China slashed tariffs for 90 days in a significant de-escalation of the trade war. US tariffs on Chinese goods will fall to 30 per cent from 145 per cent and Chinese duties on US imports will fall to 10 per cent from 125 per cent, the two countries announced on Monday.

The White House backed off from the steepest levies, as the costs of an all-out trade war with China threatened global economic growth.

Brazil signed protocols with China on Tuesday to allow exports of an ethanol by-product used in animal feed, challenging U.S. dominance in the market amid the ongoing China-U.S. trade standoff.

This week, the U.S. and China reached an initial trade agreement that will, in theory, halt the countries’ slide toward a full-blown trade war. Yet the dynamics that fueled President Donald Trump’s attempt to single-handedly decouple the world’s two largest economies persist.

JOHN CULVER is a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings. He served for 35 years as a Central Intelligence Agency officer, including as National Intelligence Officer for East Asia from 2015 to 2018.

Tariffs aren’t the only battleground to keep an eye on in the trade war between the US and China. Access to Wall Street could be used as a lever in the negotiations, leaving almost 300 Chinese companies listed in the US at risk of being removed from American stock exchanges.

In a significant step toward easing trade tensions, China on Wednesday lifted export restrictions on rare earths and military-use technologies for 28 U.S. entities. The move comes just two days after Washington and Beijing struck a breakthrough agreement to temporarily lower tariffs,