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On 19 May 2026, investors dumped long-dated sovereign debt worldwide, sending the U.S. 30-year yield to ~5.2% and the 10-year to 4.67%, erasing bets on Fed cuts as Iran-war-driven oil prices reignite inflation fears.
After Samsung refused a mediator-brokered bonus formula late on 20 May 2026, its largest union confirmed an 18-day strike beginning 21 May involving roughly one-third of the workforce.
On 18 May 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reversed course again and granted a third one-month general license allowing countries to purchase Russian oil already loaded before 17 Apr 2026, arguing the Iran-triggered closure of the Strait of Hormuz left “energy-vulnerable” nations short of supply.
Late 18 May 2026, President Trump ordered the Pentagon to stand down from a large-scale assault set for the next day, granting a short window for Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to broker a nuclear deal with Tehran.
On 18 May 2026 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reversed course and granted a fresh 30-day general license allowing countries to buy Russian crude already loaded on ships before 17 April, citing supply shocks from the Iran war and the Hormuz blockade.
Beijing, after 15–16 May 2026 talks with President Trump, pledged to buy a minimum of $17 billion in U.S. agricultural goods each year through 2028 and to restore market access for American beef and poultry previously blocked by trade-war tariffs and disease bans.
Beijing committed, for the first time since the 2025 import collapse, to buy at least $17 billion of U.S. agricultural goods each year from 2026-2028 and to reopen its market to U.S. beef and poultry following the Trump-Xi summit.
On 17 May 2026 Beijing revealed that Washington and Beijing had agreed, during President Trump’s state visit, to create bilateral trade and investment boards tasked with negotiating matched tariff cuts on targeted goods—directly contradicting Trump’s claim a day earlier that tariffs were never broached.
Between March and mid-May 2026, soaring domestic yields drove Japan’s largest quarterly sell-off of U.S. debt since 2022, signaling a pivot of roughly $1 trillion in Japanese savings back into higher-yielding JGBs and pressuring global borrowing costs.
On 17 May 2026, Iran said it will soon activate a toll-charging “professional mechanism” that channels commercial ships through an Iran-controlled route in the Strait of Hormuz while banning vessels tied to the U.S.-led Project Freedom blockade.
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