Crypto Assets Post Modest Gains as US-EU Tariff Spat Calms

The 15% levy agreed at a meeting between US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland is significantly lower than the 30% and 50% levels that Trump had previously threatened to impose. 

Less severe impact

That suggests the impact on the European economy and on US inflation may be less severe than feared. 

Anticipation of a transatlantic agreement had been building since the end of last week, with the CMC100 Index climbing more than 3% since Friday evening, while Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) posted gains of as much as 4% and 8% respectively. 

The consensus announced by the end of the weekend completed the sense of relief for investors across different asset classes, including crypto.

• Bitcoin rose 1.3% while ETH advanced 3.5% on Sunday; both were little changed as at 09:05UTC on Monday.
• XRP and Solana (SOL) also increased over the weekend while BNB was the outperforming top-10 crypto asset.
  • Binance’s native token has soared about 14% since Thursday.
• European equities were also in the green in early morning trading, with the Stoxx 600 Index advancing less than 1%.

In other welcome trade news, the US and China intend to extend their tariff truce deadline for another 90 days beyond 12 August when officials meet in Stockholm on Monday, according to the South China Morning Post.

Fed decision looms

Investors now turn their attention to this week’s economic data and to the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday with its Chair Jerome Powell under immense political pressure from the White House. The rate cut that Trump and some of his senior officials have called for would likely spark a crypto rally while a hawkish hold could trigger profit-taking and risk aversion.