Investing.com – The U.S. dollar slipped to near a two-week low on Tuesday after the U.S. and the European Union agreed steps to avoid trade war, easing immediate global trade tensions.
U.S. President Donald Trump reached an agreement with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday to expand European imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas and soybeans and reduce industrial tariffs on both sides.
“We had a big day, very big,” Trump said at a joint statement with Juncker at the White House on Wednesday. The two sides had agreed to "work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods,” he added.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped 0.1% to 93.96 at 1:19AM ET (05:19 GMT). The index touched a fresh two-week low earlier in Asia trading.
"The dollar is broadly weaker against currencies including the Chinese yuan, as trade tensions have eased," said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.
"The United States and the European Union have seemingly declared a truce and hopes are that NAFTA talks and deals with China would be positive as well."
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday that a global trade war would have no winner, and the people supporting it “will only end up hurting themselves.”
The euro nudged 0.1% stronger to $1.1735 ahead of the European Central Bank’s July meeting due later in the day. The ECB is largely expected to keep policy on hold.
Elsewhere, Japanese government bonds remained in focus ahead of the Bank of Japan’s meeting next week. The USD/JPY pair slipped 0.2% to 110.74, as the yen set to mark its seventh consecutive day of gains against the dollar.