New Trump Tariffs, ISM Factory Gauge, Hong Kong Slump: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Tuesday, Asia. Here's the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• President Donald Trump is reinstating tariffs on steel and aluminum from Argentina and Brazil, accusing them of depreciating their currencies to the detriment of U.S. farmers
• America's two most-watched manufacturing surveys pointed in different directions in November, and economists and investors can't seem to agree on which one paints the more accurate picture
• Hong Kong's retail sales suffered a record contraction in October, as the city counts the cost of almost six months of political unrest
• Christine Lagarde said the ECB will be “resolute” in restoring euro-zone price stability under her presidency
• Angela Merkel's coalition partner is turning leftwards, but that doesn't mean Germany's chancellor is poised to give into calls for a major fiscal stimulus
• China's PMI spread some cheer as the end of year approaches, but the pain is far from over, writes Chang Shu
• President Moon Jae-in came into office in 2017 pledging to rein in South Korea's runaway housing prices. Progress toward that goal has brought an unintended consequence: slower growth
• Welcome to December. And let's just go ahead and call it Bob Lighthizer Month, writes Shawn Donnan in the latest Terms of Trade
• India's policy easing drumbeat is intensifying as its GDP woes mount, writes Abhishek Gupta
• Turkish inflation probably bounced back to double-digits in November, possibly limiting the central bank's ability to continue easing monetary policy with lower interest rates
• Imagine living in a country where you only have to work four days a week, where higher education is free and so is child care for all 2- to 4-year-olds: welcome to Corbyn's Britain
• In Trump's world, Peter Navarro is the self-described “bad cop” of economic policy, the senior figure most willing to reinforce the president's protectionist and nationalist instincts

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Jason Clenfield

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