RBA Could Cut, Trump China Threat, `Tone Deaf' Powell: Eco Day

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

• For the first time since Philip Lowe took the helm of Australia's central bank in 2016 there's a real chance he may cut interest rates, making him the first in the developed world to do so this cycle
• President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on China to finalize a trade deal during talks in Washington this week by threatening to more than double tariffs on $200 billion of the Asian nation's sales to the world's largest economy, and impose new import taxes
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who pledged early in his tenure to speak in “plain English” and improve the central bank's public communications, is finding it tough to deliver a clear message
• Singapore is making “good progress” and has “promising leads” on brokering much-needed infrastructure projects across Southeast Asia, a senior official said
• Indonesia's economy probably maintained momentum in the first quarter, helped by solid spending that was further boosted as elections were held across the country

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Bourke in Sydney at cbourke4@bloomberg.net

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

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