Donald Trump's insistence that "spoiled" Japan imports more US rice is adding to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's problems ahead of elections that could sink his premiership after less than a year in office.

Global stocks advanced on Thursday, underpinned by optimism around artificial intelligence and the prospect of upcoming interest rate cuts, while investors kept a cautious eye on U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing assault on international trade.

For many countries, the reprieve from President Donald Trump’s eye-watering tariffs, which were implemented on April 2 and temporarily reduced to 10% a week later, is soon set to come to an end. The 90-day pause,

President Donald Trump's threats to impose high tariffs on countries make U.S. trading partners and investors nervous. But his sector tariffs could hurt consumers and businesses more in the long run.

By Rae Wee SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks rose slightly on Thursday, riding on optimism from Nvidia's brief rise to a world-record $4 trillion valuation and as investors largely shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff salvos.

In his new round of tariffs being announced this week, Trump is essentially tethering the entire world economy to his instinctual belief that import taxes will deliver factory jobs and stronger growth in the U.S., rather than the inflation and slowdown predicted by many economists.

Over the past three months, nations across the world tried to avoid new tariffs that would punish their economies by giving President Donald Trump something he might want. Indonesia offered to buy $34 billion more