Situation Reports

The Iranian supertanker Adrian Darya, formerly known as the Grace 1, has changed its destination listing to Mersin, Turkey, The Maritime Executive reported Aug. 23.

U.S. President Donald Trump said via Twitter on Aug. 23 that he has the authority to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) as a tool against China to bar companies from doing business in the country and from purchasing Chinese goods.

Japan and the United States have agreed on a framework for a trade agreement that will reportedly leave U.S. tariffs on Japanese automotive imports in place, while Tokyo will lower its duties on beef and pork imports from the United States, Reuters reported Aug. 23.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from its east coast into the Sea of Japan early on Aug. 24 local time, according to Japan's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Yonhap reported.

The United States will increase tariffs on Chinese imports by five percentage points after Beijing announced retaliatory import duties on U.S. goods earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Aug. 23.

French President Emmanuel Macron has threatened to block a free trade agreement between the European Union and the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) over Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's poor environmental performance, Bloomberg reported Aug. 23.

Russian oil giant Rosneft has signed memorandums of understanding with Mozambique's state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos and the country's National Petroleum Institute to cooperate on the development of offshore natural gas fields, Tass reported Aug. 22.

Egypt's Central Bank has cut the country's lending rate to 15.25 percent and reduced its benchmark deposit rate by 150 basis points to 14.25 percent, Bloomberg reported Aug. 22.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a host of measures to boost the country's economic growth, including 70,000 crore rupees (almost $10 billion) for public sector banks, Livemint reported Aug. 23.

The United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold their first joint military drill in the Gulf of Thailand in early September, the Nikkei Asian Review reported Aug. 23.