Global trade

"We share your goal of making discriminatory digital service taxes a thing of the past. And we've made substantial progress here," Yellen told lawmakers at a hearing held by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. "We are pursuing absolutely every avenue toward a swift and comprehensive standstill and rollback of our DSTs."

The global semiconductor shortage will persist through 2021 and is expected to recover to normal levels by the second quarter of 2022, a Gartner report said last month. Across most categories, device shortages are expected to be pushed out untill the second quarter of 2022, while substrate capacity constraints could potentially extend to fourth quarter of 2022.

India has asked Cambodia to withdraw the temporary ban on import of buffalo meat and other meat products from India immediately, making it clear that the move is harmful for business sentiments, especially when both countries are trying to negotiate a Bilateral Free Trade Agreement.

Countries in the region thrived after "early success in pandemic mitigation," which "allowed them to rebound faster and to capitalize on booming global demand for Covid-19 related products," the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report published on Wednesday.