Asian stock markets headed for a second straight week of gains on Friday and the dollar for its first weekly rise in more than a month as investors have welcomed an apparent softening of the White House stance on China,

President Donald Trump said he has not backed down on the 145% tariff on China and said reciprocal tariffs on other nations could resume within weeks.

President Donald Trump has said he'll start imposing tariffs on countries that don't reach trade deals within "two, three" weeks. In a press conference on Wednesday in the Oval Office, Trump said he thought the US would get "great deals" in its trade negotiations.

Whether the U.S. dollar will remain the world's reserve currency in the wake of President Donald Trump's trade war was a source of debate on Wednesday at the 2025 TIME100 Summit.

Trump said the sharp sell-off in bonds earlier this month didn't worry him, though he previously noted he'd been watching the sell-off.

For all his bravado on tariffs, President Trump still seems to have a soft spot for bull markets. Fueled by a volley of comments out of the White House related to trade and monetary policy, stocks have rallied across back-to-back trading sessions.

By Alun John and Rae Wee LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Stocks drifted on Thursday and a rebound in the dollar lost traction as investors tried to sift through the noise from the Trump administration and its fickle stance on tariffs and the Federal Reserve's leadership.

Amid mixed messages from the Trump administration on the direction of its trade war, markets notched a second day of gains as investors appeared to be betting Donald Trump is looking for a way to back down a bit,