Investing.com - The U.S. dollar neared a two-year high on Friday as the White House delayed auto tariffs, while trade tensions with China increased demand for safe-haven assets amid an equity selloff.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.1% to 97.787 as of 10:16 AM ET (14:16 GMT).
The White House confirmed that it is delaying tariffs on European cars by six months to allow for more time to negotiate a deal with the bloc.
Meanwhile, China’s state-run media took a surprisingly hostile stance on possible continued trade talks, saying it was meaningless" for officials to meet without the U.S. showing it is sincere, according to Taoran Notes, a WeChat blog run by the state-owned Economic Daily.
The tensions between the two largest economies in the world took a sour turn after the White House excluded Huawei and other Chinese companies from the U.S. market.
The dollar was down against the safe-haven yen, with USD/JPY falling 0.6% to 109.75.
Elsewhere, the euro slipped, with EUR/USD falling 0.1% to 1.1163 while USD/CAD was up 0.2% to 1.3483.
Sterling slumped for the sixth day in a row, with GBP/USD down 0.4% to 1.2744 as talks between the Labour and Conservative party stopped and the chances of a Brexit deal slimmed again.