The August 2025 edition of Market Services FX Spotlight features global market news and insights from RBC Investor Services’ Foreign Exchange (FX) Market Trading Desk.
Headlines
The US dollar rebounded as better economic data and advantageous European and Asian trade agreements drove the narrative.
—Market Services FX Spotlight
- Canada was hit with 35% tariffs, effective August 1—but USMCA goods are exempt from these new levies.
- The US dollar rebounded in July due to better economic data and trade agreements, and nations still in tariff negotiations with the United States saw their July 9 deadline extended to August 1.
- The Bank of Canada kept rates steady at 2.75% and indicated a 1.5% decrease in Q2 GDP growth.
- The FOMC left rates unchanged at 4.25–4.5%, although two governors voted in favour of a rate cut—marking the first time two voting members dissented since 1993.
- The European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan also left rates unchanged.
- Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on Brazil on July 9, a stark increase from the initial reciprocal tariff of 10% announced in April.
