Donald Trump Tariffs highlights: Canada PM says trade deal talks with US to start in May

Mercosur countries have decided to relax common external tariffs on 50 products of the choice of each of its members, giving them more flexibility to negotiate deals as they seek to avoid Donald Trump’s tariffs, or retaliate against them.

The decision was made in Buenos Aires during a meeting of foreign ministers of the bloc originally formed by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, according to a statement published Friday.

“The ministers have agreed it’s important to face the challenges presented by the current foreign environment,” they wrote in the statement, mentioning an international scenario that’s “constantly changing.” (Bloomberg)

A group of US senators urged the country's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate whether the President or White House insiders broke securities laws as Trump's announcement of a pause on tariffs led to a historic stock market gain after a massive fall. Read more

The US Federal Reserve is "absolutely" prepared to intervene to help calm nervous financial markets, Boston Fed President Susan Collins told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.

The Fed would "absolutely be prepared" to deploy its various tools to help stabilize the financial markets if the need arose.

Any intervention by the Federal Reserve would depend on "what conditions we were seeing," added Collins, who is one of 12 voting members of the Fed's all-important rate-setting committee this year.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said talks with the United States on a new trade deal will begin in May and noted that Trump's tariff war was hitting his country's labour market hard.

He said he was working to ensure the next Canadian government "will be in the best possible position for negotiations with the United States, which, as the president and I have agreed, will begin from the start of May."

US President Donald Trump is optimistic about reaching a trade deal with China, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday, amid an escalating trade war between the two economic giants that has battered markets.

"The president has made it very clear he's open to a deal with China," Leavitt told a press briefing. “If China continues to retaliate, it's not good for China,” she added.

US stocks are climbing in a shaky trading on Friday and gold price is also rising. However, the US dollar's value is falling and other financial markets are also taking a swing, suggesting that fears of escalating trade war's impact on the American economy.

The S&P 500 was up 1.4% in afternoon trading, but only after veering repeatedly between earlier gains and losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 456 points, or 1.2%, as of 12:57 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% higher. Both also swung earlier, with the Dow going from a loss of nearly 340 points to a gain of nearly 500 points, an AP report said.

Trump tariffs live: Amid a trade war between the US and China, Wall Street's major indices finished a volatile week. Throughout the week, indices fell asleep global markets faced a downturn.

Trump tariffs live: US markets have been swinging between gains and losses, with the CBOE Volatility index, seen as Wall Street's fear gauge, last up 4.62 points to 45.34.

Trump tariff live: As of 9:41 am in New York (eastern time), the Wall Street indices are falling below expectations. The &P 500 Index fell 0.4%, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% and Russell 2000 Index declined 0.6%.

Trump tariff live: Wall Street recorded a shaky start amid predictions that it would open higher due to a 90 day pause in Trump's tariffs. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 232 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.

Trump tariff live: The Indian government has issued a notice announcing that the country will create a “global tariff and trade helpdesk” to deal with tariff changes and surge in imports.

Trump tariff live: India's commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said that one cannot compromise with national interest just to meet trade deal deadlines.

"You always need to have timelines for all deadlines for whatever work you do. We do that in business all the time, don't we? Every action should be defined in terms of a responsibility that takes a timeline, but in the case of retail agreements, these are indicated timelines...," he said, as quoted by ANI.

"But at the end of the day, it has to be a win-win for both sides. It has to be a fair, equitable, and balanced solution. Just to meet the deadline, you cannot compromise national interest," he added.

Trump tariff live: Brent crude futures were down 25 cents on the day, or 0.39%, at $63.08 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 30 cents, or 0.50%, to $59.77. Oil prices have been falling since the last two weeks after Donald Trump announced tariffs.

Another factor that brought down oil prices was US sanctions on an Iranian oil trading network on Thursday, including a China-based crude oil storage terminal.

Trump tariff live: A trade war based on blanket 25% tariffs could cut economic growth in Germany by more than 1%, according to calculations from the IAB Institute for Employment Research on Friday.

The number of employed people would be 90,000 lower and the number of people in the labour force would be 10,000 lower, the study showed.

Trump tariff live: The Indian commerce ministry has supposedly said that customs have been alerted “about monitoring our exports and imports" as a reaction to the US imposing tariffs on China, reported PTI, citing a trade official.

The official said customs had been warned “about monitoring our exports and imports to see if there is any extraordinary surge. India should not be used as a re-routing destination".

Trump tariff live: Thailand's finance minister on Friday announced that the country would be cutting tariffs on imports of corn from the United States.

"The cost of American corn is cheap, making the cost of our animal feed lower," Pichai Chunhavajira said.

Trump tariff live: China's retail giants have launched initiatives in the past few days aimed at helping Chinese exporters pivot to the domestic market, amid an intense trade war between US and China.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com and supermarket chain Freshippo are among some of the brands which have stated that they will help Chinese exporters sell their products domestically.

Trump tariff live: India and the US have finalised the terms of reference for a bilateral trade deal between them, amid a global trade war and tariffs being imposed on India.

Donald Trump's administration has imposed 26 per cent tariffs on Indian products.

Trump tariff live: French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it was “naive and dangerous” to think the United States could replace China as a trade partner, and urged EU members to stick together.

"The idea that the United States could be replaced by China is a terribly dangerous idea," Bayrou said.

Trump tariff live: South Korea's top trade envoy said on Friday that his US counterpart was ready to reach a deal over tariffs, as a trade war continues to affect global markets.

The minister for trade in South Korea stated that the country was willing to negotiate with the Trump administration.

Trump tariff live: The Indian stock markets have rallied after China announced new tariffs on the US as a global trade war caused a slowdown.

Sensex closed at 75,157.26, 1310 points up from earlier, and Nifty settled at 22,828.55, increasing 429 points.

Trump tariff live: China's stock exchanges have placed daily limits on how much hedge funds and large retail investors can sell, according to sources cited by Reuters.

If investors don't follow the rule, the stock exchanges may suspend their trading accounts.

Trump tariff live: Rebeca Grynspan, head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), urged US President Donald Trump on Thursday to reconsider the tariffs imposed on poor countries.

She expressed concern that vulnerable countries would be forced into unfavorable deals amid the global trade war.

"When the two main global economies impose tariffs, it will affect everybody, not only the economies engaged in the tariff war," she said.