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US President Donald Trump is set to unveil fresh tariffs Saturday on major trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, threatening upheaval across supply chains from energy to autos and raising inflation concerns.Trump has promised to impose 25 percent tariffs on immediate neighbors Canada and Mexico, pointing to their failure to stop illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl across US borders.He also vowed a 10 percent rate on imports from China, the world’s second biggest economy, charging that it had a role in producing the drug.The United States runs “big deficits” with all three countries too — and this is another issue the president has honed in on.But imposing sweeping tariffs on the three biggest US trading partners carries risks for Trump, who swept to victory in November’s election on the back of public dissatisfaction over costs of living.Higher import costs would likely “dampen consumer spending and business investment,” said EY chief economist Gregory Daco.He expects inflation would rise by 0.7 percentage points in the first quarter this year with the tariffs, before gradually easing.”Rising trade policy uncertainty will heighten financial market volatility and strain the private sector, despite the administration’s pro-business rhetoric,” he said.Trump’s supporters have downplayed fears that tariff hikes would fuel inflation, with some suggesting his policy plans involving tax cuts and deregulation could help fuel growth instead.- Ready to respond -Democrat lawmakers criticized Trump’s plans with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying Friday: “I am concerned these new tariffs will further drive up costs for American consumers.”Canada and Mexico are major suppliers of US agricultural products, with imports totaling tens of billions of dollars from each country in a year.Tariffs would also hit the auto industry hard, with US light vehicle imports from Canada and Mexico in 2024 representing 22 percent of all vehicles sold in the country, said S&P Global Mobility.It added that automakers and suppliers also produce components throughout the region, meaning tariffs will likely increase costs for vehicles.”We should be focused on going hard against competitors who rig the game, like China, rather than attacking our allies,” Schumer said in a statement.Both Canada and Mexico have said they are prepared to respond if Trump acts on tariffs, raising the specter of an escalating conflict.But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday dismissed concerns of a trade war.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Ottawa is ready with “a purposeful, forceful, but reasonable, immediate response.””It’s not what we want. But if he moves forward we will also act,” he said, referring to Trump.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government would await any tariff announcement “with a cool head.””We have a plan A, plan B, plan C for whatever the US government decides,” she said, without giving details.- Lower oil tariff? -Hiking import taxes on crude oil from countries like Canada and Mexico could also bring “huge implications for US energy prices, especially in the US Midwest,” according to David Goldwyn and Joseph Webster of the Atlantic Council.Trump previously said he was considering an exemption for Canadian and Mexican oil imports, and on Friday added he was mulling a lower rate on oil.He told reporters: “I’m probably going to reduce the tariff a little bit on that.””We think we’re going to bring it down to 10 percent,” he added.Nearly 60 percent of US crude oil imports are from Canada, noted the Congressional Research Service.Canadian heavy oil is refined in the United States and regions dependent on it may lack a ready substitute.Canadian producers would bear some impact of tariffs but US refiners would also be hit with higher costs, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. This could bring gasoline price increases.

President Donald Trump will implement tariffs Saturday on the three largest US trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — saying there was nothing they could do to forestall him while vowing further levies on various industries.Trump has reiterated his plans for 25 percent tariffs on imports from neighboring Canada and Mexico, saying they have failed to crack down on illegal migrants crossing the US border and on the flow of fentanyl.He also threatened a 10 percent duty for Chinese goods on the same day, similarly over the drug.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt affirmed Friday the February 1 imposition of these tariffs.”Both Canada and Mexico have allowed an unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens, and also immigrants into our country,” she told reporters.She did not commit to exemptions on sectors, and rejected warnings that this would spark a trade war.Beyond the three countries, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Friday that tariffs on oil and gas could arrive around February 18.”Eventually we’re going to put tariffs on chips, we’re going to put tariffs on oil and gas,” he said, without specifying which countries he would target.He also vowed to impose higher duties on steel and aluminum, and eventually copper imports.Washington was “absolutely” going to impose tariffs on the European Union in the future as well, Trump said, adding that the bloc “has treated us so terribly.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed Friday an “immediate response” if Trump acted, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was in close contact with Trump’s administration.Trump has not specified tools he would use, though analysts suggest he could tap emergency economic powers, which allow the president to regulate imports during a national emergency.Beijing has rebuffed claims of its complicity in the deadly fentanyl trade. Close US ally Canada has countered that below one percent of undocumented migrants and fentanyl entering the United States comes through its northern border.Some analysts believe tariff threats are a bargaining chip to accelerate the renegotiation of the existing trade deal, known as USMCA, between the United States, Mexico and Canada.But tariff hikes on the trading partners would likely prove a major shock, shaking up supply chains.- Oil in focus -Asked if Saturday’s tariffs would include Canadian crude oil, Trump told reporters: “I’m probably going to reduce the tariff a little bit on that.””We think we’re going to bring it down to 10 percent,” he added, noting that upcoming tariffs would come on top of existing rates.Nearly 60 percent of US crude oil imports are from Canada, noted the Congressional Research Service.Canadian heavy oil is refined in the United States and regions dependent on it may lack a ready substitute.Canadian producers would bear the brunt of tariffs but US refiners would also be hit with higher costs, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. This could bring gasoline price increases.- Recession risks -Erica York of the Tax Foundation said the Canada, Mexico and China tariffs would shrink economic output by 0.4 percent and amount to “an average tax increase of more than $830 per US household in 2025.”Oxford Economics analysts warned that blanket tariffs and pushback could tip Canada and Mexico into recessions, adding that the United States also risks a shallow downturn.US merchandise imports from both countries largely enter duty free or with very low rates on average, said the Peterson Institute for International Economics.A tariff hike would likely shock industrial buyers and consumers.Trump is also mulling more tariffs on Chinese goods.Beijing has vowed to defend its “national interests,” and a foreign ministry spokeswoman previously warned that “there are no winners in a trade war.”During election campaigning, Trump raised the idea of levies of 60 percent or higher on Chinese imports.Isaac Boltansky of financial services firm BTIG expects “incremental tariff increases” on Chinese goods.”Our sense is that Trump will vacillate between carrots and sticks with China, with the ultimate goal being some sort of grand bargain before the end of his term,” he said in a note.

Wall Street stocks tumbled into negative territory Friday, ending the week on a downcast note after the White House reaffirmed plans to introduce new tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China beginning February 1.US equities had spent much of the day in the black in a cheery reaction to Apple results and US inflation data that met expectations.But in a briefing Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said tariffs against the three US trading partners would be imposed on Saturday, adding: “These are promises made and promises kept by the president.””The tariff talk in the afternoon injected a new wave of uncertainty,” Briefing.com’s Patrick O’Hare told AFP.”We think it just kind of proved to be a bit of a trigger for people to take some money off the table going into the weekend,” he said. Two of the three major US indices finished with weekly losses following a volatile stretch.AI-related stocks, particularly key chipmaker Nvidia, had plunged early in the week after China’s DeepSeek unveiled an artificial intelligence model rivalling those of American tech giants but developed at a fraction of the cost.Markets later clawed back most of those losses thanks to encouraging earnings and company strategy updates, and as some investors re-evaluated the risks US firms face from Chinese competition.Financial markets also digested the latest US inflation data, with the Federal Reserve’s favourite inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, accelerating for a third month in a row, reaching 2.6 percent in December as expected.”While there’s still further progress to be made on inflation, investors can breathe a sigh of relief and refocus on the market’s more notable fundamentals, like earnings growth and the economy,” said Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at the eToro trading platform.Earlier, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 hit fresh highs, helped by an almost 12 percent surge in the share price of Smiths Group after the British engineering company said it planned to streamline its business and return substantial sums to shareholders.Paris and Frankfurt ended little changed as early rises fizzled. European stocks had one of their best months in two years in January with Europe-wide indexes rising six percent since the start of 2025. Data showed German inflation unexpectedly slowed in January, the first decline in months, bolstering the case for further rate cuts by the European Central Bank.The ECB cut rates on Thursday, its fifth reduction since June.Concerns over Trump’s trade tactics pushed gold to new records above $2,800 an ounce. “The gold price is proving its haven credentials, as investors choose it to hedge fears about Trump’s tariff threats,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.- Key figures around 2210 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.8 percent at 44,544.66 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.5 percent at 6,040.53 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 19,627.44 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,673.96 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,950.17 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UNCHANGED at 21,732.05 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 39,572.49 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0363 from $1.0391 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2392 from $1.2419Dollar/yen: UP at 155.18 yen from 154.28 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.59 pence from 83.67 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $72.53 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $76.76 per barrel

President Donald Trump will implement tariffs Saturday on the three largest US trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — the White House said, sparking alarm for global trade.Trump has reiterated his plans for 25 percent tariffs on neighbors Canada and Mexico, saying they have failed to crack down on illegal migrants crossing the US border and the flow of fentanyl.He also threatened a 10 percent duty for Chinese goods on the same day, similarly over the drug.”The February 1st deadline that President Trump put into place at a statement several weeks ago continues,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday.”Both Canada and Mexico have allowed an unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens, and also immigrants into our country,” she added.She did not commit to exemptions on sectors, and rejected warnings that this would spark a trade war.On Friday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he was “absolutely” going to impose tariffs on the European Union in future too, saying the bloc has “treated us so terribly.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed Friday an “immediate response” if Trump acted, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was in close contact with Trump’s administration.The US president has not specified tools he would use, though analysts suggest he could tap emergency economic powers, which allow the president to regulate imports during a national emergency. But this could be hindered by lawsuits.Fentanyl has been responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths a year.Beijing has rebuffed claims of its complicity in the trade, while close US ally Canada has countered that below one percent of undocumented migrants and fentanyl entering the United States comes through its northern border.Some analysts believe tariff threats are a bargaining chip to accelerate the renegotiation of the existing trade deal known as USMCA between the United States, Mexico and Canada.”However, potentially dismantling a decades-long free-trade area could be a significant shock,” said a recent JPMorgan note.Tariffs are paid by US businesses to the government on purchases from abroad and the economic weight can fall on importers, foreign suppliers or consumers.- Recession risks -Assistant professor Wendong Zhang of Cornell University said Canada and Mexico would suffer the most under 25 percent US tariffs and with retaliations.”Canada and Mexico stand to lose 3.6 percent and two percent of real GDP respectively, while the US would suffer a 0.3 percent real GDP loss,” he added.Oxford Economics analysts warned that blanket tariffs and pushback could tip Canada and Mexico into recessions, and that the United States also risks a shallow downturn.Mexico’s biggest export sectors — food and beverages, transport equipment and electronics — account for the bulk of its manufacturing activity, said Joan Domene of Oxford Economics.Canada exported nearly 80 percent of its goods to the United States in 2023, and accounts for nearly 60 percent of US crude oil imports, noted the Congressional Research Service.It is unclear if oil imports may be exempted.Canadian heavy oil is refined in the United States and regions dependent on it may lack a ready substitute.Canadian producers would bear the brunt of tariffs but US refiners would also be hit with higher costs, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. This could bring gasoline price increases.US merchandise imports from both countries largely enter duty free or with very low rates on average, said the Peterson Institute for International Economics.A tariff hike would shock industrial buyers and consumers.- ‘Grand bargain’ -Trump is also mulling more tariffs on Chinese goods.Beijing has vowed to defend its “national interests,” and a foreign ministry spokeswoman previously warned that “there are no winners in a trade war.”During election campaigning, Trump raised the idea of levies of 60 percent or higher on Chinese imports.Isaac Boltansky of financial services firm BTIG expects “incremental tariff increases” on Chinese goods.”Our sense is that Trump will vacillate between carrots and sticks with China, with the ultimate goal being some sort of grand bargain before the end of his term,” he said in a note.

A Swiss court convicted Trafigura and three people linked to the commodities trading firm of corruption in Angola, in what campaigners hailed Friday as a “historic” first in Switzerland.A Trafigura statement expressed disappointment at the ruling and said it was reviewing judgment. The lawyer for one former director with the company said he would appeal his conviction.The group, which is particularly active in oil trading, was fined 3 million Swiss francs ($3.2 million) for failing to properly monitor the activities of its intermediaries, the federal court said Friday.Michael Wainwright, Trafigura’s former operational director, was sentenced to 32 months, of which he must serve 12 months in prison.Prison terms were also handed down to a person who served as an intermediary for the payment of bribes, and to a former agent of an Angolan state company.A statement from Trafigura said: “We are disappointed by today’s decision in Switzerland concerning Trafigura Beheer BV and are reviewing the matter.”Trafigura has invested significant resources in strengthening its compliance programme over a number of years.”Wainwright’s lawyer, Daniel Kinzer, told AFP: “Mike Wainwright was convicted on the basis of very general assumptions, without taking into account elements which demonstrate that he was not involved.”  Wainwright “maintains that he did not order or facilitate any payment for corrupt purposes and intends to prove it before the Court of Appeal,” he added.- Legal ‘first’ -The case concerns the payment of bribes to a former executive of an Angolan state-owned distribution company in exchange for ship chartering and bunkering contracts. Swiss federal prosecutors referred it to the court in Bellinzona, in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, in 2023.Contacted by AFP, the office of the federal prosecutors said they were “satisfied” by the verdict.”This is the first conviction by a court in Switzerland of a company for acts of corruption of foreign public officials,” the office said.It was “a strong signal of the determination to fight against all forms of transnational corruption”, it added.Anti-corruption campaigners Public Eye welcomed the convictions.”This is the first time in Swiss history that a trading company has been convicted of corruption in a public trial,” it said.It added: “The verdict is a warning to the entire commodities industry, as Swiss justice seems increasingly determined to trace the chain of responsibility.”In March 2024, Trafigura, based in Singapore but with a significant presence in Geneva, agreed to plead guilty in the United States and pay $127 million over allegations of corruption in Brazil.Switzerland is home to some 900 commodities trading firms, located primarily in Geneva and Lugano. Founded in 1993, Trafigura employs 13,000 people worldwide and made a net profit of almost $2.8 billion in its 2023/2024 fiscal year ending September 30. 

President Donald Trump will impose tariffs Saturday on the three largest US trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — the White House said, sparking concern for global trade.Trump has reiterated plans for 25 percent tariffs on neighbors Canada and Mexico on Saturday, unless they cracked down on illegal migrants crossing the US border and the flow of deadly fentanyl.He was also threatening an additional 10 percent duty for Chinese goods on the same day, similarly over the drug.”The February 1st deadline that President Trump put into place at a statement several weeks ago continues,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday.She added that the issue remains the flow of illegal fentanyl.While Trump has not specified tools he would use, analysts have suggested he could tap emergency economic powers, which allow the president to regulate imports during a national emergency. But this could be hindered by lawsuits.Fentanyl, many times more powerful than heroin, has been responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths a year.Beijing has rebuffed claims of its complicity in the deadly trade, while close US ally Canada has countered that below one percent of undocumented migrants and fentanyl entering the United States comes through its northern border.JPMorgan analysts believe tariffs are “a bargaining chip” to accelerate the renegotiation of the existing trade deal known as USMCA between the United States, Mexico and Canada.”However, potentially dismantling a decades-long free-trade area could be a significant shock,” said a recent JPMorgan note.One lesson from Trump’s first term was that policy changes could be announced or threatened on short notice, it added.Tariffs are paid by US businesses to the government on purchases from abroad and the economic weight can fall on importers, foreign suppliers or consumers.- Recession risks -Assistant professor Wendong Zhang of Cornell University said Canada and Mexico would suffer the most under 25 percent US tariffs and with proportional retaliations.”Canada and Mexico stand to lose 3.6 percent and two percent of real GDP respectively, while the US would suffer a 0.3 percent real GDP loss,” he added.Oxford Economics analysts warned that blanket tariffs and pushback could tip Canada and Mexico into recessions, adding the United States also risks a shallow downturn.Mexico’s biggest export sectors — food and beverages, transport equipment and electronics — account for the bulk of its manufacturing activity, said Joan Domene, chief Latin America economist at Oxford Economics.Canada exported nearly 80 percent of its goods to the United States in 2023, and accounts for nearly 60 percent of US crude oil imports, noted the Congressional Research Service (CRS).It is unclear if there could be exceptions, such as on oil imports.Canadian heavy oil, for example, is refined in the United States and regions dependent on it may lack a ready substitute.Canadian producers would bear the brunt of tariffs but US refiners would also be hit with higher costs, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. This could bring gasoline price increases.US merchandise imports from both countries largely enter duty free or with very low rates on average, said the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).A tariff hike would shock both industrial buyers and consumers.Canadian officials said Ottawa would provide pandemic-level financial support to workers and businesses if US tariffs hit, vowing their readiness to respond.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday her government was in close contact with Trump’s administration.- ‘Grand bargain’ -Trump is also mulling more tariffs on Chinese goods.Beijing has vowed to defend its “national interests,” and a foreign ministry spokeswoman previously warned that “there are no winners in a trade war.”On the election campaign trail, Trump raised the idea of levies of 60 percent or higher on Chinese imports.Isaac Boltansky of financial services firm BTIG expects “incremental tariff increases” on Chinese goods, with consumer goods likely to face lower hikes.”Our sense is that Trump will vacillate between carrots and sticks with China, with the ultimate goal being some sort of grand bargain before the end of his term,” he said in a recent note.

Stock markets mostly rose Friday, led by New York after strong results from Apple reassured investors that the tech sector was still healthy after a volatile week, though European shares were hit by a late bout of profit taking.AI-related stocks, particularly key chipmaker Nvidia, had plunged early in the week after China’s DeepSeek unveiled an artificial intelligence model rivalling those of US tech giants but developed at a small fraction of the cost.But markets have clawed back most of those losses thanks to encouraging earnings and company strategy updates, and as some investors re-evaluated the risks US firms face from Chinese competition. “Monday’s sell-off was likely an overreaction, as markets tend to ‘shoot first and ask questions later’,” said Daniela Sabin Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.”Big US tech stocks still maintain significant competitive advantages that will make them difficult to disrupt overnight,” she said.Financial markets also digested the latest US inflation data, with the Federal Reserve’s favourite inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, accelerating for a third month in a row, reaching 2.6 percent in December as expected.”While there’s still further progress to be made on inflation, investors can breathe a sigh of relief and refocus on the market’s more notable fundamentals, like earnings growth and the economy,” said Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at the eToro trading platform.The Dow was little changed near midday Friday, while the wider S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were both higher.Apple shares climbed about three percent at the opening and were last up about one percent after the tech titan reported that profit and revenue grew strongly, even if iPhone sales did not rise as fast as analysts’ expectations.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 hit fresh highs, helped by an almost 12 percent surge in the share price of Smiths Group after the British engineering company said it planned to streamline its business and return substantial sums to shareholders.But Paris and Frankfurt ended little changed as early rises fizzled. European stocks had one of their best months in two years in January with Europe-wide indexes rising six percent since the start of the year. Data showed that German inflation unexpectedly slowed in January, the first decline in months, bolstering the case for further rate cuts by the European Central Bank.The ECB cut rates on Thursday, its fifth reduction since June.But investors are also bracing for tariffs that US President Donald Trump has vowed to impose on imports from Canada and Mexico this weekend.Concerns over Trump’s trade tactics pushed gold to new records above $2,800 an ounce. “The gold price is proving its haven credentials, as investors choose it to hedge fears about Trump’s tariff threats,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, even if the details of the potential tariffs are unclear.The dollar held on to recent gains against the pound, euro and yen, supported by the Fed indicating this week that it did not see a need to cut interest rates further while the country’s inflation remains elevated.Next week, the Bank of England is widely forecast to trim its main interest rate as the British government struggles to grow its economy.The greenback weighed even more on the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar as Trump said he would go ahead with the threatened 25 percent tariffs on the countries pencilled in for Saturday.- Key figures around 1640 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 44,861.74 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 6,110.56New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 19,918.00 London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,673.96 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,950.17 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UNCHANGED at 21,732.05 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 39,572.49 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.0396 from $1.0392 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2432 from $1.2420Dollar/yen: UP at 154.91 yen from 154.38 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.63 pence from 83.67 pence West Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $72.71 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $75.86 per barrel

Major stock markets rose Friday, as a key US inflation reading met expectations and strong results from Apple reassured investors that the tech sector is still healthy after a turbulent week.AI-related stocks, particularly chip-maker Nvidia, had slumped earlier in the week after China’s DeepSeek unveiled an artificial intelligence model to rival those of US tech giants.But markets have clawed back most of those losses thanks to positive earnings and company strategy updates, and as some investors reevaluated the risks US firms face from Chinese competition. “Monday’s sell-off was likely an overreaction, as markets tend to ‘shoot first and ask questions later’,” said Daniela Sabin Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.”Big US tech stocks still maintain significant competitive advantages that will make them difficult to disrupt overnight,” she said.Financial markets also digested the latest US inflation reading.Data showed the Federal Reserve’s favourite inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, accelerated for a third month in a row, reaching 2.6 percent in December as expected.”While there’s still further progress to be made on inflation, investors can breathe a sigh of relief and refocus on the market’s more notable fundamentals, like earnings growth and the economy,” said Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at eToro trading platform.Wall Street’s three main indexes were all higher in morning trading, though the wider S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were still down slightly from the start of the week.Apple shares were up almost three percent after the tech titan reported the day before that its profit and revenue grew strongly, even if iPhone sales did not rise as fast as analysts’ expectations.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 hit fresh highs, helped by an almost 12-percent jump in the share price of Smiths Group after the British engineering company said it planned to simplify the business and return substantial sums to shareholders.Paris and Frankfurt also rose.Data showed German inflation unexpectedly slowed in January, the first decline in months, bolstering the case for further rate cuts by the European Central Bank.Investors, however, are also bracing for tariffs that US President Donald Trump has vowed to impose on imports from Canada and Mexico this weekend.Concerns over Trump’s trade manoeuvres pushed gold to fresh record highs above $2,800 an ounce. “The gold price is proving its haven credentials, as investors choose it to hedge fears about Trump’s tariff threats,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, even if the actual details of the potential tariffs are unclear.The dollar rose against the British pound, euro and yen.The US currency was supported by the Fed indicating this week that it did not see a need to cut interest rates further while the country’s inflation remains elevated.The ECB cut rates on Thursday, the fifth reduction since June.Next week, the Bank of England is widely forecast to trim its main interest rate, as the UK struggles to grow its economy.The greenback weighed even more so on the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar with Trump saying he would go ahead with the threatened 25 percent tariffs on the countries pencilled in for Saturday.- Key figures around 1440 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 45,008.24 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 6,096.97New York – Nsdaq Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 19,842.15 London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,679.00 Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 7,962.59Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 21,766.15Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 39,572.49 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0373 from $1.0392 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2394 from $1.2420Dollar/yen: UP at 154.89 yen from 154.38 yen Euro/pound: UP at 83.69 pence from 83.67 pence West Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $72.73 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $75.87 per barrel

The global economy is bracing for impact as US President Donald Trump’s deadline to impose sweeping tariffs on the three largest US trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — draws near.Trump said shortly after taking office that he planned to introduce 25 percent tariffs on neighbors Canada and Mexico on February 1, unless they cracked down on illegal migrants crossing the US border and the flow of deadly fentanyl.He is also eyeing an additional 10 percent duty for Chinese goods on Saturday, similarly over fentanyl.While Trump has not specified tools for the new tariffs, analysts have suggested he could tap emergency economic powers — which allow the president to regulate imports during a national emergency. But this could be hindered by lawsuits.On Thursday, he reiterated commitment to levies on all three countries, while re-upping threats of 100 percent tariffs on BRICS nations — a bloc including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — if they create a rival to the US dollar.Fentanyl, many times more powerful than heroin, has been responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths a year.Beijing has rebuffed claims of its complicity in the deadly trade, while Canada has countered that below one percent of undocumented migrants and fentanyl entering the United States comes through its northern border.JPMorgan analysts believe tariffs are “a bargaining chip” to accelerate the renegotiation of a trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada.”However, potentially dismantling a decades-long free-trade area could be a significant shock,” said a recent JPMorgan note.One lesson from Trump’s first term was that policy changes could be announced or threatened on short notice, it added.Tariffs are paid by US businesses to the government on purchases from abroad and the economic weight can fall on importers, foreign suppliers or consumers.Another looming deadline is April 1, by which Trump has called for reviews including on trade deficits.- Recession risk -Wendong Zhang, an assistant professor at Cornell University, said Canada and Mexico would suffer the most under 25 percent US tariffs and with proportional retaliations.”Canada and Mexico stand to lose 3.6 percent and two percent of real GDP respectively, while the US would suffer a 0.3 percent real GDP loss,” he added.Blanket US tariffs and Ottawa’s response in kind could cause Canada to fall into a recession this year, Tony Stillo of Oxford Economics told AFP, adding that the United States also risks a shallow downturn.Mexico could face a similar situation, Tim Hunter of Oxford Economics added.It is unclear if there could be exceptions. Trump said he expected to decide Thursday whether to include crude oil imports in the new levies.Canada and Mexico supplied more than 70 percent of US crude oil imports, said a Congressional Research Service report.Stillo noted that heavy oil is “exported by Canada, refined in the US, and there aren’t easy substitutes for that in the US.”US merchandise imports from both countries largely enter duty free or with very low rates on average, said the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).A tariff hike would shock both industrial buyers and consumers, cutting across everything from machinery to fruits, PIIE added.Canadian officials said Ottawa would provide pandemic-level financial support to workers and businesses if US tariffs hit, vowing their readiness to respond.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she was confident her country could avoid the levy.But Trump’s commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said Wednesday “there will be no tariff” if Canada and Mexico acted on immigration and fentanyl.- ‘Grand bargain’ -Trump is also mulling more tariffs on Chinese goods.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week: “The president has said that he is very much still considering that for February 1st.”Beijing has vowed to defend its “national interests,” and a foreign ministry spokeswoman previously warned that “there are no winners in a trade war.”On the election campaign trail, Trump raised the idea of levies of 60 percent or higher on Chinese imports.Isaac Boltansky of financial services firm BTIG expects “incremental tariff increases” on Chinese goods, with consumer goods likely to face lower hikes.”Our sense is that Trump will vacillate between carrots and sticks with China, with the ultimate goal being some sort of grand bargain before the end of his term,” he said in a recent note.

Data watchdogs in South Korea and Ireland said Friday they would ask Chinese AI startup DeepSeek to clarify how it manages users’ personal information, as governments from around the world turned a spotlight on the service.DeepSeek launched its R1 chatbot this month, claiming it matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pace-setters in the United States for a fraction of the investment.The news sparked a rout in tech titans — Nvidia dived 17 percent Monday — and raised questions about the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in AI in recent years.But countries now including South Korea, Ireland, France, Australia and Italy have questions about DeepSeek’s data practices.”We intend to submit our request in writing as early as Friday to obtain information about how DeepSeek handles personal data,” an official from South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission told AFP, without giving further details.Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) told AFP it was “requesting information on the data processing conducted in relation to data subjects in Ireland” from DeepSeek.The DPC is a lead European tech watchdog, as many major firms have their EU headquarters in Ireland due to Dublin’s generous tax incentives.-‘Be very careful’-Earlier this week Italy launched an investigation into the R1 model and blocked it from processing Italian users’ data.The Italian Data Protection Agency is asking what information is used to train DeepSeek’s AI system and, if the data is scraped from the internet, how users are informed about the processing of their data.French watchdog CNIL also said it would question DeepSeek about its chatbot “to better understand the way it works and the risks regarding data protection”.Australia’s science minister Ed Husic has also raised privacy concerns over the company’s AI service and urged users to think carefully before downloading it.”There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered in time on quality, consumer preferences, data and privacy management,” Husic told national broadcaster ABC.”I would be very careful about that. These type of issues need to be weighed up carefully,” he added.The Italian watchdog in December fined OpenAI 15 million euros ($15.6 million) over the use of personal data by its popular ChatGPT chatbot, but the US tech firm said it would appeal.Italy also temporarily blocked ChatGPT over privacy concerns in March 2023, becoming the first Western country to take such action.DeepSeek has said it used less-advanced H800 chips — permitted for sale to China until 2023 under US export controls — to power its large learning model.South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are key suppliers of advanced chips used in AI servers.Worries about the impact of DeepSeek battered stocks in Seoul as the market reopened after an extended break Friday.Samsung fell more than two percent, while SK hynix plunged almost 12 percent at one point.But several industry leaders have welcomed DeepSeek’s arrival and the injection of competition, while analysts have flagged the benefits of the shake-up.