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Brazil vowed Thursday to combat US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on its exports, saying it intends to lodge appeals if last-ditch negotiations fail.Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the tariffs announced Wednesday were “more favorable” than expected, with several key export products exempted.Still, there “is a lot of injustice in the measures announced yesterday. Corrections need to be made,” he told reporters.Citing a “witch hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro — Brazil’s former president on trial for allegedly plotting a coup — Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order adding a 40 percent tariff on Brazilian products, bringing total trade duties to 50 percent.The levies affect coffee and meat, two products of which Brazil is the world’s top exporter.The order, which takes effect on August 6, listed exemptions for nearly 700 other products including key exports such as planes, orange juice and pulp, Brazil nuts, and some iron, steel and aluminum products. Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — the man Bolsonaro is accused of having sought to topple — has denounced the tariffs as an attack on the “sovereignty” of South America’s largest economy.”The negotiation is not over; it starts today,” Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, tapped to oversee talks with Washington, told TV Globo.Alckmin said the new tariff will apply to nearly 36 percent of Brazil’s exports to the United States, equal to some $14.5 billion last year.Haddad said he would speak with his American counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and “there will be a cycle of negotiations.”He did not give a date.”We are starting from a point that is more favorable than one could have imagined, but still far from the finish line,” the minister said.If negotiations fail, Haddad said Brasilia would “file appeals with the appropriate authorities, both in the United States and with international bodies.”- ‘Judge and jury’ -Trump’s Brazil tariff is among the highest imposed on US trading partners.Unlike with other countries, the measures against Brazil have been framed in openly political terms, sweeping aside centuries-old trade ties and a surplus that Brasilia put at $284 million last year. “These are harsh measures that will have a real impact on important sectors of the Brazilian economy,” Reginaldo Nogueira, an economist with Brazil’s IBMEC business school, told AFP.”The exemptions help mitigate some of the pressure on Brazil but primarily protect strategic goods for the American economy,” he added.Haddad said the Brazilian government would put in place protection measures for the most affected companies, and noted that “nothing that was decided yesterday cannot be reviewed.”Trump’s order was based on the Brazilian government’s “politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of (Bolsonaro) and thousands of his supporters,” according to the White House.It also cited Brazil’s “unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming US companies, the free speech rights of US persons, US foreign policy, and the US economy,” singling out Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.Moraes is the judge presiding over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and has clashed repeatedly with the far-right in Brazil, as well as with tech titan Elon Musk, over the spread of online misinformation.The US Treasury announced financial sanctions on Moraes Wednesday, saying he had “taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies.”A Supreme Court source told AFP that Moraes “does not have assets in the United States” where the sanctions would have frozen them.

Apple on Thursday reported quarterly profit of $23.4 billion, topping forecasts despite concerns about the effect of US tariffs on its supply chain.Revenue was $94 billion for the usually slow quarter ending in June, the iPhone maker said.”Apple is proud to report a June quarter revenue record with double-digit growth in iPhone, Mac and Services and growth around the world, in every geographic segment,” said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.Apple shares were up more than two percent in after-market trading.Revenue from iPhone sales during the quarter was $44.6 billion, compared with $39.3 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Apple.Global shipments of smartphones fell marginally to 288.9 million units in the recently-ended quarter, according to market-tracker Canalys.Samsung was the largest vendor, shipping 57.5 million smartphones, while Apple finished second with iPhone shipments down two percent at 44.8 million units, Canalys reported.”Apple’s performance showed strong resilience amid fierce competition in China and an inventory correction in the US as it adjusted to the rapidly changing tariffs,” the market tracker said in its findings.Cook said that the Trump tariffs cost Apple $800 million in the quarter that just ended and are expected to cost the iPhone maker $1.1 billion in the current quarter.”Assuming the current global tariff rates, policies, and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter, and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add about $1.1 billion to our costs,” Cook said.Tariffs are essentially a tax paid by those importing goods to the United States. This means Apple is on the hook for tariffs on iPhones and other products or components it brings into the country from abroad.- More in US -Cook said that most iPhones sold in the United States now come from India as Apple works to navigate US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.Trump has taken aim at India with a 25 percent duty to begin Friday — slightly lower than previously threatened — after talks between Washington and New Delhi failed to bring about a trade pact.Apple’s tariff cost is up because sales are up, according to Cook.”In terms of what we do to mitigate, we obviously try to optimize our our supply chain,” Cook said of managing the tariff hit.”Ultimately, we will do more in the United States; we’ve committed $500 billion investment in the US over the next four years.”Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen hefty US levies imposed on China, with Beijing setting retaliatory barriers on US imports.Sales of iPhones in mainland China were $15.4 billion in the quarter, compared with $14.7 billion in the same period a year ago, according to Apple.Revenue in Apple’s services business selling digital content and subscriptions to fans of its devices grew to $27.4 billion in the quarter, Apple reported.”The results show that Apple’s iPhone strategy is working to offset the impact of looming challenges with AI development timelines, tariff pressures, and Google’s antitrust issues,” said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne.”The company’s successful pivot to iPhone manufacturing in India, demonstrates supply chain flexibility, while its return to iPhone growth in China and continued services segment expansion, including deeper financial services offerings, show diversification beyond hardware.”

President Donald Trump’s dream of a new world trade order faced a crucial test Thursday, with dozens of economies –- including key commercial partners like Canada — yet to secure US tariff deals ahead of a midnight deadline.The last-gasp scramble to strike bilateral accords came as an appeals court in Washington considered the legality behind Trump’s strategy of invoking emergency economic powers to declare sweeping duties on imports.The 79-year-old Republican doubled down on his wide-ranging levies, posting on Truth Social: “Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again.”He insisted in a separate post that the world’s biggest economy would have “no chance of survival or success” without protectionist measures.But question marks linger over the effectiveness of Trump’s plans — and whether he will really follow through on his most dramatic threats.Hours before his declared deadline, Trump announced that he was delaying a tariff hike on Mexican products, originally due Friday, for 90 days after talks with counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will sign an executive order Thursday to implement his various threatened tariffs.Other road bumps remain.While Trump has touted a surge in customs revenues this year, economists warn the duties could fuel inflation.And the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was hearing arguments Thursday in cases brought against Trump’s blanket tariffs targeting various economies.A government lawyer told the court that Trump’s tariff orders were covered by “broad discretion” he enjoys when handling national emergencies — including pressing economic issues.A lower court’s ruling had blocked most of the duties from taking effect, prompting the Trump administration’s challenge. The duties have been allowed to remain for now.- Deal or no deal -So far, Washington has announced pacts with Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union. New rates negotiated were expected to take effect Friday.South Korea squeezed in an agreement on a 15 percent tariff, down from 25 percent that Trump initially threatened.But Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian products — although delaying their imposition and allowing key exemptions — as an effort to pressure the country to drop its prosecution of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro on coup charges.He also unveiled a 25 percent levy on Indian imports, and warned Canada of trade repercussions for planning to recognize a Palestinian state.And the details of agreements that have been made remain vague.The EU, while having reached a pact, continues seeking a carve-out for its wine industry.Looming over the global economy is also the unresolved trade tussle between the United States and rival China, with the superpowers in talks to maintain a truce after initially imposing triple-digit tariffs on each other.- Canada threat -Washington has yet to strike a deal with neighboring Canada, while Trump said he would maintain 25 percent duties on Mexican imports for now.”We haven’t spoken to Canada today,” Trump said Thursday, adding that Washington has “made a few deals today,” without providing specifics.US-Canada ties came under renewed threat after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.”That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them,” Trump warned on social media.Carney said Wednesday that both countries “may not conclude talks by August 1st.”Goods covered by a North American trade pact have been excluded from Trump’s recent tariffs.Although Mexico and Canada were not originally targeted under Trump’s “reciprocal tariff” plan, he had separately threatened them with the same Friday deadline.The tariff hikes due Friday were announced in April when Trump slapped a 10 percent levy on goods from almost all partners — citing unfair trade practices.This rate was set to rise to varying levels for dozens of economies, but Washington twice postponed their implementation.

A US federal court ruled Thursday that Google must open its Android operating system to rival app stores, after the internet giant lost an appeal in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games.The ruling clears the way for the Epic Games shop to operate within the Google Play Store despite the latter’s requirement that apps use Google’s payment system, which collects commissions on transactions.US Ninth Circuit Court Judge Margaret McKeown said in an opinion that a panel of justices decided to uphold the original verdict because the initial ruling’s parameters were “supported by the record and the nature of the market.”Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney fired off a post on X declaring: “Total victory in the Epic v Google appeal!”Google will continue its appeal of the December 2023 verdict, with the next venue being the US Supreme Court, according to the company’s global head of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland.”This decision will significantly harm user safety, limit choice, and undermine the innovation that has always been central to the Android ecosystem,” Mulholland said in response to an AFP inquiry.”Our top priority remains protecting our users, developers and partners, and maintaining a secure platform as we continue our appeal.”- ‘Feudal security’ -Internet rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) argued in a brief filed in the case that “competition rather than monopoly will make users more safe.””Google and other tech giants offer ‘feudal security’ in which users must depend on the whims of a monopolist to guarantee their safety,” the EFF said in an online post.The EFF argued that the initial judge’s order promises to level the playing field in the Android operating system for rival app stores, including some with better vetting and curation policies.The judge’s order resulted from Google’s defeat in an antitrust case brought by Epic, where a California jury decided that Google wields illegal monopoly power through its Android Play Store.A similar legal battle has played out between Epic and Apple regarding its App Store.Shortly after Fortnite’s launch on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Epic embedded secret code into the game’s software so that players could bypass the tech giants’ payment-processing systems, thereby avoiding commissions of up to 30 percent, the court noted.Epic dubbed the circumvention scheme “Project Liberty” as part of a protest against tight control of the main shops for smartphone digital content.Fortnite returned to Apple’s App Store in the United States in May after being sidelined for years due to a legal battle with the iPhone maker.North Carolina-based Epic has faced off against Apple in US courts since 2021, when Fortnite was banned from the App Store over what Apple said was an attempt to get around the iPhone maker’s payment system.Apple is appealing aspects of the outcome of that case despite a judge ruling the App Store is not a monopoly.

Celebrated US director Robert Wilson, who revolutionized stage and opera, died Thursday at the age of 83, his management said.”Robert Wilson died peacefully today in Water Mill, New York, at the age of 83, after a brief but acute illness,” said a statement issued on his website. It said he worked right up until the end.Wilson’s productions of original works as well as traditional repertoire pieces were hugely popular wherever they were shown. But it was in France where he was best known. It was the French who gave him a “home,” Wilson told AFP in 2021. It was in 1976 that Wilson was propelled onto the international stage with “Einstein on The Beach,” a nearly five-hour opera staged several times since its creation, with music by Philip Glass. “Einstein on the Beach” broke all the conventions of classical opera — there is no linear narrative but rather it draws on themes related to Einstein’s life. It does not aim to explain the theory of relativity but to convey the upheaval introduced by the notion of space-time, notably through dance.Wilson’s trademarks included minimalist aesthetics, body language influenced by Asian theatrical forms, and lighting effects evoking dreamlike worlds.- Avant-garde admiration -His love affair with France began with “Deafman Glance” (“Le Regard du Sourd”) — his first success — a “silent” seven-hour show presented at the Nancy Festival in 1971, and later in Paris.The show was born out of a real-world incident when in 1967, Wilson saw a 13-year-old Black teenager, Raymond Andrews, being beaten in the street by a police officer. He realized the child was deaf and mute and eventually adopted him.Wilson, also a visual artist, had a string of collaborations including with choreographer Andy de Groat, Tom Waits, Isabelle Huppert for “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf, Lady Gaga for video portraits of her at the Louvre, and ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov.”While facing his diagnosis with clear eyes and determination, he still felt compelled to keep working and creating right up until the very end,” the website piece announcing his death said. “His works for the stage, on paper, sculptures and video portraits, as well as The Watermill Center, will endure as Robert Wilson’s artistic legacy.”Memorials will be held for Wilson at time and locations yet to be announced.Born to a lawyer in October 4, 1941, in Waco, Texas, Wilson was performing his own plays in the family garage by the age of 12, but recalls being bottom of the class at school. He was cured of a severe stutter thanks to a psychotherapist who worked with dance. In his twenties, he landed in New York but hated what he saw in theaters and instinctively gravitated toward the American avant-garde: Andy Warhol, John Cage, choreographers George Balanchine, and especially Martha Graham.He relished nurturing emerging talent, and in 1992, created the Watermill Center near New York.

Pop star Justin Timberlake told fans Thursday he has Lyme disease, a condition he described as “relentlessly debilitating.”The 44-year-old former NSYNC frontman, whose world tour has just wrapped up, took to Instagram in reflective mood.”This has been the most fun, emotional, gratifying, physically demanding, and, at times, grueling experience,” he said of a tour that was criticized by some fans as lackluster.”Among other things, I’ve been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease -— which I don’t say so you feel bad for me –– but to shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes.”Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically. When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness.”Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria often carried by ticks that live in woodlands throughout North America and Europe.Symptoms can include widespread pain, fatigue, and muscle weakness. In serious cases, patients could experience damage to the tissues, joints and immune system.The “Can’t Stop The Feeling” singer was in legal hot water last year after being arrested for drunk driving in a small town near New York.Timberlake, whose tumultuous relationship with Britney Spears was the inspiration for his 2002 smash “Cry Me A River” later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was ordered to do community service.

Shares of Microsoft spiked Thursday following blowout quarterly results, lifting the tech giant into the previously unprecedented $4 trillion club along with Nvidia, another artificial intelligence standout.The landmark valuation is the latest sign of growing bullishness about an AI investment boom that market watchers believe is still in the early stages — even as companies like Microsoft plan $100 billion or more in annual capital spending to add new capacity.Microsoft reported profit of $27.2 billion on revenue of $76.4 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, capping another year of growth amid massive customer interest in the company’s cutting-edge AI capacity.Shortly after midday, Microsoft shares were up 4.3 percent, giving it a market capitalization slightly under $4 trillion after earlier eclipsing the benchmark.”Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “We’re innovating across the tech stack to help customers adapt and grow in this new era.”The results drew plaudits from Wall Street analysts on an earnings conference call at which Nadella boasted that the company had opened new data centers across six continents in the last year and touted major contracts for global companies like Nestle and Barclays.Microsoft was one of the first tech giants to double down on artificial intelligence when the launch of ChatGPT in 2022 rocked the tech industry. Microsoft has had a strategic partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI since 2019, holding rights to its intellectual property.At the heart of the results was a stunning 39 percent surge in Azure, the company’s legacy cloud computing platform, which is getting “supercharged” with AI, said Angelo Zino, technology analyst at CFRA Research.Zino attributed “just about all of” Microsoft’s recent surge in valuation to AI.- Legacy businesses -While Nvidia is part of a wave of tech companies that have risen to prominence with the AI boom of the last few years, Microsoft has long been among America’s corporate elite, joining the prestigious Dow index in 1999, more than a decade after introducing the once-revolutionary Windows program.The company’s revenue base includes such workplace mainstays as the Outlook email platform and the LinkedIn career website. Microsoft also has a significant gaming division with the Xbox console.All of these businesses are set to benefit from Microsoft’s AI advantages.”We view (Microsoft) as kind of the enterprise king,” said Zino. “What AI does is it provides new growth opportunities for this company.”For all of fiscal 2025, Microsoft reported revenues of $281.7 billion, up 15 percent from the prior year. Microsoft’s revenues have more than doubled from 2018, when they were $110.4 billion.Zino thinks Microsoft is poised for a comparable run over the next six or seven years when it could see annual revenue growth of 10 percent as greater use of AI creates even more opportunity.The biggest risk to this outlook — and to the AI boom generally — would be “if we get to the point where supply for AI exceeds demand,” Zino said. “That could put pressure on pricing for cloud computing and space.”

Investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence kept Wall Street buoyant Thursday as Microsoft surfed a tech wave to pass $4 trillion in market value even as traders weighed Federal Reserve rates caution.US tariffs and a Fed decision Wednesday to hold rates steady as inflation stays stubbornly high in the United States could not dampen down the bulls piling into tech.Shares of Microsoft vaulted around five percent after it reported $27.2 billion in quarterly profits as it touted massive investments in AI, joining fellow AI star Nvidia in leaping the $4 trillion value barrier.Just over two hours into trading, Wall Street had lost a smidgin of its earlier momentum as the Dow was flat while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index had added 0.8 percent as the broader S&P 500 rose around half of one percent.Europe was sluggish, meanwhile, London sliding just into the red by the close while eurozone indices Paris and Frankfurt both lost around one percent.  “As Wall Street braces for a slew of further tech earnings and key economic data releases, volatility looks set to rise — particularly with the looming tariff deadline tomorrow, on 1st August, casting a shadow over sentiment,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst with FOREX.comAhead of US jobs data Friday, focus was on company earnings, with Microsoft and Facebook owner Meta posting better-than-expected earnings, the latter seeing its shares soar 12 percent.With US rates on pause for now, “often, that might have been enough to send traders scurrying for cover — but strong earnings results from some of the leading US tech companies have kept sentiment strong, allowing markets to make new gains this morning,” said Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown.The latest developments on the tariffs front saw US President Donald Trump announce a deal that sees 15 percent levies on South Korean goods and a commitment from Seoul to invest $350 billion in the United States.The president Thursday said his sweeping tariffs were making the US “great & rich again”.Earlier, he revealed India would face 25-percent tolls, coupled with an unspecified penalty over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian weapons and energy.Trump has also signed an executive order implementing an additional tax on Brazilian products, as he lambasts what he calls Brazil’s “witch hunt” against his far-right ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, on coup charges.Traders are keeping tabs on talks with other countries that are yet to sign deals with Washington ahead of Trump’s self-imposed Friday deadline.After a broadly negative session Wednesday on Wall Street, Asian markets struggled.Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Manila, Wellington and Jakarta closed lower, while Tokyo, Taipei, Mumbai and Bangkok climbed.The yen retreated against the dollar after the Bank of Japan decided against hiking interest rates, while lifting economic growth and inflation costs. – Key figures at around 1545 GMT -New York – Dow: FLAT at 44,434.37 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 6,390.88New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.3 percent at 21,307.73London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,132.81 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.1 percent at 7,771.97 (close) Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.8 percent at 24,065.47 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.0 percent at 41,069.82 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.6 percent at 24,773.33 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.2 percent at 3,573.21 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1435 from $1.1409 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3220 from $1.3239Dollar/yen: UP at 150.58 yen from 149.50 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.46 pence from 86.15 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.8 percent at $68.72 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.1 percent at $72.43burs-bcp/ajb/cw/kjm

A former US Air Force sergeant who killed his wife and two young children is to be executed by lethal injection in the southern state of Florida on Thursday.Edward Zakrzewski, 60, pleaded guilty to the June 1994 murders of his wife, Sylvia, son Edward, 7, and daughter, Anna, 5.His wife was beaten with a crowbar, strangled with a rope and struck with a machete.The two children were hacked to death with the machete, which Zakrzewski had purchased during his lunch break after being informed that his wife planned to divorce him.Zakrzewski fled to Hawaii and changed his name following the murders but turned himself in four months later after being identified by friends on a television show called “Unsolved Mysteries.”Zakrzewski is to be executed at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) at the Florida State Prison in Raiford.There have been 26 executions in the United States this year, the most since the 28 executions of 2015.Twenty-one have been carried out by lethal injection, two have been by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.Florida has carried out the most executions in 2025 — eight.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment, and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the sweeping tariffs he has imposed on nations around the world were making the country “great & rich again” as governments raced to strike deals with Washington less than 24 hours before an August 1 deadline.”Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.”ONE YEAR AGO, AMERICA WAS A DEAD COUNTRY, NOW IT IS THE “HOTTEST” COUNTRY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” he added.A day earlier, the US President imposed new tariffs to punish or favor several major trading partners — the latest round of sweeping measures that have roiled markets around the world.South Korea squeezed in at the last moment, securing agreement on a 15 percent tariff for exports to the United States — significantly below the 25 percent that Trump had earlier threatened to introduce.But Trump also announced crippling 50 percent tariffs on Brazil and a 25 percent levy on Indian exports, while warning Canada it would face trade repercussions for planning to recognize a Palestinian state.The 15 percent rate on Seoul — Washington’s key security ally — was equivalent to levies determined from US trade deals with Japan and the European Union.He added that South Korea had committed to investing $350 billion in the United States, as well as the purchase of “$100 billion worth” of liquefied natural gas (LNG) or other energy sources.Seoul’s presidential office said tariffs on automobiles — one of Seoul’s key exports — would also stay at 15 percent. Trump hit Brazil with high tariffs as well as sanctions against the judge overseeing a trial of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of attempting a coup in Latin America’s biggest economy.But he delayed its implementation from Friday to August 6, and crucially exempted many products from the prohibitive levy, including orange juice, civil aircraft, iron ore and some energy products.- Canada trade threat -He had threatened to wield US economic might to punish Brazil — and its Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, in particular — for what he has termed a “witch hunt” against former president Bolsonaro.Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he would defend “the sovereignty of the Brazilian people in the face of measures announced by the president of the United States.”Among Trump’s latest announcements were a 25 percent duty on Indian goods to begin Friday — slightly lower than previously threatened — after talks between Washington and New Delhi failed to bring about a trade pact.India would face an unspecified “penalty” over purchases of Russian weapons and energy as well, Trump said.”I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World,” he added.Canada’s trade relations with the United States also came under threat after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.”Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform. “That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”- ‘Big day for America’ -He also signed an order Wednesday to impose previously threatened 50 percent tariffs on certain copper products and end a tariff exemption for low-value shipments from abroad.It left out products like copper ores, concentrates and cathodes, bringing some relief to industry.As Trump’s deal deadline neared, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News that Washington had struck trade deals with Cambodia and Thailand, but provided no details of the accords.The US tariff hikes due Friday were initially announced in April as part of a package in which Trump slapped a minimum 10 percent levy on goods from almost all trading partners — citing unfair trade practices.This rate was set to rise to varying levels for dozens of economies such as the European Union, Japan and others, but Washington twice postponed their implementation as financial markets gyrated.The US leader insisted Wednesday that the August 1 deadline “will not be extended” any further.So far, Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, the EU and South Korea have reached initial deals with Washington to secure less punishing conditions.While the United States and China earlier slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s products, both sides are working to further a truce maintaining duties at lower levels.Although Trump has promised a surge in government revenues from his duties, economists warn that higher tariffs can fuel an uptick in inflation and weigh on economic growth.