India and the European Union struck a long‑delayed deal on Tuesday that will slash tariffs on most goods, aiming to boost two‑way trade and reduce reliance on the United States amid growing global trade tensions, Reuters reported. The deal is expected to double EU exports to India by 2032 by eliminating or reducing tariffs in 96.6% of traded goods by value, and will lead to savings of 4 billion euros ($4.75 billion) in duties for European companies, the EU said.
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South Korea scrambled on Tuesday to assure the U.S. it remained committed to implementing a trade deal after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would hike tariffs on autos and other imports from its ally, blaming a delay in enacting the pact agreed last year, Reuters reported. Trump said on Monday that South Korea's ​parliament was not living up to its side of the deal by swiftly enacting the agreement he reached with President Lee Jae Myung to make huge investments in U.S. business projects in return ‌for tariff cuts.

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Nidec Corp will release a plan this week to get its business back on track, people familiar with the matter say, after an accounting scandal that has put the company at risk of delisting and caused its debt to be downgraded to junk status, Bloomberg News reported. The plan will be announced as soon as Wednesday and will include revisions to past financial results, more details on how the issues came to light and the steps that will be taken to prevent a repeat, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
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Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney will likely visit India the first week of March and sign deals on uranium, energy, minerals ​and artificial intelligence, Dinesh Patnaik, India's High Commissioner to Canada said in an interview, Reuters reported. Carney is making all-out efforts to diversify Canada's alliances beyond the U.S., its top ‌trade partner. In Davos last week, he earned a rare standing ovation for saying the old rules-based order is over and called on middle powers like Canada to build coalitions to shape a fairer, more resilient world.
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India plans to slash tariffs on cars imported from the European Union to 40% from as high as 110%, sources said, in the biggest opening yet of the country's vast market as the two sides close in on a free trade pact that could come as early as Tuesday, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has agreed to immediately reduce the tax on a limited number of cars from the 27-nation bloc with an import price of more than 15,000 euros ($17,739), two sources briefed on the talks told Reuters.
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President Donald Trump threatened Canada with 100% tariffs against all its exports to the US if it makes a trade deal with China, escalating tensions between the U.S. and its northern neighbor, Bloomberg News reported. Trump, referring to Prime Minister Mark Carney as “Governor Carney,” said the Canadian leader was “sorely mistaken” for opening up his country to more business from China, including a recent deal allowing an increase in Chinese electric vehicle exports.
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Singapore will pour in more than S$1 billion ($786 million) to fund public artificial intelligence research over the next five years, accelerating a bid to bolster a homegrown AI industry in a field dominated by US and Chinese players, Bloomberg News reported. The government is betting the investment will help strengthen its position as an AI research hub, Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo said in a speech at an industry event in the city-state Saturday.
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