Canada's government is to provide C$400 million ($287.13 million) in financial support for Algoma Steel under its large enterprise tariff relief scheme, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said on Monday, Reuters reported. The company has been one of the large steel enterprises worst hit by the 25% tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump slapped on Canadian imported steel, a duty he later cranked up to 50%.
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Germany expects the United States to apply a 15% tariff rate to pharmaceuticals and heavy trucks, a government spokesperson said during a regular press conference on Monday, Reuters reported. U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping new import tariffs last week, including 100% duties on patented drugs and 25% levies on heavy-duty trucks, triggering fresh trade uncertainty.
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Donald Trump faces fresh hurdles in his push to secure major investment pledges from Asian allies, after South Korea said Washington’s terms were unrealistic and a contender to lead Japan’s ruling party hinted at the possibility of reviewing the agreement, Bloomberg News reported. “We are not able to pay $350 billion in cash,” South Korea’s National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said in a Channel A News television interview on Saturday evening, referring to Seoul’s investment pledge with Washington.
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The U.S. on Monday cracked down on companies in China and other countries that use subsidiaries or other foreign affiliates to get around curbs on chipmaking equipment and other goods and technology, Reuters reported. The Commerce Department issued a new rule expanding its restricted export list, known as the Entity List, to automatically include subsidiaries owned 50 percent or more by a company on the list, according to a posting in the U.S. Federal Register. The action greatly increases the number of companies that require licenses to receive American goods and services.
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The Bank of Mexico cut its benchmark interest rate to a three-year low Thursday as expected and said further reductions are possible, while it still sees inflation returning to its target next year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The five-member board of governors voted 4-1 to lower the overnight interest-rate target by a quarter of a percentage point to 7.50% in a 10th consecutive cut that brought the rate to its lowest level since June 2022. Deputy Gov. Jonathan Heath voted to keep the rate at 7.75%.
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Canada's monthly gross domestic product rebounded from three months of contraction to grow by 0.2% in July as mining, manufacturing and wholesale trade boosted growth, data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. Canada's GDP had shrunk in the second quarter by 1.6% annualized and economists were closely tracking the July GDP growth figure to get an indication of whether there will be a contraction in the third quarter. Two consecutive quarters of contraction are considered a technical recession.
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Factory activity in Canada looks to have stalled, with an early estimate of sales showing a pullback in August following a recovery the previous two months, the Wall Street Journal reported. Manufacturing sales fell an estimated 1.5% from a month prior, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday. The largest declines were seen in transportation equipment and food, the data agency said. There have been signs of stability for Canadian manufacturers that have been hit hard by the sharp shift in the U.S.’s approach to trade and frequently changing import tariffs.
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