Mexico’s inflation slowed more than expected in the first half of March, as the central bank is set to meet this week to consider a sixth straight rate cut and likely a second straight half-point reduction, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 3.67% from a year prior, below the 3.7% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and less than the 3.81% in the previous two-week period. Core inflation, which leaves out volatile items including food and fuel, also decelerated to 3.56% from 3.66% in late February.

Canadian consumers pared back their spending for a second straight month amid trade war uncertainty, only partially reversing a year-end boost in sales after a federal sales tax was paused, Bloomberg News reported. An advance estimate suggests receipts for retailers fell 0.4% in February, Statistics Canada said Friday. The declines follow a 2.6% spike in sales in December that coincided with the start of the break in sales taxes on some items. Still, the first back-to-back decreases since mid-2023 may point to mounting pressures on consumption from concerns about the US-Canada tariff war.

The European Union is delaying the retaliatory tariffs it announced after the United States imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports earlier this month, CNN.com reported. The countermeasures, which include higher tariffs on American whiskey, were set to take effect starting April 1 and follow a phased approach. Instead, they will take effect all at once in mid-April, pending negotiations, the Commission announced on Thursday. In addition to whiskey, the first phase called for 50% tariffs on motorboats and motorcycles from the US.

The U.S. mission told China and Canada it was ready to confer with its officials in Geneva after those two countries filed trade disputes in response to new tariffs, World Trade Organization documents showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Canada requested consultations - the first step in a WTO trade dispute - earlier this month in response to "unjustified tariffs" imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month. China launched a dispute after Trump tariffs on Chinese goods in February.

Political pressure is mounting over a plan by a Hong Kong conglomerate to sell its Panama ports to BlackRock, the American investor, raising questions about the future of the $19 billion deal, the New York Times reported.

The Australian-based Village Roadshow Group is not impacted by the US-based Village Roadshow Entertainment Group’s (VREG) bankruptcy filing and has set plans to terminate its association with the company, Deadline.com reported. Village Roadshow Group released a statement this morning following news of bankruptcy at Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. VREG is an entirely separate operation from Village Roadshow Group, which was formed in 1954 and includes Village Roadshow Theme Parks, Roadshow Distributors, Roadshow Productions, Village Roadshow Studios, and Village Cinemas.

Inflation in Canada grew at the fastest pace in eight months, further limiting the central bank’s ability to cut interest rates amid a trade war that will both slow economic growth and boost prices, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose at a 2.6% yearly pace last month, the highest rate since June and up from 1.9% in January, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. The index jumped 1.1% on a monthly basis in February, the fastest pace in nearly three years.