Canada prepared possible reprisals while the European Union reported progress in trade talks on Wednesday as new U.S. metals tariffs triggered more disruption in the global economy and added urgency to negotiations with Washington, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports kicked in on Wednesday, the same day his administration sought "best offers" from trading partners to avoid other punishing import levies from taking effect in July. The move will hit the closest U.S. trading partners - Canada and Mexico - especially hard.
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The Bank of Canada left its main interest rate unchanged, at 2.75%, saying the economy has softened but not deteriorated, and inflation has picked up steam, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem said officials expect second-quarter economic growth to be “much weaker” after a surprise 2.2% annualized increase in the first quarter that was buoyed by exports and inventories as companies rushed to purchase goods to avoid tariffs.
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President Donald Trump signed a directive on Tuesday formally raising steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% from 25%, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced, Bloomberg News reported. Trump said last Friday the higher charge will take effect on June 4, but Leavitt did not elaborate on the timing. The move raises trade tensions at a time when the US is locked in negotiations with numerous trading partners over his so-called “reciprocal” duties before a July 9 deadline.
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The Bank of Canada is expected to keep its main interest rate unchanged this week as policymakers set aside signs of distress in the labor market and domestic demand to focus on accelerating core inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Eleven of 13 economists surveyed last week by the Bank of Canada told The Wall Street Journal that they anticipate the central bank would keep the target for the overnight rate at 2.75%.
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Fantasy werewolves are set to haunt Shiver — the much-anticipated film based on the first novel in the Wolves of Mercy Falls romantasy series which wrapped filming in Vancouver late last year. But the financial wolves at the doors of the movie's producers have put Shiver on ice — forcing the production company formed to make the film into insolvency and leaving hundreds of Canadian creditors out millions of dollars, CBC.ca reported. A British Columbia Supreme Court judge placed Mercy Falls B.C.
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Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner was sentenced to two years in prison by a judge in a New York court on Thursday after he pleaded guilty in 2018 for his involvement in a multi-billion dollar scandal involving Malaysia's sovereign fund 1MDB, Reuters reported. Leissner's conduct was "brazen and audacious," judge Margo Brodie said during sentencing. While his cooperation with the government was taken into account, it did not make up for the harm caused by the corruption at the highest levels in several countries, the judge said.
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