The U.S. is preparing to start renegotiating its largest free trade deal—the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported. Within the next month, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin public consultations on renegotiating the deal, which it must do by Oct. 4 under the 2020 law that implemented the pact.

Northvolt buyer Lyten said yesterday that it had appointed the last chief operating officer of the bankrupt Swedish battery maker as the new CEO of Lyten Sweden, and also recruited several other former executives of the failed company, Reuters reported. Silicon Valley-based startup Lyten, which develops lithium-sulfur batteries, unexpectedly announced last month that it was buying Northvolt's assets, offering a lifeline to future European battery production for electric vehicles.

Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to swiftly hear a bid to preserve his sweeping tariffs pursued under a 1977 law meant for emergencies after a lower court invalidated most of the levies that have been central to the Republican president's economic and trade agenda, Reuters reported. The Justice Department appealed an August 29 ruling by a federal appeals court that the president overstepped his authority in invoking the law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, undercutting a major Trump priority in his second term.

Japan and the United States are in the final stages of talks to implement lower tariffs on Japanese automobile imports within 10-14 days after the issuance of a U.S. presidential executive order, a Japanese government source told Reuters on Thursday. That means that a reduced U.S. tariff rate on Japanese cars, from the current 27.5% to 15%, is set to take effect by the end of this month, said the source, who declined to be identified as the matter is confidential.

India is seeking to boost drug exports to semi-regulated markets in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia to reduce its dependence on the U.S., where tariff concerns pose risks, officials from a government-backed trade body told Reuters on Thursday. The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) also plans to push for sales of finished goods to China to bridge the trade deficit, the officials said. The Indian industry imports more than 60% of its raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients from China.

The Quebec government is pulling the plug on a $7-billion electric-vehicle battery project near Montreal and trying to recoup some of its investment, BNN Bloomberg reported. Economy Minister Christine Fréchette announced Tuesday that the government is cutting its losses on the planned Northvolt battery factory after spending $510 million on the troubled venture, once touted as the largest private investment in the province’s history. The Quebec government pledged up to $2.9 billion in financing for the project, while Ottawa committed up to $4.4 billion.

U.S. risk advisory business Kroll has acquired Kirby Healy, a Dublin-based corporate insolvency practice, for an undisclosed sum, the Irish Times reported. The New York-headquartered company, which provides a range of services from valuation, compliance and regulation, said the move would deepen “Kroll’s footprint in Ireland” and was part of a broader growth strategy in Ireland, aimed at meeting increased demand. The acquisition increases the company’s Irish team to more than 70 employees and the number of restructuring experts it has in Dublin to 26.

Confidence in the eurozone’s economic outlook fell back as sluggish growth weighed on sentiment, with little hope of a major rebound ahead, surveys of households and business showed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The European Commission said Thursday that its economic sentiment indicator for the currency area edged down to 95.2 this month from 95.7 in July, thwarting economists’ expectations of a slight uptick in sentiment. Consumer confidence fell back, as did sentiment in industry and construction.

The European Commission proposed on Thursday removing tariffs on imported U.S. industrial goods, part of a trade agreement with the United States that should result in retroactive cuts to U.S. tariffs on European cars, Reuters reported. The proposals are the first EU step in enacting the framework agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on July 27, which saw the EU accept a broad 15% tariff to avoid a damaging trade war.