Silicon Valley startup Lyten will need to convince carmakers it can succeed where bankrupt Swedish EV battery maker Northvolt failed - creating a European champion to reduce the region's reliance on China, Reuters reported. Lyten, which develops lithium-sulfur batteries, unexpectedly announced on August 7 it was buying Northvolt's assets, offering a lifeline to future European battery production for electric vehicles.

The European Union is pushing for U.S. tariffs on European cars and auto parts to be reduced retroactively to August 1 under the terms of a framework trade deal reached in July, CBTNews.com reported. The move could provide quick relief for European automakers that have faced steep U.S. tariffs in recent years. Under the agreement, Washington committed to lowering its current 27.5% tariff on cars and auto parts from the EU once Brussels introduces legislation to cut duties on U.S. goods.

Switzerland soon hopes to finalise a new business offer for Washington to ease its tariff burden, which will likely include more defence spending and greater access for U.S. energy interests, Reuters reported. Switzerland was stunned when U.S. President Donald Trump this month hit it with one of the highest tariff rates worldwide - 39% - after complaining about the U.S. trade deficit with the country on a call with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter.

International postal services are suspending shipments to the United States after an exemption on tariff duties for small packages is set to expire, CNN.com reported. Beginning Friday, the de minimis exemption, which allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to enter the United States duty free, will be eliminated. European and Asian postal services have taken matters into their own hands by announcing plans to halt shipments as early as Monday. Singapore’s SingPost and India’s Department of Posts said they will also temporarily suspend some shipments to the United States.

Canada will remove many retaliatory import tariffs on U.S. goods and intensify talks with the United States on striking a new trade and security relationship, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday, Reuters reported. Canadian tariffs on U.S. autos, steel and aluminum will remain for now, he said. Carney noted that the United States had recently made clear that it would not impose tariffs on Canadian goods that were compliant with the three-nation U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, something he called a positive development.

The United States and the European Union on Thursday published much-anticipated details of the trade agreement they struck verbally last month, which will see Washington maintain high tariffs on vehicles imported from the 27-nation bloc until it takes steps to lower its levies on many American industrial and agricultural products, the New York Times reported.

Japan’s exports sustained their steepest drop in more than four years in July as U.S. tariffs continued to weigh on global commerce, clouding the outlook for economic growth at a time when personal spending remains unsteady, Bloomberg News reported. Exports fell 2.6% in value from a year earlier, sliding more than the median forecast of a 2.1% decline, the Finance Ministry reported on Wednesday. The downturn, led by cars, auto parts and steel, was the biggest since February 2021. Export volumes rose by 1.2%, suggesting exporters are continuing to absorb U.S.

A U.S. judge on Monday authorized a court officer overseeing an auction of shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo Petroleum to receive and negotiate improved bids this week before confirming or changing the winner recommendation he made last month, Reuters reported. A final winner recommendation in the complex court-organized auction is expected to be submitted by the end of this month, Judge Leonard Stark said in a hearing. Read more.

A U.S. appeals court on Friday granted Argentina's request to put on temporary hold a judge's order that it turn over its 51% stake in oil and gas company YPF to partially satisfy a $16.1 billion judgment won by two investors, Reuters reported. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit stayed U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska's June 30 turnover order while Argentina appeals. Argentina has warned that it would suffer irreparable harm and its economy could be destabilized if it gave up its stake in YPF, the country's largest energy company.

Japan's government on Friday brushed aside rare and explicit comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said the Bank of Japan was "behind the curve" on policy, which appeared to be aimed at pressuring the country's central bank into raising interest rates, Reuters reported. However, some analysts saw Bessent's comments, coupled with unexpectedly solid domestic growth data, as heightening the chance of a near-term rate hike by the BOJ - a view that pushed up Japanese government bond (JGB) yields and the yen on Friday. "It's a sign from the U.S.