President Donald Trump said he expected tariffs planned to take effect on Canada and Mexico to go ahead next month following an initial delay to allow the countries more time to address his concerns over border security, Bloomberg News reported. “The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule,” Trump said Monday from the White House during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was asked if the tariffs, which he delayed until March 4, would go into effect.

Esprit has flagged another annual loss, citing the insolvency of its European and US subsidiaries and an adverse operating environment, InsideRetail.asia reported. The Hong Kong-listed fashion company expects an unaudited net loss of HK$1.172 billion (US$150 million) for the year ended December 31, compared to a loss of HK$2.339 billion in the prior year. The company also expects a 73 per cent drop in revenue and 76 per cent decrease in gross profit for the year.

Truck maker Scania agreed to buy Northvolt’s heavy industry business, as the battery maker continues to work through a restructuring process, the Wall Street Journal reported. “This acquisition will provide access to a highly skilled and experienced team and a strong portfolio of battery systems built in Gdansk for industrial segments, such as construction and mining, complementing Scania’s current customer offering,” a Scania spokesperson said.

President Trump’s plan to target countries with so-called reciprocal tariffs is “a step in the wrong direction,” the European Commission said on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The European Union’s executive arm said the bloc has some of the lowest tariffs in the world and sees no justification for increased U.S. tariffs on its exports. Such measures amount to a tax on U.S.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he planned to impose tariffs on Canada and France over their digital services taxes on U.S. technology giants, which has been a long-standing irritant, Reuters reported. Canada, seeking to address the challenge of taxing digital giants like Google parent Alphabet and Amazon.com that can book their profits in low-tax countries, began imposing the tax in June last year. Trump tasked his economics team on Thursday with devising a plan to impose reciprocal tariffs on every country that levied duties on U.S. imports.

India and the U.S. agreed on Thursday to start talks to clinch an early trade deal and resolve their standoff over tariffs as New Delhi promised to buy more U.S. oil, gas and military equipment and fight illegal immigration, Reuters reported. The series of agreements emerged after talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, just hours after Trump railed against the climate for U.S. businesses in India and unveiled a roadmap for reciprocal tariffs on countries that put duties on U.S. imports.

S&P Global completed the list of top credit rating agencies to warn that an "unprecedented" U.S. withdrawal from the World Bank and other top multilateral lenders would damage their prized triple-A credit ratings, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order last week for a six-month review of U.S. support to all international intergovernmental organisations to decide whether it should withdraw from them, or seek their reform. S&P said the current triple-A ratings of the World Bank and other top development banks assume the U.S. remaining in place.

Investment Management Corp. of Ontario has written down its $400 million investment in Northvolt AB, the electric vehicle battery maker that filed for bankruptcy protection last year, Bloomberg News reported. The Canadian pension manager bought Northvolt convertible bonds in 2023, its largest transaction in Europe at the time. IMCO manages about C$77 billion ($53.8 billion) for public-sector groups in the province of Ontario. Northvolt filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US in November after a bid to secure rescue funding fell short, leaving it with little cash and $5.8 billion in debt.

Tokyo has asked the U.S. government to exempt Japanese firms from U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly announced 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, the Japan Times reported. “We have requested the U.S. government to exclude Japan from the scope of these measures,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a news conference Wednesday, adding that the request was made by the Japanese Embassy in Washington via diplomatic channels.

Mexico will start consultations with the US government to explain why it considers the steel and aluminum tariffs ordered by President Donald Trump as “not justified,” said Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Bloomberg News reported. First, Mexico imports more steel and aluminum from the US than it exports to that country, Ebrard argued, and also the Latin American country is the main destination for US exports of steel products, “representing 52% of its global exports at the end of 2024,” he added.