The U.S. International Trade Commission determined on Tuesday that domestic solar panel makers were materially harmed or threatened by a flood of cheap imports from four Southeast Asian nations, bringing the United States a step closer to imposing stiff duties on those goods, Reuters reported. The "yes" vote by the three-member ITC means the Commerce Department will issue orders to enforce countervailing and anti-dumping tariffs on solar products imported from Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam that the agency finalized last month.

Japan on Tuesday clarified its stance on U.S. tariffs, saying it wants all new levies put into place by the administration of President Donald Trump completely removed, confirming a hard-line position ahead of high-level negotiations that might be held later this week in Washington, the Japan Times reported. “As we have repeatedly stated, we find the series of U.S. tariff measures — including those on automobiles, auto parts, steel, aluminum, and reciprocal tariffs — extremely regrettable,” said Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, at a news conference.

The European Union’s exports to the U.S. hit a record high in March as businesses stockpiled goods ahead of an expected rise in tariffs that was announced by President Trump in early April, the Wall Street Journal reported. The EU exported 59.5% more goods to the U.S. compared with the same month of the previous year, totaling 71.4 billion euros, or around $79.86 billion, statistics agency Eurostat said Friday. The EU’s trade surplus with the U.S., a key sticking point with Trump, swelled to 40.7 billion euros from 16.7 billion euros in March 2024.

The European Union wants a trade deal with the U.S. that sees a larger reduction in tariffs than negotiations with the U.K. and China have so far yielded, officials from the bloc said Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. President Trump imposed a series of tariffs that affect Europe’s makers of automobiles, steel and aluminum. On April 2, he announced a sharp rise in tariffs on all imports from Europe, but a week later reduced the increase to 10% for 90 days to allow for negotiations. Last week, the U.S. and the U.K.

Japan's economy shrank for the first time in a year and at a faster pace than expected, data for the March quarter showed on Friday, underscoring the fragile nature of its recovery now under threat from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies, Reuters reported. Real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted an annualised 0.7% in January-March, preliminary government data showed, much bigger than a median market forecast for a 0.2% drop.

Toronto-based lithium battery recycling firm Li-Cycle said on Wednesday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and expects to start a formal sale for its business or assets, Reuters reported. The firm's U.S. units have also commenced proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Li-Cycle has entered into a $10.5 million debtor-in-possession financing and a stalking-horse credit bid for at least $40 million with London-listed Glencore, its largest secured creditor.

A struggling technology company that has ties to China and relies on TikTok made an unusual announcement this week. It had secured funding to buy as much as $300 million of $TRUMP, the so-called memecoin marketed by President Trump, the New York Times reported. GD Culture Group, a publicly traded firm with a Chinese subsidiary, has only eight employees, its public filings show, and recorded zero revenue last year from an e-commerce business it operates on TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

Creditors in U.S. chipmaker Wolfspeed offered roughly $600M to refinance a large convertible bond coming due in 2026, to pre-empt a potential bankruptcy filing, The Financial Times reported. The offer comes after Wolfspeed announced last week that it was considering a bankruptcy filing after negotiations to restructure the bond reached an impasse.

The United States will cut the "de minimis" tariff for low-value items imported from China, a White House executive order said on Monday, further de-escalating a potentially damaging trade war between the world's two largest economies, Reuters reported. The tariff relief, which affects big Chinese e-commerce players including Shein and Temu, follows a deal between Beijing and Washington to unwind most of the duties imposed on each other's goods since early April, after weekend talks in Geneva.