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.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that Canada would seek to highlight the negative impact of the United States' steel and aluminium tariffs and that - if needed - the response from Canada would be firm and clear, Reuters reported. "Canadians will stand up strongly and firmly if we need to," Trudeau said at the sidelines of the Paris artificial intelligence summit. U.S. President Donald Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminium imports on Monday to 25% without exemptions, aiming to revive the flagging sector but risking a broader trade war.

Germany's trade surplus with the United States reached a record level, data from the statistics office showed, as countries wait to learn how U.S. President Donald Trump will impose tariffs on imported goods, Reuters reported. Germany's trade surplus with the U.S. expanded to 70 billion euros ($72 billion) in 2024, well above the previous record of 63.3 billion euros reported for the full year 2023. "It would be hard to imagine worse timing," said Holger Goerg, from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).

Sweden’s state-owned pension fund AP2 has written down its entire stake in bankrupt battery maker Northvolt AB, according to the fund’s annual report, Bloomberg News reported. AP2, which has been a shareholder of Northvolt since 2021, said the stake was worth 1.5 billion kronor ($137 million) at the beginning of 2024, corresponding to 17% of its investments in sustainable infrastructure. Northvolt filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. in November after a bid to secure rescue funding fell short, leaving the company with little cash and $5.8 billion in debt.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will introduce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., on top of existing metals duties, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul, Reuters reported. Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way to the NFL Super Bowl in New Orleans, said that he will announce the new metals tariffs on Monday. He also said he will announce reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately, applying them to all countries and matching the tariff rates levied by each country.