The U.S. mission told China and Canada it was ready to confer with its officials in Geneva after those two countries filed trade disputes in response to new tariffs, World Trade Organization documents showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Canada requested consultations - the first step in a WTO trade dispute - earlier this month in response to "unjustified tariffs" imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month. China launched a dispute after Trump tariffs on Chinese goods in February.

Political pressure is mounting over a plan by a Hong Kong conglomerate to sell its Panama ports to BlackRock, the American investor, raising questions about the future of the $19 billion deal, the New York Times reported.

The Australian-based Village Roadshow Group is not impacted by the US-based Village Roadshow Entertainment Group’s (VREG) bankruptcy filing and has set plans to terminate its association with the company, Deadline.com reported. Village Roadshow Group released a statement this morning following news of bankruptcy at Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. VREG is an entirely separate operation from Village Roadshow Group, which was formed in 1954 and includes Village Roadshow Theme Parks, Roadshow Distributors, Roadshow Productions, Village Roadshow Studios, and Village Cinemas.

The protectionist policies of U.S. President Donald Trump are likely to deteriorate the soundness of the financial industry and expand market volatility, ChosunBiz.com reported. According to a report from the Korea Financial Research Institute on the 16th, titled "Implications of Strengthened Protectionism for the Domestic Banking Industry," a slowdown in exports due to global protectionism could lead to deteriorating performances of corporations and industries, causing the insolvency of vulnerable corporations and undermining the soundness of the financial industry.

Higher U.S. tariffs on imports are set to slow economic growth and push inflation higher around the world, with further increases threatening an even more severe downturn, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a quarterly report published Monday, the Paris-based research body cut its growth forecasts for most of the world’s largest economies over this year and next, the main exceptions being China, Argentina and Turkey. Its largest downgrades were reserved for the two economies that trade most heavily with the U.S.

The Chinese government has strongly criticized a planned deal by a Hong Kong conglomerate to sell ports in Panama and elsewhere to an investment group led by an American asset manager, warning that the deal would deprive China of needed influence over key shipping routes, the New York Times reported. The criticism marks an abrupt shift in Chinese policy toward Panama and the control of seaports around the world. When President Donald Trump raised concerns soon after taking office that China had too much power in the Panama Canal, his comments were initially ridiculed by Beijing.

The United States' National Coffee Association asked the Trump administration to exempt the product from any tariffs, saying that the already adopted additional duties on Canada and Mexico could increase U.S. prices up to 50%, Reuters reported. In a letter seen by Reuters, NCA President and CEO Bill Murray told U.S.

Distress among UK companies has risen for a third consecutive year, to its highest level since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, Bloomberg News reported. The consultancy found that 11.2% of UK corporates suffered from some combination of weak profitability, insufficient liquidity and inadequate capital structure last year. The figure stood at 9.8% in 2023 that and 8.5% the year before that. Surging costs and a rapid rise in interest rates in recent years has put significant strain on businesses.

The China Shipowners' Association opposes a U.S. proposal to slap hefty port entry fees on ocean cargo carriers that own or have ordered vessels from China, saying it violates international rules and U.S. laws, according to a statement seen by Reuters on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration aims to partially pay for an American shipbuilding comeback with those fees, according to a draft executive order seen by Reuters. The CSA's members include China's COSCO Shipping, which is expected to be among the hardest hit by the fees proposed by the U.S.

President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey, the Associated Press reported. The European tariff, which was unveiled in response to steel and aluminum tariffs by the U.S. administration, was expected to go into effect on April 1. But Trump, in a morning social media post, vowed a new escalation in his trade war if the EU pushes ahead with the planned 50% tariff on American whiskey. “If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S.