Prospects for the global economy are looking brighter, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), arguing that the recent pick-up has been pretty broad-based, particularly in Europe and Asia. Tax reforms in the United States are expected to stimulate economic activity, especially business investment.
Chile’s foreign minister welcomed Chinese representatives to a meeting with Latin American and Caribbean countries and praised Beijing for rejecting protectionism as the United States backs away from global trade.
For first time since 2013, the US government is in shutdown after senators rejected a temporary spending patch. Trump accuses Democrats of taking Americans hostage with their demands.
China cuts its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities in November 2017 after adding US$ 8.4bn in October. China's holdings of U.S. treasuries dropped by US$ 12.6bn to US$ 1.1766 trillion in November last year. China remained the largest holder of U.S. treasuries.
Brazil is studying the removal of a 20% tariff on ethanol imports from the United States, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Wednesday, in a decision that could depend on Washington lifting a ban on fresh beef exports from Brazil. Last year, Brazil imposed a 20% tax on ethanol imported from the U.S. that exceeds a 600 million liter annual quota to protect local producers as imports spiked.
Donald Trump has cancelled a planned visit to the UK in February, where he had been expected to open a new US$1bn (£738m) US embassy in London. The US president tweeted he was not a big fan of the new embassy - which is moving from Mayfair to south London.
The United States is the largest source of guns entering Brazil that end up in the hands of armed bandits and drug traffickers, according to a Brazilian Federal Police report. Roughly 1,500 guns originated in the United States out of a study of more than 10,000 arms seized by police since 2014, mostly in Rio de Janeiro, the December 2017 report said, although the guns often traveled through a third country before arriving in Brazil.
Canada has filed an expansive complaint with the World Trade Organization accusing the US of breaking international trade rules. The complaint challenges the ways that the US investigates products for subsidies and below-cost sales. As expected the US called the claims unfounded.
The aftermath of a frigid “bomb cyclone” and polar vortex left much of the northeastern US and Canada frigid on Friday night. Wind chills in one part of the state of New Hampshire were forecast to hit negative 50 degrees Celsius, according to forecasters. New York Times reporters who were sent to Mount Washington in that state said the wind “steals your breath and freezes your eyelashes.”
United States president Donald Trump responded personally to his former chief strategist Steve Bannon’s comments about his family members Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. The statement was released to reporters by press secretary Sarah Sanders prior to the White House Wednesday press briefing.