
President Donald Trump ordered meat-processing plants to stay open to protect the food supply in the United States, despite concerns about coronavirus outbreaks, drawing a backlash from unions that said at-risk workers required more protection.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates near zero and repeated a vow to do what it takes to shore up the U.S. economy amid an ongoing coronavirus pandemic that will not only “weigh heavily” on the near-term outlook but poses “considerable risks” for the medium term as well.

The European Union and Mexico finalized a major upgrade to their free trade deal on Tuesday after the two sides agreed to grant reciprocal market access to each other’s tenders for public contracts.

United States Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Wednesday he would consider announcing the names of some cabinet officials before the election - and that some of the people might be Republicans.

Uruguayan president Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou and his Argentine peer, Alberto Fernandez held a half-hour video conference Tuesday mid-morning to address the recent decision by the current Argentine administration to freeze Mercosur free trade negotiations with potential new partners and instead concentrate efforts in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and its sanitary, social, economic and employment consequences.

A Supreme Court judge authorized an investigation of allegations that Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro tried to interfere in the work of the country’s federal police force for political motives, the top court said on its website.

Argentina’s latest effort to restructure its overseas debt probably won’t be its last, according to ex IMF advisor and Harvard University economist Carmen Reinhart, who has sounded alarms overcoming emerging markets crises in Venezuela and Turkey.

The Argentine Coast Guard was finally unable to arrest a Chinese jigger operating in the country's EEZ, which managed to escape into international waters, the so-called mile 201. According to the force's report, the patrol vessel GC-27 “Prefecto Fique”, early Tuesday detected and pursued the jigger Lu Rond Yuan Yu 668, some 390 kilometers offshore Puerto Madryn.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton endorsed Joe Biden's White House bid on Tuesday (Apr 28), saying he is the type of “leader” the United States needs during the current coronavirus crisis.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday named a family friend to head the federal police, days after his justice minister quit, and accused the president of meddling in law enforcement for political motives.