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Good morning. Today I’ll be covering:
Trump and Starmer’s joint press conference
Citigroup’s $81tn ‘near miss’
Sterling’s strong rebound against the dollar
And how the Tate brothers won US backing for their release
Donald Trump has suggested Britain could avoid tariffs, during a warm joint press conference yesterday in which the US president said he was working on a trade deal with the UK.
Trump said his UK counterpart Sir Keir Starmer was a “very tough negotiator” and was “working very hard” to dissuade him from imposing levies on Britain. Starmer confirmed yesterday that the two countries had decided to “begin work on a new economic deal with advanced technology at its core”.
The move came a day after the US president threatened the EU with 25 per cent duties on its exports, and hours after he said he would push on with his planned tariffs against Mexico and Canada. Trump said the UK was a “very different place” from the EU.
The allies did, however, fail to agree on US security guarantees for Ukraine. European leaders have urged the US to provide military cover for any peacekeeping mission in the country. But Trump said Americans working on a proposed minerals deal with Kyiv would serve as a sufficient deterrent against possible Russian attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet Trump in Washington today.
‘Special’ Starmer: Trump, who has heaped scorn and tariffs on allies, adopted a new approach with the UK leader, lavishing praise on “fantastic” Britain.
Chagos Islands: The US president signalled he would back the deal over the Indian Ocean territory negotiated between the UK and Mauritius, in a significant win for Starmer.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:
Economic data: Canada reports its fourth-quarter GDP estimate.
Ramadan: The Muslim holy month of fasting begins this weekend, with start times varying across the world.
Oscars: The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday evening. Vote for your favourites here.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
Five more top stories
1. Markets fell across Asia and Europe this morning, extending a sharp US stock sell-off after Trump’s latest tariff threats added to investor concerns about the US economy’s health. Investors said a lukewarm response to Nvidia’s earnings had left the market vulnerable to bad macroeconomic news.
2. Mexico has extradited 29 prisoners to the US, including a drug trafficker wanted since the 1980s, as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum tries to convince Trump that she is cracking down on criminal groups in an attempt to ward off tariffs.
3. Citigroup credited a client’s account with $81tn when it meant to send only $280, an error that could hinder the bank’s attempt to persuade regulators it has fixed long-standing operational issues. Although the payment was missed by two employees, no funds left Citi, after a third employee detected a problem with the bank’s account balances.
4. OpenAI has launched GPT-4.5, a long-awaited update to the artificial intelligence technology that underpins its popular product ChatGPT. The company said the model experienced far fewer “hallucinations”, in which AI systems generate inaccurate information, than its predecessor. Here’s more on the latest Big Tech AI release.
Microsoft: The company’s president Brad Smith has warned the Trump administration that chip export curbs will push allies to use Chinese tech.
Grok: Elon Musk’s xAI is pushing its chatbot towards giving users more risqué answers than its risk-averse rivals, in a bid to attract users with adult content.
5. Rightwing influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have landed in the US after Romania lifted a travel ban. The brothers, who are dual UK-US nationals, were being held on charges including human trafficking, sexual exploitation and money laundering. They have denied wrongdoing. Read the full story.
News in-Depth
If anyone can take the long view on Donald Trump, it is 96-year-old Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man. Li’s conglomerate and subsidiaries run a vast global empire spanning ports, retail, telecoms and infrastructure across the west. That includes operating two ports in the Panama Canal which have drawn concern from the US president, forcing Li to weather criticisms over links to China.
We’re also reading . . .
Quantum computing: Despite breakthroughs from Amazon and Microsoft, the industry is still a long way from building practical machines, writes Richard Waters.
Investing: Some may feel tempted by the many new alternatives to index funds that are starting to dominate the market, writes Philip Coggan. But are they any good?
Impoundment: The move used by US presidents to block public spending looks set to become Trump’s weapon in the budget wars, writes Gillian Tett.
Chart of the day
The pound has rebounded strongly against the dollar and the euro in recent weeks, as a reversal of so-called Trump trades hits the US currency and investors bet the UK economy may be faring better than previously thought.
Take a break from the news . . .
As with many life-long readers, the books that shaped Nilanjana Roy were not always pleasurable — but they were irresistible. Seeking out difficult books — “hard but necessary” tomes that refuse to be easily digested — can leave you fundamentally changed, and illuminate more revealing corners of the self.
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Source: Economy - ft.com
