Author: Eka Gerona

Canada will give a “firm and clear” response to the latest trade barriers planned by US President Donald Trump, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Trump says he will levy a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium products entering the US from 12 March. Canada is the top exporter of both metals to the US. Since returning to office last month, Trump has announced a wide range of these tariffs to try to protect US jobs and industries. Economists say they are likely to raise prices for ordinary Americans.The new tariffs were “entirely unjustified”, Trudeau said, as Canada found itself…

A consortium of investors led by Elon Musk offered $97.4bn to take over OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.The billionaire’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed he submitted the bid for “all assets” of the tech company to its board on Monday.The offer is the latest twist in a longstanding battle between Musk, the world’s richest man and right hand to US President Donald Trump, and Open AI chief executive Sam Altman over the future of the start-up at the centre of the AI boom.In response to the bid, Altman posted on Musk’s social media platform X: “no thank you but we will…

President Donald Trump has ordered a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US in a major expansion of existing trade barriers. The tariffs, which will increase the costs of importing the metals into the US, come despite warnings of retaliation from some political leaders in Canada – America’s biggest supplier of the metals – as well as other countries. US businesses dependent on the imports have also raised concerns, but Trump has said his plans will boost domestic production.He warned there would be no exceptions, saying he was “simplifying” the rules, which are set to come…

Guy HedgecoeBusiness reporterReporting fromSegovia, central SpainGetty ImagesSpain attracts the second highest number of overseas visitors after FranceIt’s a chilly mid-winter afternoon in Segovia, in central Spain, and tourists are gathered at the foot of the city’s Roman aqueduct, gazing up at its famous arches and taking selfies.Many of the visitors are Spanish, but there are also people from other European countries, Asians and Latin Americans, all drawn by Segovia’s historic charm, gastronomy and dramatic location just beyond the mountains north of Madrid.”There was a moment during Covid when I thought ‘maybe tourism will never, ever be like it was before’,”…

João da SilvaBusiness reporterGetty ImagesThe US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been told to stop minting one-cent coins, or pennies as they are widely called, by US President Donald Trump in an announcement on his Truth Social media account. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump’s post said, describing the move as a cost-cutting measure. It comes after Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) drew attention to the cost of minting pennies in a post on X last month.The debate over the cost and usefulness of…

Getty ImagesFu Ying also expressed regret about the negative impact of tensions between the US and China on the progress of AI safetyA former Chinese official poked fun at a major international AI safety report led by “AI Godfather” professor Yoshua Bengio and co-authored by 96 global experts – in front of him.Fu Ying, former vice minister of foreign affairs and once China’s UK ambassador, is now an academic at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The pair were speaking at a panel discussion ahead of a two-day global AI summit starting in Paris on Monday.The aim of the summit is to…

UK retailers are being “raided like a piggy bank”, the boss of Marks & Spencer has said, as the sector faces rising taxes.Writing in the Sunday Times, Stuart Machin said retailers were facing a series of headwinds, including the increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) paid by firms and higher packaging levies.He called for a number of changes from the government, including staggering the NIC changes over time.A Treasury spokesperson said measures introduced in last year’s Budget aimed to deliver stability to businesses and create the conditions for growth.Mr Machin said that many of the announcements made by Chancellor Rachel…

Peter HoskinsBusiness reporterGetty ImagesChina has also imposed export controls on 25 rare metalsChina’s tit-for-tat import taxes on some American goods are set to come into effect on Monday as the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies escalates and US President Donald Trump threatens to hit more countries with tariffs. Beijing announced the plan on 4 February, minutes after new US levies of 10% on all Chinese products came into effect.On Friday, Trump said he was planning “reciprocal tariffs” on other nations in the coming days as he aims to reshape the US’ global trade relationships.The president did not…

Getty ImagesDrax failed to report the burning of wood from primary forests in Canada, BBC News foundA UK power station that has received billions of pounds in government subsidies has failed more than once to report it burned wood from primary forests, BBC News has found.Drax Power Station, which burns wood pellets, is required to report where it sources its wood and whether it is from natural, previously untouched forests.The company paid a £25m penalty last year for misreporting this data following an investigation by the energy regulator Ofgem and now the BBC has discovered a further year of misreporting…

Shaimaa KhalilTokyo correspondentWatch: Trump and Japanese PM meet at the White HouseIf Japan needed reassurances it was indeed still the US’s top ally and friend in the increasingly unstable Asia-Pacific, it got that and then some.But what was striking about the Trump-Ishiba meeting at the White House was what didn’t happen.Unlike most of the Trump domestic and global dynamics so far, this was neither controversial nor confrontational.”On television, he is very frightening,” Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters after Friday’s meeting.”But when I met him, he was very sincere, very powerful and strong willed,” he added.There’s a lot that…