The European Union promised to take “firm and proportionate” measures in response to President Donald Trump’s plans to put tariffs of 25% on all imports of steel and aluminium to America. The levies will go into effect on March 12th. The EU is America’s third-biggest source of the metals, after Canada and Mexico. Mr Trump imposed similar levies during his first term, but eventually reached deals with many of the countries most affected.
America’s vice-president, J.D. Vance, criticised the EU’s “excessive” policing of artificial intelligence at a conference in Paris. European leaders are pushing to formulate rules for a global AI rollout. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, warned that more rules were needed to avoid disputes between countries. America and Britain did not sign the summit’s declaration.
Jerome Powell said that the Federal Reserve is in “no hurry” to lower interest rates. The chairman of America’s central bank, which held its main rate in a range of 4.25-4.5% in January, told a Senate committee that cutting rates too quickly “could hinder progress on inflation”. Donald Trump has repeatedly urged the Fed to lower rates faster to boost the economy.
Hamas said it would delay the release of more Israeli hostages. Under its ceasefire deal with Israel the militant group was due to free three captives this Saturday. It accused Israel of stopping displaced Palestinians from returning to Gaza. Mr Trump called for an end to the truce if the hostages are not returned, warning that “all hell” would then break loose.
America’s Department of Justice ordered federal prosecutors to drop a corruption case against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. Mr Adams was indicted in September and pleaded not guilty. He has been currying favour with Mr Trump for months, visiting him at Mar-a-Lago in January and attending his inauguration. He reportedly ordered his top officials not to criticise the president.
BYD, a Chinese electric-vehicle firm, unveiled a self-driving system called “God’s Eye” that it plans to enable in almost all of its new cars. “Autonomous driving is for everyone,” said Wang Chuanfu, the company’s founder, who likened driver-assistance systems to seat belts and airbags. On Tuesday BYD’s shares surged by as much as 4.5%, briefly reaching an all-time high.
$CAR, a memecoin launched by the Central African Republic on Sunday, fell in value by 95% after its market capitalisation briefly touched $350m. Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the country’s president, said that the token was “an experiment” intended to “unite people” and “support national development”. The government has said that roughly a third of funds raised by the token will support CAR’s development.
Figure of the day: 30%, the proportion of Sotheby’s total revenue which the auction house earned from private sales, up from 12% a decade ago. Read the full story.
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