Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, warned that “any quick fix is a dirty deal” for Ukraine. She made the comments after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to start peace negotiations. Meanwhile Pete Hegseth, America’s defence secretary, appeared to walk back his remark that it was not “realistic” for Ukraine to join NATO. On Thursday he insisted that “everything is on the table”.
Mr Trump set out plans for reciprocal tariffs on America’s trading partners. The president ordered his advisers to calculate new duty rates to match those enforced by other countries on American goods. It is unclear when the levies would take effect, but the administration said it would prioritise countries with which America has big trade deficits.
Elon Musk said in a court filing that he would drop his bid to buy OpenAI if the startup agrees to retain its not-for-profit corporate structure. Earlier this week Mr Musk offered $97bn for the company, which Sam Altman, OpenAI’s boss, rejected. Mr Musk, who was a founder of OpenAI but left to start his own artificial-intelligence firm, ultimately wants to hobble his rival.
America’s Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy junior to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr Kennedy is one of Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet appointees owing to his anti-vaccine activism. Mitch McConnell, the former majority leader in the Senate, was the only Republican to vote against him. No Democrats supported him. Mr Kennedy has vowed to “Make America Healthy Again”.
Hamas said that it would continue releasing hostages as part of its ceasefire deal with Israel. On Monday the militant group had threatened to delay handing over three Israeli captives, whom it had agreed to release on Saturday, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire in Gaza. Israel threatened to return to “intense fighting” in Gaza.
Prices in Argentina rose by 2.2% month on month in January, the lowest increase since July 2020 and down from 20.6% a year earlier. When President Javier Milei entered office in December 2023 he devalued the artificially strong peso, helping to push inflation to a three-decade high. He has since slashed government spending by around 30% in real terms.
Merger talks between Honda and Nissan collapsed. The tie-up, which would also have included Mitsubishi Motors, a smaller firm, would have created a Japanese carmaking titan worth some $60bn. Nissan, which expects to have lost more than $530m in 2024, did not want to become a subsidiary of Honda, according to reports. The two firms said they would collaborate on developing electric vehicles.
Figure of the day: 86%, the share of the Pentagon’s budget that goes to just five specialist contractors. Read the full story.
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