Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on all imported cars. American stocks slid in anticipation of the announcement: the S&P 500 fell by more than 1%, and the NASDAQ fell by around 2%. Mr Trump said the levies will come into effect with several other tariffs on April 2nd, which he described as “liberation day”.
Brazil’s supreme court ruled that Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president, will stand trial for leading an alleged coup plot after losing an election in 2022 to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The court also decided that seven other allies of the hard-right populist should also be tried for similar crimes. If convicted, Mr Bolsonaro could face decades in prison. He denies any wrongdoing.
Delivering her spring statement before Parliament, Rachel Reeves, Britain’s chancellor, said that cuts to welfare benefits would save £3.4bn ($4.4bn) and that planning reform would improve economic growth. Ms Reeves also confirmed an additional £2.2bn for defence spending over the next year. Meanwhile the Office for Budget Responsibility, Britain’s fiscal watchdog, cut its growth forecast for 2025 from 2% to 1%.
South Korea released a report acknowledging it committed “serious violations” administering its massive foreign-adoption programme. For decades adoption agencies failed to gain proper consent to send hundreds of children abroad, or falsified their family histories. Since the 1950s, after the Korean war, South Korea has been the biggest source of overseas adoptions. Most have gone to Europe and America.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de-facto president and leader of its army, declared Khartoum “free”, hours after his forces reportedly recaptured the capital’s airport. The Sudanese Armed Forces have recently taken back large parts of Khartoum (including the presidential palace on Friday) from its rival, the Rapid Support Forces. The advance marks a potential turning point in a war that has displaced 12m people.
Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister, said that the country would raise defence spending from 2.4% of GDP to 3.5% by 2030. All four parties that support Mr Kristersson’s government agreed to the increase, which will be funded mostly by borrowing. Mr Kristersson said that Sweden needed to boost its defence in part because of “uncertainty with the transatlantic relationship”.
The European Commission published a 30-step preparedness plan amid growing threats from Russia. The initiative, which borrows from similar plans in states like Finland, urged member-states of the EU to encourage citizens to maintain stockpiles of enough food for 72 hours. It also said that the bloc should establish a “crisis hub” to co-ordinate its response to conflicts or other emergencies.
Figure of the day: $350m, the price of one of the latest extreme-ultraviolet lithography machines made by ASML, a Dutch firm. Read the full story.
Who will win Canada’s election next month? Our poll tracker has the odds, updated daily.