Squawk Box Europe Express

President Trump threatens to slap the EU with a 200 per cent tariff on imported alcohol and says he will not bend on Canadian autos and metals tariffs. The jitters felt on Wall Street this week sees the S&P 500 in correction territory. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells CNBC he is unfazed by short-term market volatility. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he agrees to the Ukraine ceasefire in principle but says the deal is ‘nuanced’ which has led to accusations he is stalling the process.  

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President Trump pledges to introduce ore tariffs as the U.S.’s trading partners hit back against levies focused on steel and aluminium imports. A soft inflation report prompts investors to buy up the recent tech dip which eases market jitters about the health of the American economy. The U.S. deficit reached $1.15tn in the first 5 months of the American fiscal year despite DOGE’s efforts to cut government spending. We are live at the Converge Live conference in Singapore where Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna says he is braced for the impacts of tariffs but says the company’s customers are not yet feeling the pinch.  

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The European Union responds to President Trump’s tariffs hitting back with its own set of counter-measures worth €26bn. We are live in Singapore at CNBC’s inaugural Converge Live conference where billionaire investor Ray Dalio tells us the tariffs will cause confrontations between nations. Also at Converge Live, Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai says the importance and impact of President Xi’s recent meeting with tech bosses should not underestimated, as it galvanised the private sector to invest. Ukraine has agreed a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia following talks with Washington in Jeddah, leaving Moscow with ‘the ball in their court’. 

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U.S. tech stocks suffer a $1tn wipeout as Trump tariffs and recession concerns trigger a massive repricing move. Tesla shares fall 15 per cent during its worst session since September 2020. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks and says Kyiv will have to accept Russian control of some of its territory. Sales slow and investors await guidance from Volkswagen with earnings due later this morning. 

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President Donald Trump says the U.S. economy requires time to transition and says that a recession is still a possibility. Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney wins the race to become Canadian Prime Minister and immediately slams Trump’s tariff policies against his country. The CDU and SPD will enter coalition talks following agreement on several policies including energy and tax reforms in a bid to lift the country’s stuttering economy. U.S. and Ukrainian peace negotiators head to Saudi Arabia and are looking to reset relations following last month’s Oval Office argument between President Trump and President Volodomyr Zelenskyy.

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President Trump signs an executive order to delay certain tariff measures on both Canada and Mexico, claiming the volte-face is unrelated to market reaction. Tech stocks lead tariff-related losses on Wall Street with U.S. equities suffering their worst trading week of the year so far. We are live in Brussels where EU leaders agree on defence spending but Hungarian opposition blocks unanimous support for Ukraine. EC President Ursula Von Der Leyen says the bloc is determined to step up to Russian aggression. Chinese export growth slows more than expected as U.S, tariffs come into effect. Imports are also down at the sharpest rate since mid-2023. And in crypto news, Bitcoin is down 6 per cent as President Trump’s crypto EO receives mixed reactions ahead of a summit on the sector at the White House.

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Automakers are handed a one-month postponement of tariffs on Canada and Mexico by U.S. President Trump with his administration dangling the prospect of further sector-specific exemptions. Investor sentiment lifts slightly on Wall Street as a result and Asia equities follow suit. French President Emmanuel Macron says he could extend his country’s nuclear deterrent to cover Europe in the face of Russian aggression. He warns the continent must ready itself for self-defence, potentially without the U.S. providing security. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba launches its DeepSeek A.I. rival, helping its stock rise and pushing the Hang Seng to a new three-year high.  

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President Trump makes the longest joint address to Congress in U.S. history, touting his administration’s achievements so far on immigration, government expenditure and upcoming trade measures. Tariff fears are reflected in the U.S. markets with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq seeing their post-election gains cancelled out. In Beijing, the NPC warns of changes ‘unseen in a century’ as it targets GDP of 5 per cent amid fears of another trade war with the U.S. Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz is considering loosening fiscal rules in order to boost defence spending and to ease Germany’s debt brake. 

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President Trump’s tariffs come into effect hitting imports from Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent levies. China receives an additional 10 per cent. Both China and Canada immediately respond with counter-tariffs, digging in for what could be a bitter trade war. Tech stocks retreat with Nvidia seeing almost $300bn wiped from its market cap. Meanwhile, Taiwanese chip giant TSMC pledges to build to build 5 semi-conductor factories in the U.S., worth almost $100bn. The move could be the largest FDI in U.S. history. Opec + nations announce their first output hike since 2022, increasing to 138,000bpd starting next month. 

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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calls for a ‘coalition of the willing’ following Friday’s dramatic collapse in US-Ukrainian peace talks. Crypto prices soar following US President Donald Trump’s details of his strategic reserve plan which features Bitcoin as well as smaller tokens in a bid to boost the sector. Asian indices are in the green today as investors anticipate tariff announcements on Canada, Mexico and China later this week. We are live at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges tells CNBC Europe’s telco regulatory environment is increasingly being left behind. Chinese EV makers continue to make inroads in the sector with Tesla rival BYD enjoying a 160 per cent surge in annual market share in February.   

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