Happy Wednesday and welcome to your morning wrap of the key business and political headlines from around the world.
We begin in the United States, where President Donald Trump is meeting with his tariffs officials as countries call the White House for last-minute negotiations, the BBC reports.
Trump will announce a raft of tariffs tomorrow on what he has called “Liberation Day”. Whether he plans to levy individual tariffs on all US trading partners, apply them to some countries, or hit all of its trading partners with a universal tariff on all imports is still unclear. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press conference overnight the tariffs would be effective immediately, CNN reports.
The European Union said it had a “strong plan” to retaliate against the tariffs but would prefer to negotiate, The Guardian reports. Ursula Von der Leyen, who heads the European Commission, said many Europeans felt “utterly disheartened” by the US actions.
“Europe has not started this confrontation. We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it,” she said.
Financial markets have been volatile in the days leading up to the announcement, as investors anxiously await the announcement. Overnight, Wall Street’s main indices have all gained after sharp declines yesterday. “The lack of certainty and the shroud of secrecy has been driving the market insane,” Freedom Capital chief global strategist Jay Woods told CNBC.
The S&P500 is down 4.6% for the three months ended March, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 10% and the Dow fell 1.3%. Meanwhile, the price of gold has soared to fresh highs as investors search for safe havens amid the uncertainty in capital markets.
Ursula Von der Leyen.
To Myanmar, where the death toll from Friday’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake has climbed past 2,700 with 4,251 injured and hundreds still missing, the BBC reports. Residents in the country’s second most populous city, Mandalay, have spent sleepless nights wandering the streets in despair as food and water supplies dwindle.
In a televised speech on Tuesday, military chief Min Aung Hlaing said the death toll might exceed 3,000, while the US Geological Survey said a death toll over 10,000 “is a strong possibility”.
To Gaza, where Al Jazeera reports that bakeries in the enclave have closed because of a shortage of flour and diesel. Gaza’s civil defence agency says the territory is on the verge of famine. At least 42 people have been killed in the past 24 hours by Israeli attacks. Among them is journalist Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil, whose death brings the death toll for journalists killed in the conflict to 209.
To the war in Ukraine, where Russia has indicated that it cannot accept the United States’ proposal on Ukraine in its current form, Reuters reports. The comments by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov suggest Moscow and Washington have been unable to ameliorate concerns Russian President Vladimir Putin raised more than two weeks ago about how the proposals do not address the original causes of the war, namely Ukraine wanting to join NATO.
He also wants Russia to hold onto the four Ukrainian regions it has claimed and for the size of the Ukrainian military to be limited. Meanwhile, Putin has called up 160,000 men to its army – the highest number of conscripts since 2011.
Back to the US now, where the US Department of Justice will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December, CNN reports.
He has pleaded not guilty. Attorney General Pam Bondi said overnight it will seek to have Mangione killed if he is convicted on capital murder charges. Mangione’s attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo has said she was in discussions with the Justice Department over the decision. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
Finally, two nearly life-sized sculptures have been found during excavations of a large tomb in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, The Guardian reports. The detailed funerary relics were built into a wide wall in the necropolis of Porta Santo, one of the main entrance gates into the ancient city. Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.
Experts believe the female sculpture was of an important local woman because of her jewellery and accessories, including earrings, rings and bracelets carved into it. The man is wearing a toga wrapped over his left shoulder.
The two sculptures are being restored and will be displayed at an exhibition in Pompeii beginning on 16 April.
