Ata mārie and welcome to your Tuesday recap of the top business and political news from overseas.
First up, Wall Street is continuing its negative slide this week, fuelled by rising concerns about the cost of the trade war in the United States, the BBC reported.
Earlier, the S&P 500 declined about 2% in early trade, while the Dow Jones dropped 0.9%, and the Nasdaq fell more than 3.5%.
US President Donald Trump avoided questions about whether the US economy was facing a recession or price rises because of his tariffs. Instead, he said the US was in a “period of transition”.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said there would be no contraction in the US economy, although he acknowledged that the price of some goods could rise.
To Canada, and Mark Carney has been described as the "anti-Trump" on the US president's doorstep, as Carney pushed back against strict tariffs in his acceptance speech as prime minister, the BBC reported.
The former Bank of England governor resisted Trump's policies and said Trump brought “dark days” from a country “we can no longer trust”. Carney promised to keep the retaliatory tariffs in place.
Trump repeatedly said he would use economic power to encourage Canada to become the 51st state of the US, but Carney reject that. “The Americans want our resources, our land, our water, our country. Canada will never be part of America in any way, shape, or form.”
Mark Carney replaces Justin Trudeau.
In other news, US and Ukrainian officials plan to meet in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss the timing and scope of an initial ceasefire with Russia, Bloomberg reported.
Trump said his administration had now largely lifted the freeze on intelligence sharing with Ukraine – a move described by international officials as damaging.
“We want to do anything we can to get Ukraine serious about getting something done,” Trump said.
An economic agreement over Ukraine’s natural resources had been tied to securing a truce commitment, Bloomberg reported. Trump thought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would come back and sign the resources deal. “I think it’ll happen,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Trump ahead of the crucial Saudi Arabia talks this week, CNN reported.
“The Prime Minister said that UK officials had been speaking to Ukraine officials over the weekend, and they remain committed to a lasting peace,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Over the Ditch, Russia told Australia there could be "grave consequences" if it puts boots on the ground in Ukraine for peacekeeping, the ABC reported.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week left open the possibility of Australian troops joining a "coalition of the willing" to enforce any peace deal.
The Russian embassy in Canberra said that would have consequences.
"Once again, Western boots on the ground are unacceptable for Russia, and we will not remain passive observers," the embassy said yesterday.
"To those inclined to construe the above as a threat: it is not. It is a warning. Russia has no intention to harm Australians, and Canberra can easily avoid trouble by simply refraining from irresponsible adventurism in the zone of the Special Military Operation."
Finally, Italy plans to propose a new financial investment incentive to encourage private capital for strategic defence and aerospace projects, Bloomberg reported.
Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti plans to present the plan to his euro-area counterparts this week and could result in as much as €200 billion of private investment over three to five years.
The plan could provide three levels of guarantees, including one supported by member states to absorb initial risk.
