Squawk Box Europe Express

Asian equities are in the green as Chinese demand surges in the face of U.S. tariffs. Authorities in Beijing have pledged further moves to revive consumption. In the U.S., futures slip again. The Dow suffers its worst week since 2023. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells NBC News that he remains unfazed by market turmoil. President Trump says he will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, raising hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine. German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz clinches a deal with the Green Party to launch a defence and infrastructure package later this week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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’. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wall Street and Asian indices both fall into the red as global trade concerns weigh following President Trump’s pledge to slap additional tariffs on Chinese imports. Beijing has vowed to impose counter-measures. Nvidia drags global chip stocks down with its market cap dipping below $3tn. President Trump hosts UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and says the two countries are progressing towards a trade deal. In Germany, exploratory coalition talks between the CDU and SPD are set to begin today after no party achieved an outright majority in Sunday’s election.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nvidia posts an earnings beat but guidance disappoints Wall Street pushing shares down slightly. The chip giant’s CEO Jensen Huang tells CNBC he remains unfazed by lower-cost challengers. President Trump holds his first cabinet meeting, threatening the EU with a new 25 per cent tariff on imports, saying the bloc’s formation was aimed at ‘screwing’ the U.S. Bitcoin attempts to claw back some losses as a global rout sees up to $800bn wiped off global crypto markets. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is in Washington for his first meeting with President Trump with Ukraine-focused talks set to dominate the agenda.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev posts record FY revenue but overall volumes fall. Washington and Kyiv are reportedly set to sign an agreement over critical mineral resources in Ukraine in exchange for yet unspecified U.S. support measures. President Donald Trump has seemingly confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy will travel to Washington to sign the deal later this week. Tesla’s market cap slumps below $1tn as nearly all post-U.S. election stock gains have been cancelled out by a 25 per cent drop in share value. In Germany, Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has said he will not tweak the country’s strict debt brake rules. We hear from Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel who says it is important to remain flexible. And the IIF warns that global debt levels have reached $318tn in 2024.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President Trump has promised to launch sweeping tariffs on neighbours Canada and Mexico starting next week. JPMorgan boss Jaimie Dimon tells CNBC that most U.S. businesses will largely be unaffected. The U.S. 2- and 10-year Treasuries fall to their lowest point this year so far ahead of Friday’s PCE print. Markets remain jittery about stubborn inflation. In Germany, Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz considers tweaking the country’s debt rules as he seeks to form a coalition government. We speak to top union negotiator for IG Metall and Volkswagen, Thorsten Groger, who says a centrist coalition is vital to safeguard jobs. Tesla sees new car registrations slump by more than 50 per cent in Europe, this despite January showing an uptick for the EV sector.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Three years on from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the conflict continues, both at home and abroad now with splintering support and a new US administration threatening to upend progress...So is this finally Europe's "wake-up" call?Can it still count on the United States for support?And is the continent actually ready to step up and provide its own collective defence?We pose those questions and more to Dmytro Kuleba - he spent four years working in President Zelenskyy’s administration as Minister for Foreign Affairs, and played a key role in international negotiations, until his resignation in September 2024See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Friedrich Merz is to become Germany’s next chancellor with the CDU taking 28.6% of the vote. The outgoing SPD crashed to its worst defeat in more than a century. The AfD doubles its votes to come in second and maintains it could still work in a coalition despite the German ‘firewall’ strategy. The hopes of German political stability boosts the euro. And on the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Volodomyr Zelenskyy says he would be willing to step down if the country received NATO membership.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Standard Chartered announces it is launching a $1.5bn share buyback after missing Q4 bottom line expectations. The U.S. administration has reportedly refused to call Russia an ‘aggressor’ in a key communiqué following a week of difficult exchanges between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy. We speak exclusively to former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba who says Trump is only focused on the United States. Alibaba shares surge after the Chinese e-commerce giant announces ‘aggressive’ investment in A.I. and reports its fastest revenue growth in a year. In Germany, campaigning is coming to a close ahead of this Sunday’s elections. The CDU’s frontrunner candidate Friedrich Merz says that Europe’s future is on the line.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Asian equities are in the red following a unsettled session on Wall Street as the Federal Reserve waits on more information about President Trump’s policies and the inflation forecast before moving to cut rates once more. President Trump slams Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of duping the previous U.S. administration and of misusing military funds sent to the country. In aviation news, Airbus scores a quarterly net profit beat and ups its FY delivery target despite lingering supply chain concerns. Germany’s two main candidates square off in the last debate before Sunday’s election. Polls put CDU leader Friedrich Merz in a strong position to become Chancellor.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President Trump is eyeing increased tariffs of 25 per cent on imports of cars, drugs and semi-conductors and he announced he would provide further details in April. Ukraine peace talks between the U.S. and Russia end in Riyadh with both sides pledging increased cooperation. President Trump slams Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s call to be included in negotiations. In banking news, Europe’s largest lender HSBC announces cost cuts of $1.8bn over the next two years as well as a new $2bn buyback. The RBNZ slashes rates by 50bps for the third consecutive time in an attempt to resuscitate growth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.