Financial markets, which have shown increasing insensitivity to tariff threats from the US, will face a test at the Monday open after President Donald Trump declared a 30% rate for the European Union and Mexico effective Aug.

FINANCIAL markets, which have shown increasing insensitivity to tariff threats from the US, will face a test at the Monday open after President Donald Trump declared a 30 percent rate for the European Union and Mexico effective August 1.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday said he will work intensively with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to resolve the escalating trade war with the United States.

The European Union is preparing to step up engagement with other countries hit by President Donald Trump’s tariffs following a slew of new threats to the bloc and other US trading partners.

President Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods beginning Aug. 1, 2025. The president shared on social media a letter he wrote to the Brazilian President. The letter expressed the President’s displeasure

Lula was responding to Wednesday's threat by his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to impose a 50% import tax on Brazilian goods from 1 August. In a letter, Trump cited Brazil's treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro as a trigger for tariff-hike.

Brazil’s President forcefully rebuked Trump after the U.S. leader called the prosecution of Lula’s predecessor, Bolsonaro, a “witch hunt” and hiked tariffs on the Latin American nation.