After weeks of White House hype and public anxiety, President Donald Trump is set Wednesday to announce a barrage of self-described reciprocal tariffs on friend and foe alike.

The new tariffs, coming on what Trump has called "Liberation Day," are a bid to boost U.S. manufacturing and punish other countries for what he has said are years of unfair trade practices. But by most economists' assessments, the risky move threatens to plunge the economy into a downturn and mangle decades-old alliances.

Protests that erupted across Turkey following the arrest of Istanbul's opposition mayor — the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — took a new direction Wednesday with calls for a one-day shopping boycott.

The student groups behind the call also urged businesses to close Wednesday.

The European Union will respond to the new tariffs set to be announced by the United States Wednesday "before the end of April", the French government spokeswoman said after a cabinet meeting.

"There will be two responses. The first, which will take place in mid-April, is a response to the tariffs already decided on steel and aluminium," government spokeswoman Sophie Primas said. "Then, there will be a detailed study, sector by sector, and a European decision should be announced before the end of April, in a coordinated, united, and strong way."

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.

"This will continue to spur growth," Trump told reporters Wednesday. "We'll effectively be charging a 25% tariff."

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced Thursday that he did not support the appointment of Karim Souaid as central bank chief for “a host of reasons,” including “keenness on protecting depositors’ rights and preserving the state’s assets.”

Asset manager Karim Souaid was named as Lebanon's new central bank governor on Thursday, receiving 17 out of 24 votes in Cabinet, after Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's opposition to his appointment prevented consensus over the move.

According to Al-Jadeed TV, Souaid received the votes of the ministers of the Lebanese Forces, Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Kataeb Party, in addition to the ministers who are close to President Joseph Aoun.

The chief-executive-to-be at money-losing Japanese automaker Nissan is determined to speed up decision-making to come up with models that say Nissan — and really sell.

Ivan Espinosa, 46, chief planning officer and a Mexican with two decades of experience at Nissan Motor Corp., told reporters in embargoed comments for Wednesday that the company's corporate culture is "lacking empathy" and has to change.

Israel's parliament has passed a state budget, a move that shores up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition even as the embattled leader faces mounting public pressure over the war in Gaza and the hostage crisis.

The budget vote was seen as a key test for Netanyahu's coalition, which is made up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties that had demanded and largely received hefty allocations for their constituents in exchange for supporting the funding package.

Cabinet is inclined to name Karim Soaid as central bank governor in its session on Thursday, media reports said.

President Donald Trump said Monday he would levy a 25 percent tariff across the board on any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela, as he escalates trade wars with a number of US foes and allies.

"Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse," he wrote on his Truth Social network. "Therefore, any Country that purchases Oil and/or Gas from Venezuela will be forced to pay a Tariff of 25% to the United States on any Trade they do with our Country."