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Iraq fears power cuts as US ends sanctions waiver for electricity purchases from Iran

The United States has declined to renew a waiver that had allowed Iraq to buy electricity from Iran without running afoul of sanctions, a U.S. official said Sunday.

The previous waiver expired Saturday and the U.S. Department of State did not renew it, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said in a statement.

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World shares slip as investors cope with uncertainty over tariffs, await US jobs report

World shares were mostly lower on Friday, with Tokyo's benchmark closing down more than 2% after a sell-off on Wall Street.

A report was due later Friday from the U.S. Labor Department on how many workers U.S. employers hired last month. Economists are expecting to see an acceleration in hiring for February.

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China's exports and imports weaken as demand slides amid global trade uncertainty

China's exports rose a less-than-expected 2.3% in January and February from a year earlier while imports fell more than 8% in a slow start to a year dogged by uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and other policies.

Economists had forecast that exports would rise 5% year-on-year and that imports would edge higher. China's overall trade surplus grew to $170.52 billion in the first two months of the year.

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U.S. economy churned out jobs last month but Trump's trade wars cloud outlook

The U.S. labor market likely kept on churning out jobs last month, economists say, but the outlook is cloudy and getting cloudier as the Trump administration wages trade wars, purges federal employees and seeks to deport millions of immigrants.

When the Labor Department releases February jobs numbers Friday, they're expected to show that employers added 160,000 jobs. That's far from spectacular but it's solid, and it's up from 143,000 in January. The unemployment rate is forecast to stay at a low 4%, according to economists surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

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'Bear with me,' Trump says as both farmers and consumers brace for tariff effects

Farmers and meat producers across the U.S. can expect the new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China and the retaliatory action from those countries to hurt their bottom lines by billions of dollars if they stay in place a while, and consumers could quickly see higher prices for produce and ground beef.

But some of the impact on farmers might not be felt until the next harvest and some products might actually get cheaper in the short run for consumers if exports suffer. And the price of corn, wheat and soybeans accounts for relatively little of the price of most products. Plus, President Donald Trump could offer farmers significant aid payments, as he did during the trade war with China during his first administration, to offset some of the losses.

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China's FM criticizes US tariffs, accuses country of 'meeting good with evil'

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will continue to retaliate for the United States' "arbitrary tariffs" and accused Washington of "meeting good with evil" in a press conference Friday on the sidelines of the country's annual parliamentary session.

Wang said China's efforts to help the U.S. contain its fentanyl crisis have been met with punitive tariffs, which are straining their ties.

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Turkey's central bank lowers key interest rate as inflation slows

Turkey's central bank lowered its key interest rate by a further 2.5 percentage points on Thursday, days after official figures indicated a slowdown in inflation that has eroded households' purchasing power.

The bank's Monetary Policy Committee said it was reducing its benchmark one-week repo rate from 45% to 42.5%.

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IMF Lebanon trip next week will address economy, reconstruction

International Monetary Fund staff will visit Lebanon next week to meet with the country's new government and begin addressing its economic woes, the Washington-based lender said.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, IMF communications director Julie Kozack said the March 10-14 "fact-finding" mission to Lebanon would address the country's economic development, and its reconstruction needs amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

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Scholz calls on EU to jointly respond to Trump’s tariffs

Ahead of the EU summit in Brussels, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the European leaders to act jointly in responding to tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.

He said that “Europe is the strongest economic area in the world with its own opportunities. And that is why it is very important that, especially when it comes to tariffs, we are also clear about how we act in this matter — namely united and determined.”

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China sticks to economic growth target of 'around 5%' despite looming trade war

The Chinese government unveiled an annual economic growth target of "around 5%" on Wednesday, despite the possible negative impact of a looming trade war with the United States, and pledged to address what it called "inadequate" consumer spending at home.

The target, announced at the opening session of the annual meeting of China's legislature, is the same as the last two years but will likely be more difficult to achieve because of higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese products and other economic headwinds. The use of the modifier "around" gives the government some wiggle room if growth falls short of the target.

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