Ata mārie and welcome to your Friday summary of the top international business and political stories from the past 24 hours.
First up, the Bank of England has cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%, in an effort to protect the UK economy from US President Donald Trump’s global trade war, the Guardian reported.
The decision was widely expected and marked the fourth cut since August last year. The BoE also warned the UK economy could slow by a further 0.3% over the next three years.
Economic growth “is judged to have slowed and is expected to remain subdued in the near term”, the central bank said.
Meanwhile, Trump has agreed to cut US tariffs on UK-made cars and steel as part of an "historic" trade deal between the US and UK, the ABC reported.
Tariffs on steel and aluminium exports from the UK to US will be cut from 25% to zero. In addition, tariffs on an annual quota of 100,000 UK cars will be cut from 27.5% to 10%.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said the trade deal would help ease uncertainty within the UK economy. But he cautioned that the UK was an open economy, so could still be affected by the way tariffs hurt other countries, the Guardian reported.
BBC deputy economics editor Dharshini David said it was not a ‘traditional’ free trade deal. However, she noted it was the first to be done since Trump unveiled a series of tariffs on countries around the world.
Earlier this week, the US and China announced the start of talks to try to de-escalate a trade war between the two, the BBC noted.
CNBC also reported that the deal gave Wall Street a solid boost. Earlier, the Dow Jones gained over 500 points, or 1.3%. The S&P 500 rose 1.3%, and the Nasdaq jumped 1.8%.
US President Donald Trump.
In developing news, Al Jazeera reported that white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel, signalling a new pope had been elected.
Cardinal Robert Prevost was named as Pope Leo XIV, marking the first US pontiff. In his first speech, he said the church should “build bridges” and “welcome everyone”.
The ABC reported he is 69 years old and spent many years as a missionary in Peru and was elevated to the position of cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023.
In other news, India said it “neutralised” Pakistan drone and missile attacks targeting several military sites on Thursday evening, local time, Bloomberg reported. Military stations in the northern cities of Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur near the border with Pakistan were targeted, according to officials.
Pakistan denied it had launched the attacks, saying the claims were “politically motivated”. Several unconfirmed videos on social media showed the missile strikes.
Elsewhere, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “defend ourselves alone” against Houthi rebels after Trump struck a deal with the Iran-backed group, CNN reported.
Trump said the US would stop an ongoing military campaign against the rebels in exchange for the group stopping its attacks on US ‘interests’ in the region. The Houthis acknowledged the agreement but made it clear their attacks on Israel would continue.
Finally, Krispy Kreme’s partnership with fast-food giant McDonald’s to sell doughnuts at all the burger chain’s US restaurants wasn’t as sweet as first thought, CNN reported.
The doughnut company said it was “reassessing the deployment” of the rollout, temporarily stopping at the 2400 locations.
Last year, Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s said the doughnuts would be sold at all of McDonald’s more than 13,000 US restaurants by the end of 2026. However, Krispy Kreme now said the rollout pause would help achieve a “profitable business model” for both companies.
