2025-04-06 16:22
PARIS, April 6 (Reuters) - France and Algeria agreed to renew cooperation in all sectors, France's foreign minister said on Sunday after a day of talks aimed at resuming dialogue following months of bickering. "We go back to normal and to repeat the words of President (Abdelmadjid) Tebboune: 'the curtain is lifted'," Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement after 2 1/2 hours of talks. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/france-algeria-agree-resume-cooperation-paris-says-2025-04-06/
2025-04-06 16:05
CMA CGM to invest up to 100 million euros in 5-year AI deal Mistral tools to help customer service, media factchecking Shipping giant touts French AI deal but also works with Google PARIS, April 6 (Reuters) - Shipping giant CMA CGM and tech startup Mistral AI expect rapid productivity gains from a 100 million euro partnership unveiled on Sunday, which the French firms also touted as a commitment to their home country amid the global trade tensions. The five-year partnership, which will bring CMA CGM's AI-related spending to 500 million euros ($550 million), will focus on customer service in shipping and logistics and factchecking at its French media businesses that include news channel BFM TV. In a joint interview with Mistral's co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch, CMA CGM's Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade declined to give financial targets for return on investment. Sign up here. But Saade said "the implementation of initiatives should not exceed 6 to 12 months" and would slash response times for customer advisers receiving 1 million emails a week, including requests on routing of vessels. After drawing massive funding, the AI sector is under pressure to deliver gains, with the emergence of low-cost Chinese AI model DeepSeek unsettling investors. Mistral gained huge exposure at an international AI gathering in Paris in February, feted by President Emmanuel Macron as a European champion to compete with American giants such as OpenAI, which produces ChatGPT. It has this year notched up partnerships with leading French groups including car maker Stellantis (STLAM.MI) , opens new tab. Mistral, which counts CMA CGM among its investors, expects a 10-fold increase in sales between December 2024 and December 2025, Mensch said. But AI regulation has been among subjects of discord between the U.S. administration and Europe, and relations soured further after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariffs. "In this period of uncertainty, I think it's a good thing for two French groups to announce this partnership," Saade said, while adding he believed in investing worldwide in open markets. CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest container shipping line, was hailed by Trump last month for pledging to invest $20 billion in the United States. The group has also teamed up with U.S. tech names, including Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab Google, with which CMA CGM last July announced a five-year AI partnership worth $150 million. ($1 = 0.9101 euros) https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/shipping-giant-cma-cgm-french-ai-startup-target-customer-service-tie-up-2025-04-06/
2025-04-06 15:59
VERONA, Italy, April 6 (Reuters) - The outlook for Prosecco, Brunello di Montalcino and other Italian wines in the United States is increasingly gloomy, producers and importers said, following President Donald Trump's imposition of a 20% tariff on European imports. Italy exports more wine to the U.S. than any other country. Last year, it sold 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) worth of wines, spirits and vinegars in the U.S. market, a quarter of its total worldwide exports, according to trade group Federvini. Sign up here. Italian producers and U.S. importers gathered at a wine fair in Verona, in the north-eastern Veneto region this weekend, said business had already been slowed by the fear of U.S. tariffs and they fear more lasting damage as the duties take effect. Under the announced levies, Italian wine revenues would fall by some 323 million euros per year, said Lamberto Frescobaldi, chairman of the Italian Wine Union lobby. Wine traders and producers are pinning their hopes on a deal between Europe and the U.S. to scrap or reduce the tariffs. "Hopefully, the EU will not retaliate - a trade war would be difficult to navigate," Simone Luchetti, president of U.S. importer Banville, told Reuters at the Vinitaly fair in Verona. While the sector was spared the 200% tariff Trump had threatened to impose, it remains a risk if European counter-measures target U.S. spirits, such as bourbon whiskey. PRICED OUT Luchetti - who imports Brunello, Amarone, Prosecco and Barolo among others - estimated a 25-35% drop in U.S. consumption and in Banville's revenues under current tariffs. Other importers warned that some wine brands would disappear from the U.S. market as consumers looked for cheaper bottles. "If the price of a wine increases, consumers will probably leave that brand. They will rather stay within their preferred price range," said Charles Lazzara, founder of U.S. buyer Volio Imports. Under the announced levies the cost of a bottle of mid-range Prosecco, Lazzara said, would rise from $10.99 to $12.99 in U.S. shops. Luchetti echoed those concerns. "It will probably become difficult to sell Prosecco bottles which today cost $14-18 because their price will rise to $20," Luchetti said. The U.S. tariffs also worried Italian producer Marilisa Allegrini, founder of the Marilisa Allegrini Group, which produces 840,000 bottles per year, including Brunello di Montalcino, Bolgheri, Valpolicella and Amarone. "Wine consumption in the U.S. was already in crisis, and tariffs have hit it further," she said. Some Italian producers, however, were more upbeat, saying U.S. drinkers love Italian wines and are unlikely to replace them with cheaper alternatives, despite the tariffs. "Prosecco can only be produced in Italy, especially in Veneto - it can't be replaced!" said Giancarlo Moretti-Polegato, owner of Villa Sandi, a prosecco producer based in the hills of Montebelluna, in the Veneto region. ($1 = 0.9059 euros) https://www.reuters.com/markets/trumps-20-tariff-clouds-future-italian-wines-us-2025-04-06/
2025-04-06 15:33
KINSHASA, April 6 (Reuters) - Around 30 people have died in flooding in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, the provincial health minister said on Sunday, as torrential rains over the weekend destroyed homes and roads. "The death toll is provisional, but so far there are around thirty dead," Patricien Gongo Abakazi told Reuters. Sign up here. The Ndjili River, which runs through part of the city of around 17 million, overflowed its banks on Friday night, blocking the main national road and leaving drivers stranded since Saturday evening. "On the way home from the airport last night to welcome a friend, we spent the night in the car because there was no safe place to park," said Patricia Mikonga, a Kinshasa resident. Several neighbourhoods were left without power. Kerene Yala, a resident of Makala district, said the main problem in the area was the water supply cutoff. Kinshasa Governor Daniel Bumba Lubaki said the water infrastructure had been affected but that supply would be reinstated within two or three days. In a televised speech, he blamed illegal housing for some of the deaths and threatened to evict people from unplanned settlements. Hydrologist Dr. Raphael Tshimanga Muamba said the river had been affected by human activity over time. "These are anthropogenic actions where rivers are degraded; their dimensions no longer represent their initial capacity to contain floods," he told Reuters. The flooding comes at a vulnerable moment for the Central African nation. Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have intensified an offensive in the turbulent east of the country since the start of the year, with more than 7,000 people killed in the fighting in the first two months of the year. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/around-30-dead-congo-capital-flooding-authorities-say-2025-04-06/
2025-04-06 14:06
ABUJA, April 6 (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank has sold nearly $200 million to support the naira currency after President Donald Trump's tariffs sent shockwaves through global markets, the bank said on Sunday. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said a decline in crude oil prices in response to the tariffs, had presented "new dynamics for oil-exporting countries such as Nigeria." Sign up here. Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, relies on crude exports for 90% of its foreign exchange. The CBN reacted by intervening in the foreign exchange market, selling US$197.71 million to banks. "This measured step aligns with the Bank's broader objective of fostering a stable, transparent, and efficient foreign exchange market," the CBN said in a statement. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/nigeria-sells-dollars-support-currency-after-trump-tariffs-shock-2025-04-06/
2025-04-06 12:08
NEW DELHI, April 6 (Reuters) - India does not plan to retaliate against U.S. President Donald Trump's 26% tariff on imports from the Asian nation, an Indian government official said, citing ongoing talks for a deal between the countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has looked into a clause of Trump's tariff order that offers a possible reprieve for trading partners who "take significant steps to remedy non-reciprocal trade arrangements", said the official, who declined to be named as the details of the talks are confidential. Sign up here. New Delhi sees an advantage in being one of the first nations to have started talks over a trade deal with Washington, and is better placed than Asian peers like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which have been hit by higher U.S. tariffs, a second government official said, also declining to be named. In the days after Trump's tariff announcement that has shaken global markets to their core, India joined nations like Taiwan and Indonesia in ruling out counter tariffs, even as the European Commission prepares to hit U.S. products with extra duties following China's retaliation. India and the U.S. agreed in February to clinch an early trade deal by autumn 2025 to resolve their standoff on tariffs. The Indian prime minister's office did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment. Reuters reported last month that New Delhi is open to cutting tariffs on U.S. imports worth $23 billion. Modi's administration has taken a number of steps to win over Trump, including lowering tariffs on high-end bikes and bourbon, and dropping a tax on digital services that affected U.S. tech giants. Trump's tariffs could slow India's economic growth by 20-40 basis points in the ongoing financial year and may cripple India's diamond industry, which ships more than a third of its exports to the U.S., putting at risk thousands of jobs. https://www.reuters.com/world/india-unlikely-retaliate-against-trumps-tariffs-deal-talks-progress-sources-say-2025-04-06/
