Category World News

Businesses across multiple sectors have cut financial guidance amid growing uncertainty as United States President Donald Trump’s trade war pushes up costs, upends supply chains and stirs concerns about the global economy.

Thursday’s earnings made it clear that corporations around the world ran into a wall of uncertainty in the first quarter, as executives found themselves navigating the Trump administration’s constantly shifting stance on trade.

Comments from the biggest packaged food companies also underscored worries among businesses and investors that Trump’s tariffs and his attacks on US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will hurt confidence on Main Street.

Earnings reports show hesitation

“Some political decisions, economic decisions taken have rather undermined already soft consumer confidence,” Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe told reporters in an earnings call.

Dove soap maker Unilever, which was also reporting earnings, described “declining consumer sentiment” in its North American markets.

Stocks drifted on Thursday, and a rebound in the dollar fizzled out as investors tried to pick through the Trump administration’s fast-changing announcements on tariffs and the leadership of the Fed, the US central bank.

While most of the tariffs have been paused for 90 days until July 8, a 10-percent universal rate and additional duties on aluminium, steel and car imports remain in place, as do eye-popping levies on goods imported from China, to which Beijing has responded in kind.

The Trump administration will look at lowering tariffs on imported Chinese goods pending talks between the two countries, a source told Reuters on Wednesday.

With the first-quarter earnings season entering its second busy week, companies were counting the costs of the chaos and setting out how they plan to stem the fallout.

Procter & Gamble, soda and snacks giant PepsiCo and medical equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific became the latest companies to cut annual profit forecasts, citing the trade turmoil. American Airlines withdrew its 2025 financial guidance, mirroring its peers.

Thermo Fisher also warned of the impact of the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to academic research funding.

Hyundai Motor said it had launched a task force to handle its response to the tariffs and moved production of some Tucson crossover vehicles from Mexico to the US.

“We expect a challenging business outlook to continue due to intensifying trade wars and other various unpredictable macroeconomic factors,” it said.

The carmaker is also considering whether to move production of some US-bound cars from South Korea to other locations, it said as it reaffirmed its annual earnings targets.

Hyundai and affiliate Kia, which together are the world’s third-biggest automaking group by sales, generate about one-third of their global sales from the US market, and imports account for roughly two-thirds of their US car sales.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com said nearly 3,000 firms have already made enquiries about its 200 billion yuan ($27.35bn) fund, announced on April 11, to help exporters sell their products domestically over the next year.

Consumer sentiment tumbles 

Adding to worries about economic weakness, the German government cut its 2025 growth forecast on Thursday and now sees stagnation instead of a 0.3 percent expansion as uncertainty from global trade disputes hobbles growth and dampens investment.

And in another sign of ebbing consumer confidence, Essity’s CEO, Magnus Groth, told Reuters the Swedish tissue maker had seen a drop in demand for hygiene products from hotels and restaurants in North America because people are eating out less and may not be travelling.

That echoed a warning from Chipotle Mexican Grill late on Wednesday that Americans are spending less on dining out due to elevated economic uncertainty, prompting the food chain to cut its sales outlook.

Telecoms equipment maker Nokia flagged a short-term disruption from the US tariffs, while Dassault Systemes, which sells software to carmakers, aeroplane manufacturers and defence companies, cut its forecast profit margin due to tariff-related market volatility, knocking its shares.

Nestle and Unilever delivered better-than-expected quarterly sales, but they and their big-brand rivals are easing US price increases to avoid losing US shoppers to retailers’ less expensive private-label brands.

That may help soothe concerns that tariffs will fuel a spike in inflation and slow the US economy, although other companies, including Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, LG Electronics and Interparfums, have said they are hiking US prices or may do so.

“As we look ahead, we expect more volatility and uncertainty, particularly related to global trade developments, which we expect will increase our supply chain costs,” PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said on Thursday.

Madrid, Spain – Spain’s government halted a controversial $7.5m deal to buy ammunition from Israel on Thursday, following criticism of it from far-left allies within the governing minority coalition.

The country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, intervened to cancel the deal after Sumar, a group of left-wing parties, threatened to pull out of the governing coalition.

“After exhausting all routes for negotiation, the prime minister, deputy prime minister and ministries involved have decided to rescind this contract with the Israeli company IMI Systems,” a government source, who did not want to be named according to Spanish government practice, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.

Spain has been critical of Israel’s war on Gaza, and in October 2023, pledged to stop selling weapons to Israel. In February 2024, it said it also would not buy weapons from Israel. However, in the same month, the Spanish Ministry of Interior signed a deal with IMI Solutions to purchase 15 million rounds of ammunition. The ammunition was destined for the Civil Guard, Spain’s semi-military police force.

However, after protests from five ministers from Sumar, the Spanish government began a study to determine whether it was feasible to cancel the order.

“In October 2024, a study was started into the possible ending of the contract. After the study, the ministry decided to follow the recommendation from the state attorney, who advised against the ending of the contract at that stage, so the contract was honoured,” a spokesperson for the Spanish Interior Ministry told Al Jazeera, adding that ending “the contract would have involved paying … [IMI Solutions] without receiving the material.”

On Wednesday, April 23, the Interior Ministry said it would go ahead with the arms deal, six months after seeking to cancelling it, to avoid paying compensation to the Israeli company.

In response, Yolanda Díaz, deputy prime minister and leader of Sumar, told reporters in Barcelona, “This deal must be rectified. I insist, it is a flagrant violation of the agreements when we are witnessing the live genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Analysts said the row could further damage already tense relations between the Socialists and Sumar in Spain’s fragile government, especially after Sanchez announced on Tuesday that his government would raise defence spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to hit NATO targets, a move which angered Sumar. Under pressure from US President Donald Trump, Spain, which has the lowest NATO budget among its 32 members, rolled out a 10.5-billion-euro ($12bn) plan to meet the 2-percent goal this year.

Spaniards were divided over the ammunition deal, with a poll for online newspaper 20minutos.es showing that 48.46 percent of the 7,871 people surveyed opposed it, while 46.94 percent backed the deal and 4.58 percent did not know how they felt.

“Buying this ammunition would have shown that Spain is not supporting Palestine. It would have been a betrayal of the [more than] 50,000 people who have died in Gaza in the genocide there,” Igor Otxoa, of the Guernica Palestine organisation, a civic organisation, told Al Jazeera.

In the wake of the dispute, Veronica Martinez Barbero, Sumar’s parliamentary spokesperson, told Al Jazeera Spain should not go ahead with the contract.

“There is a question of not completing promises. The defence minister said Spain would not buy these weapons. We want this to be rectified, and this contract not be completed,” she said.

But not everybody has supported the decision to cancel the contract. Astrid Barrio Lopez, a political analyst at the University of Valencia, told Al Jazeera the decision “shows that there is little judicial security for companies dealing with the Spanish government and little leadership within the government”.

Pretoria, South Africa – As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria, the pro-Russia opposition condemned the visit while protesters gathered outside government buildings with a banner reading, “Shame on you, Ramaphosa and Zelenskyy.”

Zelenskyy cut short his first state visit to South Africa on Thursday, saying he would “return to Ukraine immediately” after overnight Russian attacks killed at least 12 people in Kyiv.

Since February 2022, Ukraine has been fending off a military onslaught by Moscow, aided by arms and support from allies in Europe and the United States.

Pretoria has remained neutral, calling for dialogue between both sides.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, an estimated 12,910 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the war started.

But South Africa’s main opposition political party, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party of former President Jacob Zuma, has taken aim squarely at Ukraine, blaming it for the current crisis.

“The MK Party strongly condemns Mr Ramaphosa’s misguided decision to extend an invitation to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a figure widely discredited among progressive and nonaligned nations,” Floyd Shivambu, the secretary-general of the MK said earlier this month when the visit was announced.

Zelenskyy, Shivambu said, was the “puppet” president of NATO and the West and someone who “sought to destabilise Eastern Europe and the entire world”.

“We think [Zelenskyy] is the cause of the war between Russia and Ukraine. He provoked Putin,” Magazela Mzobe, a senior aide to Zuma, told Al Jazeera this week, urging protests.

“We regard Russia and President Putin as our friends.”

Zuma previously claimed that NATO countries instigated the “crisis” in Ukraine in a bid to counteract the BRICS alliance – a group of large developing world economies that includes Russia and South Africa.

South Africa, a historical ally of Russia mainly due to the support the former Soviet Union provided antiapartheid and decolonial movements in Africa, has not condemned Russia or Putin, has abstained from a United Nations resolution doing so and has maintained good ties with Moscow.

Put ‘strong pressure on Russia’

Days before meeting with Zelenskyy, Ramaphosa had a telephone call with Putin in which, he said, the two “committed to working together towards a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict”.

Hours before meeting Zelenskyy on Thursday, Ramaphosa said he had also spoken with US President Donald Trump and the two agreed that the war in Ukraine needed to stop.

Ukraine faces ongoing pressure to accept stringent US conditions for a peace deal.

On Wednesday, Trump had chastised Zelenskyy for rejecting a Trump administration proposal that would see him cede Crimea to Russia.

After Thursday’s talks with Ramaphosa, in which the leaders discussed improving trade as well as ending the war, Zelenskyy said that while Ukraine is open to an unconditional ceasefire, pressure needed to be put on Moscow because it was up to Russia to halt attacks.

“We do not see signs of the US putting strong pressure on Russia as part of its peace push,” he told journalists in Pretoria. Zelenskyy said a new set of proposals was on Trump’s desk after talks on Wednesday in London.

When pushed about what he would be willing to compromise on during peace talks, Zelenskyy said he was ready to abide by what was proposed but could not go against the Ukrainian Constitution.

“It is already a big compromise on Ukraine’s part to agree to sit down with Russia once a ceasefire is in place,” he said.

If an unconditional ceasefire is enforced, the question remains who would be a guarantor of it. Zelenskyy said it should be a NATO country that is strong enough to withstand Russia. Ramaphosa said South Africa and other African countries stood ready to be a guarantor to ensure peace.

Against the backdrop of Zelenskyy’s visit, some questioned why South Africa would want to help broker peace – and what role it could play.

Does South Africa have influence?

South African Foreign Affairs Minister Ronald Lamola says his country is well placed to mediate between Russia and Ukraine because of its history successfully negotiating an end to apartheid, as well as its role in mediating conflicts across Africa.

“We don’t believe funding wars resolves conflict. We believe talks end wars. We can’t out-gun our way out of conflict,” his spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told Al Jazeera.

However, political analysts watching developments are not all convinced Pretoria has a role to play or whether its efforts could even help yield the desired peace outcomes.

“The Americans and Russians are discussing. And this discussion is very resistant to the allies of the Americans, the Europeans. They have not been involved. They have been fighting to get around the table,” said political analyst Kingsley Makhubela from the University of Pretoria.

“I don’t understand what value South Africa will have if the Europeans who have a direct interest in the resolution of the conflict have no influence around this.”

Makhubela said he was concerned about South Africa possibly being pulled between the interests of the US and the European Union in resolving the Ukraine war.

“We must not play into the hands of either party.”

Makhubela told Al Jazeera he did not believe Pretoria could persuade either the Russians or Ukrainians to commit to peace talks.

“I don’t know what South Africa’s strengths are to influence this process,” he said.

Regarding the opposition’s calls to protest Zelenskyy’s visit, Makhubela said they were not extraordinary.

“Internally, you will find groups from the far left and the far right will pronounce why they are against this visit,” he said.

The opposition MK Party, which protested Zelenskyy’s visit, also argued South Africa is ill-equipped to effectively negotiate peace between Ukraine and Russia.

However the MK itself – a breakaway faction from the African National Congress (ANC), the majority party in South Africa’s coalition government – has faced accusations of receiving Russian money.

Last year, John Steenhuisen – the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party in the governing coalition – accused the MK Party of being financially backed due to its links to Putin although he admitted there was no definitive proof. “I’m certain that money has flown into their accounts from Russia,” he remarked to the Financial Mail newspaper.

The MK denied the allegations of financial connections but has acknowledged the longstanding relationship between Zuma and Putin.

“President Zuma and President Putin have enjoyed a relationship that goes back 40 years. They’re friends. But that’s not the same as the Russian government supporting the MK Party,” party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said last year.

The MK Party’s affinity for Putin is no secret; it even markets regalia adorned with images of both Zuma and Putin. Zuma has also repeatedly sought medical treatment in Russia during and after his presidency. Additionally, he has faced allegations of corruptly securing a now-defunct nuclear deal with Russia during his time in office.

Nonetheless, the MK Party insisted its protest against Zelenskyy’s visit is unrelated to its leader’s close ties with Putin.

Ukraine ‘a democracy’ like South Africa

Despite the pushback to Zelenskyy from some quarters, the Ukrainian Association of South Africa (UAZA), represented by Dzvinka Kachur, was unfazed by the protests and opposition to his visit.

“South Africa, like Ukraine, is a democracy. In Russia, you cannot protest. If you go to the street, you will be arrested or you will disappear,” Kachur said.

The UAZA, representing about 1,000 Ukrainians residing in South Africa, advocates for improved communication between the two nations.

It has previously expressed criticism about the South African government’s failure to openly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, notably by abstaining from a UN vote.

The South African government has maintained its stance of nonalignment and is seeking to facilitate mediation in the conflict with Russia.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Zelenskyy on Thursday, Ramaphosa called upon both Russia and Ukraine to ensure there is a comprehensive ceasefire so negotiations can start.

He said South Africa believed the only path to peace is through diplomacy, inclusive dialogue and a commitment to the principles of the UN Charter.

He also expressed deep concern about the continuing conflict in Ukraine, the loss of civilian lives, damage to critical infrastructure and the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Kachur told Al Jazeera that any attempt by Ramaphosa to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine would be contingent upon significant actions by Russia.

“A peaceful solution is only possible if Russia’s colonial system reforms,” she asserted, meaning Russia should stop taking Ukrainian territory. “If there is no change inside Russia, there can’t be peace.”

In Ramaphosa’s phone conversation with Putin before Zelenskyy’s visit, the Russian leader articulated his country’s position on the necessity of addressing the “root causes” of the conflict and ensuring Russia’s security interests, according to the Kremlin.

“South Africa will continue engaging all interested and affected parties, including the government of Ukraine, in finding a path to peace,” the South African Presidency said after the call.

Lebanon’s population has been the subject of a report by Fault Lines that examines possible war crimes involving US-made bombs used by Israel.