Top stories for the morning: Trump's new duties, the president's attack on Netflix and bitcoin's fall

US President Donald Trump has imposed temporary global duties of 15%, citing a "balance of payments crisis". The European Commission demanded that the US comply with the terms of last year's trade agreement, emphasizing that the new measures undermine market confidence. The value of bitcoin fell by 5% amid the new import fees. About these and other topics - in the review of key events for the morning of February 23.

Donald Trump imposed temporary global duties of 15%, citing Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows duties to be applied for up to 150 days when there are "serious problems with international payments," Bloomberg reports. The White House pointed to the large trade deficit and the negative international investment position of the U.S. (the difference between U.S. investments abroad and investments of other countries in the U.S.), which now amounts to $26 trillion. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the measures a "bridge" for five months - before the possible introduction of duties on other legal grounds.

However, many economists believe that there are no signs of a crisis: the dollar remains strong, capital inflows are covering the deficit and markets are not showing panic, Bloomberg writes. Critics warn of more litigation and trade volatility, noting that the problem is more related to the budget deficit rather than the balance of payments.

The European Commission urged the US to stick to the terms of the EU-US trade agreement reached last year after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's global duties and he imposed new temporary duties of 15% on all imports, Reuters writes. Brussels demanded "full clarity" from Washington on the next steps and emphasized: "A deal is a deal".

Under the agreement, the U.S. rate for most goods from the EU was fixed at 15% and zero for certain categories, including aviation. The EU, in turn, removed a number of duties and refused to retaliate. Brussels said that any increases above the agreed ceiling undermine market confidence and upset the balance of transatlantic trade.

Bitcoin was down more than 5% on Monday, falling below $65,000 after Donald Trump's announcement to raise global duties to 15%, CNBC writes. The cryptocurrency has lost about 26% since the beginning of the year, and more than 47% since its October peak above $125,000. Analysts attribute the sell-off to rising trade risks, weak liquidity and general investor uncertainty, as well as fears of escalation around Iran.

Against the backdrop of the falling crypto market, gold rose more than 1%, reinforcing the divergence between traditional protective assets and "digital gold". Experts do not rule out a further decline of bitcoin to $50,000, pointing to a typical phase of the "bear" market and the redistribution of capital into gold and shares of AI companies, the channel points out.

Donald Trump has called on Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice, calling her a "political fixer" and threatened "consequences". The occasion was Rice's statements that corporations, news organizations and law firms that have "bent the knee" to Trump are unlikely to "end well" and that Democrats would seek to hold them accountable if returned to power, CNBC reported.

Rice held senior positions in the administrations of Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden and rejoined Netflix's board in 2023. The company declined to comment on Trump's remarks.

The statement was made against the backdrop of the U.S. Justice Department's review of Netflix's purchase of Warner Bros. company Discovery for $72 billion. Discovery for $72 billion. The agency is investigating whether the deal will harm competition and whether the streaming service uses anti-competitive practices. Netflix says it operates in an "extremely competitive market" and expects to receive regulatory approval.

- Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed due to holidays.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was adding 2.6 percent. Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange are closed due to holidays.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index rose 0.47%, while the Kosdaq fell 0.15%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.61%.

- S&P 500 futures were down 0.7 percent, Nasdaq Composite futures were down 0.9 percent and Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded contracts were down 0.6 percent.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor