The Japanese economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.7% in the first quarter, according to government data released Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war hurt exports and dented consumer confidence.

Japan's real gross domestic product, or the measure of a nation's goods and services, shrank at a greater-than-expected 0.2% in January-March compared to the previous quarter in the first contraction in a year, the Cabinet Office's seasonally adjusted preliminary data showed.

European shares advanced after a mixed session in Asia on Friday, with scant news driving trading.

Markets have calmed somewhat after the turmoil unleashed by Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs offensive, aimed at compelling companies to base manufacturing inside the United States.

House Republicans are preparing to push their hard-fought package of tax breaks and spending cuts through its next hurdle Friday in the Budget Committee, but conservatives are warning they could vote to halt it unless there are further changes.

Tallying a whopping 1,116 pages, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, named with a nod to President Donald Trump, is teetering at a critical moment. Conservatives are holding out for steeper cuts to Medicaid and other programs to help offset the costs of the tax breaks. But at the same time, lawmakers from high-tax states including New York are demanding a deeper tax deduction, known as SALT, for their constituents.

The United Nations on Thursday forecast slower global economic growth this year and next, pointing to the impact of the surge in U.S. tariffs and increasing trade tensions.

U.N. economists also cited the volatile geopolitical landscape and threats of rising production costs, supply chain disruptions and financial turbulence.

U.S. wholesale prices dropped unexpectedly in April for the first time in more than a year despite President Donald Trump's sweeping taxes on imports.

The producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — fell 0.5% last month from March, the first drop since October 2023 and the biggest in five years. Compared to a year earlier, producer prices rose 2.4% last month, decelerating from a 3.4% year-over-year gain in March, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. will ease sanctions on Syria could eventually facilitate the country's recovery from years of civil war and transform the lives of everyday Syrians.

But experts say it will take time, and the process for lifting the sanctions — some of which were first introduced 47 years ago — is unclear.

While U.S. President Donald Trump has talked of victory after reaching a weekend deal with China to reduce the sky-high tariffs levied on each others' goods, businesses in China are reacting to the temporary deal with caution.

The U.S. and China have cut the tariffs levied on each other in April, with the U.S. cutting the 145% tax Trump imposed last month to 30%. China agreed to lower its tariff rate on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%. The lower tariff rates came into effect on Wednesday.

Republicans in Congress are moving with rapid speed to advance President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and beefed-up border security funding as leaders work to enact many of his campaign promises.

House committees have been laboring for months to draft the legislation, which Republicans have labeled "THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,'' a nod to Trump himself. Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to approve the package and send it to the Senate by Memorial Day.

It's not just the "gesture" of a $400 million luxury plane that President Donald Trump says he's smart to accept from Qatar. Or that he effectively auctioned off the first destination on his first major foreign trip, heading to Saudi Arabia because the kingdom was ready to make big investments in U.S. companies.

It's not even that the Trump family has fast-growing business ties in the Middle East, ones that run deep and offer the potential of vast profits.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a strategic economic partnership deal during a ceremony in Riyadh Tuesday, as the U.S. president kicked off his Gulf tour.