Despite three months of wrangling, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has been unable to form a new cabinet, which threatens to paralyze the country's institutions and launch its already-frail economy into a dangerous tailspin.

President Donald Trump on Thursday reportedly rejected as "not good enough" a European Union proposal scrapping tariffs on automobiles, a move which threatens to amplify a simmering trans-Atlantic trade dispute.

Just hours earlier, the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem had said the bloc was "willing to bring down... our car tariffs to zero" provided that the United States did the same.

Canada has not compromised on a key sticking point in talks with the United States on the rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a U.S. official said Friday.

As the fourth and final day of negotiations got underway between Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canada's managed dairy market remained a roadblock.

Canada's economy grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the second quarter, lifted by a rise in exports and services, the national statistical agency said Thursday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May held talks with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi on Thursday, promising post-Brexit trade continuity on the final leg of her three-nation tour of Africa.

The European Union is prepared to scrap tariffs on cars with the United States in its proposed trade deal with Washington, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Thursday.

China's biggest oil producer PetroChina said Thursday its net profit more than doubled in the first half of the year as global crude prices soared.

The Turkish lira showed no sign of recovery as it slid further against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, hours after Moody's downgraded its credit ratings on 20 Turkish financial institutions.

Britain's Theresa May landed in Nigeria's capital on Wednesday on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday proposed a series of measures to soften a deeply unpopular pension reform, in an apparent attempt to stem a major fall in his approval ratings.