Britain and Japan formally signed a trade agreement on Friday in Tokyo, marking the UK’s first big post-Brexit deal on trade, as it continues to struggle to agree on a deal with its closest trading partners in the EU, Reuters reported.

The European Union will impose duties of up to 48% on imports of aluminium extrusions from China midway through an investigation into whether Chinese producers are selling at unfairly low prices.

The European Union is set to win the right to impose tariffs on about $4 billion in US goods in retaliation for subsidies granted to planemaker Boeing under a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling due on Tuesday.

The United States is imposing new tariffs on $1.96 billion worth of aluminum sheet products from 18 countries after determining that the goods were being dumped, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Friday.

A World Trade Organisation panel ruled Tuesday that Trump administration tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods are illegal, vindicating Beijing even if the United States has all but incapacitated the WTO’s ability to hand down a final, binding verdict.

The UK secured its first major post-Brexit trade deal on Friday after signing an agreement with Japan just as discussions with the EU appeared to be on the verge of collapse, news wires reported.

The World Trade Organization will face the biggest crisis in its 25-year history without a captain as his director-general Roberto Azevedo steps down on Monday, news wires reported. Any future WTO leader will head an organisation mired in stalled trade talks and struggling to curb trade tensions between the US and China. It must also help member countries navigate a devastating global economic slump sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

An agreement on a package of tariff reductions that will increase market access for hundreds of millions of dollars in US and EU exports was announced by United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan on Friday evening. These tariff reductions are the first US-EU negotiated reductions in duties in more than two decades.

Washington said Wednesday it would hold off on its threat to impose higher tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of EU goods in its long-running dispute over subsidies to European aircraft maker Airbus, AFP and Reuters report.

United States President Donald Trump moved to reimpose 10% tariffs on some Canadian aluminium products to protect US industry from a "surge" in imports, angering Ottawa and some US business groups. In response, Canada pledged retaliation.