Donald Trump vs. North American Agreement. NAFTA is dead, long live the "US-Mexico trade agreement"! After lengthy negotiations, the two countries managed to agree on a future agreement, which will replace NAFTA, in force since 1994. Trump announced that he wanted to abandon the original name of the agreement because "it has a bad connotation". To provoke Ottawa, he even proposed taxing Canadian cars instead of including his neighbor in the agreement with Mexico. But it's not over yet. Talks begin today between Canada and the US, in Washington.

Emerging currencies. After a week of respite, business resumes for the Turkish lira! The currency started to decline (again) against the dollar. Indeed, tensions between Ankara and Washington are still high, the Turkish government even considers itself to be the victim of a "trade war". The Mexican peso, for its part, is benefiting from the newly signed agreement with the United States and is among the strongest gains against the dollar over the last 4 days. Overall, the dollar is losing ground against most emerging currencies, thanks to a renewed appetite for risk.
 

Only a quarter of emerging currencies are weakening against the dollar, an unusual scenario in recent weeks (Source: Bloomberg, click to enlarge)

Iran. The Islamic Republic says it "totally controls" a strategic strait in the oil trade: the Strait of Hormuz. Located at the crossroads of the Persian Gulf, approximately 30% of maritime oil exports transit through this strait. Iran allegedly warned American authorities that it could soon prevent American ships from sailing there. Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, denied this.