Jobs Reports, Suspended Tariff Retaliation, More FTAs: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Friday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help take you through to the weekend:

• It’s jobs day in the U.S. and Canada
• Four years after Donald Trump swept into the White House, cowing executives and shaking markets with tweet storms and tantrums, corporations that applauded when he cut taxes and red tape are struggling to come to grips with the havoc that’s now followed
• The U.S. will suspend a plan to hit $1.3 billion of French goods with tariffs in retaliation for the European country’s tax on the revenue of global tech companies, de-escalating the transatlantic trade dispute just two weeks before President Donald Trump leaves office
• After slumping during the year-end holidays, activity in several of the world’s largest advanced economies partially recovered in the first week of January. Still, it remains significantly lower than at the start of last year, according to Bloomberg Economics gauges
• If there was a trade-off between lives and livelihoods in tackling the pandemic, we should see countries with a large number of infections also buzzing with activity. The data for emerging markets show the opposite of that, according to Bloomberg Economics
• Chile’s consumer prices rose more than forecast on a jump in the cost of clothing and household goods, as a second round of early pension withdrawals juiced demand in one of Latin America’s richest nations
• A week on from Brexit, the main road to Dover has been so quiet that officials were able to close half of it Thursday for a litter-picking operation without causing delays for drivers. But behind such placid scenes, many truckers are still warning of chaos as they struggle to adjust to the new paperwork required by Britain’s departure from the EU
• China is working to sign free trade deals with more trading partners, the country’s new commerce minister said, as part of the nation’s efforts to build a global network of free trade zones

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