On today's podcast:

1) China warned it would hit back at Donald Trump’s trade threats after the US president unveiled additional tariffs on Chinese imports, raising the risk of tensions spiraling between the world’s largest economies.“If the US insists on having its own way, China will counter with all necessary measures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Friday. In response to the last round of tariffs, the department previously vowed to take “corresponding” steps.

2) President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives at the White House on Friday with a personal appeal to persuade Donald Trump not to sell out his country in the rush to make a peace deal with Russia. The worst fears seemed to fade a bit on the eve of the trip, as the American president blithely walked back his denunciation of his Ukrainian counterpart as a “dictator” just last week.

3) A reading of US inflation due later today comes into sharper focus now that tariffs could be implemented sooner than anticipated, with any surprising increases likely to shake up the market. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric is expected to cool to the slowest pace since June. The core personal consumption expenditures price index — which excludes often-volatile food and energy costs — probably rose 2.6% in the year through January. Overall PCE inflation likely eased on an annual basis as well, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

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