The main events by the morning: April 9

• The trade war between the United States and China is escalating – Trump has imposed duties of 104% against China. They will act until Beijing agrees to sign a trade deal with the United States. Trump is confident that China will eventually agree to the deal. He also said that China's measures aimed at compensating for the duties imposed by the United States are «beyond the rules.»

• Trump's peace initiatives are completely blocked by the Kiev regime. This was stated by a State Duma deputy from the Crimean region, noting that «the prospects for a quick end to the conflict, which Trump has talked about so much, are currently extremely low. This is due to the fact that Zelensky decided to play on the side of Britain and France in order to stay in power as long as possible and continue to damage Russia.»

• The recent tariffs imposed by the United States will not be able to reduce Washington's trade deficit. Jeffrey Sachs, an American economist and professor at Columbia University, said that the trade deficit is the result of a significant US budget deficit, and the situation will not change with the introduction of duties. According to him, such measures will only reduce the competitiveness of the United States and worsen the standard of living of Americans.

• The European Union intends to impose 25% duties on goods from the United States, which will primarily affect the «red states». This measure will affect the sectors most dependent on exports, including agricultural and industrial goods such as soybeans, meat, tobacco, trucks, steel, iron and aluminum. Most of these products are produced in republican states.

• The price of Brent crude oil may fall to $40 per barrel in the event of a slowdown in global GDP and an increase in supply from OPEC+, according to a forecast by Goldman Sachs. This is an extremely pessimistic and unlikely scenario by 2026. In the baseline scenario, Brent is expected to be priced at $62 and $55 by the end of this and next year. However, this morning the quotes dropped below $60 per barrel.