China in talks with Iran to allow safe oil and gas passage through Hormuz, sources say. China is in talks with Iran to allow crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas vessels safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz ​as the U.S.-Israeli war on Tehran intensifies. (Reuters)

US states sue to stop Trump’s latest global tariffs. A group of 24 states in the United States have sued U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in the first legal challenge to his newly imposed 10% global tariffs, alleging that the president cannot sidestep a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidated most of his previous tariffs on imported goods by citing new legal authority. (Al Jazeera)

Moscow sees significant rise in demand for Russian oil, gas amid Iran war. The Kremlin has said the United States-Israeli war on Iran had prompted “a significant increase in demand” for Russian energy products, a day after the ⁠U.S. Treasury issued a 30-day waiver allowing India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea. (Al Jazeera)

US lost a surprising 92,000 jobs last month and unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.4%. Hiring deteriorated from January, when companies, nonprofits and government agencies added a healthy 126,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists expected 60,000 new jobs in February. (AP)

US, Mexico to launch review process of USMCA trade pact week of March 16. U.S. and Mexican negotiators will hold bilateral discussions starting the week ​of March 16 as part of the joint ‌review of the United States–Mexico–Canada trade agreement, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said on Thursday. (Reuters)

Tariff refunds: Court provides first step with liquidation order. The procedural gridlock surrounding refunds for now-defunct Trump administration tariffs has started to loosen following an order from the Court of International Trade. (Supply Chain Dive)

UAE mulls freezing Iranian assets as Middle East conflict escalates. The United Arab Emirates is weighing freezing billions of dollars of Iranian assets held in the Gulf state, according to people familiar with the discussions, a move that could sever one of Tehran’s most important economic lifelines. (Wall Street Journal)

Cuba’s economy on edge: Fuel shortages and rising hardship. On Feb. 7, the Cuban government suspended fuel sales in local pesos and limited U.S. dollar sales, creating a long waiting list on a Cuban online booking platform. The restrictions are part of a nationwide contingency plan in response to the oil blockade. The plan includes decentralizing fuel imports and authorizing any company–including private ones–to buy fuel abroad. (Al Jazeera)

Seven countries warn EU not to upend energy market design. Governments of seven EU countries, including the Netherlands ​and Sweden, warned the bloc’s executive on Thursday against interfering with the system that ‌sets Europe’s energy prices, as officials in Brussels scramble to find ways to bring down bills. (Reuters)

African economic shock looms as Trump’s Gulf War escalates. Despite some success in shifting to cleaner energy sources, oil remains a lifeblood of economies everywhere. Those without refineries will also be at the mercy of precarious petroleum cargoes navigating dangerous seas. (Bloomberg)

India’s trade minister in talks with shipping ministry, companies to tackle stuck cargoes. Indian Trade Minister ​Piyush Goyal said ‌on Friday he was holding talks ​with the ​shipping ministry and companies ⁠in the sector ​to free up ​cargoes marooned by the disruption of key ​global trade routes ​as conflict grows in ‌the ⁠Middle East. (Reuters)

Brazil trade balance swings to $4.2 billion surplus in February, matches forecast. Exports ​from Latin America’s largest economy rose ⁠15.6% from a year earlier to $26.3 billion, ​while imports dropped 4.8% to $22.1 billion. (Reuters)

Can reshoring and onshoring deliver manufacturing sustainability benefits? U.S. sustainability policy may have shifted, but some manufacturers are still finding a faster path to climate, governance and workforce gains by investing in domestic production. (Supply Chain Dive)