Hello, you're listening to the free edition of the world in brief from The Economist.

As a reminder, if you subscribe to The Economist, you'll get access to a deeper look at the day ahead, updated three times a day.

If you're already an Economist subscriber, visit

economist.com slash espresso or visit our espresso app to start listening. Here's today's

free edition.

This is the world in brief from The Economist.

Our top stories.

American stock markets fell on Thursday, with the NASDAQ index dropping by 4.3% and the SMP 500

by 3.5%. Meanwhile, America's annual inflation rate fell by 2.4% in March,

below economists' expectations of 2.6% and down from 2.8% in February.

The figures were collected before Donald Trump's trade war with China began in earnest,

which may push up prices further. The European Union said it was negotiating a modern and ambitious

free trade agreement with the UAE. Earlier, the bloc suspended counter-tariffs against America for 90 days,

after Mr. Trump paused many tariffs on Wednesday.

Europe had announced levies worth some 21 billion euros,

or $23 billion, on American goods, in response to 25% levies on steel and aluminium.

Meanwhile, China's counter-tariffs against America came into effect.

America's House of Representatives narrowly passed a budget resolution bill

that paves the way for Mr. Trump's ambitious fiscal and

immigration agenda, thwarting a Republican rebellion that threatened to sink it.

Senate Republicans promised fiscal conservatives in the House, who had demanded deeper reductions

that they would cut spending, but the commitments are not in the text, potentially

...