The eighth week of Donald Trump's second term has been marked by the dizzying ping-pong of tariffs and counter-tariffs, and Ukraine peace talks with officials from both Kyiv and Moscow.

The US president and his administration continue to make headlines as they forge ahead with their policies. Here's a quick look at some of their biggest recent moves.

Trump went ahead with his plan for a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium products coming from the rest of the world.

But his team halted its plan to double US tariffs on imports of Canadian steel and aluminium to 50%, only hours after threatening America's northern neighbour in another skirmish in their trade war.

The rollback came after Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province would suspend new charges of 25% on electricity that it sends across the border.

"Cooler heads prevailed," Peter Navarro, a trade adviser in the White House, told broadcaster CNBC.

Tariffs and the unpredictable threats of new ones raised concerns among investors, particularly in light of a question Trump appeared to dodge over the weekend about whether the US economy was headed for a downward turn.

In an interview on Fox News, the president who presides over the world's largest economy refused to be drawn on a question about whether there was a recession on the horizon - saying instead that the US was in a "period of transition" because "what we're doing is very big".

Those words seemed to do little to reassure confidence among investors, as the US S&P 500 share index fell nearly 3% the next day.

US allies across the Atlantic also weren't spared by Trump's tariff threats, as he took to his Truth Social network on Thursday to threaten European Union countries with a 200% tariff on alcohol.

His alcohol tariffs are the latest escalation in a separate trade war with EU nations, who earlier that day unveiled their own counter-tariffs to Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs.

Trump - who has eschewed alcohol his whole life - highlighted in his social media post that the whopping 200% tariff would only cease once the EU stops a "nasty 50% tariff on whisky". He called the union "hostile and abusive".

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the "temperature was brought down" this week between the US and Canada thanks largely to an olive branch that was extended by........

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