The U.S. labor market likely kept on churning out jobs last month, economists say, but the outlook is cloudy and getting cloudier as the Trump administration wages trade wars, purges federal employees and seeks to deport millions of immigrants.

When the Labor Department releases February jobs numbers Friday, they're expected to show that employers added 160,000 jobs. That's far from spectacular but it's solid, and it's up from 143,000 in January. The unemployment rate is forecast to stay at a low 4%, according to economists surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

Farmers and meat producers across the U.S. can expect the new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China and the retaliatory action from those countries to hurt their bottom lines by billions of dollars if they stay in place a while, and consumers could quickly see higher prices for produce and ground beef.

But some of the impact on farmers might not be felt until the next harvest and some products might actually get cheaper in the short run for consumers if exports suffer. And the price of corn, wheat and soybeans accounts for relatively little of the price of most products. Plus, President Donald Trump could offer farmers significant aid payments, as he did during the trade war with China during his first administration, to offset some of the losses.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will continue to retaliate for the United States' "arbitrary tariffs" and accused Washington of "meeting good with evil" in a press conference Friday on the sidelines of the country's annual parliamentary session.

Wang said China's efforts to help the U.S. contain its fentanyl crisis have been met with punitive tariffs, which are straining their ties.

Turkey's central bank lowered its key interest rate by a further 2.5 percentage points on Thursday, days after official figures indicated a slowdown in inflation that has eroded households' purchasing power.

The bank's Monetary Policy Committee said it was reducing its benchmark one-week repo rate from 45% to 42.5%.

International Monetary Fund staff will visit Lebanon next week to meet with the country's new government and begin addressing its economic woes, the Washington-based lender said.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, IMF communications director Julie Kozack said the March 10-14 "fact-finding" mission to Lebanon would address the country's economic development, and its reconstruction needs amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Ahead of the EU summit in Brussels, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the European leaders to act jointly in responding to tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.

He said that “Europe is the strongest economic area in the world with its own opportunities. And that is why it is very important that, especially when it comes to tariffs, we are also clear about how we act in this matter — namely united and determined.”

The Chinese government unveiled an annual economic growth target of "around 5%" on Wednesday, despite the possible negative impact of a looming trade war with the United States, and pledged to address what it called "inadequate" consumer spending at home.

The target, announced at the opening session of the annual meeting of China's legislature, is the same as the last two years but will likely be more difficult to achieve because of higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese products and other economic headwinds. The use of the modifier "around" gives the government some wiggle room if growth falls short of the target.

U.S. President Donald Trump's long-threatened tariffs are here, plunging the country into an escalating trade war with China, Canada and Mexico.

Trump's 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico went into effect Tuesday, along with a heightened 20% levy on Chinese goods. In response, all three countries announced retaliatory measures.

A new Central Bank governor will be named before the end of March to “secure the continuity of work at the bank,” Finance Minister Yassine Jaber has confirmed.

Tesla sales in Germany recorded another drop last month, official data showed Wednesday, after billionaire owner Elon Musk vocally backed the far-right AfD during the country's recent election campaign.

Just 1,429 of the US group's electric vehicles were registered in Europe's biggest auto market in February, down over 76 percent year-on-year, the KBA federal transport authority said.