The main events by the morning: March 18

• Trump and Putin will hold a telephone conversation today. Trump is confident that a deal will be reached very soon. The US president also announced that he would meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon. 

• The ruble continues to strengthen by leaps and bounds. In the over-the-counter market, the dollar has fallen below 82 rubles, and this is the lowest since June 2024. The strengthening of the Russian currency is taking place against the background of geopolitical positivity and growing interest in ruble assets – everyone wants super-reliable OFZs with a 16% yield in a currency that strengthens against the dollar every day. .

• Trump may give Russia control over the port of Odessa. Analysts compare the negotiations between Trump and Putin to the Yalta Conference in 1945, where Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin divided the post-war world. The Trump administration has already hinted that Crimea will almost certainly remain under Russian control, as well as all new territories.

• Canada is ready for economic negotiations with the United States, but only after the termination of statements about the «51st state». Prime Minister Mark Carney stressed that Canada's economy is only 10% of the American economy, making it difficult to respond to Trump's new tariffs. Canada's reaction will depend on the tariffs scheduled to be introduced on April 2, and it will be difficult to exceed the remaining C$95 billion in the tariff list.

• Russia will launch large-scale lithium production in 2030. The main goal is to reach 60,000 tons of lithium carbonate to reduce import dependence and increase the production of electric batteries. Lithium oxide reserves in the country amount to 3.5 million tons, and lithium reserves, according to US estimates, will reach 1 million tons by 2024, which puts Russia in 14th place in the world. In 2023, only 27 tons of lithium were mined at the Izumrudny deposit in the Urals.