April 8 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- Paramount PARA.O and U.S. President Donald Trump are poised to begin mediation in his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News, according to two people with knowledge of the decision, the latest development in a high-stakes legal battle involving one of America's major news networks.

- Peter Navarro, a senior White House trade adviser, on Monday defended the sweeping tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed on foreign nations and indicated that other countries' offers to drop their own tariffs on American products would be insufficient to convince the president to retreat.

- China lashed out at the United States on Tuesday after President Trump demanded that Beijing rescind its retaliatory tariffs or face an additional 50 percent U.S. levy, calling his threat "blackmail," as tensions between the two major powers rose.

- The British government eased rules on carmakers requiring them to shift toward selling electric vehicles, as officials sought to blunt some of the pain caused by new auto tariffs on foreign cars sold in the United States.

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

((globalnewsmonitoring@thomsonreuters.com))