Politics
US tariffs on European goods threaten to shake up the world’s largest trade relationship – National TenX News
The European Union expects to find out on Monday whether President Donald Trump will impose punishing tariffs on America’s largest trade partner in a move economists have warned would have repercussions for companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Trump imposed a 20 per cent import tax on all EU-made products in early April as part of a set of tariffs targeting countries with which the United States has a trade imbalance. Hours after the nation-specific duties took effect, he put them on hold until July 9 at a standard rate of 10 per cent to quiet financial markets and allow time for negotiations.
Expressing displeasure with the EU’s stance in trade talks, however, Trump said he would increase the tariff rate for European exports to 50 per cent, which could make everything — from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals — much more expensive in the U.S.
The EU’s executive commission, which handles trade issues for the bloc’s 27-member nations, said its leaders hope to strike a deal with the Trump administration. Without one, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that “the EU was very slow in coming to the table” but that talks were now making “very good progress.”
Here are important things to know about trade between the United States and the European Union.
US-EU trade is enormous
The European Commission describes the trade between the U.S. and the EU as “the most important commercial relationship in the world.”
The value of EU-U.S. trade in goods and services amounted to 1.7 trillion euros (US$2 trillion) in 2024, or an average of 4.6 billion euros a day, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.
The biggest U.S. export to Europe was crude oil, followed by pharmaceuticals, aircraft, automobiles, and medical and diagnostic equipment.
Europe’s biggest exports to the U.S. were pharmaceuticals, cars, aircraft, chemicals, medical instruments, and wine and spirits.
EU sells more to the US than vice versa
Trump has complained about the EU’s 198 billion-euro trade surplus in goods, which shows Americans buy more stuff from European businesses than the other way around.
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However, American companies fill some of the gap by outselling the EU when it comes to services such as cloud computing, travel bookings, and legal and financial services.
The U.S. services surplus took the nation’s trade deficit with the EU down to 50 billion euros (US$59 billion), which represents less than three per cent of overall U.S.-EU trade.
What are the issues dividing the two sides?
Before Trump returned to office, the U.S. and the EU maintained a generally cooperative trade relationship and low tariff levels on both sides. The U.S. rate averaged 1.47 per cent for European goods, while the EU’s averaged 1.35 per cent for American products.
But the White House has taken a much less friendly posture toward the longstanding U.S. ally since February. Along with the fluctuating tariff rate on European goods Trump has floated, the EU has been subject to his administration’s 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum, and a 25 per cent tax on imported automobiles and parts.
Trump administration officials have raised a slew of issues they want to see addressed, including agricultural barriers such as EU health regulations that include bans on chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-treated beef.
Trump has also criticized Europe’s value-added taxes, which EU countries levy at the point of sale this year at rates of 17 per cent to 27 per cent. But many economists see VAT as trade-neutral since they apply to domestic goods and services as well as imported ones. Because national governments set the taxes through legislation, the EU has said they aren’t on the table during trade negotiations.
“On the thorny issues of regulations, consumer standards and taxes, the EU and its member states cannot give much ground,” Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Germany’s Berenberg bank, said. “They cannot change the way they run the EU’s vast internal market according to U.S. demands, which are often rooted in a faulty understanding of how the EU works.”
‘Consequence for many companies’
Economists and companies say higher tariffs will mean higher prices for U.S. consumers on imported goods. Importers must decide how much of the extra tax costs to absorb through lower profits and how much to pass on to customers.
Mercedes-Benz dealers in the U.S. have said they are holding the line on 2025 model year prices “until further notice.” The German automaker has a partial tariff shield because it makes 35 per cent of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold in the U.S. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but the company said it expects prices to undergo “significant increases” in coming years.
Simon Hunt, CEO of Italian wine and spirits producer Campari Group, told investment analysts that prices could increase for some products or stay the same depending what rival companies do. If competitors raise prices, the company might decide to hold its prices on Skyy vodka or Aperol aperitif to gain market share, Hunt said.
Trump has argued that making it more difficult for foreign companies to sell in the U.S. is a way to stimulate a revival of American manufacturing. Many companies have dismissed the idea or said it would take years to yield positive economic benefits. However, some corporations have proved willing to shift some production stateside.
France-based luxury group LVMH, whose brands include Tiffany & Co., Luis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet & Chandon, could move some production to the United States, billionaire CEO Bernaud Arnault said at the company’s annual meeting in April.
Arnault, who attended Trump’s inauguration, has urged Europe to reach a deal based on reciprocal concessions.
“If we end up with high tariffs, … we will be forced to increase our U.S.-based production to avoid tariffs,” Arnault said. “And if Europe fails to negotiate intelligently, that will be the consequence for many companies. … It will be the fault of Brussels, if it comes to that.”
‘Road could be rocky’
Some forecasts indicate the U.S. economy would be more at risk if the negotiations fail.
Without a deal, the EU would lose 0.3 per cent of its gross domestic product and U.S. GDP would fall 0.7 per cent, if Trump slaps imported goods from Europe with tariffs of 10 per cent to 25 per cent, according to a research review by Bruegel, a think tank in Brussels.
Given the complexity of some of the issues, the two sides may arrive only at a framework deal before Wednesday’s deadline. That would likely leave a 10 per cent base tariff, as well as the auto, steel and aluminum tariffs in place until details of a formal trade agreement are ironed out.
The most likely outcome of the trade talks is that “the U.S. will agree to deals in which it takes back its worst threats of ‘retaliatory’ tariffs well beyond 10 per cent,” Schmieding said. “However, the road to get there could be rocky.”
The U.S. offering exemptions for some goods might smooth the path to a deal. The EU could offer to ease some regulations that the White House views as trade barriers.
“While Trump might be able to sell such an outcome as a ‘win’ for him, the ultimate victims of his protectionism would, of course, be mostly the U.S. consumers,” Schmieding said.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is set to discuss the possibility of Germany paying for American Patriot air defence systems for Ukraine, as he heads to Washington to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth.
On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would send an undisclosed number of Patriots to Ukraine, and that the European Union would pay for them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked for more defensive capabilities, among them Patriot systems and missiles, to fend off daily missile and drone attacks from Russia.
Here is some key information about the Patriot:
What is the Patriot system?
The Patriot, short for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target, is a mobile surface-to-air missile defense system developed by Raytheon Technologies RTX.N.
It is considered one of the most advanced air defence systems in the U.S. arsenal and has been in service since the 1980s.
A typical battery includes radar and control systems, a power unit, launchers, and support vehicles. The system can intercept aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, depending on the interceptor used.
How does the Patriot work?
The system has different capabilities depending on the type of interceptor used.
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The earlier PAC-2 interceptor uses a blast-fragmentation warhead that detonates in the vicinity of a target, while the PAC-3 family of missiles uses more accurate technology that hits the target directly.
It is not clear what kind of Patriot systems have been donated to Ukraine, but it is likely that Kyiv has at least some of the newer PAC-3 CRI interceptors.
The system’s radar has a range of over 150 km (93 miles), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said in 2015.
Although the Patriot was not originally designed to intercept hypersonic weapons and Raytheon has not yet confirmed if it is able to do so, in May 2023 the U.S. confirmed Ukraine had used it to shoot down a Russian Kinzhal missile, which Moscow claims is hypersonic.
Since January 2015, the Patriot has intercepted more than 150 ballistic missiles in combat operations, Raytheon says on its website.
Raytheon has built and delivered over 240 Patriot fire units, according to its website.
These have been shipped to 19 countries, according to Raytheon, including the U.S., Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
In January, Axios reported the U.S. had transferred about 90 Patriot interceptors from Israel to Ukraine.
A newly produced single Patriot battery costs over US$1 billion, including US$400 million for the system and $690 million for the missiles in a battery, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Patriot interceptors are estimated at around US$4 million per missile, CSIS says.
Why does Ukraine want more Patriots?
Kyiv has consistently asked Western allies for more air defences to protect critical infrastructure and civilian areas from frequent Russian missile and drone attacks.
While effective at intercepting missiles and aircraft, Patriots are a costly way to shoot down low-budget drones.
Still, Ukrainian officials say they are essential to defending key targets from Russia’s escalating long-range attacks.
Russia says it sees the Patriots as a direct escalation. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in May that supplying more systems to Ukraine would delay the chances of peace.
—Reporting by Isabel Demetz and Jesus Calero; Editing by Matt Scuffham
Politics
Over 1,400 tarantulas found hidden in cake boxes in German smuggling bust – National TenX News
Arachnophobes beware: Customs officials on Monday released photos from a seizure of roughly 1,500 young tarantulas found inside plastic containers that had been hidden in chocolate spongecake boxes shipped to an airport in western Germany.
Customs officials found the shipment at Cologne Bonn airport in a package that had arrived from Vietnam, tipped off by a “noticeable smell” that didn’t resemble the expected aroma of the seven kilograms (about 15 pounds) of the confectionery treats, Cologne customs office spokesman Jens Ahland said.
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“My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the fact that they found around 1,500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless,” Ahland said in a statement.
Ahland hailed an “extraordinary seizure,” but one that “saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit.”
Many of the eight-legged creatures didn’t survive the trip, in a suspected violation of German animal-welfare rules, while survivors were given to the care of an expert handler, the office said. Reached by phone, Ahland said that the estimated value of the shipment was being assessed.
Criminal proceedings are underway against the intended recipient in the Sauerland region, east of the airport, in part for alleged violations of failure to pay the proper import duties and make the proper customs declarations, the office said.
The tarantulas were discovered about three weeks ago, but the customs office only made the images public on Monday.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Trump set to make announcement on Russia as U.S. envoy arrives in Ukraine – National TenX News
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the three-year war.
Trump last week said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.
Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a “dictator without elections.”
But Russia’s relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore down Trump’s patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” launching deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the Russian leader “ has gone absolutely CRAZY!” as the bombardments continued.
“I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said,” Trump said late Sunday. “He’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”
The European Union can’t buy Patriot missiles
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air defences are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.
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Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot air defence missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for the “various pieces of very sophisticated” weaponry.
While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, EU member countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending weapons.
Germany has offered to finance two new Patriot systems and is awaiting official talks on the possibility of more, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington on Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine, and Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that it now has only six.
Trump ally says war at inflection point
A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia’s full-scale invasion. It’s a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.
“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: “One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for international investment who took part in talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February, dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington.
“Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,” Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram. “This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.”
NATO chief visits Washington
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as members of Congress.
Talks during Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv will cover “defense, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” said the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak.
“Russia does not want a cease fire. Peace through strength is President Donald Trump’s principle, and we support this approach,” Yermak said.
Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Four others were injured, including a seven-year-old, it said.
Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defences downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.
—Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
What is the Patriot missile system the U.S. plans to send to Ukraine? – National TenX News
Over 1,400 tarantulas found hidden in cake boxes in German smuggling bust – National TenX News
Trump set to make announcement on Russia as U.S. envoy arrives in Ukraine – National TenX News
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