logo
EU races to shield Airbus and German carmakers as US tariffs loom, Ferrari left out: Report

EU races to shield Airbus and German carmakers as US tariffs loom, Ferrari left out: Report

Time of India08-07-2025
The European Union is scrambling to secure a trade deal with the US before 1 August to shield core industries from steep tariffs. Airbus stands to benefit most, while German carmakers like BMW and Mercedes could get a break through local US production. However, Italy's Ferrari faces higher costs with no exemption in sight. With billions in exports on the line, EU leaders are under pressure to strike a fair deal or risk retaliation.
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Airbus takes centre stage
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Back to 1979? US open to old deal
Winners and losers in the car sector
Tough talk and final stretch
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
The European Union is closing in on a temporary trade pact with the United States , hoping to dodge sweeping tariffs that could hit from August. Talks have zeroed in on shielding Airbus , big German car brands and Europe's prized spirits sector, as reported by BloombergNegotiators say a draft deal could let commercial aircraft dodge fresh duties, which would be a huge win for Airbus. Carmakers with US factories, like BMW and Mercedes, also look set for relief. Ferrari, though, might not be so lucky.US President Donald Trump said he is probably two days off from sending the European Union a letter disclosing the tariff rate on their exports to the U.S.Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House that the EU had been treating the U.S. very nicely recently in trade talks.Protecting Airbus is top of Brussels' list. The aircraft giant is more than just a jet maker. Its sprawling network of plants in France, Germany, China, Canada and Alabama makes it a symbol of European industrial clout.John Strickland, aviation analyst at JLS Consulting, explained why it matters. 'It's absolutely the banner-waver for European aircraft manufacturing,' he said. If tariffs push up prices, he warned, that 'would potentially have a significant dampening effect on demand and therefore the whole financial success of Airbus.'The EU's industry chief Stephane Sejourne made it clear last month that Airbus must not face 'unfair competition' from US rival Boeing , which only builds planes domestically. 'If we don't rebalance we would leave some leading sectors unprotected, so there's an economic interest in acting like this,' Sejourne told Bloomberg.Hopes for a breakthrough rose last month when US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested rolling back to the old 1979 aviation deal that scrapped tariffs on planes and parts. 'We should take aviation off the negotiating table, by going back to 1979, and that only helps us take some tools away from our trading partners where it might be beneficial to us,' Duffy told reporters at the Paris Air Show.But the clock is ticking. Without an agreement, tariffs on EU exports to the US could spike from 10% to 50% overnight. EU estimates put affected exports at 380 billion euros, about 70% of the bloc's shipments to America.German brands stand to gain the most from possible carve-outs. The US wants European carmakers to shift more production to its soil to dodge the worst tariffs. BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen are ready. Ferrari and Porsche, not so much.Porsche and Ferrari ship all their cars from Europe. They do not have plants in the US, so they would face higher costs. Volkswagen's Audi brand is still weighing its options. It might start building cars in America, but a site has not been picked yet.Even so, the pressure is real. Audi's Q5 SUV is a top seller in the US but comes from Mexico. Sales tumbled 29% last quarter. Mercedes will move production of its popular GLC SUV to Alabama by 2027 to avoid future shocks.Germany's finance minister Lars Klingbeil underlined the stakes this week. 'We want an agreement with the Americans,' he told lawmakers in Berlin. 'But the deal must be fair and if we do not succeed in reaching a fair deal with the US, then the EU will have to take countermeasures to protect our economy.'Europe's economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis added urgency in Brussels. 'The faster we can reach the agreement, the better, because that would remove uncertainty surrounding these tariff questions and indeed we see that it is weighing on the economy and also on investment decisions of the companies,' he said.For now, talks continue under Trump's extension of the deadline from 9 July to 1 August. EU diplomats say exemptions could still cover spirits and cosmetics alongside aircraft and cars. Steel is proving tougher. Washington's 25% steel tariff still stands with no sign of budging.With US and EU trade worth billions, neither side can afford a collapse. The EU has already slashed its 2024 growth forecast from 1.5% to 1.1% because of the trade fight. If the deal falls through, tariffs could double or more, stoking fresh economic pain on both sides of the Atlantic.Brussels and Washington now have weeks, not months, to find common ground. The stakes are clear. Some European companies will win. Some may lose. But everyone is waiting for that signature on the dotted line.(With inputs from TOI, Bloomberg)
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

What is Donald Trump's connection to Scotland? His mum, golf and more
What is Donald Trump's connection to Scotland? His mum, golf and more

First Post

time28 minutes ago

  • First Post

What is Donald Trump's connection to Scotland? His mum, golf and more

Donald Trump's visit to Scotland goes beyond golf — it's a return to his maternal roots on the Isle of Lewis. With new tributes to his late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, and potential political meetings amid planned protests, how much of his identity is still tied to Scotland? read more Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Turnberry Golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, June 24, 2016. File Image/Reuters United States President Donald Trump will land in Scotland on Friday (July 25, 2025), marking his first visit to the United Kingdom since securing a second term in office. Officially designated a private trip by the White House, the president's itinerary includes stops at his two flagship golf resorts — Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen and the Turnberry estate in South Ayrshire. Despite its private nature, the visit reportedly includes scheduled meetings with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland's First Minister John Swinney. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump is expected to return for an official state visit to the UK in September. Preparations for his arrival have triggered logistical challenges and security concerns. Police Scotland, anticipating demonstrations similar to those during his previous visits, has requested backup from other UK law enforcement agencies. Large-scale protests were seen during Trump's 2018 tour, when thousands marched in Scottish cities, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow. On that occasion, protestors booed as he played golf at Turnberry, and a paraglider flew over the resort with an anti-Trump banner. Organisers of the group Stop Trump Scotland have called for renewed demonstrations during this year's visit. The structure of this visit allows Trump to freely choose his engagements, with his primary focus being his business interests in Scottish golf — a sector he has repeatedly highlighted as both legacy and enterprise. The US president's mother: Mary Anne MacLeod Trump Donald Trump's ancestral roots lie in the Outer Hebrides, a rugged chain of islands off the northwest coast of Scotland. His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in 1912 in the village of Tong, located just three miles from Stornoway, the Isle of Lewis's main town. She was the youngest of ten children in a Gaelic-speaking family. Her father, Malcolm MacLeod, managed a post office and a general store in Tong, offering the family modest stability during difficult times. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Although they were slightly more affluent than some local households, life on the island during and after World War I was marked by scarcity and tragedy. Lewis had suffered grievous losses in the conflict, including the Iolaire disaster of 1919, in which approximately 200 servicemen returning from war perished in the harbour at Stornoway. Amid post-war hardship and limited economic opportunity, many islanders sought new lives abroad. Mary Anne joined that wave of migration in 1930 at age 18, leaving with her sister Catherine, who had already emigrated and returned to visit. Upon reaching New York, Mary Anne initially found work as a nanny in an affluent household but lost the job as the US economy collapsed following the Wall Street Crash. Mary Anne MacLeod Trump died in 2000 at the age of 88. Members of her extended family still live on Lewis. File Image She briefly returned to Scotland in 1934 but soon went back to the US, having met and begun a relationship with Fred Trump, a successful real estate developer and the son of German immigrants. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD They married in 1936, settled in Queens, New York, and Mary Anne became a US citizen in 1942. She passed away in August 2000 at the age of 88. Donald Trump is the fourth of their five children. Though he was raised in New York, his mother's homeland remained close to him. 'My mother was born in Scotland — Stornoway, which is serious Scotland,' he said in 2017. Mary Anne maintained strong ties to her birthplace, regularly visiting Lewis throughout her life. According to BBC, she remained fluent in Gaelic and was well-regarded in her hometown community. During visits, she attended the local church and maintained connections with her extended family. To this day, three of Donald Trump's cousins continue to live on Lewis, including two who now reside in the house where Mary Anne was born. The original structure has since been rebuilt, but the familial bond remains. These relatives have consistently declined all media interviews and have stayed out of the public eye. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The house where Donald Trump's mother grew up is seen in Tong on the Isle of Lewis and Harris, an island off the northwestern tip of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides, Scorland, April 27, 2016. File Image/Reuters Trump himself has made only two known visits to his mother's home village. In 2008, he visited the family home in Tong as an adult and said he had also visited once as a small child, though he remembered little. His 2008 stopover was brief — he reportedly spent just 97 seconds in the ancestral house. Are Trump's Scottish golf ventures about legacy? Trump's commercial footprint in Scotland centres around two major properties: Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire and Trump Turnberry in South Ayrshire. The Aberdeenshire venture began in 2006 when Trump acquired a coastal tract north of Aberdeen with the aim of developing a world-class golf destination. The project faced strong local resistance from conservationists and residents concerned about the ecological impact. The site included sand dunes that were home to rare wildlife such as badgers, otters, kittiwakes and skylarks. The controversy attracted global attention. US property mogul Donald Trump leads a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland, May 27, 2010. File Image/Reuters Michael Forbes, a local fisherman, became a symbol of resistance after he refused to sell his land to Trump, despite a lucrative offer of £350,000. Trump was publicly critical of Forbes's property, describing it as 'a slum and a pigsty,' reported AP. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Despite the opposition, the Scottish government backed the plan, and the Trump International Golf Links officially opened in 2012. Nevertheless, some of the project's most ambitious elements — including plans for 500 homes and a 450-room hotel — have not materialised. Financially, the resort has struggled. In 2023, the latest available accounts reported a loss of £1.4 million. 'If it weren't for my mother, would I have walked away from this site? I think probably I would have, yes,' Trump remarked during the development phase. 'Possibly, had my mother not been born in Scotland, I probably wouldn't have started it.' This year, a second 18-hole course at the site is set to open. Named the MacLeod Course in tribute to Mary Anne, the launch is expected to coincide with Trump's visit. The adjacent hotel is also named after her — the Trump MacLeod House and Lodge Hotel. Turnberry, Trump's other high-profile property, is a much older and more established venue. He purchased the resort, including its three coastal golf courses and a five-star hotel, in 2014 for approximately £40 million. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Turnberry is widely known for hosting The Open Championship, though the tournament has not returned to the course since 2009. US President Donald Trump gestures as he walks on the course of his golf resort, in Turnberry, Scotland, July 14, 2018. File Image/Reuters Local sentiment in Ayrshire has been more favourable compared to the Aberdeenshire project. 'He did bring employment to the area,' Louise Robertson, a Turnberry-area resident told AP. 'I know that in terms of the hotel and the lighthouse, he spent a lot of money restoring it, so again, that was welcomed by the local people. But other than that, I can't really say positive things about it.' Trump has pushed for The Open to return to Turnberry. However, the tournament's organisers have cited ongoing issues related to transportation and accommodation infrastructure as obstacles. How Trump's political ties with Scotland have evolved Trump's relationship with Scottish officials has evolved over the years — from honourary recognition to outright rejection. More than a decade ago, he was named a business ambassador in the GlobalScot network. However, that status was revoked in 2015 following his controversial comments about banning Muslims from entering the United States. Around the same time, Robert Gordon University withdrew an honourary doctorate it had awarded him in 2010. In the next few days, Trump is set to meet with John Swinney, Scotland's First Minister, who had supported Kamala Harris during the previous US election cycle. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A placard is attached to a stake in the ground during a protest against the visit of US President Donald Trump, in Edinburgh, Scotland, July 14, 2018. File Image/Reuters A spokesperson for Trump's business interests in Scotland called Swinney's earlier endorsement 'an insult.' Nonetheless, Swinney has confirmed the meeting, saying it serves 'Scotland's interest.' Trump will also confer with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with whom he reportedly enjoys a constructive rapport. Despite ideological differences, Trump recently said, 'I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he's a liberal.' Trade discussions are expected to include a focus on securing exemptions for UK steel from American tariffs. There is no confirmation as to whether Trump and Starmer will visit either golf course together. Starmer is not known to be a golfer. Ironically, Trump's Scottish story is one of immigration. With inputs from agencies

Stock markets fall for second day; Sensex tanks 721 points
Stock markets fall for second day; Sensex tanks 721 points

The Hindu

time28 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

Stock markets fall for second day; Sensex tanks 721 points

Stock markets declined for the second day in a row on Friday (July 25, 2025), with the Sensex tumbling 721 points due to heavy selling in financial, IT and oil & gas shares amid persistent foreign fund outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 721.08 points or 0.88 per cent to settle at over a month's low of 81,463.09. During the day, it plunged 786.48 points or 0.95 per cent to 81,397.69. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 225.10 points or 0.90 per cent to a month's low of 24,837. Analysts said a weak trend in Asian and European markets also dented investors' sentiment. Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said, "Subdued corporate results and lacklustre global cues triggered a broad-based sell-off across domestic equities. Elevated valuations in large-cap stocks, coupled with significant net short positions held by FIIs, added to the downward pressure." Among Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance declined 4.73 per cent post its June quarter earnings announcement. Power Grid, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Trent, Tata Motors, NTPC and Adani Ports were also among the laggards. However, Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel emerged as gainers. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,133.69 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. However, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth ₹2,617.14 crore. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled lower while South Korea's Kospi ended in positive territory.. European markets were trading lower. The U.S. markets ended on a mixed note on Thursday (July 24). India and the U.K. signed a landmark free trade agreement on Thursday, which, starting next year, will see 99 per cent of Indian exports enter the UK duty-free, while reducing tariffs on British products such as cars and whisky. The deal, which comes days ahead of the US moratorium on higher tariffs coming to an end, aims to double the USD 56 billion trade between the world's fifth and sixth largest economies by 2030. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.32 per cent to USD 69.40 a barrel. On Thursday, the Sensex tanked 542.47 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 82,184.17. The Nifty dropped 157.80 points or 0.63 per cent to 25,062.10.

Trump Agenda Stuck in Legal Wrangling Despite Supreme Court Wins
Trump Agenda Stuck in Legal Wrangling Despite Supreme Court Wins

Mint

time28 minutes ago

  • Mint

Trump Agenda Stuck in Legal Wrangling Despite Supreme Court Wins

President Donald Trump has cast successes at the US Supreme Court as broad endorsements of his authority to fire agency heads, shrink the government workforce and halt billions of dollars in federal spending. Some lower court judges see it differently. Supreme Court rulings are supposed to be the final word on disagreements over the law. But the growing number of decisions being issued with little explanation on an emergency basis — often referred to as the 'shadow docket' — is creating even more legal wrangling. Now, tensions are building not only between the executive branch and the courts, but also within the judiciary. 'This is not helpful at all for lower court judges,' said Dickinson College President John Jones, a former federal district judge in Pennsylvania confirmed during the George W. Bush administration. 'You're reading an abbreviated opinion from the Supreme Court like it's a Rosetta Stone.' The Justice Department has been arguing that the emergency track wins should translate into victories in other lawsuits against Trump's agenda. Federal judges are pushing back, saying the high court isn't giving them enough to work with. This week, the Supreme Court stepped in to settle one such dispute that one of its earlier orders created. A Maryland federal judge had blocked Trump's removal of Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, saying it was different in key ways from a firing fight the justices resolved in the president's favor on May 22. In a two-paragraph order on Wednesday, the conservative majority said the district judge got it wrong, and the officials couldn't keep their jobs while they pressed the merits of their lawsuit. The problem, some judges say, is that more cases are reaching the justices on an emergency basis — often in the early stages, without oral arguments and with minimal or no explanation. These orders are frequently just a few paragraphs issued in weeks or even days, in stark contrast with argued cases that unfold over months and result in lengthy opinions offering more robust guidance. In yet another in the growing stack of firing cases, a Washington federal judge last week refused to let Trump oust Democrats from the Federal Trade Commission. US District Judge Loren AliKhan said she wouldn't read the 'tea leaves' in the justices' May 22 decision, a four-paragraph order that let Trump fire top officials at two other agencies. That ruling 'weighs against' the dismissed officials, she said, but doesn't settle questions over a 90-year-old precedent limiting a president's firing power at federal agencies. 'It would be an act of judicial hubris' to base a decision on what the justices might do later, AliKhan wrote in her order reinstating one of the commissioners. She was 'unsure of what to make of' the justices' order, absent more details about what they intended or how they reached their outcome. An appeals court has temporarily paused her ruling. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. A senior White House official who requested anonymity to discuss pending litigation said lower court judges aren't respecting the spirit of the Supreme Court's orders as well as the rulings themselves, and seemed to be taking extraordinary steps to avoid applying them to other cases. The official accused judges of defying the Supreme Court because of policy disagreements. The conflicts are growing as the Trump administration has taken lower court losses to the justices on an emergency basis 21 times so far this year. Unlike cases the court hears on the merits, emergency cases usually don't involve in-person arguments, robust written briefs or lengthy opinions that explain how the majority reached a decision. They don't offer a rubric for lower courts to apply new precedents going forward. For the Supreme Court's 2023-24 term, the average length of a majority opinion was 5,010 words, according to Empirical SCOTUS, a blog that tracks data on the high court. The majority's July 14 emergency order that allowed the administration to go ahead with Education Department layoffs — praised by Trump on social media as 'a Major Victory' — was only 104 words. There are rare exceptions, such as the fight over Trump's birthright citizenship plan, in which the justices heard arguments and wrote a lengthy opinion. Still, the majority's June decision — which Trump called a 'GIANT WIN' on social media — left key issues unresolved for lower courts to sort through. The justices curbed judges' authority to expansively halt government actions but didn't completely rule out nationwide blocks. They didn't touch the core question of whether Trump's executive order is constitutional. In an emergency order, the Supreme Court considers which side is ultimately likely to succeed on the underlying legal questions, but the justices also focus on the harm each side might suffer in the interim. Tension on the Supreme Court over the escalating shadow docket activity predates Trump's latest term in office. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in 2021 that the conservative majority's use of the process resulted in decisions that were becoming 'more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend.' Justice Samuel Alito accused critics of portraying the process as something 'sinister' in order to 'intimidate the court or damage it as an independent institution.' In remarks to a federal judges' conference on Thursday, Kagan underscored her concerns about the challenges that emergency orders create for lower courts. The justices 'don't usually meet about shadow docket matters and discuss them in the way we do with merits cases,' she said. There is 'a real responsibility that I think we didn't recognize when we first started down this road to explain things better.' The Trump administration's 21 emergency requests in six months exceeds the total number brought by the Biden administration and during the combined presidencies of Barack Obama and George W. Bush, according to research by Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor and prominent critic of the court's use of the shadow docket. The government has won 16 of the cases at least in part, even if only temporarily. The administration withdrew one application and largely lost four cases, including one filed by Venezuelans who were at risk of being sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison. Trump's wave of policies testing the bounds of presidential power has been met with a deluge of lawsuits, many of which have included requests by challengers for swift intervention by judges. The Justice Department, in turn, has quickly moved to at least temporarily halt the effects of lower court losses while it appeals. But that strategy hasn't always worked. It took just over two weeks for a federal appeals court in Boston to deny the government's emergency request to resume cuts to scientific research grants that a district judge blocked. In a July 18 order, a three-judge panel said it had 'no difficulty distinguishing' the facts of the case from the justices' emergency order in April letting the administration cut teacher-training grants. The Justice Department on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the grant fight. In its latest emergency application the administration claimed that 'district-court defiance' of the justices' April order 'has grown to epidemic proportions' in other funding cases. A Boston federal judge this month rejected the Justice Department's attempt to 'misguidedly argue' that two other Supreme Court orders required her to let Trump fire Department of Health and Human Services workers. In the first order, the justices said Trump could broadly proceed with a push to shrink the federal workforce but didn't rule on the lawfulness of any agency plan. In the other, the majority didn't offer an explanation when it let layoffs continue at the Education Department. The HHS case was likely to 'wind its way up and down the appellate courts,' US District Judge Melissa DuBose wrote, but 'this court declines the defendants' invitation to short circuit that process.' Soon after the Supreme Court ruled in the mass firing fight, the San Francisco federal judge handling that case rejected the government's argument that it was effectively over. US District Judge Susan Illston wrote that the justices' 'terse order' was 'inherently preliminary' and left issues unsettled. With agencies carrying out layoffs following the Supreme Court's order, she wrote, 'the issues in this case remain of significant public importance.' The Justice Department raced to a federal appeals court, which this week temporarily paused Illston's latest order while it decides what to do. Should the government lose the latest round, it could bring the case back to the justices. With assistance from Suzanne Monyak and Greg Stohr. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store