First Thing: US-EU trade deal is a ‘dark day' for Europe, says French PM

The Guardian

6 days ago

Good morning.
The US-EU trade deal, clinched in a ballroom at Donald Trump's golf resort in Scotland on Sunday, has been criticised by France's prime minister and business leaders across Germany.
The deal, which will impose 15% tariffs on almost all European exports to the US including cars, ends the threat of punitive 30% import duties being imposed on Trump's 1 August deadline for a deal, but it is a world apart from the zero-zero import and export tariff the EU offered initially.
It also means European exporters to the US will face more than triple the average 4.8% tariff now in force, with negotiations to continue on steel, which is still facing a 50% tariff, aviation, and a question mark over future barriers to pharmaceutical exports.
What did the French prime minister say? France's prime minister, François Bayrou, said Europe had submitted to the US, on a 'dark day' for the union. 'It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, gathered to affirm their values and defend their interests, resolves to submission,' Bayrou posted on X.
Palestinians in Gaza have reacted with wariness after Israel began a limited, daily pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza to allow what Benjamin Netanyahu described as a 'minimal' amount of aid into the territory.
Scores of Palestinians have died of starvation in recent weeks in a crisis attributed by humanitarian organisations and the UN to Israel's blockade of almost all aid into the territory. The World Food Programme (WFP) said 90,000 women and children were in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition and that one in three people were going without food for days.
The Israeli military said it had begun a 'tactical pause' in the densely populated areas of Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi and that the pause would be repeated every day from 10am to 8pm local time until further notice.
How will Israel's 'humanitarian pauses' affect Gaza's starvation crisis? Israel has announced airdropped aid will resume and that humanitarian corridors would be established to facilitate the entry of UN aid trucks into Gaza. NGOs say these steps may ease aid access, but with mass starvation already under way, far more is needed. In particular, humanitarian groups have called for a full ceasefire in order to get civilians the help they need.
The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, said yesterday he would have 'great pause' about granting a pardon or commutation to Ghislaine Maxwell while another House Republican said it should be considered as part of an effort to obtain more information about Jeffrey Epstein's crimes.
The splits over what to do with Maxwell illustrate the complicated challenge posed by the scandal for Trump, his Maga base and the broader Republican party. Donald Trump and his allies, including Johnson, have been under immense pressure to disclose more information about Epstein for weeks.
Johnson weighed in on the possibility of a pardon after Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, met with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, over two days last week.
What did Johnson say about the potential pardon? 'If you're asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance. I think she should have a life sentence at least. I mean, think of all these unspeakable crimes,' he told NBC's Meet the Press yesterday.
A top US medical body has expressed 'deep concern' to Robert F Kennedy Jr over news reports that the health secretary plans to overhaul a panel that determines which preventive health measures including cancer screenings should be covered by insurance companies.
The daughter of a woman murdered by a man from Laos who is among those controversially deported from the US to South Sudan has decried the lack of rights afforded to those who were expelled to countries other than their own.
Several passersby helped apprehend a suspect who stabbed 11 people at a Walmart in Michigan, with video footage showing several citizens confronting him.
Americans are getting married, having kids, buying a home, and retiring years later than what once was the norm – and many don't ever reach these milestones. The Guardian heard from hundreds of readers who shared their stories about how the current economic and political climate has put some of their biggest life decisions on hold.
Donald Trump's obsession with dealmaking isn't about securing success so much as performing it, writes Arjun Appadurai. By treating every deal as a branding exercise – successful or not – Trump has found a way to amass wealth, skirt accountability and outmaneuver traditional markets. His defining trait? Avarice, not ambition.
An Iowa toddler who was born when his mother was less than five months pregnant has been recognized as the world's most premature baby by Guinness World Records. When he was born Nash, who recently turned one, weighed only 10 ounces (283 grams).
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now.
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email [e-mail]