Texas flood: Rescuers search for girls missing from riverside summer camps
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Trump shows he 'controls Republican party' as it passes tax and spending bill
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United States : P. Diddy acquitted of most serious charges
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Trump says terminating trade talks with Canada over tax on tech firms
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France 24
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- France 24
Donald Trump escalates war on the press as journalists face mounting pressure
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LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
The EU must assert itself in its trade relationship with the US
"Trump always chickens out." The phrase, coined by a columnist at the Financial Times, has been circulating widely in recent weeks. The idea that the US president speaks loudly but does not always follow through on his threats has fueled complacency among stock markets regarding the risks his trade war poses to the global economy. However, accusations of cowardice may not apply to Donald Trump alone. The European Union's hesitance in the face of Trump's maneuvering has also raised questions about whether the 27 member states can truly engage in the kind of power struggle that is now essential. While Brussels believed it was on track to minimize the tariffs on European exports to the United States, Trump dashed the EU's hopes by announcing on July 12 that he would unilaterally impose a 30% tax starting August 1. Is this a final bluff to extract further concessions, or a definitive move that could deal a severe blow to European growth? In any case, as the American president ramps up the pressure, the EU continues to waver, trying to salvage what it still can. European leaders have responded with lackluster retaliatory measures that have done little to deter Trump, who seems indifferent to the economic consequences of his actions. This game of high-stakes bluffing is likely to benefit the party setting the rules, to the detriment of those who are forced to adapt, always a step behind and uncertain of the game's true objective. Setting ambitious goals The confrontation appears to be based on a misunderstanding. The EU seeks to negotiate in good faith, aiming for fair trade based on the principle of comparative advantage between countries. But the US president has little interest in this quest for a mutually beneficial, purely commercial agreement. His ambitions go further. He aims to undermine Europe by any means, because he despises everything it stands for: supranationalism, multilateralism, progressivism and the primacy of law. Yet the EU has no reason to apologize for what it represents, nor to make concessions on its tax policy or the regulatory framework it has established for digital services. In this final stretch of negotiations, Europe must give the talks a political dimension, moving beyond the technical aspects that have dominated the debate so far. The EU should clearly set out its red lines and aim high. Settling for a compromise as unfavorable as the one the United Kingdom accepted in May would be unacceptable. If the 27 member states, as the US's top trading partner, fail to demonstrate that they carry more weight than a single country, it would send a disastrous message about the purpose of the European project. The EU's strategy of absorbing American provocations without actually implementing the retaliatory measures at its disposal has shown its limitations. The "proportionate, robust, and well-calibrated" reprisals promoted by the 27 member states do not measure up to what is a clear act of aggression, one whose aim goes beyond simply rebalancing the US trade deficit – its goal is to subordinate Europe. If Europe were to "chicken out," the consequences would not be purely economic.
LeMonde
8 hours ago
- LeMonde
US exchanges Venezuelans held in El Salvador prison for Americans
Hundreds of Venezuelans swept up in Donald Trump's immigration dragnet were abruptly freed from a maximum security Salvadoran jail and sent home as part of a prisoner swap Friday, July 18, ending a months-long high-profile ordeal. The Trump administration said they were released in exchange for 10 Americans or US residents held in Venezuela, and an undefined number of "political prisoners." The 252 men were accused – without evidence – of being gang members and flown to the notorious CECOT "anti-terror" jail last March. There, they were shackled, shorn and paraded before cameras – becoming emblematic of Trump's immigration crackdown and drawing howls of protest. On Friday, after months of legal challenges and political stonewalling, the men arrived at an airport near Caracas. "Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country," Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on social media. The men had been deported from the United States under rarely used wartime powers and denied court hearings. Exiled Salvadoran rights group Cristosal believes that just seven of the 252 men had criminal records. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro thanked Trump for "the decision to rectify this totally irregular situation." 'High price' Global Reach, an NGO that works for wrongly detained Americans, said one of the men freed was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, held since he was "kidnapped" by Venezuelan border guards while vacationing in Colombia in January. "We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal," it quoted his younger sister Sophie Hunter as saying. Uruguay said one of its citizens, resident in the United States, was among those liberated after nine months in Venezuelan detention. Another plane arrived at Maiquetia airport earlier Friday from Houston with 244 Venezuelans deported from the United States and seven children who Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said had been "rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected." The children were among 30 who Caracas says remained in the US after their Venezuelan parents were deported. Clamping down on migrants is a flagship pursuit of Trump's administration, which has ramped up raids and deportations. It has agreed with Maduro to send undocumented Venezuelans back home, and flights have been arriving near daily also from Mexico, where many got stuck trying to enter the United States. Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico, including some 1,000 children. The Venezuelans detained in El Salvador had no right to phone calls or visits, and their relatives unsuccessfully requested proof of life. Bukele had CECOT built as part of his war on criminal gangs, but he agreed to receive millions of dollars from the United States to house the Venezuelans there. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have denounced the detentions as a violation of human rights.
