Meta Faces New EU Tech Antitrust Clash After €200 Million Fine
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Meta Platforms Inc. is headed for another clash with the European Union after a €200 million ($232 million) fine failed to bring Facebook and Instagram into compliance with a tough new digital law.
The European Commission wrote to the social network giant last week, cautioning that Meta's pay or consent service — allowing ad-free services for a fee — needs further reworking, the Brussels-based EU executive told Bloomberg.
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Washington Post
30 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump wields tariffs to sway Putin on Ukraine. Here's how they might work, or not
WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin has sacrificed an estimated 1 million of his soldiers , killed and wounded, in a three-year campaign to crush Ukraine. Now President Donald Trump is betting that his go-to economic weapon — tariffs — can succeed where Ukrainian drones and rockets haven't, and finally persuade Putin to end his war.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump wields tariffs to sway Putin on Ukraine. Here's how they might work, or not
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has sacrificed an estimated 1 million of his soldiers, killed and wounded, in a three-year campaign to crush Ukraine. Now President Donald Trump is betting that his go-to economic weapon — tariffs — can succeed where Ukrainian drones and rockets haven't, and finally persuade Putin to end his war. Tariffs, which the U.S. president has called ' the most beautiful word in the dictionary,'' are taxes on imports. They are Trump's all-purpose fix — a tool he deploys to protect American industry, lure factories to the United States, tackle drug trafficking and illegal immigration, and raise money to pay for his massive tax cuts. On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised he'd negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 24 hours. But months have passed without a peace deal, and the president has recently expressed frustration with the Russians. 'We're very, very unhappy with them ... I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn't seem to get there,' Trump told reporters Monday. So in addition to agreeing to send more weapons to Ukraine, he's once again unsheathing tariffs. He said Monday the U.S. would impose 100% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, natural gas and other products if there isn't a peace deal in 50 days. The levies are meant to cause Russia financial pain by making its trading partners think twice before buying Russian energy. 'I use trade for a lot of things,'' Trump said, "but it's great for settling wars.' Trump did not spell out exactly how these "secondary'' tariffs would work, and trade analysts are skeptical. 'Unilateral tariffs are likely to be ineffective in influencing Putin's actions,' said Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economist who studies American trade policy. "Financial sanctions in cooperation with European and other allies are much more likely to damage Russian economy, but whether they soften Russia's approach is also uncertain.'' The secondary tariffs idea isn't new. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut earlier this year introduced legislation that would impose a 500% tariff on countries that buy Russian oil, petroleum products and uranium. If Trump goes through with his threat, his 100% tariffs have the potential to disrupt global commerce and push oil prices higher. They might also complicate Trump's efforts to strike separate trade deals with countries like China and India. The 100% tariffs would likely target China and India Since December 2022, when the European Union banned Russian oil, China and India have bought 85% of Russia's crude oil exports and 63% of its coal, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finnish nonprofit. So they would likely be the two countries most affected by Trump's 100% import taxes. Trump has already tangled with China this year, and things did not go well. In April, Trump plastered a 145% levy on Chinese imports, and Beijing counterpunched with 125% tariffs of its own. The triple-digit tariffs threatened to end trade between the world's two biggest economies and briefly sent financial markets reeling. China also withheld shipments of rare earth minerals used in products such as electric vehicles and wind turbines, crippling U.S. businesses. After showing how much pain they could inflict on each other, the United States and China agreed to a ceasefire. A new 100% secondary tariff 'would blow up that deal,' said Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 'China is particularly well-placed to hold out,' said Nicholas Mulder, a Cornell University historian. "All this would get us back to a position of full confrontation that would be uncomfortable for all sides.'' Hufbauer also noted that the secondary tariffs would also likely end 'any rapprochement with India'' — the world's fifth-biggest economy and one with which Trump is pursuing a trade deal. Energy prices could climb If Trump goes ahead with the tariffs, 'it would invariably lead to higher global energy prices,'' especially for natural gas, economists Kieran Tompkins and Liam Peach of Capital Economics wrote in a commentary Monday. Other oil-exporting countries have enough spare capacity to ramp up production and offset any loss of Russian oil exports in global market. But if they did, the world would have no buffer to rely on if there were an oil shock caused by, say, conflict in the Middle East — and prices could skyrocket. 'Removing that spare capacity would be akin to riding a bike with no shock absorbers,'' Tompkins and Peach wrote. The Russian economy has been resilient After Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States and its allies slammed Russia with sanctions. Among other things, the U.S. froze the assets of Russia's central bank and barred some Russian banks from using a key international payments system run by Belgium. With its allies from the Group of Seven rich nations, it also capped the price that importers could pay for Russian oil. The sanctions were expected to crush the Russian economy, but they didn't. Putin put Russia on a wartime budget, and high defense spending kept unemployment low. Military recruits were given big sign-up bonuses and the families of the fallen received death benefits, pumping income into some of Russia's poorer regions. To keep its oil sales going, Russia deployed "shadow fleets,'' hundreds of aging tankers of uncertain ownership and dodgy safety practices that delivered oil priced above the G7 price cap. 'The experience of the G7 oil price cap against Russia showed how challenging the enforcement of measures against the Russian oil trade can be,' Mulder said. Last year, the Russian economy grew 4.1%, according to the International Monetary Fund. But strains are showing, partly because Putin's war has made Russia a pariah to foreign investors. The IMF forecasts growth will decelerate to 1.5% this year, and last month the Russian economy minister warned the country is "on the brink of going into a recession.'' Trump's tariffs could increase the pressure, in part by driving down Russia's energy exports — and the revenue the Russian government collects from an energy tax. Tariffs are mostly untried as a diplomatic lever 'To my knowledge, tariffs have never been applied as an explicit anti-aggression measure,' said Mulder, author of a 2022 history of economic sanctions. "I am skeptical that the secondary tariffs threat will be effective.'' For one thing, he said, it's unclear whether Trump will actually impose them after 50 days. The president has repeatedly announced tariffs against other countries, and then sometimes suspended or tweaked them. For another, the secondary tariffs would target countries — namely China and India — that might have some sway in Moscow. 'The United States needs cooperation and collaboration to bring Russia to the negotiating table,' said Cullen Hendrix, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. "Threatening to harm the actors who actually have leverage over Moscow may backfire.'' ____ AP writers Katie Davies in Manchester, England, and Chris Megerian in Washington, contributed to this report.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump tariffs live updates: Trump announces deal with Indonesia, EU releases list of counter-tariffs
President Trump announced his team struck a trade deal with Indonesia on Tuesday that will see goods from the country face a 19% tariff. The announcement comes after Trump unveiled a new batch of letters to over 20 trade partners outlining tariffs on goods imported from their countries beginning in August. The letters set new baseline tariff levels at 20% to 40% — except for a 50% levy on goods from Brazil in a move that waded into the country's domestic politics. Indonesian goods faced a 32% tariff rate on Aug. 1, according to the July 7 letter Trump sent to Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto. Trump on Tuesday said US goods would face no import tax in Indonesia. Trump has also escalated tariff tensions with Canada, Mexico, and the European Union recently. Last week, Trump announced a 35% tariff on Canadian goods and followed that up with promises of 30% duties on Mexico and the EU. The EU has been preparing options for a trade deal, while also preparing an extensive list of counter-tariffs that would affect 72 billion euros ($84 billion USD) of American products should talks fail. "There will be a huge impact on trade,' the EU's chief negotiator said Monday. "It will be almost impossible to continue trading as we are used to in a transatlantic relationship." As markets focus on US talks, here is where things stand with other key partners: Vietnam: Trump said a deal with Vietnam will see the country's imports face a 20% tariff — lower than the 46% Trump had threatened in April. He also said Vietnamese goods would face a higher 40% tariff "on any transshipping" — when goods shipped from Vietnam originate from another country, like China. According to reports, Vietnam's leadership was caught off guard by Trump's announcement last week that it agreed to a 20% tariff and is now seeking to lower the rate. India: Trump's tariffs on Brazil have raised the stakes for India, another member of the BRICS coalition. Bloomberg reported that the countries are working toward a framework deal that could see US tariffs on goods from India drop below 20%. Russia: Trump threatened "secondary" tariffs on Russia of up to 100% as he attempts to pressure the country into negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet Here are the latest updates as the policy reverberates around the world. President Trump on Tuesday unveiled more details of an emerging trade agreement with Indonesia, saying the country's goods would face a 19% tariff when imported into the US. US goods will see no tariff when exported to Indonesia, Trump said. More from Bloomberg: Read more here. Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman reports: Read more here. Here's a look at the US's trade relationship with Indonesia as we await further details about a deal. In 2024, the US's trade deficit with Indonesia increased by 5.4% ($923 million) to $17.9 billion. The total goods traded between the countries reached $38.3 billion that year, with the US exporting $10.2 billion in goods and importing $28.1 billion worth of products. According to OEC, Indonesia's largest export products to the US include palm oil, electrical machinery, and broadcasting equipment, and rubber products, as of 2023. The US exports petroleum products, soybeans, and aircraft to Indonesia. President Trump announced that the two countries had reached a deal, though he withheld details, on Tuesday, not long after leaders of Indonesia and the European Union met in Brussels over the weekend and struck their own agreement. The US has said it will impose 30% tariffs on the EU starting Aug. 1. President Trump's latest threat to impose secondary tariffs of up to 100% on Russia comes at a delicate time for trade talks with China and India, which are crucial to the Trump administration's economic and strategic goals. On Monday, Trump threatened to place a 100% tariff rate on Russia if it didn't make significant progress toward a peace deal with Ukraine in the next 50 days. He said the duties would be secondary, meaning they would penalize any nation that traded with Russia. Such tariffs would notably target China, in particular, as it's a major buyer of Russian oil. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. President Trump posted on Truth Social: Indonesia was facing 32% tariffs on exports to the US from Aug. 1. It was one of over 20 countries whose leaders Trump has sent letters to in the past week-plus, dictating the tariff rates their countries will face next month. The latest consumer inflation report showed inflation accelerating in June, a sign that tariffs are beginning to affect consumer price increases. The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 2.7% on an annual basis in June, an uptick from May's 2.4% gain, driven by a reversal in falling gas prices. Economists had expected headline inflation to come in at 2.6%. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% compared to May's 0.1% uptick, matching economists' estimates. "Core" inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, came in a little better than expected with a 0.2% monthly increase, compared to the 0.3% rise expected. Core CPI rose 2.9% over the past year in June, in line with estimates. 'This is just the initial onset of these tariff increases, and we're going to see more over the summer," EY chief economist Gregory Daco told Yahoo Finance in response to the inflation print. "I expect a very muggy summer when it comes to inflation." Read more here. CNN reports: Read more here. The European Union has prepared a list of American goods that will be tariffed by the bloc should a mutually beneficial trade deal be reached by the Aug 1 deadline set by Trump last week. With just shy of 20% of US trade being done with the EU, there's a swath of industries that will be impacted by the tariffs should they come into effect. The full list of impacted products totals €72 billion ($84 billion USD). Bloomberg reports: Read more here. In recent weeks, President Trump postponed the tariff deal deadline to Aug. 1 and sent letters to the leaders of 25 countries informing them of new tariff rates. But one factor complicating negotiations in the days ahead is that each trade relationship faces its own set of complex issues. And while most issues center on particular industries or trade barriers, others don't seem to directly pertain to trade, as in the case of Brazil and Trump's opposition to its Supreme Court trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The chart below highlights the top issues for the US's top trading partners, which make up 85% of US trade. It also highlights the challenge of inking one-off deals with each partner, as was revealed the first time the Trump team boldly predicted 90 deals in 90 days. Talks with Canada, for instance, are likely to focus on oil and potash, whereas the Trump administration's dealings with Japanese officials are likely to center around automobiles and general market openness. Transshipping, when cargo is routed through a third country to avoid tariffs, has become a particularly tricky issue for many Southeast Asian countries, as companies look to circumvent tariffs on Chinese goods. The European Union on Monday warned of a "big gap" in trade talks after President Trump's threat of a 30% tariff on the bloc from Aug. 1. "We've been quite close in agreeing the text on the [trade] agreement in principle, but there have been clearly areas where we have quite a big gap between our two positions," said Maroš Šefčovič, the EU's lead trade negotiator, per The Financial Times. Trump's threat appears to have "confounded" the EU, with Šefčovič warning that it would make trade between the US and EU "almost impossible." For his part on Monday, Trump said he is open to more negotiations, including with the EU. But he also repeated a refrain that "the letters are the deals." The EU "would like to do a different kind of deal," he said. "We're always open to talk. We are open to talk, including to Europe. In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk." President Trump on Monday threatened to hit Russia with tariffs of up to 100% as he grows increasingly frustrated with the country and President Putin over the lack of progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. The tariffs Trump floated would be so-called secondary tariffs, which would theoretically apply to countries that trade with Russia on their imports to the US. Per the FT: Trump also confirmed plans to provide weapons to Ukraine, including Patriot missile systems that Ukraine has urged the US to send. US trade with Russia has plummeted amid the Ukraine war, with Russia now ranking out of the top 50 US partners on imports, according to 2024 US Census data. But Russia still trades with many countries in Europe and Asia — most notably China. Reebok founder Joe Foster weighed in on the realities of President Trump's tariffs that are pressuring Reebok and its rivals, such as Nike (NKE), Under Armour (UAA), and Skechers (SKX). Shifting sneaker manufacturing from China and Vietnam to the US would be 'virtually impossible overnight,' Foster said in a new episode of the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast. 'It's not something you can just turn the switch on,' Foster said. 'You've got to go somewhere where you've got a lot of people who are quite willing to sit on a machine [and the] production line. That doesn't happen overnight. In fact, in the UK, we can't get people to do that. They won't do it.' Read more here. A courtroom showdown before the US Court of Appeals over President Trump's tariffs is coming a day before his steep baseline duties are scheduled to take effect. But the legal challenges from a group of small business importers and two toy manufacturers may not immediately derail Trump's tariff plans, Yahoo Finance's Alexis Keenan reports. Here's why: Read more here. Thailand is apparently weighing letting more US goods enter its country duty-free in an attempt to score trade concessions from the Trump administration. President Trump's letter to Thailand's leader pledged a 36% tariff beginning Aug. 1. Bloomberg reports: As the report notes, Thailand was the US's largest export destination in 2024. Read more here. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Americans may not have to wait long to feel the effect of President Trump's threatened 30% tariff on imports from Mexico — whose farmers are a key supplier of foodstuffs. The AP reports: Read more here. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said US President Donald Trump's threat of 30% tariffs would hit exporters in Europe's largest economy 'to the core,' if a negotiated solution in the trade conflict can't be found in the coming weeks. The European Union will extend the suspension of trade countermeasures against the US until Aug. 1 to allow for further talks after Trump threatened a new 30% tariff rate against the bloc over the weekend. If that were to happen, Germany's government may need to postpone parts of its economic policy efforts, Merz told ARD public broadcaster in an interview in Sunday. 'That would overshadow everything, and hit the German export industry to the core.' Read more here From the AP: Read more here. President Trump on Tuesday unveiled more details of an emerging trade agreement with Indonesia, saying the country's goods would face a 19% tariff when imported into the US. US goods will see no tariff when exported to Indonesia, Trump said. More from Bloomberg: Read more here. Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman reports: Read more here. Here's a look at the US's trade relationship with Indonesia as we await further details about a deal. In 2024, the US's trade deficit with Indonesia increased by 5.4% ($923 million) to $17.9 billion. The total goods traded between the countries reached $38.3 billion that year, with the US exporting $10.2 billion in goods and importing $28.1 billion worth of products. According to OEC, Indonesia's largest export products to the US include palm oil, electrical machinery, and broadcasting equipment, and rubber products, as of 2023. The US exports petroleum products, soybeans, and aircraft to Indonesia. President Trump announced that the two countries had reached a deal, though he withheld details, on Tuesday, not long after leaders of Indonesia and the European Union met in Brussels over the weekend and struck their own agreement. The US has said it will impose 30% tariffs on the EU starting Aug. 1. President Trump's latest threat to impose secondary tariffs of up to 100% on Russia comes at a delicate time for trade talks with China and India, which are crucial to the Trump administration's economic and strategic goals. On Monday, Trump threatened to place a 100% tariff rate on Russia if it didn't make significant progress toward a peace deal with Ukraine in the next 50 days. He said the duties would be secondary, meaning they would penalize any nation that traded with Russia. Such tariffs would notably target China, in particular, as it's a major buyer of Russian oil. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. President Trump posted on Truth Social: Indonesia was facing 32% tariffs on exports to the US from Aug. 1. It was one of over 20 countries whose leaders Trump has sent letters to in the past week-plus, dictating the tariff rates their countries will face next month. The latest consumer inflation report showed inflation accelerating in June, a sign that tariffs are beginning to affect consumer price increases. The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 2.7% on an annual basis in June, an uptick from May's 2.4% gain, driven by a reversal in falling gas prices. Economists had expected headline inflation to come in at 2.6%. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% compared to May's 0.1% uptick, matching economists' estimates. "Core" inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, came in a little better than expected with a 0.2% monthly increase, compared to the 0.3% rise expected. Core CPI rose 2.9% over the past year in June, in line with estimates. 'This is just the initial onset of these tariff increases, and we're going to see more over the summer," EY chief economist Gregory Daco told Yahoo Finance in response to the inflation print. "I expect a very muggy summer when it comes to inflation." Read more here. CNN reports: Read more here. The European Union has prepared a list of American goods that will be tariffed by the bloc should a mutually beneficial trade deal be reached by the Aug 1 deadline set by Trump last week. With just shy of 20% of US trade being done with the EU, there's a swath of industries that will be impacted by the tariffs should they come into effect. The full list of impacted products totals €72 billion ($84 billion USD). Bloomberg reports: Read more here. In recent weeks, President Trump postponed the tariff deal deadline to Aug. 1 and sent letters to the leaders of 25 countries informing them of new tariff rates. But one factor complicating negotiations in the days ahead is that each trade relationship faces its own set of complex issues. And while most issues center on particular industries or trade barriers, others don't seem to directly pertain to trade, as in the case of Brazil and Trump's opposition to its Supreme Court trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The chart below highlights the top issues for the US's top trading partners, which make up 85% of US trade. It also highlights the challenge of inking one-off deals with each partner, as was revealed the first time the Trump team boldly predicted 90 deals in 90 days. Talks with Canada, for instance, are likely to focus on oil and potash, whereas the Trump administration's dealings with Japanese officials are likely to center around automobiles and general market openness. Transshipping, when cargo is routed through a third country to avoid tariffs, has become a particularly tricky issue for many Southeast Asian countries, as companies look to circumvent tariffs on Chinese goods. The European Union on Monday warned of a "big gap" in trade talks after President Trump's threat of a 30% tariff on the bloc from Aug. 1. "We've been quite close in agreeing the text on the [trade] agreement in principle, but there have been clearly areas where we have quite a big gap between our two positions," said Maroš Šefčovič, the EU's lead trade negotiator, per The Financial Times. Trump's threat appears to have "confounded" the EU, with Šefčovič warning that it would make trade between the US and EU "almost impossible." For his part on Monday, Trump said he is open to more negotiations, including with the EU. But he also repeated a refrain that "the letters are the deals." The EU "would like to do a different kind of deal," he said. "We're always open to talk. We are open to talk, including to Europe. In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk." President Trump on Monday threatened to hit Russia with tariffs of up to 100% as he grows increasingly frustrated with the country and President Putin over the lack of progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. The tariffs Trump floated would be so-called secondary tariffs, which would theoretically apply to countries that trade with Russia on their imports to the US. Per the FT: Trump also confirmed plans to provide weapons to Ukraine, including Patriot missile systems that Ukraine has urged the US to send. US trade with Russia has plummeted amid the Ukraine war, with Russia now ranking out of the top 50 US partners on imports, according to 2024 US Census data. But Russia still trades with many countries in Europe and Asia — most notably China. Reebok founder Joe Foster weighed in on the realities of President Trump's tariffs that are pressuring Reebok and its rivals, such as Nike (NKE), Under Armour (UAA), and Skechers (SKX). Shifting sneaker manufacturing from China and Vietnam to the US would be 'virtually impossible overnight,' Foster said in a new episode of the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast. 'It's not something you can just turn the switch on,' Foster said. 'You've got to go somewhere where you've got a lot of people who are quite willing to sit on a machine [and the] production line. That doesn't happen overnight. In fact, in the UK, we can't get people to do that. They won't do it.' Read more here. A courtroom showdown before the US Court of Appeals over President Trump's tariffs is coming a day before his steep baseline duties are scheduled to take effect. But the legal challenges from a group of small business importers and two toy manufacturers may not immediately derail Trump's tariff plans, Yahoo Finance's Alexis Keenan reports. Here's why: Read more here. Thailand is apparently weighing letting more US goods enter its country duty-free in an attempt to score trade concessions from the Trump administration. President Trump's letter to Thailand's leader pledged a 36% tariff beginning Aug. 1. Bloomberg reports: As the report notes, Thailand was the US's largest export destination in 2024. Read more here. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Americans may not have to wait long to feel the effect of President Trump's threatened 30% tariff on imports from Mexico — whose farmers are a key supplier of foodstuffs. The AP reports: Read more here. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said US President Donald Trump's threat of 30% tariffs would hit exporters in Europe's largest economy 'to the core,' if a negotiated solution in the trade conflict can't be found in the coming weeks. The European Union will extend the suspension of trade countermeasures against the US until Aug. 1 to allow for further talks after Trump threatened a new 30% tariff rate against the bloc over the weekend. If that were to happen, Germany's government may need to postpone parts of its economic policy efforts, Merz told ARD public broadcaster in an interview in Sunday. 'That would overshadow everything, and hit the German export industry to the core.' Read more here From the AP: Read more here.
