Germany, France criticise US-EU trade deal
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CNA
8 minutes ago
- CNA
EU wine, spirits to face 15% US tariff from Aug 1, EU says
BRUSSELS: European wine and spirits will face a 15 per cent United States import tariff until a different deal is agreed in talks expected to continue in the autumn, the European Commission and EU diplomats said on Thursday (Jul 31), dashing producers' hopes of an immediate reprieve. A framework trade deal between Brussels and Washington on Sunday agreed a 15 per cent tariff for most EU imports into the US, although some sectors were expected to be exempted. The US tariff on European wine and spirits is currently 10 per cent. Brussels is keen to reduce that to zero or, for wine at least, to the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rates that are set on a fixed cost per litre basis, rather than in percentage terms. "The Commission remains determined to achieve and secure the maximum number of carve-outs including for traditional EU products such as wine and spirits," Commission spokesperson for trade Olof Gill told a news conference. "It is not our expectation that wine and spirits will be included as an exemption in the first group announced by the US tomorrow. And therefore that sector will be captured by the 15 per cent ceiling," he said. Wine-makers said the tariff, even if temporary, would hurt the sector, especially when combined with the stronger euro. "The 15 per cent duty on EU wines, even if applied for some months until the negotiations are closed, would cause significant economic losses not only for EU wine producers but also for US businesses involved throughout the supply chain," said Ignacio Sanchez Recarte, secretary general of European wine producers group CEEV. "When combined with the currency shift in the USD/EUR exchange rate, the overall financial burden on the sector could reach 30 per cent. Investments will be halted and export volumes will decline while waiting for the final agreement," he said. The US is to publish an executive order on Friday, implementing the framework trade deal that was agreed on Sunday between US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Separately, the EU and the US are set to publish a joint statement in the coming days spelling out the details of the framework deal. A senior diplomat close to the negotiations told Reuters that talks on wine and spirits tariffs would continue after the EU and US finalise their joint statement. "(This will take place) probably in the autumn," the diplomat said. Until recently, spirits had benefited from zero tariffs between the US and EU following an agreement in 1997 that also included other countries such as Canada and Japan. That lasted until 2018, when the EU response to US steel and aluminium tariffs included increased duties on US bourbon and other spirits. These were suspended in 2021. US MFN rates for wine are 19.8 cents per litre for sparkling and 6.3 cents per litre for most other wines, which equates to very low rates in most cases.
Straits Times
38 minutes ago
- Straits Times
India holds its ground for now as Trump slaps 25% tariff and threatens penalty for trade with Russia
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Like Mr Trump, whose policies revolve around his domestic Maga base, Mr Modi is also a nationalist leader who cannot afford to ignore his domestic constituency. – The Modi government found itself in an unenviable position with limited choices after US President Donald Trump levied a 25 per cent tax on India from Aug 1 and threatened India with an additional penalty for doing business with Russia. Still, analysts noted, India's best bet is to continue negotiating a trade agreement, which has been stuck over the quantum of American access into the Indian market, particularly in the agriculture and dairy sectors. After calling India a 'friend', Mr Trump blasted India in a Truth Social post on July 30, saying the South Asian country had 'the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country'. He also warned that India would have to pay a 'penalty' for buying a large portion of its military equipment from Russia and is 'Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China'. India had hoped its close ties with the US and shared concerns over the growing assertiveness of China would shield it from the worst of the tariffs. Instead, at 25 per cent, the tariff on India is higher than that for most of its Asian peers, including Japan at 15 per cent, as well as for the EU, also at 15 per cent. India's oil bill is expected to go up and exports to the US in pharmaceuticals and electronics, among others, are set to become less competitive. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding S'pore-bound ships, flights Singapore 5 foreign women suspected of trafficking 27kg of cocaine nabbed in Changi Airport Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO Singapore 17-member committee to drive roll-out of autonomous vehicles in Singapore Business Singapore gold investment soars 37% to 2.2 tonnes in Q2 while jewellery demand wanes Singapore Underground pipe leak likely reason for water supply issues during Toa Payoh fire: Town council Multimedia 60 years, 60 items: A National Day game challenge Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' Modi can't afford to ignore domestic constituency Still, Mr Trump's latest tariff threats are being viewed in India as a negotiating tactic to push for greater access into the Indian market. For now, the Indian government appeared to be holding its ground, saying it would protect farmers and small businesses, underlining how the stakes are high for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'The government will take all steps necessary to secure our national interest, as has been the case with other trade agreements,' the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement on July 30. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said in Parliament the next day that the government is studying the implications of the US tariffs and assessing how it can protect India's trade interests. Like Mr Trump, whose policies revolve around his domestic Maga base, Mr Modi is also a nationalist leader who cannot afford to ignore his domestic constituency and provide unfettered access to American businesses. Commentators noted that Mr Trump, in all likelihood, is pushing for a deal like the ones clinched with Indonesia or Japan, pushing for zero duties on a majority of goods from the US. A key sticking point in talks has been over India giving the US greater market access in India's agriculture and dairy sectors. Indian farmers, a strong domestic lobby, have opposed the entry of American produce. Given that over 60 per cent of India's population is tied to agriculture, the domestic political fallout for Mr Modi far outweighs the US tariff threats, said Dr Biswajit Dhar, a trade economist and former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. 'The government of India actually stood up to the pressure by Trump and the American administration. We sort of walked down the path that China had done. This is what is expected of a large country,' noted Dr Dhar, echoing the widespread sentiment that India had to stand up to the bullying tactics. 'It is impossible for the Indian government to accept opening up these two areas (agriculture and dairy). The political consequences would be huge. The Indian government's resistance in negotiations was entirely justified. It makes good economic sense.' Any cards left to play? Analysts noted that Indian negotiators in trade talks would be banking on an assessment that Mr Trump would not want the cost of drugs or iPhones to go up in the US market due to the 25 per cent and above tariff. The US is India's largest export market, with exports to the country reaching US$79.44 billion (S$102.9 billion) by 2024. India's exports to the US – accounting for 18 per cent of its total exports – include gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals and textiles. 'India will be hoping that at least pharmaceuticals will be spared, as they were earlier,' Dr Amitendu Palit, senior research fellow and research lead (trade and economics) at the NUS Institute of South Asian Studies. 'The other hope is that negotiations are continuing and a breakthrough is possible in the coming weeks,' he added. India also has some room to manoeuvre – unlike export-oriented South-east Asian countries, India still remains a services-led economy. Over half of India's GDP comes from the service industry, compared with just about 17 per cent from the manufacturing sector. Ms Radhika Rao, a senior economist and executive director at DBS Bank, assessed that, ultimately the US tariff would come down through negotiations. 'Factoring in sectoral exemptions (such as pharmaceuticals) and the likelihood of follow-up discussions, the effective rate might settle into the new indicative baseline range of 15 to 20 per cent, levelling the field with (India's) regional competitors,' she said. Mr Goyal had stated over the weekend that trade discussions between India and the US had been 'progressing very well'. Mr Trump himself said on several occasions that a deal was imminent. One sector with large exposure to the US market is smartphones, where India has overtaken China to become the top exporter of smartphones to the US, according to research firm Canalys on July 28. The firm noted that smartphones assembled in India accounted for 44 per cent of US imports of the device in the second quarter of 2025, up from 13 per cent for the same quarter the previous year. 'This likely means iPhones will become more expensive for Americans, but there is a high chance that this might not be the final tariff number, as we have seen with other countries like Japan,' said Mr Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, a global technology market research firm. 'For India, we believe that it will continue to gain more production volume for iPhones – the cost difference between China and India is still there due to tariffs and other variables. Since iPhones are not yet manufactured in Vietnam – which still has a 20 per cent tariff – the main implication is that unless Apple decides to absorb the extra cost or gets an exemption, it will likely be passed on to consumers,' he added. Apple assembled US$22 billion worth of iPhones in India in the 12 months ending March 2025 – a 60 per cent increase over the previous year – according to earlier reports. Mr Trump has also threatened Apple with additional tariffs and urged the company's CEO Tim Cook to make iPhones domestically. Penalty for ties with Russia a 'blackmail' Mr Anup Wadhawan, a former commerce secretary, said the most 'alarming' part of Mr Trump's litany of complaints against India is the penalty for doing trade with Russia. 'We are a low per capita economy; incomes are low and we have a poverty challenge. It is a lifeline to get cheap oil. And as far as defence procurement from Russia is concerned, it is age-old. We cannot accept his kind of blackmail,' he said. Mr Trump has not revealed the details of the penalty yet. In a separate post on Truth Social on July 31, a day after Mr Trump announced tariff of 25 per cent for India, he said: 'I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India.' India has long practised a policy of strategic autonomy, refusing to be drawn into a formal alliance with the US, while maintaining longstanding relations with Russia, dating back to when they were Cold War allies. Under Mr Trump, this policy of strategic autonomy has come under pressure, as he has also targeted the Brics grouping – which counts India, Russia and China as members – for its efforts to look for dollar alternatives. Russia had also provided India with military equipment when the West refused to do so. India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had said that Western countries opted for a military dictatorship in the region as its 'preferred partner' and did not supply arms to New Delhi for decades, in a thinly veiled reference to the US' ties to Pakistan. An estimated 68 per cent of Indian weaponry is still of Russian origin even though defence imports from Russia have been declining as India has expanded its procurement to include countries such as Israel and the US. Amid the US threats, India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier said that India is prepared to diversify oil imports if Russian supplies are affected by sanctions. Ties with Pakistan The India-US trade deal has also come under intense domestic scrutiny in India, following Mr Trump's repeated assertions that he engineered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan with the threat of cutting trade with both countries. India and Pakistan were embroiled in a four-day military conflict in May after India blamed Pakistan for a terror attack in Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. The Indian government has continued to deny that Mr Trump brokered the ceasefire or that it was related to trade issues, but it has come under fire on this issue in Parliament, which discussed the military conflict with Pakistan this week. 'I think the government is also stuck after Pakistan. They wouldn't like to take on another political problem,' said Dr Dhar. Mr Trump said on July 30 that Washington has reached a trade deal with Pakistan. But neither side has disclosed the agreed tariff rate. Still, Mr Wadhawan noted that India-US ties would ride out this difficult phase. 'He can't afford to destroy a relationship that is very old and deep across all dimensions. There is a huge people-to-people element to it; there is a huge Indian diaspora (in the US). It is a blip,' he said. 'But there will be short-term pain.'
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Ukraine moves to restore power of anti-graft agencies
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Protesters hold placards during a rally ahead of a vote in parliament on Thursday, in which lawmakers will consider restoring the independence of two key anti-corruption agencies, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter KYIV - Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill restoring the independence of the country's two main anti-corruption agencies, moving to defuse a political crisis that has shaken faith in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's wartime leadership. Thousands of protesters rallied in Kyiv and other cities in recent days in a rare show of discontent after lawmakers led by Zelenskiy's ruling party rushed through amendments last week defanging the respected agencies. Zelenskiy reversed course after the outcry and under pressure from top European officials, who warned that Ukraine was jeopardising its bid for EU membership by curbing the powers of its anti-graft authorities. Lawmakers voted 331 to 0 in favour of the new Zelenskiy-submitted bill, which reverses measures that had given his hand-picked general prosecutor the power to transfer cases away from the agencies and reassign prosecutors. Critics alleged the step had been designed to protect his political allies from prosecution. Eradicating graft and shoring up the rule of law are key requirements for Kyiv to join the EU, which Ukrainians see as critical to their future as they fend off a Russian invasion. Demonstrations had continued even after Zelenskiy submitted the new bill, with hundreds rallying near the presidential administration in Kyiv late on Wednesday chanting "Shame!" and "The people are the power!". Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding S'pore-bound ships, flights Singapore 5 foreign women suspected of trafficking 27kg of cocaine nabbed in Changi Airport Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO Singapore 17-member committee to drive roll-out of autonomous vehicles in Singapore Business Singapore gold investment soars 37% to 2.2 tonnes in Q2 while jewellery demand wanes Singapore Underground pipe leak likely reason for water supply issues during Toa Payoh fire: Town council Multimedia 60 years, 60 items: A National Day game challenge Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' Activists also rallied near parliament ahead of Thursday's vote to pressure lawmakers to approve the new measure. They burst into applause after it passed. Speaking at the rostrum before voting, opposition lawmaker Yaroslav Yurchyshyn thanked Ukrainians for stopping authorities "one step from the abyss" of autocracy. Some lawmakers appeared in parliament with hand-made placards mimicking those carried by protesters. The bill now goes to Zelenskiy for signature. CORRUPTION FIGHTERS The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) have stepped up a closely watched campaign against graft since Russia's February 2022 invasion. They have brought charges against lawmakers and senior government officials, including a then-deputy prime minister who was accused last month of taking a $345,000 kickback. Speaking to Reuters last Friday, after Zelenskiy's reversal, NABU chief Semen Kryvonos said he expected continued pressure on his agency from corrupt forces uninterested in cleaning up Ukraine. He said he and other anti-corruption officials felt a greater sense of responsibility following the protests, but also called on the country's leadership to help their effort. "This responsibility must be shared with the government, which needs to react and say, 'Okay, there's corruption here - let's destroy it.'" REUTERS
