US planes, cars, drinks on EU list for potential tariffs
BRUSSELS - Aircraft, machinery, cars, chemicals and medical devices are the leading big-ticket items on the latest list of U.S. goods the European Commission has proposed to impose tariffs on if talks with Washington do not yield an agreement on trade.
The package is the second put forward by the European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation European Union. It is designed to respond to U.S. tariffs on cars and car parts and a baseline tariff, currently at 10%.
U.S. President Donald Trump, however, is now threatening a baseline tariff on imports from the EU of 30% from August 1, a level European officials say is unacceptable and would end normal trade between two of the world's largest markets.
The list, sent to EU member states and seen by Reuters on Tuesday, covers U.S. goods imports worth 72 billion euros ($84.1 billion). It also includes electrical and precision equipment as well as agriculture and food products - a range of fruits and vegetables, along with wine, beer and spirits - worth a total of 6.35 billion euros.
A first package on 21 billion euros of U.S. goods was approved in April but then immediately suspended to allow room for negotiations. That suspension has been extended to August 6.
EU officials said on Monday that they were still seeking to strike a deal to avoid Trump's heavy tariff blow, but EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said member states had agreed the bloc would need to take countermeasures if talks with the U.S. fail.
The Commission initially put forward the second package in May for a public consultation. The proposal then related to 95 billion euros of U.S. goods. It has since been whittled down, though most of the main items have remained.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore $3b money laundering case: MinLaw acts against 4 law firms, 1 lawyer over seized properties
Singapore Air India crash: SIA, Scoot find no issues with Boeing 787 fuel switches after precautionary checks
Opinion What we can do to fight the insidious threat of 'zombie vapes'
Singapore $230,000 in fines issued after MOM checks safety at over 500 workplaces from April to June
Business 'Some cannot source outside China': S'pore firms' challenges and support needed amid US tariffs
Opinion Sumiko at 61: Everything goes south when you age, changing your face from a triangle to a rectangle
Multimedia From local to global: What made top news in Singapore over the last 180 years?
Singapore 'Nobody deserves to be alone': Why Mummy and Acha have fostered over 20 children in the past 22 years
There is no specific date for EU members to approve the package. REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
15 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Libyan ICC war crimes suspect arrested in Germany
Find out what's new on ST website and app. THE HAGUE - German authorities have arrested a Libyan war crimes suspect accused of being a senior official for a notorious prison where inmates were routinely tortured and sometimes sexually abused, the International Criminal Court said on Friday. Khaled Mohamed Ali Al Hishri was arrested on Wednesday, German authorities said. The ICC said he would remain in German custody, pending the completion of national proceedings. Prosecutors at the ICC accuse Al Hishri of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape from February 2015 until early 2020, a period during which he was allegedly one of the most senior officials in the Mitiga prison. According to the prosecution, Mitiga prison was the largest detention facility in western Libya, where thousands of detainees were held in cramped cells without basic hygiene and were systematically subjected to brutal interrogations and torture. Men and women held there also faced sexual violence including rape, the prosecution said. It is a critical time for the ICC. Its prosecutor and four judges are facing U.S. sanctions in retaliation for an arrest warrant it issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. A number of European ICC member states, including Germany, have also been critical of the warrant for Netanyahu. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 30% of aviation jobs could be redesigned due to AI, automation; $200m fund to support workers: CAAS Singapore HSA looking to get anti-vape cyber surveillance tool with AI capabilities Singapore Alleged Kpod peddler filmed trying to flee raid in Bishan charged with 6 offences Singapore NTU upholds zero grade for student who used AI in essay; panel found 14 false citations or data Singapore Jail for contraband cigarette syndicate member over conspiracy to give bribes to security officer Singapore Residents in South West District get help to improve employability, find career opportunities Life Kinokuniya opens third bookstore at Raffles City, weeks ahead of schedule Business DBS shares rally to a new record as STI clocks yet another high In January, Italy arrested another Libyan ICC suspect, Osama Elmasry Njeem, but released him back to Tripoli saying the arrest warrant contained mistakes and inaccuracies. Njeem was also accused of crimes committed against detainees in Mitiga prison. His release sparked outrage among Italian opposition parties and triggered a legal investigation into Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and several other government members. The court has been investigating allegations of serious crimes committed in Libya since the country's 2011 civil war, following a referral by the UN Security Council. REUTERS
Straits Times
15 minutes ago
- Straits Times
UN refugee agency concerned about impact of Sweida hostilities on aid operations
Women and children walk on land between Deraa and Sweida, after scores of people have been killed this week in violence in and around the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, pitting fighters from the Druze minority against government security forces and members of Bedouin tribes, in Deraa, Syria July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi GENEVA - The United Nations refugee agency expressed concern on Friday about the impact of hostilities in Syria's southern city of Sweida on its aid operations, and urged all sides to allow more humanitarian access. Syria's government sent troops this week to the predominantly Druze city to quell fighting between Bedouins and Druze, but the violence grew until a fragile ceasefire took hold. "The situation in Sweida is very concerning. It is very difficult for us to operate there ... at the moment our capacity to deliver aid is very limited," William Spindler, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva. "We are calling on all parties to allow humanitarian access," he said. The Syrian Network for Human Rights, an independent monitoring group, said it had documented 254 people killed in four days of fighting, including medical personnel, women and children. The UNHCR said its operations had been impacted by road closures and that it had had to move all 15 staff members in its office in rural Sweida out of the area because of safety concerns. The U.N. estimated on Thursday that about 2,000 families had been displaced from areas affected by violence in Sweida Province. The UNHCR said this number was continuing to rise. "At the moment our capacity to deliver aid is very limited. We are calling on all parties to allow humanitarian access," Spindler said. The UNHCR also said it was challenging to support people in displacement centres established by the authorities. Needs on the ground are considerable, the UNHCR said, with water in short supply and hospitals overwhelmed by the number of injured needing treatment. "They need things like blankets and solar have that in stock and are ready to deliver them as soon as the security allows it," Spindler said. REUTERS
Straits Times
15 minutes ago
- Straits Times
US judge weighs putting new block on Trump's birthright citizenship order
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media, after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the power of federal judges by restricting their ability to grant broad legal relief in cases as the justices acted in a legal fight over President Donald Trump's bid to limit birthright citizenship, in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo BOSTON - A federal judge on Friday could deal another blow to President Donald Trump's attempts to limit birthright citizenship, even though a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month made it more difficult for lower courts to block White House directives. A group of Democratic attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia will urge U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin at a hearing in Boston at 10 a.m. ET Friday to maintain an injunction he imposed in February that blocked Trump's executive order nationwide. The order directs U.S. agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States after February 19 if neither their mother nor father is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The states' case is back in Sorokin's courtroom so he can assess the impact of the Supreme Court's landmark June 27th decision. In that 6-3 ruling authored by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court directed lower court judges like Sorokin that had blocked Trump's policy to reconsider the scope of their orders. Rather than address the legality of Trump's executive order, the justices used the case to discourage nationwide, or 'universal,' injunctions — in which a single district court judge can block enforcement of a federal policy across the country. COMPLETE RELIEF But the court raised the possibility that universal injunctions are still permissible in certain circumstances, including class actions, in which similarly situated people sue as a group, or if they are the only way to provide "complete relief" to litigants in a particular lawsuit. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 30% of aviation jobs could be redesigned due to AI, automation; $200m fund to support workers: CAAS Singapore HSA looking to get anti-vape cyber surveillance tool with AI capabilities Singapore Alleged Kpod peddler filmed trying to flee raid in Bishan charged with 6 offences Singapore NTU upholds zero grade for student who used AI in essay; panel found 14 false citations or data Singapore Jail for contraband cigarette syndicate member over conspiracy to give bribes to security officer Singapore Residents in South West District get help to improve employability, find career opportunities Life Kinokuniya opens third bookstore at Raffles City, weeks ahead of schedule Business DBS shares rally to a new record as STI clocks yet another high Friday's hearing will shed light on how lower courts plan to address what providing complete relief entails, said George Washington University law professor Paul Schiff Berman. "One of the questions the Supreme Court left open in its nationwide injunction decision is whether states can assert claims on behalf of their citizens and, if so, whether a large-scale injunction would then be necessary to vindicate the rights of large numbers of citizens from large numbers of states," Berman said. Spokespersons for the White House and the attorneys general did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A ruling from Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, in favor of the states would be the second blow to Trump's executive order this month. On July 10 at a hearing in New Hampshire, U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante, an appointee of Republican president George W. Bush, issued a nationwide injunction blocking Trump's order after he found that children whose citizenship status would be threatened by it could pursue their lawsuit as a class action. The Democratic-led states, backed by immigrant rights groups, argue the White House directive violated a right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment that guarantees that virtually anyone born in the United States is a citizen. They have argued that, if the executive order is allowed to take effect, it would wreak havoc on the administration of federal benefits programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by making it difficult to verify eligibility. They also argue that, because children often move across state lines or are born outside their parents' state of residence, a "patchwork" of injunctions would be unworkable. "Families are likely to be confused if federal benefits eligibility — let alone U.S. citizenship — differs by State," the states wrote in a July 15 court filing. They have urged Sorokin to double down on his February injunction, saying in the court filing that the Supreme Court decision has no bearing on the case before him. "This Court correctly remedied the States' injuries via a nationwide injunction, based on the same complete-relief principle that the Supreme Court recently recognized and endorsed," the brief argued. The Justice Department has countered that Sorokin's injunction from February was "clearly overbroad and inappropriate." In a July 8 court filing, the department argued that individuals are best situated to litigate their own citizenship status. REUTERS
