At least 30 Palestinians killed in new shootings near food distribution centers
01:31
16/06/2025
Iran-Israel war: Russia cannot be an 'objective mediator' says the European Union
Middle East
16/06/2025
Explosions heard across Tehran after Israeli military warns residents of Iranian capital to evacuate
Middle East
16/06/2025
Israel alone 'cannot facilitate regime change', US involvement would be essential
Middle East
16/06/2025
Will Donald Trump get involved in Iran?
Middle East
16/06/2025
Heightened Israel-Iran escalation: Fearing Trump's wrath, will the G7 fizzle out as a 'damp squib'?
Middle East
16/06/2025
Israel says Tehran residents to 'pay the price and soon' after Tel Aviv, Haifa attacks
Middle East
16/06/2025
What will be the G7's position regarding the war between Iran and Israel?
Middle East
16/06/2025
Iran is seriously considering closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz
Middle East
16/06/2025
Will Israel's defence system hold in the face of Iran's airstrikes?
Middle East
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Fashion Network
40 minutes ago
- Fashion Network
Tariff 'stacking' adds another headache for US importers
That's because Hamer's 30% tariff was stacked on top of existing tariffs, including a tariff on Chinese steel products that varies depending on the amount of steel used in a fixture. When U.S. President Donald Trump adds a new tariff the old ones don't go away. Some companies will pay far more because of a phenomenon called tariff stacking, the latest complication for U.S. importers trying to navigate Trump's on-again, off-again trade war. The reality for many U.S. businesses is that their tariff bills are often far higher than the headline number touted in trade talks. Tariff stacking applies to any country exporting to the U.S., but the most extreme cases tend to be with China, where the U.S. has accumulated a long list of sometimes hefty existing tariffs, implemented under different provisions of U.S. trade law. The latest twist is an announcement that the two sides have agreed to a 55% tariff, but that's in part only an estimate of what the average pre-existing tariffs were. Hamer isn't sure what his tariff total will be now, but he figures it couldn't get much worse. 'Hopefully this will bring the (tariff) number down - and some of the clients who've been sitting on the sidelines will go ahead and place orders,' he said, 'because it's been all over the map.' Hamer is searching for suppliers outside China to avoid his stacked tariffs. He's checked Mexico and is planning a trip to India next month as part of the effort. In the meantime, he is passing through all the tariffs. "The customers pay the tariff," said Hamer. "When it comes in, we say, 'Here's the tariff bill.'" Many businesses are still hoping for a reprieve from President Donald Trump's trade war. Federal courts, including the U.S. Court of International Trade, have ruled that Trump's imposition of tariffs exceeded his authority. A federal appeals court is considering the administration's appeal to that ruling, and the tariffs remain in effect while that plays out, a process expected to take months. Some are counting on tariff exemptions, a popular tool used by companies during the first Trump administration to get goods imported without the taxes. Michael Weidner, president of Lalo Baby Products in Brooklyn, is one of them. 'We believe there should be an exemption for baby products,' he said. 'Same with toys.' The Trump administration has said it will resist creating such carve-outs. And even during the last trade war, it was a complex process. For instance, Lalo imports a 'play table' from China that happens to be classified under a customs category that was subject to a 25% tariff under a part of trade law that aims to fight unfair trade practices. So Weidner has been paying 55% tariffs on those, thanks to stacking. Trump campaigned on a vow to use tariffs to pull manufacturing back to U.S. shores and collect revenue to help fund a major tax cut. His battle with China quickly spiraled into a conflagration with the U.S. imposing a 145% across-the-board tariff that shut down much of the trade between the world's two largest economies. The agreement to curb the tariffs is part of a larger effort to negotiate individual deals with most of the U.S.'s trading partners. On Wednesday, a White House official said the 55% figure represents a sum of a baseline 10% 'reciprocal' tariff Trump has imposed on goods from nearly all U.S. trading partners; 20% on all Chinese imports because of punitive measures Trump has imposed on China, Mexico and Canada associated with his accusation that the three facilitate the flow of the opioid fentanyl into the U.S.; and finally pre-existing 25% levies on imports from China that were put in place during Trump's first term. 'It sounds like that's the way he's thinking of the baseline - 55% - at least for some products," said Greta Peisch, a trade lawyer at Wiley Rein in Washington. Ramon van Meer's business selling filtered shower heads from China may yet survive the trade war, though he's not certain. That depends entirely on whether he can can manage the multiple tariffs placed on his $159 shower heads, which became a viral sensation on Instagram. When the Trump administration trimmed tariffs on China to 30% in May, van Meer's tariff bill was actually 43%. That's because the 30% tariff was stacked on top of an existing 13% tariff. It's an improvement over the 145% tariffs slapped on Chinese imports in April, when he halted shipments entirely. 'At least I can afford to pay it,' said van Meer, chief executive of Afina, based in Austin, Texas, referring to his latest calculations. "And I don't have to raise the price by that much."
Fashion Network
40 minutes ago
- Fashion Network
France's industry council urges EU preference in public procurement
France's National Industry Council (CNI) is pushing for a new procurement strategy that favors European-made products. In a set of proposals presented to the government on June 13, the council outlined three key measures to accelerate reindustrialization and boost competitiveness across the European Union. Backed by all three council divisions, the proposals build on a report by economist and former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, outlining strategies to enhance Europe's industrial competitiveness. One key measure recommends giving purchasing priority to products based on their place of origin, rather than the nationality of the supplying company. Industry leaders also call for restricting public tenders to countries outside the EU that do not offer reciprocal market access—a move they say is necessary 'to restore balance.' The council suggests expanding this preference beyond public contracts. It argues that similar criteria should apply to the distribution of EU funding, public subsidies, and regulatory frameworks—particularly those influencing demand for industrial products through standards and compliance measures. Another proposal calls for mandatory origin labeling on all imported products sold within the European Union. The recommendation aligns with a 2025 report by Yves Jégo, president of the Origine France Garantie initiative, advocating for greater product sourcing transparency. French industry leaders have long pushed for legal mechanisms to prioritize domestic suppliers in public procurement. The fashion and luxury sectors, in particular, have consistently raised the issue through their Strategic Committee, urging government support for local manufacturing. While current EU regulations limit the scope for national preference policies, the council aims to reposition its proposals under a broader European framework—one that could gain traction in Brussels and strengthen regional industry without breaching single-market rules.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
What's not being discussed at G7 as Trump shapes agenda
The G7 gathering has been carefully planned to ensure US President Donald Trump agreed to attend at all and Canada is keen to avoid a public dust-up. Official agenda items are the global economic outlook and energy security, with organizers naming priorities as critical mineral supply chains and AI adoption, as well as "international peace and security." Last year's Group of Seven summit in Italy, when Joe Biden was US president, ended with a joint declaration promising better ties with Africa, action on poverty, and determination to tackle "the triple crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss." Such subjects are almost totally absent at the G7 talks this year in order to placate Trump, said John Kirton of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto. "There's no point in putting them on the agenda if the Americans will just refuse to discuss them. And if you put too many of them on, Trump wouldn't even come," he said. Kirton added that the schedule was also crowded out by crises from Ukraine to the Middle East, with G7 nations increasingly concerned with defense spending rather than development aid. For the G7 -- founded 50 years ago by the world's leading economies at the time -- such a lurch in priorities poses major questions about the club's purpose and future. But, for the Trump administration, the group is just returning to its original function of promoting global economic stability and growth. "Canada knows its audience and if it wants a unified outcome of this year's G7 leaders summit then it should stick close to traditional G7 values while avoiding controversial topics," said Caitlin Welsh of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'Retreat' from world problems The impact on the ground has alarmed many campaigners who say the G7 reduction of foreign aid is hitting millions of world's poorest, threatening food supplies, water, education and health. "The G7's retreat from the world is unprecedented and couldn't come at a worse time," said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar. 'Rather than breaking from the Trump administration's cruel dismantling of USAID and other US foreign assistance, G7 countries like the UK, Germany and France are instead following the same path." Oxfam calculated that G7 nations, which provide three-quarters of all official development assistance, are cutting aid by 28 percent between 2024 and 2026. No joint communique is expected at the end of the summit on Tuesday to avoid the potential failure for all members to agree on the text. But there is one way that the non-US members of the G7 are fighting back -- discreetly. An unexpected item on the agenda is to "boost collaboration to prevent, fight and recover from wildfires." The wildfire issue "allows us to talk about climate change without saying it directly because we know that unfortunately not everyone likes it," a Canadian official speaking anonymously told AFP. Both Canada and the United States are increasingly affected by major forest fires -- worsened by climate change -- including blazes that burnt down swathes of Los Angeles earlier this year. Professor Kirton said the wildfires agenda tactic was "clever rather than sneaky." "They saw wildfires as a point of entry, and one that would work with Donald Trump." Kirton highlighted that wildfires are currently causing damage across the US states of North and South Carolina, both Trump heartlands. "That's getting into his MAGA base," he said.
