‘Now is the time to go on the offensive' – Swatch boss calls for Swiss levy on gold exports to the US
The US has imposed tariffs of 39pc on imported Swiss goods, causing shock and dismay in the country, a major refining and transit hub for gold. The US Customs and Border Protection later said tariffs might be placed on the most widely-traded gold bullion bars, but Mr Trump said on Monday that gold would not face tariffs.
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Irish Times
12 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Intel chief executive learns the art of staying in Trump's good books
A warm word for Donald Trump can thaw the frostiest of corporate spats. Less than a week after demanding the resignation of Intel chief Lip-Bu Tan , Trump hailed his career as 'an amazing story'. And Intel's shares jumped on Thursday and Friday amid reports that the Trump administration had discussed an unusual move to acquire an ownership stake as part of a plan to revive the troubled US chipmaker. All of this followed a meeting Trump described as 'very interesting'. Intel's shares, which fell after Trump accused Tan of being 'highly CONFLICTED' over past investments in Chinese chipmakers, duly rebounded. Tan's initial sin? Unlike other tech chief executives, noted one Bernstein analyst, he hadn't 'cultivated' a 'personal relationship' with Trump. READ MORE Intel and Tan have learned their lesson, praising the 'honour' of meeting Trump, his 'strong leadership,' and reaffirming their commitment to the 'America First agenda'. Such gestures can pay off handsomely. Apple's Tim Cook gifted Trump a $6,000 Mac Pro in 2019 after he lowered tariffs on parts Apple needed from China, and also gave $1 million to his 2025 inauguration fund. More recently, he presented a gold-mounted glass plaque praising Trump's 'leadership' and was soon spared from new chip tariffs – another exercise in calculated appeasement. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg has pivoted from banning Trump on Facebook to describing him as 'badass' and championing 'masculine energy' in the workplace. However, they pale beside Nvidia's Jensen Huang, who has lavished praise on Trump's 'utterly visionary' tariffs and insisted: 'The president has a plan ... and I trust him.' The lesson: in Trump's America, keeping the president's favour is as critical as any quarterly earnings target.
Irish Times
42 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Donald Trump's era of Dick Turpin economics is a menace to our State
US president Donald Trump and his cronies 'flood the zone' with so much noise that it is easy to let stuff slip past. But sometimes we need to listen. Because there is a risk that these guys actually mean at least part of what they are saying. Little attention was paid this week, for example, when US treasury secretary Scott Bessent spoke in an interview with Fox News about the 'promises' countries like Japan, Korea and the EU had made to invest money in the United States as part of trade agreements. The countries involved made these commitments in the full knowledge that they couldn't fulfil them. They were a way to dress up trade deals with a little fluff, based on the likelihood that big companies were likely to continue to invest in the US in any case. After all, how could European Union governments, for example, direct their companies to invest $600 billion (€513 billion) in the US by 2028 , which is the figure mentioned in the political deal reached between Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen ? Did the EU have its hands tied before striking a trade deal with the US? Listen | 23:32 But Bessent has a different view. He likened the money promised in the deals to an offshore wealth fund, with the US able to 'direct' where the money would be invested. The trade surpluses these countries had with the US were to be recycled into investment in the US, at the president's discretion. READ MORE Whether this is serious or just part of the ongoing public relations of Trump 'winning' is anyone's guess. Still, perhaps it explains why we have yet to see anything by way of a written agreed statement of the US-EU 'deal', even though the 15 per cent tariffs have been applied. The EU has fudged that the $600 billion is 'as an indication based on the executive's contacts with industry'. Which, of course, is nonsense. Trump has said that if the money is not invested, then the EU tariffs will go back up to 35 per cent. So we have the emergence of this kind of Dick Turpin economics as Trump and his team perform a 'holdup' on countries that want access to US markets. And companies are having to pay the Maga highwaymen, too. After all, Nividia and AMD are to pay the US Government a 15 per cent share of revenues from sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips in China, in return for export licenses. This isn't the free market economics traditionally championed by the Republican Party. It is instead a particular kind of Trumpian crony capitalism – countries and businesses that are in favour, or pay the required price, are okay, while others, like Brazil and Canada at the moment, are targeted. Control from the White House is everything. Against this chaotic backdrop, the 'certainty' that the trade deal was meant to bring European businesses, including those in the Republic , thus looks qualified and uncertain. If you thought everything was settled with a handshake in Scotland, then you haven't been paying attention. The absence of an agreed statement between the two sides on how the deal will operate may well reflect Trump's desire to give him the scope to duck and dive. The issue of the promised European 'investment' in the US remains contested. And Trump has made it quite clear he is willing to take whatever measures he feels are necessary – tariff-based or otherwise – to increase the security of supply for the US in vital pharma and semiconductor products. Pharma is the latest sector subject to the squeeze from Washington, demanding lower prices in the US and more investment there, which will mean higher drug prices and fewer factories and jobs elsewhere. This week Eli Lilly announced it would hike the price of its weight loss Mounjaro in the United Kingdom market by up to 170 per cent, saying it supported Trump's view that drug prices – which are up to three times higher in the US – need to be rebalanced. You can choose to be optimistic or otherwise about how this might play out for pharma investment and tax revenues in this State. But the Central Statistics Office's latest trade figures, published on Friday, show our trade surplus with the US in the first six months of this year was €64 billion, up from €22 billion in the same period last year. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and US president Donald Trump at Turnberry in Scotland on Sunday. Video: Reuters. Illustration: Paul Scott Now the 2025 figures are distorted by the huge movement of pharma to the US to try to beat the initial imposition of tariffs in April. But our huge surplus with the US – based almost entirely on pharma – keeps us under the spotlight in Washington and means the companies concerned will remain under relentless pressure from the White House to change their investment and pricing plans. There is no point in the Republic waiting around for the sky to fall in as all this plays out. The risks are clear, but the outcome will remain uncertain, perhaps for many months to come. The publication of the study by the Trump administration into the pharma sector – the so-called section 232 investigation – will be an important moment, for sure, and should happen soon. Presumably, it will be accompanied by some policy measures and much noise. Trump, as he has done with his other 'holdups', will look for something here – in terms of price cuts and investment commitments from the industry, perhaps – and given our reliance on pharma investment and tax, this could well hurt us. He may well threaten more tariff pain for companies if they do not fall into line. And so the uncertainty will persist. This strategic risk needs to be the backdrop to Budget 2026, along with using the opportunity given by our strong economic figures and record tax haul to invest in infrastructure vital for people's lives and business investment. There is no point waiting for some kind of 'certainty' because it isn't coming. We need to do this on the basis that this may be our last chance to plan this before – sometime over the next few years – the exchequer picture starts to look a lot tighter. And that in the meantime, disruptive shorter-term risks remain. Instead, we may well spend the next six weeks arguing over whether households should get a few euros in energy credits and a double child benefit week.
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Washington sues to block Trump's federal takeover of its police department as intervention intensifies
Washington's police department chief said that a Trump administration order installing a federal official as its head would upend command structure and be a 'dangerous' threat to law and order. Police Chief Pamela Smith's statement came in a court filing as the city seeks to block the federal takeover of its police department in court. Washington's top legal official sought an emergency restraining order in federal court blocking a Trump administration move to put a federal official in charge of its police. The lawsuit comes after US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday night that Drug Enforcement Administration boss Terry Cole will assume the police chief's duties and approval authority for any orders issued to officers. It was unclear where the move left the city's current police chief, Ms Smith, who works for the mayor. DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues the new order goes beyond Mr Trump's authority and implementing it would 'sow chaos' in the Metropolitan Police Department. 'The administration's unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC home.' The Justice Department declined to comment on the district's lawsuit, and a White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. A population already tense from days of ramp-up has begun seeing more significant shows of force across the city. National Guard troops watched over some of the world's most renowned landmarks and Humvees took position in front of the busy main train station. Volunteers helped homeless people leave long-standing encampments — to where was often unclear. The police takeover is the latest move by Mr Trump to test the limits of his legal authorities to carry out his agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to bolster his tough-on-crime message and his plans to speed up the mass deportation of people in the United States illegally. It also marks one of the most sweeping assertions of federal authority over a local government in modern times. While Washington has grappled with spikes in violence and visible homelessness, the city's homicide rate ranks below those of several other major US cities, and the capital is not in the throes of the public safety collapse the Trump administration has portrayed. Mr Schwalb had said late on Thursday that Ms Bondi's directive was 'unlawful', arguing it could not be followed by the city's police force. He wrote in a memo to Ms Smith that 'members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor', setting up the legal clash between the heavily Democratic district and the Republican administration. ADVERTISEMENT The district's attorney general is an elected position and the city's top legal officer. It's separate from federal US attorney appointed by the president to serve in Washington, a role now filled by former Fox News Channel host and judge Jeanine Pirro. Mr Trump also appointed Ms Bondi as US attorney general, the nation's top law enforcement official. Ms Bondi's directive came even after Ms Smith had told MPD officers hours earlier to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody, such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint. However, it also stated that members 'shall not make any inquiry through any database solely for the purpose of inquiring about an individual's immigration status'. The Justice Department said Ms Bondi disagreed with the police chief's directive because it allowed for continued enforcement of 'sanctuary policies', which generally limit co-operation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers. Ms Bondi said she was rescinding that order as well as other MPD policies limiting inquires into immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. All new directives must now get approval from Cole, she said.
