Latest news with #EUnegotiations
South China Morning Post
07-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Indonesia, EU to conclude 9 years of free trade negotiations
Indonesia said on Saturday that free trade negotiations with the European Union, which have been ongoing for nine years, are expected to be concluded by the end of June. Airlangga Hartarto, the chief economic minister for Southeast Asia's biggest economy, met with EU Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Friday. 'Indonesia and the European Union have agreed to conclude outstanding issues and we are ready to announce a conclusion of substantial negotiations by the end of June 2025,' Airlangga Hartarto said in a statement. Indonesia will get zero tariffs for 80 per cent of its export products to the EU and removal of non-tariff barriers, as it pushes for bigger market access for footwear, garments, palm oil and fishery products, Airlanga told a press conference later on Saturday. The EU has discussed Jakarta's rules on mandatory use of local content in products sold in the Indonesian market, the automotive industry, trade of critical minerals and investment facilities, Airlangga said. Indonesia and the EU have previously disagreed on EU trade rules for products with potential links to deforestation that could affect Indonesian palm oil.
Irish Times
01-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Lutnick downplays tariff court ruling impact on US-EU talks
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick downplayed the impact of legal uncertainty around US tariffs on negotiations with the European Union during an interview with Fox News on Sunday, saying talks were ongoing. Lutnick was asked about a Reuters report quoting an unnamed EU official close to negotiations who said the legal uncertainty of the tariffs in the US gave the EU 'extra leverage.' 'You can't listen to silly people making silly comments,' Lutnick said. 'All of the countries that are negotiating with us understand the power of Donald Trump and his ability to protect the American worker.' A US trade court blocked most of President Donald Trump's tariffs in a sweeping ruling last week that found the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from American trading partners. A US federal appeals court paused that ruling a day later, allowing the tariffs to go into effect while it considered an appeal by the Trump administration. READ MORE Lutnick said the ruling 'maybe cost us a week, but then everybody came right back to the table.' Trump in late May threatened 50 per cent tariffs on all European goods by June 1st but days later delayed the effective date to July 9th to allow for time to negotiate. Trump also said on Friday that he would increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminium to 50 per cent from 25 per cent, leading the European Commission on Saturday to say it could consider countermeasures. Speaking on ABC News, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the US needed to protect its steel industry for national security reasons in light of economic rival China's steel production. 'We have to show strength,' Hassett said. 'We have to have a steel industry that's ready for American defence.' Meanwhile US Treasury Secretary Bessent said he believes President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak soon to iron out trade issues including a dispute over critical minerals. US President Donald Trump on Friday accused China of violating an agreement to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical minerals. 'What China is doing is they are holding back products that are essential for the industrial supply chains of India, of Europe. And that is not what a reliable partner does,' Bessent said in an interview on Sunday with CBS. 'I am confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call, that this will be ironed out. But the fact that they are withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement – maybe it's a glitch in the Chinese system, maybe it's intentional. We'll see after the President speaks with the party chairman.' – Reuters
Reuters
01-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Lutnick downplays impact of tariff court ruling on US, EU talks
WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick downplayed the impact of legal uncertainty around U.S. tariffs on negotiations with the European Union during an interview with Fox News Sunday, saying talks were ongoing. Lutnick was asked about a Reuters report quoting an unnamed EU official close to negotiations who said the legal uncertainty of the tariffs in the U.S. gave the E.U. "extra leverage." "You can't listen to silly people making silly comments," Lutnick said. "All of the countries that are negotiating with us understand the power of Donald Trump and his ability to protect the American worker." A U.S. trade court blocked most of President Donald Trump's tariffs in a sweeping ruling last week that found the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from U.S. trading partners. A U.S. federal appeals court paused that ruling a day later, allowing the tariffs to go into effect while it considered an appeal by the Trump administration. Lutnick said the ruling "maybe cost us a week, but then everybody came right back to the table." Trump in late May threatened 50% tariffs on all European goods by June 1 but days later delayed the effective date to July 9 to allow for time to negotiate. Trump also said on Friday that he would increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50% from 25%, leading the European Commission on Saturday to say it could consider countermeasures. Speaking on ABC News' 'This Week,' White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the U.S. needed to protect its steel industry for national security reasons in light of economic rival China's steel production. "We have to show strength," Hassett said. "We have to have a steel industry that's ready for American defense."
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Starmer's EU reset triggers outbreak of Brexit derangement syndrome
Euphoric recall. Or more likely PTSD. It was like we were in a time warp. Back in the madness of the Brexit years. When otherwise sensible people lost all sense of reason. And when the mad became madder still. The days of betrayal and surrender. When our closest allies for the previous 70 years became our deadliest enemy. Time to stare them down. Britons never, never, never shall be slaves. We take no shit from anyone. Keir Starmer's EU reset went to the wire. Of course it did. Every negotiation with Brussels always does. It's in the terms and conditions. There was no way the EU was going to give away something on agricultural standards without getting something on fishing in return. You don't want to encourage other countries to believe they will get a better deal by leaving the EU. Even by the time of the final communique there were still plenty of loose ends. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Remember that? Argh! Still that didn't stop some of the Brexit lunatics from voicing their opinions long before even an outline of a deal was announced. They already had their narrative. This was a surrender on an unforgivable scale. Daniel – unbelievably now Lord – Hannan was writing on X that Britain had become Europe's very own gimp. Squeezed into a black leather jump suit with a ball in our mouth. Sometimes you wish Danny would keep his fantasies to himself. Then there was David – unbelievably now Lord – Frost. What is it about Brexit that led to so many people who had objectively made British citizens less well off getting promoted to the upper chamber? Frosty the No Man was desperately trying to rewrite history. Again. He has been doing that for more than five years now. Our very own Lady Macbeth trying to wash away the blood. Boris Johnson's Brexit negotiator whose whole life is now devoted to trying to uncover the person who negotiated such a bad deal. He was trying to persuade himself that he had always known his fishing deal was rubbish but that the EU would cut him some slack now because they felt sorry for him. The man needs help. It's as if every Brexiter has had a memory wipe. Has no recollection of how deals are made. That the essence of any negotiation is give and take. That there need to be rules which both sides are obliged to follow. But this was also too much for Boris. He went mad on gimp masks too. God knows what you might find in his internet search history. Let's hope Carrie hasn't been keeping tabs on him. Here was how the world worked. Britain was at the top, telling every other country what to do. Anything else would be a total betrayal of our sovereignty. Come late Monday morning, a deal of sorts had been negotiated and António Costa, the president of the European Council; Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and Keir Starmer were ready to face the media at the Lancaster House press conference. Costa went first. Trying to put everyone to sleep. He has the air of someone who has grown used to the fact that he seldom says anything interesting. It's how he got the job. Everything was marvellous, he mumbled. This was a new chapter. Von der Leyen was slightly more animated. She was pleased the EU and the UK had reached solutions. We were entering a new era of post-Brexit relations. A security and defence partnership. A deal on energy, fish and food. The youth experience scheme. Downgraded from a youth mobility scheme. A sop to the Brits. On no account should anyone think the UK had backtracked on free movement. Better to think of overseas students living entirely in virtual reality. Then came Keir. Flushed with success after his trade deals with India and the US. This was a triumph. No return to the single market or the customs union. But the next best thing. A reminder that British fishers sell more than 70% of their catch to the EU as we don't like the ones they are selling. It was time to look forward to the future. To move on from the same stale old fights. Though it was the past the British media wanted to interrogate. Hadn't we surrendered to the EU? We had sold out our fishers. We had become a nation of rule-takers. Brexit derangement syndrome had gripped the broadcasters. Keir gently reminded everyone he was creating jobs, facilitating trade and growth. Even after nine years, it was still too soon to say the obvious. That Britain had voted to make itself poorer. That Brexiters had radicalised themselves. No one had been insisting we leave the single market and the customs union during the referendum campaign. That had only become a truth some time later. So all Starmer was trying to do was to make the country just a little bit better off. You'd have thought from the reaction that this was a major schism. GB News could barely contain itself. The Tories were threatening to undo all this, the reporter quavered. Er … How exactly? They aren't about to win an election any time soon. If ever. As if to prove how unserious the Conservatives have become, Kemi Badenoch chose to call a press conference in a broom cupboard in the afternoon. Just to embarrass herself. The broadcasters could barely be bothered to cover it as the sound continued to cut out. We could have been underwater. Not waving but drowning. Priti Patel went first. Luckily for her she was totally inaudible. She will appreciate this in later years. Then came Kemi, declaring that Starmer had broken her five golden rules. Rules that even her own MPs don't know or care about. Rules that even the Victorians would have thought nuts. Most Brexit voters now think Brexit was a bad idea. They just want things to return to how they were without anyone reminding them that they had voted for it. We ended with Victoria Atkins and the fish. Vicky had a pet hake who was determined to gasp out his manifesto. 'I, Harry the Hake, do solemnly declare that I will live and die British. I would rather be left to rot on the jetty than be fed to some Frenchie or Kraut. God save the queen. Sorry king.' It had been that kind of a day.
The Sun
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Keir Starmer makes HUGE concession as Brexit ‘surrender' deal agreed – with UK dragged back into shackles of Europe
SIR Keir Starmer's Brexit 'surrender summit' deal has been agreed this morning - and the PM has already made a huge concession. The UK has been locked in late-night negotiations with Europe to nail down the terms of a UK-EU reset. 1 Critics have dubbed negotiations a "surrender summit" - dragging Britain back into the shackles of Europe which Brexit freed us from. And this morning, it was revealed Keir Starmer has given European fishermen access to British waters for 12 years. By tying Britain back up in EU red tape, the UK would be placed under the jurisdiction of European courts — a major reversal of the Brexit promise. Bending the knee to Brussels, the arrangement is also expected to once more fling open British waters to French trawlers and concede to the bloc on food standards. 2 minutes ago By Martina Bet 'Fish for food' signed The 'fish for food' agreement was signed off by all 27 EU member states in Brussels ahead of a UK-EU summit in London today. Sir Keir will unveil the pact alongside European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. British negotiators initially offered just four years, having previously pushed for annual talks, but relented in late-night wrangling. The original post-Brexit deal signed in 2020 granted EU fleets access for five years. But that time limit has now more than doubled under the new terms. 4 minutes ago By Martina Bet Starmer "reset" deal with EU The Prime Minister has handed EU fishermen access to UK waters until 2038 in a dramatic last-minute Brexit 'reset' deal, it is understood. British boats face being pushed aside for more than a decade after the PM caved to EU demands for a 12-year fishing rights pact - more than double the current five-year arrangement. In return, Brussels agreed to a permanent Swiss-style veterinary deal to cut border checks and boost trade - with Britain signing up to follow EU rules on plant and animal health. This means UK food exporters will face fewer delays at borders, but at the cost of aligning with EU standards and accepting European Court of Justice oversight on those specific rules.
