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Euronews
a day ago
- Business
- Euronews
Tensions, clashes and low expectations loom over EU-China summit
The summit between the European Union and China, scheduled to take place on Thursday, comes at a pivotal moment for both sides. On paper, at least. Donald Trump's return to the White House has upended the geopolitical chessboard, undermining age-old alliances, inflaming simmering tensions and throwing global trade into head-spinning turmoil. The chaos is such that Brussels and Beijing, long at odds over a string of disagreements and recriminations, began toying with the idea of resetting ties and reinforcing cooperation to weather the Trump-induced storm. The fact that the summit coincided with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations only added to the speculation of an impending rapprochement. In May, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the anniversary offered a chance to "properly handle frictions and differences, and open up a brighter future for China-EU relations". Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and António Costa, the president of the European Council, played to the prevailing narrative, committing themselves to "deepening our partnership with China". But then the tide shifted and the tone soured. Beijing's decision to restrict exports of rare earths, the metallic elements that are crucial for manufacturing advanced technologies, caused widespread alarm across European industry and was rebuked by von der Leyen. "China is using this quasi-monopoly not only as a bargaining chip, but also weaponising it to undermine competitors in key industries," she said at the G7 summit in June. "We all witnessed the cost and consequences of China's coercion." Beijing immediately hit back at the Commission chief, calling her speech "baseless" and "biased", but offered an olive branch to build a "win-win" partnership. The damage was done, however. By the time von der Leyen and Costa meet with Xi on Thursday, there are scant expectations for any concrete solution. Hopes are so low for the meeting that officials in Brussels point to the fact of the one-day summit in Beijing happening at all as an achievement. (Under protocol rules, the summit was supposed to happen on EU soil, as both sides take turns as hosts.) "For the EU, the deliverable is a substantive, open and direct conversation between the two of us on every aspect of our relationship," a senior official said last week, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the occasion. A second senior official described the summit as a "unique opportunity" to communicate the bloc's concerns with the view of obtaining results "in the short term". "We go there with the expectation that the Chinese will first understand our concerns and, second, take concrete actions to meet our concerns," the official said. "Otherwise, we will have to defend our own interests." No-limits friction There are certainly no shortage of issues to be resolved, with myriad disputes straining EU-China relations since the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the extensive list of friction points, which range from cyberattacks against state agencies to human rights violations, two stand out: Beijing's "no-limits" partnership with Moscow and the trade imbalances caused by industrial overcapacity. For the past three years, Europeans have been aghast at seeing a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council stand firmly by the side of an aggressor nation in breach of the core principles of the UN Charter. Brussels has repeatedly accused China of acting as the "key enabler" behind Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and supplying 80% of the components that the Kremlin uses to manufacture weapons. Several Chinese entities have been targeted by the bloc for enabling the circumvention of economic sanctions. Last week, two Chinese banks were blacklisted, triggering Beijing's fury. "We urge the EU to stop harming the lawful interests of Chinese companies without any factual basis," said Guo Jiakun, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. "China will do what is necessary to firmly safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies," he added. Von der Leyen and Costa are set to raise Ukraine during their face-to-face meeting with Xi, however unlikely their pleas are to be heard. The Chinese leader has shown no signs of wanting to disengage from Russia, attending Vladimir Putin's Victory Day parade earlier this year as guest of honour. "We can say that China is de facto enabling Russia's war economy. We cannot accept this," von der Leyen said earlier this month. "How China continues to interact with Putin's war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward." An 'unsustainable' relation On trade, the stakes are equally high – and the expectations, equally low. The bloc has grown increasingly anxious about its ballooning deficit with China, which last year surpassed €300 billion in goods. The figure risks expanding in 2025 due to sluggish demand from Chinese consumers and Trump's prohibitively high tariffs. The European Commission has set up a special task force to monitor the potential diversion of Chinese products from the US to the EU market. The executive is also keeping a close eye on Beijing's lavish use of subsidies, which have been blamed for artificially lowering prices to the detriment of European competitors. "The present situation is unsustainable. We need rebalancing," said a senior official. The dispute came to a boil in October when the EU slapped steep duties on China-made electric vehicles (EVs) to offset the effects of state aid. Decrying the measure as a "naked act of protectionism", Beijing responded with probes into EU-made brandy, pork and dairy, which Brussels then denounced as unfair and unjustified. Another recurring grievance among Europeans is the regulatory barriers that China has erected to encroach upon the private sector and give preference to domestic companies. The row recently led the Commission to exclude Chinese providers of medical devices from European public tenders. Beijing retaliated with a similar ban. Initially, the July summit was considered the stage to reach a common understanding on these open fronts and announce tentative solutions to some of them. While the disputes will still be addressed as part of the busy agenda, the rise in tensions indicates they will remain unresolved as neither side believes the other is ready to relent. The only deliverable that von der Leyen and Costa can reasonably hope for is a joint declaration on climate action ahead of the UN climate conference later this year. Substantial concessions in other fields are improbable, warns Alicja Bachulska, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). "Beijing appears confident that time is on its side," Bachulska said. "China's strategic calculus, dominated by its rivalry with the US, currently assesses the EU as too internally fractured to exert meaningful pressure or leverage on Beijing, thereby closing any perceived 'window of opportunity' for a significant reset in relations, despite US actions."
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
She set up a therapy booth for ‘Trump-induced anxiety.' It's been busy
VIDEO | 03:18 She set up a therapy booth for 'Trump-induced anxiety.' It's been busy
SowetanLIVE
14-07-2025
- Automotive
- SowetanLIVE
Trump's copper tariffs pile more metal misery on US car industry
US President Donald Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on copper imports is raising alarm in the US car sector as it could make it even harder for carmakers and suppliers to absorb border taxes and rising costs, executives and industry experts say. The duties on their own may be manageable, but prices of the red metal vital for making cars, in particular in wire harnesses and motors for electric vehicles, have soared to record highs. The US market is heavily reliant on imported copper, aluminium and steel, and developing new capacity could take years so users are scrambling to buy metal from a limited number of suppliers, spurring price rises. Added to import tariffs on the metals, and higher prices in the US, the extra costs are compounding the financial strain on carmakers and parts suppliers, interviews with a dozen executives, industry analysts and experts show. Carmakers have been relying on inventories to avoid raising prices, but could be forced to pass on mounting import tax costs to consumers. Some, including Ford and Toyota, have announced hikes to mitigate other Trump-induced tariffs, while Porsche expects a €300m (R6,285,306,000) hit to results from tariffs for April and May alone. "This (a copper tariff) complicates a difficult situation" for the car industry, said Daan de Jonge, lead analyst for copper demand and prices at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Trump's announcement of the tariff ast week propelled prices on US platform Comex to a record $5,682 (R102,044) a pound (0,453kg) or $12,526 (R225,018) a metric ton, a premium of more than $2,920 (R52,459) a ton over the price on the London Metal Exchange, around $9,600 (R172,469) a ton, which the market uses as the global benchmark. The rate is effective from August 1. The US Midwest duty-paid aluminium premium paid on top of the benchmark LME price for physical delivery has tripled to 60 US cents (R10,71) a pound since Trump was inaugurated. In the same time, the LME price has slipped 3% to $2,604 (R46,783) a metric ton. US top carmakers GM , Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis declined to comment.
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Trump's copper tariffs pile more metal misery on US auto industry
U.S. President Donald Trump 's threat of a 50per cent tariff on copper imports is raising alarm in the U.S. auto sector, as it could make it even harder for carmakers and suppliers to absorb border taxes and rising costs, executives and industry experts say. The duties on their own may be manageable, but prices of the red metal vital for making cars, in particular in wire harnesses and in motors for electric vehicles, have soared to record highs. The U.S. market is heavily reliant on imported copper, aluminium and steel, and developing new capacity could take years, so users are scrambling to buy metal from a limited number of suppliers, spurring price rises. Added to import tariffs on those metals, as well as higher prices in the United States, the extra costs are compounding the financial strain on carmakers and parts suppliers, interviews with a dozen executives, industry analysts and experts show. Carmakers have so far been relying on inventories to avoid raising prices, but could be forced to pass on mounting import tax costs to consumers. Some like Ford and Toyota have already announced hikes to mitigate other Trump-induced tariffs, while Porsche expects a 300-million euro ($351 million) hit to results from tariffs for April and May alone. "This (a copper tariff) complicates an already difficult situation" for the auto industry, said Daan de Jonge, lead analyst for copper demand and prices at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Trump's announcement of the tariff this week propelled prices on U.S. platform COMEX to a record $5.6820 a pound or $12,526 a metric ton, a premium of more than $2,920 a ton over the price on the London Metal Exchange, currently around $9,600 a ton, which the market uses as the global benchmark. The rate is effective August 1. The U.S. Midwest duty-paid aluminium premium paid on top of the benchmark LME price for physical delivery has tripled to 60 U.S. cents a pound since Trump was inaugurated. In the same period, the LME price has slipped 3per cent to $2,604 a metric ton. U.S. top carmakers GM, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis declined to comment for this story. SUPPLIERS PASS ON SOME COSTS After a chaotic week in the copper market, suppliers to carmakers have already asked their customers this week to pay more for their product because they cannot afford the additional costs, experts say. A source at a major auto supplier in the U.S. market said the company had seen "meaningful" impact from elevated copper, aluminum and steel prices. This creates both commercial friction and structural cost gaps, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the issue publicly. Even before any tariff takes effect, users are paying more for their U.S. copper. Takashi Imamura, an executive officer at Japanese trading house Marubeni said on Wednesday a copper tariff would mean higher costs for U.S. consumers. "When they (the U.S. government) reconsider the damage, my final expectation is that they will reduce or eliminate the tariffs," Imamura said. Parts suppliers are feeling the squeeze. Melanie White, president of suspension parts maker Hellwig Products, said steel prices have quadrupled since 2018. Steel tariffs have caused a rush to source from U.S. providers, making it harder to secure supplies. White said the roughly 50-person business has cut costs by putting off equipment purchases or not rehiring for certain vacant positions. "It has affected a lot of things," she said. COSTS Benchmark's de Jonge said that at pre-tariff rates, steel, aluminium and copper accounted for around 5% of a vehicle's production costs in the United States. With tariffs, that rises to up to 9per cent, he said. Based on estimates from Cox Automotive and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence on tariffs already in place combined with the planned copper rates, the U.S. auto industry would pay on average minimum duty of $1,700 for every car made in the U.S. and $3,500 per car imported from Canada and Mexico that complies with the USMCA trade deal. It would be as much as $5,700 for every car imported from elsewhere. Those numbers add up fast in a low-margin industry where the average U.S. new vehicle selling price in June hit $46,233, according to consultancy J.D. Power. Consultancy CRU Group estimates the average combustion-engine or hybrid car requires about 24 kg (53 pounds) of copper, while the average fully-electric car needs around 59 kg. Dan Hearsch, global co-leader for automotive and industrials at consultancy AlixPartners, said supplier agreements tend to be indexed to copper prices and revised every few months. But the spike in copper prices this week has forced auto suppliers to go to customers and "say, 'Hey, we need to talk about this on top of all our other tariff conversations,'" Hearsch said. Some in the industry remain skeptical that the copper tariff will actually be implemented. Trump has a history of delaying or walking back tariff threats. Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply chain specialist SC Insights, said that a copper tariff would likely be short-lived because higher inflation caused by border taxes will collide with the reality of the U.S. political calendar - where midterm elections will be held in November 2026. "Most Americans don't really give a damn about foreign policy," Leyland. "Inflation is the only concern that people really have."
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First Post
04-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
July 4: America at crossroads as it celebrates Independence Day amid Trump-induced global uncertainty
As the United States celebrates the 4th of July, commemorating the 249th year of independence, here's a look at how its hegemonic presence is fading away in a multipolar world. read more Advertisement U.S. President Donald Trump. Image- AFP On July 4, 2025, the United States of America will commemorate its 249th year of independence . In the span of over two centuries, the country's place in the world order has changed dramatically. From staying relatively isolated in the initial years of its independence, the US became a hegemonic power after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, this global dominance is currently on decline, with the rise of the multi-polar world order. The decline has become even more apparent with the comeback of US President Donald Trump in the White House. With Trump-induced global uncertainties, regional blocs and countries are looking for alternatives. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, Trump's policy has been more inward-looking over the years. This can be reflected by his brainchild, the ' Make America Great Again movement (MAGA). Right after he returned to the White House, he signed a plethora of executive orders, including cutting foreign aid and imposing high tariffs. He closed the American border and significantly reduced US military presence overseas, questioning alliances and exuding scepticism toward international institutions like the UN, WTO and NATO. This compelled the US's allies to look for alternatives, with multiple countries and regional blocs signing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with each other. Here's why under Trump, the US no longer enjoy the hegemony it once used to have. Trump and wars While campaigning to return to the White House, Trump made a highly ambitious proclamation of ending the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours . However, it has been over 100 days since he returned to the White House, and the war between the two nations is still raging. Trump's struggle to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the negotiation table can be seen in the fact that he often jumped in and out of peace talks. During the 12-day confrontation between Israel and Iran , Trump once again attempted to bring peace in the region. He called for a ceasefire after bombing three of Iran's nuclear facilities. However, neither Iran nor Israel stopped fighting, reflecting the diminishing influence of the US. An angry Trump eventually told reporters that Israel and Iran have been 'fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f**k they are doing '. In a similar brazen manner, Trump went on to claim that he stopped the India-Pakistan conflict. While Pakistan supported the President's narratives to gain brownie points, even to this day, India rejects Trump's claim, reflecting that the US no longer has the power to change the direction of the conflict. Apart from this, Trump often tends to diminish the importance of international groups like NATO , the European Union and the United Nations. In March, he casts doubt on the US's willingness to defend Nato allies. 'It's common sense, right?' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'If they don't pay, I'm not going to defend them. No, I'm not going to defend them.' He often called out the UN for its inability to preserve international peace. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump tariffs are pushing countries away from the US In April this year, Trump commemorated ' Liberation Day ' by announcing reciprocal tariffs on goods the US imports from different countries. He announced a blanket tariff of 10 per cent on all nations and introduced additional tariffs on countries like Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and India. China, however, faced the major brunt of it with tariffs ranging as high as 125 per cent. While these tariffs are yet to come into force, in the words of Trump, countries rushed to sign bilateral trade deals with the US, with the UK already having one in place and India finalising its trade deal. Amid the tariff saga, several countries and regional groups joined hands and signed FTAs with each other, providing a new alternative to the US hegemony. India has signed FTAs with the UK and Australia , with a deal with the EU on the cards by the end of this year. Similarly, South America's largest trading bloc, Mercosur, signed a trade deal with the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) on Wednesday. Over the years, China have also been enhancing its influence around the world with its Belt and Road Initiative. When asked if Trump tariffs would eventually push US allies towards China, renowned American economist Jeffrey D. Sachs emphasised that there is more to the story. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Trump is alienating the rest of the world over many issues, including tariffs, but also sanctions, threats to sovereignty (e.g. vis-à-vis Canada, Panama, and Greenland), and reckless disregard for climate change,' he told Firstpost in an interview on April 11 . Chaos at home Chaos ensued across the United States ever since Trump came back to power. Domestic political polarisation and economic challenges complicate US governance and its ability to project global leadership. For instance, when the US was intervening in the Iran-Israel war, the United States' Los Angeles was witnessing protests over the ICE raids on immigrants. The demonstrations were so severe that the Trump administration went on to threaten the arrest of LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom . Trump eventually compared the protests in LA with an 'invasion of third-world lawlessness'. In terms of the economy, Wall Street witnessed a decline the moment Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs. This eventually prompted Trump to pause the tariffs to prevent a crash of the American markets. Hence, political and economic volatilities induced by Trump's policies are taking the US's attention away from what is happening in the world and giving space to other powers to fill the vacuum, transforming the world into a multipolar world order.
