Latest news with #global trade
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
EU and US announce tariff deal to avoid spiralling trade war
The United States struck a framework trade deal with the European Union on Monday AEST, imposing a 15 per cent import tariff on most EU goods, but averting a spiralling battle between two allies which account for almost a third of global trade. The announcement came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled for talks with US President Donald Trump at his golf course in western Scotland to push a hard-fought deal over the line. "I think this is the biggest deal ever made," Trump told reporters after an hour-long meeting with von der Leyen, who said the 15 per cent tariff applied "across the board". "We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability," she said. The deal, which also includes US$600 billion ($914.9 billion) of EU investments in the United States and US$750 billion ($1.1 trillion) of EU purchases of US energy over Trump's second term, will indeed bring clarity for EU companies. Even so, the baseline 15 per cent tariff will be seen by many in Europe as a poor outcome compared with the initial European ambition of a zero-for-zero tariff deal, although it is better than the threatened 30 per cent rate. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the deal, saying in a statement that a trade conflict had been averted that would have hit Germany's export-driven economy and its large auto sector hard. But Bernd Lange, the German Social Democrat who chair's the trade committee of the European Parliament, said he was "quite critical" because the tariffs were imbalanced and the pledged $600 billion of investment would likely come at the expense of EU industry. The euro rose around 0.2 per cent per cent against the dollar, sterling and yen within an hour of the deal. The deal mirrors key parts of the framework agreement the United States clinched with Japan last week. Shipping containers and cargo ships seen in the port of Barcelona one of the biggest sea ports of Europe. Source: AAP / Davide Bonaldo / SOPA Images "We are agreeing that the tariff ... for automobiles and everything else will be a straight-across tariff of 15 per cent," Trump said. That rate will not, however, apply to steel and aluminium, for which a 50 per cent tariff will remain in place, although von der Leyen said it would be cut and replaced with a quota system. Von der Leyen said the rate also applied to semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and there would be no tariffs from either side on aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. "We will keep working to add more products to this list," she said, adding that the situation on spirits was still to be established. Eric Winograd, chief economist at AllianceBernstein in New York, noted the similarity with Japan's US deal. "We will need to see how long the sides stick to the deal. From a market perspective, it is reassuring in the sense that having a deal is better than not having a deal," he said. Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old US trade deficits, has so far reeled in agreements with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has failed to deliver on a promise of "90 deals in 90 days." He has periodically railed against the European Union, saying it was "formed to screw the United States" on trade. Arriving in Scotland, Trump said the EU wanted "to make a deal very badly" and said, as he met von der Leyen, that Europe had been "very unfair to the United States". His main bugbear is the US merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to US Census Bureau data. The EU points to the US surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Trump also talked on Sunday about the "hundreds of billions of dollars" that tariffs were bringing in. On 12 July, Trump threatened to apply a 30 per cent tariff on imports from the EU starting on 1 August, after weeks of negotiations with the major US trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. The EU had prepared countertariffs on 93 billion euros of US goods in the event there was no deal, and Trump had pressed ahead with 30 per cent tariffs. Some member states had also pushed for the bloc to use its most powerful trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument, to target US services in the event of a no-deal.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
EU and US agree trade deal, with 15% tariffs for European exports to America
The United States and European Union have reached a trade deal, ending a months-long standoff between two of the world's key economic make-or-break negotiations between President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen in Scotland, the pair agreed on a blanket US tariff on all EU goods of 15%. That is half the 30% import tax rate Trump had threatened to implement starting on Friday. Trump said the 27-member bloc would open its markets to US exporters with zero per cent tariffs on certain der Leyen also hailed the deal, saying it would bring stability for both allies, who together account for almost a third of global trade. Trump has threatened tariffs against major US trade partners in a bid to reorder the global economy and trim the American trade well as the EU, he has also struck tariff agreements with the UK, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although he has not achieved his goal of "90 deals in 90 days".Sunday's deal was announced after private talks between Trump and Von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf course in South - who is on a five-day visit to Scotland - said following a brief meeting with the European Commission president: "We have reached a deal. It's a good deal for everybody.""It's going to bring us closer together," he der Leyen also hailed it as a "huge deal", after "tough negotiations".Under the agreement, Trump said the EU would boost its investment in the US by $600bn (£446bn), purchase hundreds of billions of dollars of American military equipment and spend $750bn on investment in American liquified natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels would, Von der Leyen said, help reduce European reliance on Russian power sources."I want to thank President Trump personally for his personal commitment and his leadership to achieve this breakthrough," she said."He is a tough negotiator, but he is also a dealmaker."The US president also said a 50% tariff he has implemented on steel and aluminium globally would stay in sides can paint this agreement as something of a the EU, the tariffs could have been worse: it is not as good as the UK's 10% tariff rate, but is the same as the 15% rate that Japan the US it equates to the expectation of roughly $90bn of tariff revenue into government coffers – based on last year's trade figures, plus there's hundreds of billions of dollars of investment now due to come into the US. How are trade deals actually negotiated?They made America's clothing. Now they are getting punished for itIn pictures: President Trump's private visit to Scotland Trade in goods between the EU and US totalled about $975.9bn last year. Last year the US imported about $606bn in goods from the EU and exported around $ imbalance, or trade deficit, is a sticking point for Trump. He says trade relationships like this mean the US is "losing".If he had followed through on tariffs against Europe, import taxes would have been levied on products from Spanish pharmaceuticals to Italian leather, German electronics and French EU had said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on US goods including car parts, Boeing planes and Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans his own meeting with Trump at Turnberry on will be in Aberdeen on Tuesday, where his family has another golf course and is opening a third next president and his sons plan to help cut the ribbon on the new fairway.
The National
5 days ago
- Business
- The National
AD Ports sets up China office to serve emerging trade corridors
AD Ports Group, the operator of industrial cities and free zones in Abu Dhabi, has launched its first office in China, as it aims to strengthen commercial and investment activities globally. The new office in Beijing will help advance AD Ports' presence within China as well as the Belt and Road network, which spans maritime routes linking Asia, Africa and Europe as well as multimodal overland corridors between China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, AD Ports said in a statement on Thursday. The new office will also help connect potential clients and investors into the group's integrated global trade and logistics ecosystem, while co-ordinating investments, fostering new business ventures, and facilitating capital inflows from Chinese investors into the UAE. 'As the world's largest exporter and driver of supply chain development, China is actively reshaping international trade. Through our newly established Beijing office, we will work closely with our Chinese partners to support the expansion of key local, regional and international trade corridors and deliver cutting-edge shipping, infrastructure and logistics solutions,' said Capt Mohamed Al Shamsi, managing director and group chief executive of AD Ports Group. The move comes as AD Ports looks to expand its global footprint and strengthen partnerships with businesses across within the UAE well as China, and in markets beyond the world's second-largest economy. The Abu Dhabi-based group and China's Jiangsu Overseas Co-operation Investment operate economic zones in Abu Dhabi, while Cosco Shipping Ports operates a major container terminal via a joint venture at Khalifa Port. A number of Chinese companies have also invested in manufacturing and trading entities within Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi Group (Kezad), the largest operator of integrated economic zones in the UAE. As of 2024, China was the UAE's largest trading partner, with more than $100 billion in total bilateral trade spanning sectors including crude oil, petrochemicals and artificial intelligence. AD Ports, which has a network of more than 140 offices worldwide, completed several new deals last year including acquiring 100 per cent of APM Terminals Castellon in Spain, as well as buying a 60 per cent stake in Dubai Technologies, a trade and transportation solutions developer based in Dubai. The group also acquired a 60 per cent stake in Tbilisi Dry Port, a key logistics terminal in Georgia, and secured 81 per cent ownership in the joint venture that signed a 20-year concession to operate and upgrade the existing Luanda Multipurpose Port Terminal in Angola. Established in 2006, AD Ports' portfolio includes 33 terminals, with a presence in more than 50 countries, and economic zones spanning more than 550 square kilometres. As part of its China growth strategy, AD Ports will also be expanding in-country capacities of Noatum Logistics, the group's logistics arm, to offer logistics solutions tailored specifically to the needs of China's domestic market. Noatum Logistics will also operate its new commercial branch for the Beijing-Tianjin region, a vital domestic market with a combined population of more than 110 million, according to AD Ports.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. makes shocking move to counter China's de-dollarization push
U.S. makes shocking move to counter China's de-dollarization push originally appeared on TheStreet. President Donald Trump makes no secret of the fact that the U.S. is engaged in a geopolitical competition with China. While the U.S. is still the largest economy in the world, it is closely followed by the Asian superpower. When Trump initiated the global tariff war in April, it was clear the main target was China. However, the previous Joe Biden administration also engaged in a trade war with the country. Among the many concerns of the Trump administration is China's aggressive attempts to de-dollarize global trade in emerging markets where it holds is most manifest in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — also referred to as the New Silk Road — the ambitious infrastructure development project that aims to connect the country to the rest of the world. The Asian giant is increasingly encouraging trade settlements in digital renminbi or e-RMB, its central bank digital currency (CBDC). In fact, USD payments have declined from around 80% in 2010 to 40% in 2024, and RMB payments have risen from negligible in 2010 to around 55% in 2024, the Financial Times reported in August 2024 as it cited the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. To dethrone the U.S. dollar's dominance in global trade settlements, China is relying on RMB-based payments and bypassing USD-based SWIFT payment networks. Trump's 'genius' to challenge China's de-dollarization strategy On July 18, Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law to regulate stablecoins pegged to the USD. A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that attempts to stabilize its value, unlike traditionally volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, by being pegged to a traditional currency like the USD or a commodity like gold. The GENIUS Act only concerns itself with stablecoins pegged 1:1 to the USD. The Trump administration is aggressively promoting a digital assets economy, and stablecoins are a dominant stablecoins could also be a possible "counter-balance" to de-dollarization trends in emerging markets, as per a recent stablecoin report by the on-chain data analytics platform Messari. David Krause, Emeritus Professor, Finance Department, Marquette University, recently wrote in a paper that Messari cited: "The Trump administration's promotion of dollar-backed stablecoins represents a strategic effort to reinforce the dollar's global role amid increasing discussions on dedollarization." Trillions of dollars anticipated As per DeFiLlama, the total stablecoin market cap is $263 billion at the time of writing. Tether's USDT and Circle's (NYSE: CRCL) USDC account for more than 86% of the market share. Other coins like Trump-backed USD1, Ripple's RLUSD, and PayPal's PYUSD are also making inroads in the already growing market. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently said many people think the stablecoin market will reach $1 trillion-$2 trillion in "a handful of years." However, it is yet to be seen if it will grow enough to challenge China's attempts to de-dollarize the global economy. U.S. makes shocking move to counter China's de-dollarization push first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 23, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
Gulf Business
6 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Business
DP World Trade Finance crosses $1bn mark, targeting gaps in emerging markets
Image: DP World The milestone comes as the global trade finance gap continues to exceed $2.5tn, disproportionately affecting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies. The platform, which combines logistics and financial services, has partnered with more than 32 financial institutions globally, including J.P. Morgan, Standard Bank, and NedBank. Together with DP World's own lending operations, the model aims to increase access to affordable trade finance while reducing risk and improving the flow of goods in underfunded markets. 'By making capital more accessible, particularly in high-potential markets, we are shaping a trade system that is more inclusive and resilient,' said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO of DP World. 'The growth of our trade finance business underscores the UAE's role as a catalyst for global trade.' DP World Trade Finance: An integrated model DP World Trade Finance's integrated model offers both funding and real-time supply chain visibility, helping lenders make faster, data-informed credit decisions. The platform's performance has generated a loan book with higher-quality assets than industry benchmarks, according to the company. 'Cross-border trade is the engine of global economic growth, but access to affordable finance remains a critical barrier,' said Sinan Ozcan, Senior Executive Officer of DP World Trade Finance. 'Through our platform, we've built a network that connects businesses with capital and streamlines the financing process to enable more consistent global trade.' The platform has facilitated trade across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe, serving industries including agriculture, metals, automotive, and engineering. Its success is part of a broader effort to ease structural constraints in global trade by improving financing options for businesses that struggle with collateral requirements or limited credit histories. DP World Trade Finance was launched to address persistent challenges faced by SMEs, many of whom are unable to secure loans from traditional institutions due to high perceived risk. The company's data-driven approach, combined with its operational reach, aims to provide a scalable solution to help close one of trade's most pressing gaps. Read:
