By using forced-labour claims to justify tariffs and threaten Europe’s digital and climate rules, Washington is testing whether the EU dares to turn its own powerful regulatory arsenal against American companies.
We are told every day that we are in a mighty struggle between liberal democrats and illiberal populists. We are told that ‘we’, the former have to defend our freedoms against ‘them’, the latter.
This framing is wrong and it is a gift for semi-authoritarian parties, warns Michael Meyer-Resende.
EU companies have largely escaped any downfall from Trump’s tariffs. “The people who pay US tariffs are the importers,” said one EU official.
As Albania’s EU membership momentum hits full steam, Brussels’ institutions and Albanian civil society speak out about what accession with current environmental scandals could mean for the EU’s credibility
According to the Portugal remigration summit’s official website, the meeting was about “shaping the future of Europe and the West through sovereignty, identity, and demographic renewal” – a euphemism of creating imagined racially pure Western societies.
Nato pledged billions more for Ukraine and vowed to contain Russia and Iran. Although Donald Trump’s musings about quitting Europe militarily and strong‑arming allies over Greenland underlined how dependent the continent’s security still is on a single, volatile, leader.
From a mysterious diamond ring gift to a journalist being ejected after the ambassador called the police, the Brussels bash played out less like a birthday party and more like a meticulously stage-managed piece of Trump-era political theatre.
THIS WEEK: Syria and Iran, plus national strikes in Belgium and Hungary’s new PMOfficials from Syria, as well as EU ministers dealing with foreign affairs and defence, are all convening in Brussels, ahead of a national strike in Belgium.
The EU commission confirmed that it would publish a review of the law this week, but refused to be drawn on what it might recommend. However, officials have indicated that they will use the review to propose targeted tweaks to simplify implementation and adjust the list of products covered by the regulation.
Appeasement has not prevented Donald Trump from temporarily suspending military aid to Ukraine, repeatedly threatening sweeping tariffs on European exports, or even suggesting the use of force to annex the sovereign territory of a Nato ally – Greenland. It has not prevented the US from launching a military operation against Iran that risks undermining European security, empowering the Kremlin, and potentially triggering a global economic downturn.
“The US alone has already spent more money on this conflict in the last two and a half weeks than the $23bn (€19.9bn) I need to save 87 million lives this year,” said Tom Fletcher, a senior official at the United Nations.
MEPs are going to press ahead with a vote to approve the EU-US trade pact —despite most observers believing that it clear favours the US.
MEPs have scrapped plans to vote on the EU-US trade deal on Tuesday, amid the ‘chaos’ of the new Donald Trump trade tariffs unilaterally announced at the weekend following a Supreme Court defeat.
With Friday’s Supreme Court verdict Donald Trump is off balance and on the defensive. The moment is opportune to stand up to his bullying tactics. He has not looked this vulnerable since he was reeling from the market reactions to his initial Liberation Day tariffs.
Croatia’s Dubravka Suica will be representing Brussels at the launch of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace on Thursday.
