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EU trade ministers discuss €72 billion retaliatory tariffs on US goods

EU trade ministers discuss €72 billion retaliatory tariffs on US goods

Euronews2 days ago
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič presented EU trade ministers gathered in Brussels for an extraordinary meeting on Monday a list of €72 billion worth of US products to be included in a retaliatory tariff drive, as Washington's pressure ramped up over the weekend with the threat of 30% tariffs on EU imports starting on 1 August.
'We must be prepared for all outcomes, including if necessary, well-considered proportionate measures to restore balance in our transatlantic relationship,' Šefčovič said, adding: 'Today the Commission is sharing with the member states the proposal for the second list of goods, accounting of some €72 billion worth of US Imports. They will now have a chance to discuss it.'
The list proposed by the Commission, which has been reduced to €72 billion from €95 billion following consultations with EU industries and member states, still needs to be formally adopted by the member states. It targets a wide range of products, including US-made aeroplanes and bourbon.
Last Saturday, after weeks of negotiations, US President Donald Trump published on Truth Social a letter sent to the European Commission threatening to impose 30% tariffs on EU imports if no deal is reached by 1 August.
Last week, negotiations appeared to have entered the final stretch, with the EU having reluctantly agreed to a baseline tariff of 10% on its imports. Sector-specific exemptions were still being negotiated, with the EU having secured 0% on aircraft and spirits, and some US tariffs just above 10% on agricultural products.
'We were very very close to an agreement in principle,' Danish foreign affairs minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen regretted.
The US currently imposes tariffs of 50% on EU steel and aluminium, 25% on cars, and 10% on all EU imports.
According to an EU diplomat, EU retaliation could also include export controls on aluminium scrap, which the US needs.
But while the EU is flexing its muscles, it continues to prioritise negotiation.
'We remain convinced that our transatlantic relationship deserves a negotiated solution, one that leads to renewed stability and cooperation,' Maroš Šefčovič said before announcing he had a call planned with his US counterparts on Monday late afternoon.
On Saturday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a delay in the implementation of an initial retaliatory measure targeting €21 billion worth of US products, which had been suspended until Tuesday.
According to the same EU diplomat, a meeting of EU ambassadors had originally decided to postpone it until the end of the year, but Trump's new announcements have made these countermeasures more urgent. They have therefore been postponed until 1 August.
Anti-coercion instrument
Behind the show of unity displayed on Monday by member states, diplomats are however well aware that complications will arise once a deal with the US is on the table.
'Let's be realistic, we will all have different interpretations,' an official from a member state told Euronews, admitting that once a deal is reached some countries will push for strong retaliation while others will want to avoid escalation, depending on which of their strategic sectors is most hit by the US.
France continues to advocate a hard line toward the US, eager to put all the tools at the EU's disposal on the table, including the use of the anti-coercion instrument — the 'nuclear option' of EU trade defence, adopted in 2023.
'This pressure, deliberately applied by the US president in recent days and weeks, is straining our negotiating capacity and must lead us to show that Europe is a power,' French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said on arrival at the Council.
'Europe is a power when it knows how to demonstrate its ability to respond," Saint-Martin added.
'The US has escalation dominance,' a second EU diplomat told Euronews.
On Sunday, von der Leyen ruled out use of the anti-coercion instrument for the time being.
'The anti-coercion is created for extraordinary situations,' she said, adding: 'We are not there yet.'
The tool would allow the EU to withdraw licences and intellectual property rights from foreign companies, including US tech giants.
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Danish universities increasingly rejecting foreign researchers
Danish universities increasingly rejecting foreign researchers

Euronews

time15 minutes ago

  • Euronews

Danish universities increasingly rejecting foreign researchers

Growing scrutiny against espionage is leading higher institutions of learning in Denmark to reject foreign researchers, as officials report threat levels as high. University authorities in the Nordic nation say they are particularly vigilant when researchers come from Russia, Iran, and China, as sensitive Danish research must not fall into the wrong hands. At Aarhus University, one of Denmark's foremost institutions of higher education, at least 24 foreign researchers have been rejected this year. This equates to one in twelve applicants from China, Russia, and Iran, the institution said. According to Brian Vinter, vice-dean of Aarhus University's Faculty of Engineering, the applicant researchers were rejected on the basis that they would have access to material that could lead them to divulge information to a third party. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) says there are four ways in which foreign states can exploit and pressure researchers into becoming spies. Bribery or buying access to knowledge, blackmail, threats, coercion, digital influence campaigns, and simple methods such as surveillance, theft, and burglary are among the ways it mentions. At the University of Southern Denmark, André Ken Jakobsen, associate professor at the Centre for War Studies, warns that advanced technology can be applied by many powers. "And that makes the interest bigger, the intensity bigger, the competition bigger, and thus the threat is also bigger," he said, adding that a lot of unwanted attention may arise, especially in the areas of quantum technology and the green transition. This is what has informed the need for caution, according to Professor Jakobsen. Denmark's security and defence agenda The tightened rules on this also come in light of Denmark's security and defence agenda when it took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. On 3 July, Denmark marked the takeover of the Presidency of the Council of the EU with an official opening ceremony in Aarhus. While analysts believe this may particularly be geared to rearmament efforts, as the Scandinavian country tends to do with defence as a priority, associate professor Jakobsen notes that the threat of cyber espionage is real. The Danish Emergency Management Agency reports that the threat of cyber espionage and cybercrime against Danish universities is very high. That's why screenings are necessary, according to Jakobsen. Despite the efforts to mitigate risks, there are fears the situation may have some impact. "Of course, I think that's super sad because we want the best people to come in and work for us. This is also why we do everything we can to avoid overimplementation," said Vinter of the Aarhus University Technical Faculty. "But there is no doubt that we say no to some people who probably could have had employment at Aarhus University without anything going wrong with it, but we have assessed that the risk is too high," he explained. Several other Danish universities have also rejected foreign researchers for fear of espionage, but they have said they don't keep count of the number of rejections. To screen applicants, the University of Copenhagen told local media it has employed two staff members in addition to using a third-party consultancy. The majority of the screenings have been carried out in the natural and health sciences, although the university told DR, the official Danish broadcaster, that they do not have statistics on how many applications have been refused.

Is Libya's General Khalifa Haftar really that powerful?
Is Libya's General Khalifa Haftar really that powerful?

Euronews

time2 hours ago

  • Euronews

Is Libya's General Khalifa Haftar really that powerful?

When a senior EU delegation travelled to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi last Tuesday, they were hoping to discuss ways to limit the increasing numbers of migrants leaving Libya heading north to Europe. However, shortly after their jet touched down at Benghazi Airport, the cluster of EU foreign ministers – as well as European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner – were sent packing. There was no agreement, not even a meeting. They were unceremoniously kicked out and declared "personae non gratae," a source on the European side told Euronews at the time, adding that the delegation was caught in a diplomatic 'trap' in which Haftar tried to force them to take a photo with, and tacitly legitimise, his Benghazi-based government. While the EU itself has been remiss to publicly comment on what one senior Libyan analyst said was outright 'humiliation,' it is understood that the man they were hoping to strike a deal with was General Khalifa Haftar. As the head of the powerful Libyan National Army, despite not leading the internationally recognised government, Haftar has become the de facto ruler of vast swathes of the North African country, which has lacked a unified state since the fall and assassination of notorious dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Although Haftar is arguably the most powerful person in Libya today, he was once persona non grata himself, living quietly in exile right up to Gaddafi's demise. Keep your friends close… Born to an Arab Benuin family in northeastern Libya at the start of Britain's eight-year occupation of the country, Khalifa Belqasim Omar Haftar was, even according to his allies, 'a very quiet young lad who did not do much work.' However, he managed to gain admission to the Benghazi Military University Academy, where friends from his time there reportedly also refer to him as 'a very stern boy.' 'He would not ask for a fight, but if it came to him, he knows how to handle it,' Haftar's friends described him. It was at the academy where Haftar got to know a student in the year above — one Muammar Gaddafi. They became fast friends, with Haftar even labelling Gaddafi an 'angel'. The two united over their revolutionary spirit, fomented by a recent political coup that toppled the monarchy and political class in Libya's neighbour, Egypt. 'We were massively affected by Jamal Abdel Nasser's era and what was going on in Egypt,' Haftar later explained. Haftar was also said to be a massive admirer of the Iraqi vice president at the time — soon to become another household name. 'Khalifa's most important son is named Saddam, who by the way is named after Saddam Hussein. He's the most like his father, I think that tells you all you need to know,' Tim Eaton from the Chatham House Institute said during an interview with Euronews from London. It is also likely that he chose his title, field marshal, as a nod to Yugoslav socialist leader Josip Broz Tito, experts believe. Just three years after his graduation, Haftar was instrumental in the 1969 coup, which toppled King Idris and replaced him with Gaddafi, who had expansionist ambitions of spreading his Islamic socialist ideology — also known as Jamahiriya — beyond Libya's borders. In subsequent years, Haftar trained in the Soviet Union and rose through the ranks of Gaddafi's military, commanding the Libyan troops supporting Egyptian troops entering Israeli-occupied Sinai during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. This cemented what was to become an enduring relationship between the Libyan military commander and leaders in Cairo. But keep your enemies closer In 1986, Haftar was made a colonel before becoming the military chief of staff. As the Gaddafi regime became increasingly authoritarian and rogue, his rise seemed inexorable. However, his luck suddenly turned: Gaddafi's favourite commander led a disastrous mission in the late 1980s into neighbouring Chad, which led to the capture of almost 700 Libyan soldiers, including Haftar himself. He was jailed, along with his men. Then it was the US, not Libya, that secured his release, which Libyan analyst Anas El Gomati contends was a turning point in the Haftar-Gaddafi relationship. 'Haftar was like Gaddafi's chosen sword until he became his sharpest blade turned inward,' the founder of Libya's self-described first think tank told Euronews. As El Gomati explained, Haftar 'was abandoned as a scapegoat, then spent two decades in Virginia plotting revenge." "He didn't just oppose Gaddafi, he became his dark mirror, learning every lesson about authoritarian control," El Gomati pointed out. In fact, Haftar spent the next 24 years in exile and working with Libyan opposition movements, living just kilometres away from Washington, in Langley, the home of the CIA. In 2019, a former advisor to Haftar in the mid-2010s, Mohamed Bouzier, concurred with El Gomati in an interview with the BBC. 'He was inhabited by Gaddafi. He was inhabited by envy of Gaddafi. How Gaddafi ruled this country," Bouzier said. However, some Libya insiders privately told Euronews of rumours that Gaddafi had actually gifted his former military chief an opulent mansion in Cairo during this time — the same house in which Haftar's most powerful son, Saddam, grew up. Back in the fold When protests erupted across the Arab world in 2011, Libyans took to the streets in cities across the country. After decades of discussing plots to overthrow Gaddafi with willing Western ears and, as Libya expert Claudia Gazzini describes it, 'sort of defecting to the Americans', Haftar finally saw cracks emerging and soon went to the Libyan capital Tripoli. However, the International Crisis Group's senior analyst pushed back on the idea of Haftar becoming a key US puppet in the Libyan revolution. 'I haven't heard anybody make it so explicit. It would make sense, but nobody has said the Americans told him to go back there.' Even if they did, it wouldn't have been a short-term success, she continued. 'In 2012-2013, he based himself in Tripoli, but he wasn't a big name at the time, because there were just so many different armed groups in Tripoli an the power was balanced out between all these people.' El Gomati was less diplomatic: 'Haftar was a footnote, a Cold War fossil.' It was not until 2014 that Haftar's head really appeared above the parapet, when he announced an operation which he said was to root out extremists in Benghazi. Even then, Gazzini contends that he was not taken seriously. 'He came on TV. It was very pathetic. He actually came on TV with a big map behind him saying: 'Hey, you know, we need to rebel against these bad Islamists.'' A claim that both Gazzini and Eaton doubt, with the latter telling Euronews that 'for Haftar, there's always been good islamists and bad Islamists.' 'There's actually a lot of Salafists (Islamist extremists) in his ranks, just ones who can take orders," Eaton explained. However, Operation Dignity, as it was known, helped consolidate Haftar's power over Libya's second biggest city and much of the country's east. Over the following years, he built up his power and became the supreme commander of the Libyan National Army in 2015. None of this happened in a vacuum. Family at home, friends abroad Over the decades, Haftar had built up close relationships in Cairo, but when he returned to Libya, Egypt was also in the midst of revolutionary fervour, tending towards the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group. As Gazzini explained, 'There was a jihadist threat in Libya and then we have Egypt, which was very weak." "If you go back to before 2013 before (Abdel Fattah) El-Sisi, there was this fear that Egypt could implode ... And the Europeans also didn't want Egypt to collapse," she explained. Faced with difficult choices and fearing the likes of the self-proclaimed IS group spreading their influence in North Africa, some analysts believe that European leaders gave Haftar — whose power and army grew in strength — the silent nod of approval to do what he thinks is right. "They needed a new Gaddafi, someone who could stop democracy from becoming contagious. Haftar fit the mould: ruthless, ambitious, and willing to trade sovereignty for support," El Gomati believes. Egypt also backed him as a known known, someone in the immediate neighbourhood who understood the context, but also the perils the region was facing. The list of backers, silent or otherwise, only continued to grow from there on out. In addition to Cairo, Haftar gained the support of governments ranging from Moscow to Washington, even though the UN did not recognise his wider authority as a legitimate head of state. However, according to Gazzini, it was Abu Dhabi and Paris who ended up as his most unquestioning supporters. While the Emirates saw the allure of Libya's oil reserves — the largest in Africa — France and Europe more widely were dealing with an influx of refugees through the Mediterranean, hundreds of thousands of whom were hoping to reach the continent via Libya. In all that, Haftar saw his chance to utilise the international support and finally become the ruler of Libya — and who knows, maybe even bigger than Gaddafi himself. When Haftar announced his intention to overthrow the Tripoli-based, internationally recognised Government of National Accord on the day UN Secretary General António Guterres arrived in the capital in 2019, even Egypt warned him against it. 'But he was full of hubris from the Emiratis who wanted to do it. They were giving him aerial cover. The French also wanted to do it,' Gazzini told Euronews from the IRG offices in Rome. It is a hubris that some have compared to his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Similarly, Haftar's attempts also failed. Tripoli refused to fall into Haftar's troops' hands, and Libya fell back into a form of stalemate. Divided we stand Throughout this time, Haftar was accumulating extraordinary wealth for his family, whom he had installed in various positions, experts say. As Eaton told Euronews, 'There was a debate on whether when Khalifa (Haftar) died, could his sons come in and take over. It seems that they have come in and started creating their own portfolios even before.' And it is all in the family and the hands of his children, as El Gomati succinctly outlined. 'Saddam runs the ground forces. Khaled commands the personal guard. Belkacem controls the billions in Libya's reconstruction fund. Sedig runs the reconciliation file,' he explained. The family has amassed a portfolio estimated to be worth billions. Despite his failure to seize the wider country, Haftar and his sons continue to run much of the country. 'He controls everything that matters in eastern Libya,' El Gomati said. 'Oil fields, ports, airports, military bases, and the central bank's printing press. He has his own air force, controls cross-border smuggling routes… It operates like a state within a state.' Euronews has reached out to Khalifa and Saddam Haftar for comment. As shown by the EU's lack of retribution over the past week, the self-proclaimed field marshal also maintains significant international backing. He was recently in Russia for talks with Putin – a trip he was rumoured to have died on, but once again, he miraculously recovered. The 'humiliation' of the EU delegation also isn't the first time Haftar has managed to push around supposed allies in Europe. The analysts Euronews spoke to put this down to Europe's domestic wranglings over 'irregular migrations,' and the simple fact that 'there's no way migrant boats would be leaving the east without Haftar knowing.' Gazzini gave the example of her native Italy: 'At some point, a lot of migrants were going to the coast of Italy about a year and a half ago, he let it be known that he wanted an official visit and an official invitation to Rome. And he got that.' At the end of his interview, El Gomati did not mince words about the European approach to the Libyan commander. 'Europeans keep volunteering as victims. Haftar treats EU diplomats like desperate suitors because that's exactly what they are.' It is a point that Eaton also touches upon, albeit somewhat more diplomatically. 'There's a real imbalance,' he concluded. However, Europe is not acting in a vacuum either. It is often trying to play by international rules and conventions in an arena where shady actions speak much louder than words and agreements on paper. Sometimes, it is better to have a strongman on your side — or at least his ear. 'We have very little leverage compared to other states. Compare it with the Russians, who have MiGs and have fighter jets that are at Haftar's disposal," Gazzini admitted. 'Compare us to the Emiratis who bring in reinforcements and ammunition in violation of the embargo.'

Tech giants can easily check age of child users, says Danish minister
Tech giants can easily check age of child users, says Danish minister

Euronews

time3 hours ago

  • Euronews

Tech giants can easily check age of child users, says Danish minister

The largest online platforms should not have any issues implementing looming age verification solutions, Denmark's digital minister told Euronews in response to heavy lobbying around online child protection measures by the tech industry. 'They are the biggest companies in the world, with a bigger economy than most of our countries could ever dream of. I think they will manage to find a solution,' Caroline Stage Olsen said. On Monday, Stage Olsen together with the EU Technology Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, said five EU countries – Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain – plan work on a customised national age verification application in a bid to shield children from harmful content online. This app should allow users to easily prove they are over 18 when accessing restricted adult content online. In the long term, the Commission hopes to integrate age verification functionalities within digital identification tools, European Digital Identity Wallets (eID), which will be rolled-out next year. Big tech companies face increasing pressure to implement age verification tools to combat the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The CSAM regulation, proposed in 2022 and currently under debate in the Council of the EU, also relies heavily on identifying minors online to shield them from predators. Some companies have now implemented AI powered solutions to tackle the problem, but Stage Olsen said that she is confident online platforms will find the money to work on the tools. 'I'm sure that they will manage to have hired some of the brightest heads in the world concerning technology,' she said. US tech giant Meta last year proposed a harmonised age verification and safety standard system for apps and online services to the Commission. If an underaged child wants to download an app, app stores would be required to notify their parents under Meta's proposal. The 27 EU member states are currently free to set their own rules for age verification and there are no EU standards, although some of the EU rules foresee improved age verification to protect minors including the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Denmark, which started chairing meetings of EU ministers this month, said it has put several child protection measures on top of the agenda during the country's chairmanship. 'I will use the presidency to put this on top of the agenda and set a clear, political ambition that can shape EU policy in the years to come,' Stage Olsen said. One way of making the tools mandatory would be introducing these measures in a planned Digital Fairness Act, rules the Commission will put forward early next year to protect consumers online.

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