logo
EU Seals New Trade Deal With Ukraine as Tariff-Free Regime Ends

EU Seals New Trade Deal With Ukraine as Tariff-Free Regime Ends

Bloomberg11 hours ago

The European Union reached a new trade arrangement with Ukraine to replace the special tariff-free regime that was put in place in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion.
The agreement attempts to strike a balance between supporting Kyiv's trade with the EU while it also 'fully takes into account the sensitivity of certain agricultural sectors, raised by EU member states and farmers,' the European Commission said in a statement on Monday.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

B.C.'s farmers lost $457M in 2024, the most in Canada
B.C.'s farmers lost $457M in 2024, the most in Canada

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

B.C.'s farmers lost $457M in 2024, the most in Canada

British Columbia farmers lost $456.9 million in 2024, according to Statistics Canada, with a lobby group saying there are multiple reasons the province's agricultural sector suffered the largest net loss in Canada last year. Statistics Canada data shows that B.C. farms, as a whole, haven't turned a profit since 2017, and the farm sector has seen a larger net loss every year since 2020. The B.C. Agriculture Council said the cost to find suitable agricultural land is prohibitively high in B.C., and the average farmer in the Lower Mainland is carrying millions of dollars in debt. In addition, a series of climate disasters have wreaked havoc on B.C. farms, including the 2021 floods in the Fraser Valley that affected 1,100 farms and led to more than 60,000 hectares of farmland being lost, according to Jennifer Woike, the president of the agriculture council. The council is asking the government to increase its compensation programs for those affected by climate disasters, as well as updating the province's 52-year-old Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR) to ensure farms can survive in the decades to come. "B.C. is the most expensive province to farm in in Canada," said Woike, who owns a Vancouver Island farm that primarily deals with egg-laying poultry. Woike said one of the biggest hurdles for the sustainability of farms, especially for farmers who don't have intergenerational wealth and land to rely on, is the cost of land. "You can't just build a poultry farm on a five-acre parcel of land. It doesn't fit," she said. "So finding those large acreages are few and far between, and they are expensive." Climate change, tariffs latest hurdles Woike said climate change was a "whole chapter" unto itself when it came to how farmers in the province have struggled with profitability. In 2021, an unprecedented heat dome led to fruit crops being "cooked" on the branch in the Okanagan and Fraser valleys, followed by thousands of crops being submerged by floods in the fall. Two years after that, the province saw its worst drought and wildfire seasons in recorded history. In 2024, a historic cold snap led to the destruction of a year's worth of crops in some areas. Woike said she appreciates the province's climate mitigation and disaster relief programs, but the application processes were often bogged down in bureaucracy. "Those programs were not designed to make the farmer whole. You know, sometimes they only cover up to 70 per cent of the losses," she said. WATCH | Cold snap devastates fruit vines: A new hurdle facing farmers this year is the prospect of U.S. tariffs — with Woike saying B.C. farmers are reliant on imports, as the province simply doesn't produce the right kind of fertilizers and pest control products that farmers need. "Disruptions to those global supply chains, since the pandemic, have increased these costs anywhere from 30 per cent to as much as 100 per cent," she said. Province working to update ALR In addition to asking the government to increase compensation rates for climate disaster relief programs, Woike said she'd like the government to update the ALR. The program was established in 1973 to protect land with prime agricultural conditions for farming and ranching. It currently protects approximately 4.6 million hectares of arable land in B.C., and Woike said she'd like to see it updated. "The ALR itself ensures that there's still hope for future generations to be able to afford farmland — because it is preserved just for farms. That is super important," Woike said. In a statement, B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said the province is working together with farmers to build a sustainable food system in B.C. "I have heard from farmers and producers about the challenges they have been dealing with, including high costs, climate impacts, intensified global competition, access to labour and the potential impact of tariffs," she said. "Earlier this year, we responded to an industry request and set up a new Premier's Task Force that is working on the most pressing issues for the agriculture and food sector including profitability and competitiveness." The B.C. government said it provided $175 million to tree fruit growers through climate-related financial assistance programs between 2020 and March 2024, and also designed specific recovery programs for large-scale climate disasters. It added that it is advocating for changes at the federal level to ensure funding can be distributed to farmers more easily during disaster situations. "The B.C. government supports increasing food production in the ALR," a ministry spokesperson said. "We also know there is a need for more land to do processing, and we are actively working on a renewed inventory of the ALR so we can make better policy decisions supporting agriculture."

European security tops Denmark's EU presidency priorities
European security tops Denmark's EU presidency priorities

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

European security tops Denmark's EU presidency priorities

Pushing countries to keep vows to boost defence spending and bolstering Europe's "dangerous" security will top Denmark's agenda as it takes over the European Union's rotating presidency on Tuesday, according to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Denmark is among European nations put on edge by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and who have already increased military spending. "We want something with our presidency. Security is clearly defined as the top priority," Frederiksen said in an interview with the Politiken daily published on Sunday. "We have a new NATO goal that has been adopted. For that to happen, we need to rearm Europe. Once the NATO goal is in place, most other things come down to EU policy," she said. NATO members agreed last week to invest 3.5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on core military spending and 1.5 percent on broader security-related areas such as infrastructure by 2035. Spain has called the goal "unreasonable" and asked for flexibility. During its six month turn as EU president, Denmark wants to push ahead with EU plans presented in March to increase EU defence capabilities by simplifying procedures and offering countries loans to finance investment in Europe's defence industry. Europe's security situation is "unstable, and because it's unstable, it's dangerous," Frederiksen told Politiken. "If we look at the history of Europe, we know that conflicts tend to spread. There is so much tension today and that on its own can generate more tension," she added. - A Secure Europe - Denmark is one of Europe's biggest donors of aid to Ukraine. In power since 2019, Frederiksen has significantly increased Denmark's defence spending to more than three percent of GDP. Copenhagen has been a staunch US ally but has increasingly switched its focus to European security after US President Donald Trump's threats to annex Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory. In its programme for "A Secure Europe", the Danish EU presidency has also prioritised the fight against illegal migration, vowing to come up with "new and innovative solutions". Denmark's strict migration policies have spread across Europe, and the country hopes to build EU consensus on externalising asylum procedures outside Europe, and restricting the scope of rulings from the European Court of Human Rights. "Irregular migration cannot be allowed to threaten European cohesion," Denmark said in its official EU presidency programme. The Scandinavian country recently joined Italy and seven other nations to seek a reinterpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights to allow for changes to migration policy, arguing that the text sometimes protects "the wrong people". ef/po/tw/tc

The World's Greatest McLaren Collection Is Up for Sale
The World's Greatest McLaren Collection Is Up for Sale

Motor 1

timean hour ago

  • Motor 1

The World's Greatest McLaren Collection Is Up for Sale

McLaren would not be what it is today without Mansour Ojjeh. The businessman took an ownership stake in McLaren in 1984, and together with Ron Dennis, helped turn it into the top-flight Formula 1 team and supercar builder it is today. Ojjeh passed in 2021, and now, his car collection is coming up for sale. It might be the greatest collection of McLaren road cars ever assembled. As seller Tom Hartley Jnr. states , Ojjeh was pivotal in helping fund the McLaren F1, and the car is the centerpiece of the collection. It's the last of 106 McLaren F1s built in total, and it's finished in a shade of orange called Yquem, which McLaren later renamed Mansour Orange. It's a color McLaren kept exclusive to him. The rest of the collection consists of last-built examples of many special modern McLaren road cars, including the Sabre, Speedtail, Senna, Elva, P1, and what appears to be one of every LM and LT model. Photo by: Tom Hartley Jnr Not all are Mansour Orange, with the Senna in a bare-carbon, yellow, and green livery, and the 675LT Spider in bare carbon with orange accents. Most of the cars were never driven, either, with only the F1 having 1,810 km (1,125 miles) on its odometer, and the P1 GTR used at a handful of McLaren track days. Ojjeh was actually a Ferrari collector at first, but he sold his collection when he helped found McLaren Automotive. It's hard to imagine a better collection of McLaren road cars, certainly outside of the company's collection of F1s. And it's easy to bet that there will be tons of people lining up for the chance to buy an F1 from the man who helped make it a reality. More on McLaren Longtime Ferrari Boss Might Be Working for McLaren McLaren Is Milking Its Le Mans History Again. But We're Here for It Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox, daily. back Sign up For more information, read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . Gallery: Mansour Ojjeh McLaren Collection 30 Source: Tom Hartley Jnr. Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store