European trade ministers meet to forge strategy after surprise 30 percent tariffs from Trump
Meanwhile, Brussels decided to suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month.
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The 'countermeasures' by the EU, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries, will be delayed until Aug. 1.
Trump's letter shows 'that we have until the first of August' to negotiate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday.
The letters to the EU and Mexico come in the midst of an on-and-off Trump threat to impose tariffs on countries and right an imbalance in trade.
Trump in April imposed tariffs on dozens of countries, before pausing them for 90 days to negotiate individual deals. As the three-month grace period ended this week, he began sending tariff letters to leaders but again has pushed back the implementation day for what he says will be just a few more weeks.
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If he moves forward with the tariffs, it could have ramifications for nearly every aspect of the global economy.
In the wake of the new tariffs, European leaders largely closed ranks, calling for unity but also a steady hand to not provoke further acrimony.
Just last week, Europe was cautiously optimistic.
Officials told reporters on Friday they weren't expecting a letter like the one sent Saturday and that a trade deal was to be inked in 'the coming days.' For months, the EU has broadcast that it has strong retaliatory measures ready if talks fail.
Reeling from successive rebukes from Washington, the EU is now diversifying its economic, political and defense networks, mostly in Asia.
The EU top brass will visit Beijing for a summit later this month while courting other Pacific nations like South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, whose prime minister visited Brussels over the weekend to sign a new economic partnership with the EU. It also has mega-deals in the works with Mexico and a trading bloc of South American nations known as Mercosur.
While meeting with Indonesia's prime minister on Sunday, Von der Leyen said that 'when economic uncertainty meets geopolitical volatility, partners like us must come closer together.'
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Boston Globe
20 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
A Senate vote this week will test the popularity of DOGE spending cuts
The House has already approved Trump's request on a mostly party line 214-212 vote. The Senate has little time to spare to beat the deadline for the president's signature. Another House vote will be needed if senators amend the legislation, adding more uncertainty to the outcome. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Here's a closer look at this week's debate. Advertisement Public media on the chopping block Trump has asked lawmakers to rescind nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which represents the full amount it's due to receive during the next two budget years. The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense. The corporation distributes more than two-thirds of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System to support national programming. The potential fallout from the cuts for local pubic media stations has generated concerns on both sides of the political aisle. Advertisement Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he's worried about how the rescissions will hit radio stations that broadcast to Native Americans in his state. He said the vast majority of their funding comes from the federal government. 'They're not political in nature,' Rounds said of the stations. 'It's the only way of really communicating in the very rural areas of our state, and a lot of other states as well.' Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., said that for the tribal radio stations in her state, 'almost to a number, they're saying that they will go under if public broadcasting funds are no longer available to them.' To justify the spending cuts, the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers have cited certain activities they disagree with to portray a wide range of a program's funding as wasteful. In recent testimony, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought criticized programming aimed at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. He said NPR aired a 2022 program entitled 'What 'Queer Ducks' can teach teenagers about sexuality in the animal kingdom.' He also cited a special town hall that CNN held in 2020 with 'Sesame Street' about combatting racism. Targeting humanitarian aid As part of the package, Trump has asked lawmakers to rescind about $8.3 billion in foreign aid programs that aim to fight famine and disease and promote global stability. Among the targets: — $900 million to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and strengthen detections systems to prevent wider epidemics. — $800 million for a program that provides emergency shelter, water and sanitation and family reunification for those forced to flee their own country. — $4.15 billion for two programs designed to boost the economies and democratic institutions in developing and strategically important countries. Advertisement — $496 million to provide humanitarian assistance such as food, water and health care for countries hit by natural disasters and conflicts. Some of the health cuts are aimed at a program known as PEPFAR, which President George W. Bush, a Republican, began to combat HIV/AIDS in developing countries. The program is credited with saving 26 million lives and has broad bipartisan support. On PEPFAR, Vought told senators 'these cuts are surgical and specifically preserve life-saving assistance.' But many lawmakers are wary, saying they've seen no details about where specifically the administration will cut. The administration also said some cuts, such as eliminating funding for UNICEF, would encourage international organizations to be more efficient and seek contributions from other nations, 'putting American taxpayers first.' U.S. leaders have often argued that aiding other nations through 'soft power' is not just the right thing to do but also the smart thing. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Vought there is 'plenty of absolute nonsense masquerading as American aid that shouldn't receive another bit of taxpayer funding,' but he called the administration's attempt to root it out 'unnecessarily chaotic.' 'In critical corners of the globe, instead of creating efficiencies, you've created vacuums for adversaries like China to fill,' McConnell told Vought. Trump weighs in The president has issued a warning on his social media site directly aimed at individual Senate Republicans who may be considering voting against the cuts. He said it was important that all Republicans adhere to the bill and in particular defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 'Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement,' he said. Advertisement For individual Republicans seeking reelection, the prospect of Trump working to defeat them is reason for pause and could be a sign the package is teetering. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., opted to announce he would not seek reelection recently after the president called for a primary challenger to the senator when he voted not to advance Trump's massive tax and spending cut bill. Getting around a filibuster Spending bills before the 100-member Senate almost always need some bipartisan buy-in to pass. That's because the bills need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and advance. But this week's effort is different. Congress set up a process back when Republican Richard Nixon was president for speedily considering a request to claw back previously approved spending authority. Under those procedures, it takes only a simple Senate majority to advance the president's request to a final vote. It's a rarely employed maneuver. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, had some success with his rescissions request, though the final bill included some cuts requested by the president and many that were not. Trump proposed 38 rescissions in 2018, but the package stalled in the Senate. If senators vote to take up the bill, it sets up the potential for 10 hours of debate plus votes on scores of potentially thorny amendments in what is known as a vote-a-rama. Democrats see the president's request as an effort to erode the Senate filibuster. They warn it's absurd to expect them to work with GOP lawmakers on bipartisan spending measures if Republicans turn around a few months later and use their majority to cut the parts they don't like. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer offered a stern warning in a letter to colleagues: 'How Republicans answer this question on rescissions and other forthcoming issues will have grave implications for the Congress, the very role of the legislative branch, and, more importantly, our country,' Schumer said. Advertisement Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., took note of the warning. 'I was disappointed to see the Democrat leader in his recent Dear Colleague letter implicitly threaten to shut down the government,' Thune said. The Trump administration is likening the first rescissions package to a test case and says more could be on the way if Congress goes along.
Newsweek
24 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Trump is Undoing Climate Action. Can Clean Energy Investments Survive?
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. You've probably heard of the old curse that goes, "May you live in interesting times." These are certainly interesting times for those in the clean tech and climate solutions sectors. With the passage of his "big beautiful" bill this month, President Donald Trump has eliminated many of the federal government incentives that had triggered hundreds of billions of dollars of investments in clean energy, batteries, EVs and other climate solutions over the past three years. The Trump administration has pulled the U.S. out of international climate agreements and scrapped regulations on emissions from autos and the power sector in an attempt to steer the energy economy back to reliance on fossil fuels. But the whiplash-inducing U-turn on energy policy in the U.S. is starkly at odds with signals from the broader energy market. In the U.S., renewable energy now accounts for about 90 percent of the new electricity capacity being added to the grid as wind, solar and batteries have become the cheapest and fastest sources of new power. In the series "Climate Investing in a Volatile Climate" we'll hear from leading climate tech investors about how they are navigating the rapid shifts in U.S. policy and the energy markets. In the series "Climate Investing in a Volatile Climate" we'll hear from leading climate tech investors about how they are navigating the rapid shifts in U.S. policy and the energy markets. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/Canva Globally, the International Energy Agency reported that the capital flowing into low-carbon energy sources this year is roughly twice that going into fossil fuel development, raising the specter that the U.S. is turning its back on one of the world's fastest-growing new industries. Add to all that the impacts of tariffs and trade wars, and you have a period of unparalleled uncertainty for clean tech companies and the investors who back them. Interesting times indeed. Better Planet asked some leading clean tech and climate solutions investors how they are making sense of this shifting landscape and what they see ahead for a series we're calling "Climate Investing in a Volatile Climate." In this first installment, we'll hear from Johanna Wolfson, co-founder and general partner at Azolla Ventures, a climate-focused venture capital fund, and Peter Davidson, founder and CEO at Aligned Climate Capital, an asset management company focused on companies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Both Wolfson and Davidson told Newsweek that Trump's sudden policy shifts on energy will slow, but not stop investment, and both predicted that the strong economic arguments for clean tech will still attract capital. "We are seeing signs of a coming pull back from other venture capital firms in clean tech," Wolfson said. Climate investing won't dry up altogether, she said, but newer companies and emerging technologies with higher risk will likely find it harder to attract capital. Her advice to clean tech companies: "Hunker down, do the work, build the solutions, and be ready," she said. Davidson said that even before the Republican-led Congress voted to phase out clean energy tax credits, the atmosphere of uncertainty was already causing companies to cancel or scale back some announced projects. "You can get depressed about that or you can continue the fight," Davidson said. Despite political headwinds, he said, market forces are working in favor of clean energy. "It's gotten complicated because you have to avoid things that are reliant on federal tax policy," Davidson said. "But there are plenty of companies out there, many projects out there, that we think are still highly investable and can earn a very good return." 'It's a Big World' for Climate Investors Wolfson described Azolla Ventures as a "catalytic capital" firm that invests in early-stage climate technologies, using capital sourced mainly from tax-exempt foundations and donor-advised funds. This allows Azolla to prioritize positive climate impact when deciding what companies to back. "We're taking on outsized risk and maybe doing that at an earlier time or in a different way than even other climate-oriented venture funds might be willing," she said. "We're looking for giga-scale impact." One budding success story, she said, is the low-carbon cement company Sublime Systems. Azolla was an early backer, and Sublime recently signed a deal with Microsoft that is the largest procurement deal for clean cement to date. Azolla's approach also assumes a long lead time for nascent clean technologies to develop, she explained, a mindset that is less susceptible to shifting political winds. "When we're evaluating companies for investment, we're looking at market growth and emissions avoided out to 2050," Wolfson said. "That's a lot longer than a four-year administration." Wolfson said some clean energy sources are still well-positioned to benefit under Trump policy, such as new nuclear technology and geothermal energy, which she expects to grow rapidly as major tech companies race to procure steady power for AI data centers. However, she said that as U.S. leadership retreats from climate action, much of the rest of the world is moving ahead, and investment dollars are likely to follow. "It's a big world," Wolfson said. Some companies Azolla works with are now looking to pilot new projects outside of the U.S., and her firm is supporting them to integrate into other markets. "We should go to where the early adopters are, and if that continues to shift, then those companies should shift with it." Overall, Wolfson said, she is "deeply concerned" about the lack of global progress on climate goals. That makes Azolla more interested in early-stage support for "big swing" technologies that have potential for large-scale emissions cuts. "They're going to have to shoulder more of the emissions avoided since we're not keeping track with the desired reduction," she said. Azolla is also looking at more investment in adaptation and resilience solutions to help society better deal with climate change impacts that are happening now. "They're going to accelerate," she said of climate-driven extreme weather events. "We've essentially baked that in." An Energy Policy 'Reckoning is Coming' Before launching Aligned Climate Capital, Peter Davidson had worked on funding energy projects in the Department of Energy (DOE), where he directed the DOE's Loan Programs Office under President Barack Obama and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. That long history with the public and private sectors informs his view of what Trump 2.0 means for clean tech investment. "We've seen this movie before, because we were in this business during Trump One," Davidson said. "And during his entire first term, renewable deployment was never higher, EV deployment was never higher, corporate commitment to clean energy was never higher. So, we see the same things happening here." Aligned's most recent round of funding concluded in March with $85 million, double the previous round and higher than the company's target, Davidson said. The company's main focus is investing in proven technologies that can rapidly scale, and supporting construction of distributed power generation such as community and mid-sized solar projects—what Davidson called the "quiet workhorse" of the clean energy transition. Contractors install solar photovoltaic modules on top of a department store roof in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. Contractors install solar photovoltaic modules on top of a department store roof in Hamilton Township, New Jersey."They're big enough for meaningful impact, but you avoid the red tape of utility-scale development," he said. Recent data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) shows that even amid the Trump administration's assault on climate action, solar (often paired with battery storage) remains the favored way to add power as electricity demand rises. In the first four months of this year, FERC data showed, solar accounted for 78 percent of new capacity. Looking ahead, FERC expects about 90 gigawatts of new solar to come online in the coming three years, compared to only 19 gigawatts of new gas-fired power. Coal-fired power is expected to drop further with the retirements of several older facilities. "The energy transition is underway and it's unstoppable," Davidson said. Even with the reduced tax credits, he argued, solar generation is still cheaper to build than natural gas, and supply chain backlogs for gas turbines mean many gas projects will likely be delayed. "So, anything that's going to be built in the United States over the next five years is what we're doing, mid-size, or the large, utility scale, wind and solar," Davidson said. However, renewable energy will not grow as fast as it would have with continued tax credits and other government support. The existing fleet of natural gas power plants will be taking up a lot of the coming demand for electricity at the same time that the Trump administration is promoting more exports of liquified natural gas. That points to a nearly inevitable rise in energy prices, Davidson said. Most independent analyses of the "big beautiful" budget bill Trump signed on July 4 show sharp increases in energy costs. Analysts at Rhodium Group estimate the law will increase national average household energy bills by at least $78 and as much as $192 while forcing total industrial energy expenditures up by at least $7 billion. (Industrial energy costs also tend to get passed along to consumers via higher prices for goods and services.) Davidson predicted that rising energy prices will bring a political backlash. "Eventually there'll be a correction at the polls," he said. "We believe a reckoning is coming, and when that happens, it will bring a little more sense and sensibility into our energy policy." We'll have more conversations with climate investors in the weeks leading up to Climate Week NYC in September, when Newsweek will host events on energy and the green transition. Mark your calendars for our events "Pillars of the Green Transition" on Wednesday, September 24, and "Powering Ahead" on Thursday, September 25.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
June inflation expected to show tariff-driven uptick as Trump escalates trade threats
June's Consumer Price Index (CPI) is expected to show prices rose at a faster clip compared to May. The report, due Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, comes as investors closely monitor whether President Trump's tariffs are starting to filter through to what consumers pay, even as inflation data has so far remained more resilient than expected. According to Bloomberg data, headline CPI is expected to have increased 2.6% year over year in June, up from a 2.4% rise in May. On a monthly basis, prices are forecast to climb 0.3%, marking an acceleration from the 0.1% gain the prior month. On a "core" basis, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, the annual inflation rate for June is expected to come in at 2.9%, a slight pickup from May's 2.8%. Core prices are also projected to climb 0.3% month over month, outpacing the previous 0.1% rise seen in May. In May, falling car and apparel prices, categories seen as early indicators of tariff impacts, contributed to a cooler-than-expected core CPI reading. But economists expect those trends to reverse in June, potentially pushing core inflation higher. Read more: How to protect your savings against inflation The report lands amid renewed trade tensions between the US and other countries. President Trump has unveiled new letters to over 20 countries outlining tariffs ranging from 20% to 50%, including a 35% duty on Canadian goods and 30% tariffs on imports from Mexico and the European Union. He has also floated sweeping 15% to 20% tariffs on most trading partners. The EU, in response, is scrambling to negotiate while preparing potential countermeasures. The back-and-forth raises fresh questions about the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting path. Markets still expect the central bank to hold rates steady at its policy meeting in two weeks, largely due to uncertainties on how tariffs will trickle through to prices. "The June CPI report is likely to show inflation beginning to strengthen again, albeit not enough to alarm Fed officials at this juncture," Wells Fargo economist Sarah House wrote in a note. "The next three months will mark a key stretch of inflation data," she added, noting that while inventory front-running has so far limited price hikes, "it will become increasingly difficult for businesses to absorb higher import duties as pre-tariff stockpiles dwindle." Wells Fargo expects core goods prices to continue rising in the second half of the year as those buffers wear off, although House noted the pass-through to consumers may be limited: "Amid a softer labor market and services inflation dissipating a bit more, the pickup in core inflation stemming from tariffs is likely to look more like a bump than a spike." Bank of America economists Stephen Juneau and Jeseo Park also expect core CPI inflation to accelerate, driven by a rebound in used car prices and broad-based hikes likely linked to tariffs. On the services side, they see inflation firming due to rising medical costs, travel-related prices, and stronger shelter price increases. And Goldman Sachs echoed similar concerns, writing, "Going forward, tariffs will likely provide a somewhat larger boost to monthly inflation," while projecting core CPI gains of 0.3% to 0.4% in the coming months. The firm expects a sharp pickup in core goods inflation but sees only limited effects on services. Still, Goldman anticipates inflation pressures to ease later this year as housing and labor market dynamics cool. Allie Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at 登入存取你的投資組合
