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Japan Times
4 hours ago
- Japan Times
A U.S.-EU trade deal hinges on cars, agriculture and Trump
Cars and tariff levels on agriculture have emerged as key sticking points between the European Union and the U.S. as the two sides work toward a provisional trade agreement in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter. The EU is seeking a tariff no higher than 10% on agricultural exports, the people said. An offset mechanism that some carmakers had pushed as a way to grant tariff relief to companies in return for investments in the U.S. isn't under consideration for now amid worries from the EU it could shift production across the Atlantic. The bloc's negotiators are focusing talks on car tariffs instead, added the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The bloc is also set to again recommend delaying a set of countermeasures it had adopted in response to tariffs imposed earlier by U.S. President Donald Trump on steel and aluminum, the people added. The EU had paused the measures to allow for negotiations and they're due to snap back automatically at midnight on Tuesday. The people cautioned that the negotiations and any potential deal could be upended by Trump, who has yet to comment publicly on the arrangements under discussion. Any deal would rest on what Trump decides, said the people. The U.S. president has sent letters to some two dozen countries letters that set tariff rates unilaterally. The European Commission declined to comment on the status of talks as negotiations are ongoing. The U.S. and the EU have been discussing an initial deal that would see most EU exports hit with a 10% tariff, with limited exemptions for some industries such as aviation and medical devices, Bloomberg previously reported. The EU has also been arguing for lower rates on spirits and wines, as well as mitigating through quotas the 50% tariffs that Trump has imposed on steel and aluminum. The U.S. has proposed a 17% tariff on agricultural products. The agreement would also cover non-tariff barriers, economic security cooperation and strategic purchases. The remaining issues were all connected and the overall balance of any deal could only be assessed once concluded, the people said. Any initial framework would see the U.S. and the EU continue to negotiate specific details beyond the provisional accord. Trump had threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the EU this month before sticking with a previously lowered 10% truce through an Aug. 1 deadline. He has also introduced 25% levies on cars and parts, as well as double that on metals. The president is working to introduce sectoral levies in other areas, including pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, and recently announced a 50% duty on copper. Any deal at this stage wouldn't automatically shield the EU from those sectoral measures, but the bloc continues to seek preferential treatment in the potentially affected industries, the people said. With the outcome of talks still unclear, the EU has continued to prepare countermeasures to deploy quickly if negotiations fail to yield a positive outcome. The bloc has approved potential tariffs on €21 billion ($24.5 billion) of U.S. goods that could be quickly implemented in response to Trump's metals levies. They target politically sensitive American states and include products such as soybeans from Louisiana, home to House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as agricultural products, poultry, and motorcycles. The bloc has also prepared an additional list of tariffs on €72 billion of American products in response to Trump's so-called reciprocal levies and automotive duties. They would target industrial goods including Boeing Co. aircraft, U.S.-made cars, and bourbon. The EU is consulting member states to identify strategic areas where the U.S. relies on the bloc, as well as potential measures that go beyond tariffs, such as export controls and restrictions on procurement contracts.
Asahi Shimbun
5 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Rubio and Wang stress cooperation after talks in Malaysia as US-China tensions simmer
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front second left, meets with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, second right, during the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting and related meetings at the Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur on July 11. (Mandel Ngan/Pool Photo via AP) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed Friday to explore 'areas of potential cooperation' between Washington and Beijing, and stressed the importance of managing differences, following their first in-person meeting as they wrapped up a two-day regional security forum in Malaysia. Rubio and Wang met Friday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, regional forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as tensions between the two global powers continue to rise over trade, security, and China's support for Russia's war in Ukraine. 'Look, we're two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on,' Rubio told reporters after the meeting. "I think there's some areas of potential cooperation. I thought it was very constructive, positive meeting and a lot of work to do.' Both sides need to build better communications and trust, he said. Rubio also indicated that a potential visit to China by U.S. President Donald Trump to meet with President Xi Jinping was likely, saying: "The odds are high. I think both sides want to see it happen.' China's Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a statement later Friday, echoed Rubio's sentiment, calling the meeting 'positive, pragmatic and constructive.' The statement didn't provide details on specific topics such as tariffs or China's position on the Russia-Ukraine war, but it said that both countries agreed to 'increase communication and dialogue' and 'explore expanding areas of cooperation while managing differences.' Wang called for 'jointly finding a correct way for China and the U.S. to get along in the new era,' it said. While tariffs loomed in the background, Rubio said that trade wasn't a major focus of his talks because 'I'm not the trade negotiator.' 'We certainly appreciate the role trade plays in our bilateral relationships with individual countries. But the bulk of our talks here have been about all the other things that we cooperate on,' he said. The meeting with Wang was held less than 24 hours after Rubio met in Kuala Lumpur with another rival, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during which they discussed potential new avenues to jumpstart Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The high-level meetings took place amid regional unease over U.S. policies — especially Trump's threats to impose sweeping new tariffs on both allies and adversaries. Southeast Asian leaders voiced concerns, but according to Rubio, many prioritized discussions on security issues, their concerns about Chinese domination and desire for cooperation with the U.S. 'Of course, it's raised. It's an issue,' Rubio said. 'But I wouldn't say it solely defines our relationship with many of these countries. There are a lot of other issues that we work together on, and I think there was great enthusiasm that we were here and that we're a part of this.' European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned separately that the U.S.-led trade war could backfire. 'There are no winners in trade wars,' she told reporters. 'If you start a trade war with everyone, you make your partners weaker and China stronger.' Kallas said that the EU doesn't seek retaliation, but has tools available, if necessary. Trump sees China as the biggest threat to the United States in multiple fields, not least technology and trade, and like previous U.S. presidents has watched the country greatly expand its influence globally while turning increasingly assertive in the Indo-Pacific, notably toward its small neighbors over the South China Sea and Taiwan. His administration has warned of major tariffs on Chinese exports, though talks have made little progress. Since former U.S. President Joe Biden was in office, Washington has also accused China of assisting Russia in rebuilding its military industrial sector to help it execute its war against Ukraine. Rubio said the Trump administration shares that view. 'I think the Chinese clearly have been supportive of the Russian effort,' he said. 'They've been willing to help them as much as they can without getting caught.' Rubio and Wang had been shadowboxing during the two-day ASEAN meeting, with each touting the benefits of their partnership to Southeast Asian nations. Rubio has played up cooperation, including signing a civil-nuclear cooperation agreement with Malaysia, while Wang has railed against Trump's threatened tariffs and projected China as a stable counterweight in talks with ASEAN counterparts on the sidelines. 'The U.S. is abusing tariffs, wrecking the free trade system and disrupting the stability of the global supply chain,' Wang told Thai counterpart Maris Sangiampongsa, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. In a meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn, Wang said that the tariffs are 'an attempt to deprive all parties of their legitimate right to development.' He said that 'China is willing to be Cambodia's trustworthy and reliable friend and partner.' Wang also met with Lavrov on Thursday, where the two offered a joint message aimed at Washington. 'Russia and China both support ASEAN's central role in regional cooperation ... and are wary of certain major powers creating divisions and instigating confrontation in the region,' Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong sided with Rubio's call for a balanced Indo-Pacific, warning that 'no one country should dominate, and no country should be dominated.' But like Kallas, she said that engagement with China remains vital. 'We want to see a region where there is a balance of power ... where there is no coercion or duress,' Wong said. ___ Huizhong Wu in Bangkok, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, contributed to this report.
Japan Times
6 hours ago
- Japan Times
Isolated and fearing a ban, Germany's far-right tones down the rhetoric
Last weekend, Germany's far-right lawmakers vowed to dress smartly, minimize parliamentary cat-calling, and signed up to a short manifesto notably omitting a call for repatriation of some immigrants that helped fuel their February election success. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is trying a tactical pivot away from the mix of attention-grabbing shock policies and provocative rowdiness that helped it become the second-largest parliamentary party, in a bid to go more mainstream and translate popularity into power, political commentators and a party insider said. Being the largest opposition party has conferred privileges like being able to respond first to the government in parliament, but in Germany power comes from being in coalitions, and every other party rules out governing with the AfD. Other parties have also prevented it from taking key positions on parliamentary committees as calls grow across the political spectrum for a ban on the AfD on account of its extremism. So far, conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has opposed such a ban, which must be requested by either house of parliament or the government, and then examined by the Constitutional Court. The court has only banned a party twice in 1952 and 1956. A senior party official who declined to be named said the new rules were all about "professionalizing" the party — although some, especially founding figures in the party's eastern heartlands who are not members of the national parliament, oppose changing a successful formula. At stake is the 2029 election, which the party, four points behind Merz's conservatives in some polls, could have a credible shot of winning. In the weeks following February's election where it won 20.8% of the vote, it briefly surged to first place. An AfD campaign flyer with a mock deportation plane ticket calling for "illegal immigrants" to leave Germany for "safe countries of origin." | REUTERS The AfD leadership hopes to follow hard-right parties like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy into the political mainstream, from where they could reshape the politics of Germany and Europe. Far-right essayist Goetz Kubitschek, a mentor and close ally to Bjoern Hoecke, leader of the party's most radical wing from the eastern state of Thuringia, said on his podcast: "I don't understand why a party polling at 20% should change its agenda." The manifesto or position paper agreed to by all 152 legislators omitted the word "remigration" — used heavily by leader Alice Weidel in the election campaign and widely understood as a call for unassimilated non-ethnic-German citizens and migrants to leave the country. The word was cited as evidence by a court that recently upheld a security service assessment that the AfD might be an extremist and therefore an unconstitutional party. To be banned in Germany, a political party must not only be deemed to take a position that undermines the functioning of Germany's democratic order, it must also be acting on it with a chance of success. The remigration phrase had become "toxic," said one legislator present at the weekend gathering, who did not want to be named, adding that averting a ban was another goal. An official spokesperson for the AfD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any connections between the policy document and a desire to professionalize or head off a ban. "The word remigration has been found to be unconstitutional and has no future," wrote AfD legislator Maximilian Krah, once considered one of the party's most radical figures. "Case closed. The court has spoken." AfD party co-leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel and regional AfD leader Bjoern Hoecke react after first exit polls in the German general elections in Berlin in February. | Pool / via reuters Nevertheless, Weidel still lashed out at Germany's migration policies in parliament this week. Many commentators are skeptical that the shift is any more than cosmetic. "This ongoing discourse about a possible ban is getting under their skin," said political scientist Oliver Lembcke, adding: "They are trying to be more palatable to other parties: it's about getting a share of the power and seeking not to be marginalized." The AfD reorganized its youth organization last year when its campaigns were criticized for being racist. The regional politician Matthias Helferich, who was shown in leaked emails to have used language associated with the Nazis, was expelled from the party this week. He said he was a victim of a "show trial" by the party tribunal that expelled him. He denied being an extremist. Merz's conservatives remain committed to a policy of never governing with the AfD, but conservative parliamentary leader Jens Spahn suggested it was time to treat the AfD as an "ordinary" opposition party, which could see it get more access to non-partisan steering committees. Merz, having concluded that former Chancellor Angela Merkel's strategy of ignoring them was a failure, has started attacking Weidel in parliament directly, on Tuesday accusing her of trying to spread "bitterness" and "despair." It is unclear if all members will follow the party through its pivot. Hoecke pointedly posted an essay on remigration the day after the new strategy document was floated. "The AfD has given up the fight against population replacement," wrote Paul Brandenburg, a prominent activist, on Telegram. "This is causing uproar among sympathizers."
