EU's von der Leyen had "good exchange" with Trump over phone, Commission says
"We want to reach a deal with the U.S. We want to avoid tariffs. We believe they cause pain. We want to achieve win-win outcomes, not lose-lose outcomes", the spokesperson told reporters during a daily press briefing.
The Trump administration has said letters would go out notifying trading partners without a deal by July 9 of higher tariffs that would take effect on August 1.
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Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
Yen stumbles as Trump imposes 25% tariffs on Japan
SINGAPORE, July 8 (Reuters) - The yen fell broadly on Tuesday while the dollar held steady as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea in the latest development of his chaotic trade war. Trump on Monday began telling trade partners – from powerhouse suppliers like Japan and South Korea to minor players – that sharply higher U.S. tariffs will start August 1. He later said that he was open to extensions if countries made proposals. The announcement rattled investor sentiment, sending the Japanese yen and South Korean won down roughly 1% overnight. Both currencies remained under pressure early on Tuesday, with the yen falling to a two-week low of 146.44 per dollar. The won rose 0.4% to 1370.20 per dollar. Investors entered the week with much confusion over Trump's tariff plans ahead of an initial July 9 deadline. While the new August 1 date offers a brief reprieve, the outlook remains uncertain and global economic concerns persist. "There is still a lot of uncertainty as to where tariff rates will eventually settle and which countries will get what rates, so uncertainty about the global economy is still high and that will keep investors on edge for the time being," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "This is just the start and we'll get more headlines out for sure over the coming days." Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Tuesday that Japan would continue negotiations with the United States to seek a trade deal that benefits both countries. South Korea has said it plans to intensify trade talks with the U.S. and views Trump's plan for a 25% tariff from August 1 as effectively extending a grace period on implementing reciprocal tariffs. Other currencies meanwhile gained some ground on Tuesday, after sliding in the prior session when the dollar rebounded. The euro was up 0.27% to $1.1741 after having slid 0.67% on Monday, while sterling edged up 0.17% to $1.3626. The European Union will not receive a letter from the United States setting out higher tariffs, EU sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, and is eyeing possible exemptions from the U.S. baseline levy of 10%. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was little changed at 97.40, holding on to most of its gains from Monday when it rose 0.5%. The Australian dollar last traded 0.32% higher at $0.6513, having tumbled 0.9% in the previous session as risk appetite soured. The New Zealand dollar advanced 0.22% to $0.6015, reversing some of Monday's 0.8% fall. The Reserve Bank of Australia announces its rate decision later on Tuesday, where expectations are for the central bank to deliver another rate cut owing to easing inflation and a slowing economy. "Given the ever-shifting balance of risks and the heightened uncertainty it creates for hiring and investment in the Australian economy, more RBA cuts are set to follow," said Carl Ang, fixed income research analyst at MFS Investment Management. "A 3.1% terminal rate by early 2026 remains the base case for this RBA cutting cycle."
The Guardian
19 minutes ago
- The Guardian
France and UK expected to announce joint plan on small boat crossings
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce plans for French police to do more to block small boats crossing the Channel at a summit in London this week, but a wider deal on returning asylum seekers is still up in the air. While details remain limited, with French officials believed to be still finalising what action the country can take with boats that are already in shallow waters, an announcement is expected on Wednesday. It is also still possible that Starmer and the visiting French president could set out plans for a 'one in, one out' returns scheme for asylum seekers who make it to Britain, although UK officials say this is less likely. This scheme would allow for the return of small boat arrivals in exchange for the UK accepting another asylum seeker from France who is thought to have a clearer right to claim asylum in Britain, such as through family ties. Macron arrives on Tuesday for a state visit that will involve events with royals and other pageantry but is also scheduled to include an Anglo-French summit and other meetings with Starmer. France is expected to announce it will allow police to intervene in shallow waters up to 300 metres from shore in order to stop small boats leaving. It would help prevent 'taxi-boats', which pick people up in the water rather than launching from the beach with passengers on board. This will require changes to existing protocol that do not contravene the UN convention on the law of the sea, which bars any intervention at sea that is not an actual rescue. Maritime authorities have been asked to draw up proposals to 'advance' French protocol on interceptions to allow such interventions to take place 'while still respecting the UN convention on the law of the sea'. It is understood that a French review of such tactics has been completed, with French and British officials continuing talks about what more could be done. On Friday, French police used knives to puncture a boat in shallow seas near Boulogne, in northern France, although it is not known if this was a sign of new protocols or a one-off. Downing Street declined to comment on possible announcements before the visit, although Starmer's deputy spokesperson indicated that there was likely to be concrete progress on small boat crossings. He told reporters: 'We expect to make progress on a wide range of issues and joint priorities, and that includes migration. I'm not going to get ahead of the summit this week, but there are a range of maritime tactics that we have been discussing and have secured agreement with the French over. 'It is operationally and legally complicated, but we expect these tactics to be operationalised soon. 'It's for French authorities to make operational decisions for themselves, but as I say, it's a complex area, but we are working extremely closely with the French. Our relationship with them is better than it has been for a long time.' The hope of the 'one in, one out plan', in combination with a greater likelihood of boats being stopped in the water, is that people could be dissuaded from paying people-smugglers to try to get them across the faces sustained political pressure to reduce the number of people arriving across the Channel. Despite a government promise to 'smash the gangs' that organise the crossings, more than 20,000 people have crossed to the UK in the first six months of this year, up 48% on the equivalent period in 2024.
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
The real reason Netanyahu nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in a solemn voice as he lauded the efforts of the peacemaker who sat before him. 'He's forging peace, as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other,' Netanyahu said. 'So I want to present to you, Mr President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. It's nominating you for the Peace Prize, which is well deserved, and you should get it,' he added, rising to hand him said letter. President Donald Trump, who had just weeks earlier launched airstrikes against Iran, was touched. 'Wow,' he said. 'Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful.' Soon after, Trump took a moment to reflect on his quest for peace. 'The biggest bombs that we've ever dropped on anybody, when you think non-nuclear,' the president said of the diplomacy that earned him the nomination for the prize previously awarded to Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela. 'I don't want to say what it reminded me of, but if you go back a long time ago, it reminded people of a certain other event, and is Harry Truman's picture is now in the lobby,' Trump continued, comparing his efforts to the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan during the Second World War, an event that killed more than 120,000 civilians. The ironies abound. President Trump received a nomination for the peace prize weeks after launching military strikes against a country that his intelligence agencies had said was not building a nuclear weapon. He launched that action after single-handedly destroying a diplomatic deal that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had negotiated, and which was working. He received it from a man who, had he delivered the nominating letter to the Nobel Committee in Sweden by hand, would have been arrested under its obligation as a signatory to obey a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. From a man who is currently presiding over a war that has killed more than 55,000 people, more than half of them women and children, that has made Gaza the place with the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, and where the blockade of vital aid has pushed much of the population to the brink of famine. In short, being nominated for a peace prize by Benjamin Netanyahu is akin to being nominated for a 'not breaking the law' prize by fictional mob bossTony Soprano. But Netanyahu's nomination has less to do with world peace and more to do with the softening up of Trump ahead of crunch talks this week. This visit was supposed to be a victory lap for the Israeli prime minister after the realization of a decades-long-held wish to bomb Iran's nuclear program. He achieved it with Trump's help and he will likely need it again in the near future to ensure it does not rebuild. The Israeli leader's relationship with Trump is also a political crutch that he leans on when he needs to shore up support in his shaky ruling coalition at home. Trump has, in recent weeks, gone to the extraordinary lengths of calling for corruption charges against Netanyahu to be dropped, linking U.S. support for Israel to the fate of its prime minister. All of which is why he ensured his departure was covered with much fanfare as he left Tel Aviv. The same fanfare was not waiting on the other side, however. The Israeli leader was whisked into the White House through the back door on Monday, and the pair had no public events scheduled as they met to discuss Israel's ceasefire with Iran, a potential ceasefire in Gaza, and a wider peace deal between Israel and Gulf countries. Some had read into that arrangement that Trump might be aiming to put more pressure on Netanyahu on this visit to achieve some of his goals. In many ways, Trump and Netanyahu have never looked more in sync. They have just gone to war together, after all. But much of their relationship over the past year or so has been a one-way street, and Trump is beginning to notice. Trump has given Netanyahu carte blanche to act with impunity with American weapons in Gaza, not even putting up the pretense of caring about civilian casualties, and even entertaining the Israeli right's wildest dreams of mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. But he has his own plans for the region. He wants to build on the Abraham Accords peace deal between Israel and several Arab states from his first term, specifically bringing Saudi Arabia on board. He would like — for his own reasons, likely not related to the welfare of Palestinians — to forge a peace in Gaza. He has made little headway in those goals largely because Netanyahu's plans have superseded his own. Trump has not been shy to show his frustration. A few weeks ago, he publicly admonished the prime minister for breaking a ceasefire agreement he had brokered with Iran. "They don't know what the f*** they're doing,' he said of the leaders of both Iran and Israel, a statement that raised eyebrows for its equal apportioning of blame. Trump is reportedly keen to use this trip to press for a ceasefire in Gaza and a permanent end to the war, and has promised to be 'very firm' with Netanyahu to get it. Part of that pressure campaign appears to involve denying him the oxygen of publicity until he can show some results. If some kind of deal is reached, or if Netanyahu gives Trump enough to make him feel like he's won a victory, expect a longer-than-usual press conference to make up for it, filled with war stories, tales of bravery, bunker busters, daring pilots, and peace in our time.
