Ukrainian Parliament approves law ensuring independence of anti-graft watchdogs
Lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv, approved Zelenskyy's new proposal with 331 votes and nine abstentions Thursday, official figures showed.
Last week's measure by Zelenskyy to place the watchdogs under the oversight of the prosecutor general prompted an outcry from Ukrainians, the European Union and international rights groups. It raised fears that the government could meddle in investigations and potentially shield its supporters from scrutiny.
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump signs order imposing new tariffs on a number of trading partners
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that sets new tariffs on a wide swath of US trading partners to go into effect on August 7. The move is the next step in his trade agenda that will test the global economy and sturdiness of American alliances built up over decades. The order was issued shortly after 7pm on Thursday. It came after a flurry of tariff-related activity in the last several days, as the White House announced agreements with various nations and blocs ahead of the president's self-imposed Friday deadline. The tariffs are being implemented at a later date in order for the rates schedule to be harmonised, according to a senior administration official who spoke to reporters on a call on the condition of anonymity. After initially threatening the African nation of Lesotho with a 50% tariff, the country's goods will now be taxed at 15%. Taiwan will have tariffs set at 20%, Pakistan at 19% and Israel, Iceland, Norway, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana and Ecuador among the countries with imported goods taxed at 15%. Switzerland would be tariffed at 39%. Mr Trump had announced a 50% tariff on goods from Brazil, but the order was only 10% as the other 40% were part of a separate measure approved on Wednesday. The order capped off a hectic Thursday as nations sought to continue negotiating with Mr Trump. It set the rates for 68 countries and the 27-member European Union, with a baseline 10% rate to be charged on countries not listed in the order. The senior administration official said the rates were based on trade imbalance with the US and regional economic profiles. On Thursday morning, Mr Trump engaged in a phone conversation with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum on trade. As a result of the conversation, the US president said he would enter into a 90-day negotiating period with Mexico, one of the nation's largest trading partners. The current 25% tariff rates are staying in place, down from the 30% he had threatened earlier. 'We avoided the tariff increase announced for tomorrow and we got 90 days to build a long-term agreement through dialogue,' Ms Sheinbaum wrote on X after a call with Mr Trump that he referred to as 'very successful' in terms of the leaders getting to know each other better. The unknowns created a sense of drama that has defined Mr Trump's rollout of tariffs over several months. However, the one consistency is his desire to levy the import taxes that most economists say will ultimately be borne to some degree by US consumers and businesses. 'We have made a few deals today that are excellent deals for the country,' Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday afternoon, without detailing the terms of those agreements or the nations involved. The senior administration official declined to reveal the nations that have new deals during the call with reporters. Mr Trump said that Canadian prime minister Mark Carney had called ahead of 35% tariffs being imposed on many of his nation's goods, but 'we haven't spoken to Canada today'. Mr Trump separately on Thursday amended a previous order to raise the fentanyl-related tariff on Canada from 25% to 35%. Mr Trump had imposed the Friday deadline after his previous 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April resulted in a stock market panic. His unusually high tariff rates, unveiled in April, led to recession fears — prompting Mr Trump to impose a 90-day negotiating period. When he was unable to create enough trade deals with other countries, he extended the timeline and sent out letters to world leaders that simply listed rates, prompting a slew of hasty deals. Mr Trump reached a deal with South Korea on Wednesday, and earlier with the European Union, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. His commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Fox News Channel's Hannity that there were agreements with Cambodia and Thailand after they had agreed to a ceasefire to their border conflict. Going into Thursday, wealthy Switzerland and Norway were still uncertain about their tariff rates. EU officials were waiting to complete a crucial document outlining how the framework to tax imported cars and other goods from the 27-member state bloc would operate. Mr Trump had announced a deal on Sunday while he was in Scotland. Mr Trump said as part of the agreement with Mexico that goods imported into the US would continue to face a 25% tariff that he has ostensibly linked to fentanyl trafficking. He said cars would face a 25% tariff, while copper, aluminium and steel would be taxed at 50% during the negotiating period.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's trade war returns America to the 1930s
Like many small American business owners, Beth Benike started the year with high hopes about America's improving economy. But in June, she stopped paying herself a salary, a sign of the dark turn the US economy has taken since Donald Trump launched his trade war. 'I'm going to have to cash out my retirement just to stay operational,' says the 48-year-old owner of Busy Baby, an infant products company. 'I am paying my mortgage with my savings.' A string of trade deals struck by Mr Trump in recent days have been hailed by his supporters as major wins for the US economy –and serious humiliations for America's trading partners, such as the European Union. But try telling that to ordinary Americans. The trade agreements, which include 15pc tariffs on the likes of the EU, Japan and South Korea, masks a brutal reality for many businesses. As these new deals come into effect on Friday, US charges on imported goods are about to hit their highest level since the 1930s. And the toll on any company that imports goods will be huge, with many already fighting for their lives. Like many US companies, Busy Baby had been booming before Trump's April 2 tariffs announcement. It was selling around 200,000 products a year and securing shelf space at retail giant like Target and Walmart. But the president's tariffs hammered companies like Busy Baby, which imports goods from China. Benike had two containers of stock that were just about to leave China, just before Trump hit the country with a 145pc tariff. Benike held her goods in China until the tariff rate fell to 30pc, when she finally took the hit. The tariffs on that shipment cost her $35,000 (£26,000). And she is not alone. Before Trump took office, America's effective tariff (the average rate charged across all goods imports) was 2.3pc, according to Capital Economics. As of Thursday, this figure had multiplied six times over to 14.6pc. On Friday, it will hit 16.3pc. This is roughly half the 31.6pc effective rate that was briefly in place under the 'liberation day' tariffs of April 2 that Trump quickly suspended, but it will still be the highest level on record since 1936. Tariffs on goods imports from China are still charged at 30pc under a temporary reprieve that is due to expire on Aug 12, with no sign yet of a new deal. Benike raised money through GoFundMe to cover the cost of her China shipment, but this did not make up for the fact that she had been out of stock for six weeks, which meant no cash flow. As things stand, her shipment for the Christmas season will incur a $52,000 tariff fee. 'It is a huge chunk of money. That is not at all sustainable for us,' she says. Small businesses will bear the worst of the tariffs blow because they do not have the cash reserves or economies of scale to absorb the new charges, says Richard Trent, executive director of the Main Street Alliance, a small business industry group. 'They have to eat the losses, pass them onto consumers, or shutter altogether. The outlook is bleak on Main Street,' he says. Big business is hurting too. And for some of America's biggest companies, the tariff bills are not tens of thousands of dollars but multiple billions. Carmaker Ford made a $36m loss between April and June, compared with a $1.8bn profit during the same period a year earlier, because it had to pay $800m in tariff costs. It warned that it expected to pay at least $2bn on tariffs over the full year. Although Ford manufactures its cars within the US, it imports many of the parts and materials – many of which are subject to Trump's 50pc tariffs on steel and aluminium. General Motors, another major US carmaker, said last week that tariffs had knocked $1.1bn off its operating income in Q2. Household goods giant Procter & Gamble similarly warned this week of a $1bn hit to its profits from tariffs and said it will begin making price rises on a quarter of its products from next month. 'There isn't any getting away from the fact this is a huge, huge increase in the US tariff rate,' says Brian Coulton, the chief economist at Fitch Ratings. The real economic toll is still yet to come, says Coulton. Over the next six months, businesses will pass on much more of the cost of tariffs onto consumers, he says. This will drive up inflation, and dampen real wage growth. In turn, it will drag on consumer spending, the engine of the American economy. 'It's certainly a pretty sharp slowdown,' Coulton adds. The impact of the trade war is harder to detect. Big swings in trade because of Trump's tariffs have created wild swings in data on US economic growth. As businesses raced to stockpile before Trump's tariff announcements, imports soared. This was the main reason why US GDP fell by 0.5pc in the first three months of the year. When imports slumped after tariffs were introduced, the opposite happened and GDP rose by 3pc. Underneath these two figures sits a clearer picture of the state of the US economy. Growth across the first six months of the year averaged 1.2pc, less than half the 2.5pc recorded last year. As American consumers and companies count the cost of Trump's tariffs, countries around the world are also weighing up who won and who lost in the dash to make deals. According to David Henig, from the European Centre for International Political Economy, one of the surprise victors has been carmakers such as BMW, Volkswagen, Kia and Toyota. 'Everyone assumed that if Trump was going to go for anything, it would be cars. But the carmakers of the EU, Japan and Korea did far better than they were probably expecting,' he said. Trump initially levied a punishing 27.5pc tariff on the sector, and demanded to see more manufacturing brought to American shores. But in his deals with Japan, South Korea and the EU, the auto sector was included in the broad 15pc tariff. That could be a smaller hit than US carmakers such as Ford and General Motors are facing from Mr Trump's 50pc levy on imported steel and aluminium. Ben May, from Oxford Economics, says some countries with relatively punishing tariff rates could end up doing better than expected, if their exporters diversified away from the US into new and more profitable markets. And some countries with higher tariff rates, including India, relied less on exports to the US than others such as the EU and Vietnam – so they might take a smaller hit to their economies even with that higher nobody knows for sure, especially as the deals are largely just in-principle agreements, 'Because there are no legal obligations being drawn up, what's to stop Trump, for instance, from turning around and demanding something different in a few days or weeks or months?' May says. As for Benike, she spent months looking at whether she could manufacture her goods in the US but found it would be impossibly expensive. Instead, she is shifting to overseas sales in different markets. Next week, she will launch her products in South Korea and she is exploring selling in the EU, Canada, Mexico and Australia. 'There's babies all over the world,' she says. 'Hopefully we can sell enough products globally to stay in business.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sa'ar: European FMs admit pressure on Israel was a mistake, emboldens Hamas
The foreign minister added that several European countries today have "a huge Muslim population" that affects government policies, but this wouldn't allow Israel to "commit suicide." Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Tuesday said that 'more than one European foreign minister' has told him that signing the letter condemning Israel's war in Gaza was a mistake, and it emboldened Hamas's stance in ceasefire talks. The letter was signed by the UK and more than 20 other countries, calling for animmediate end to the war in Gaza and criticizing the Israeli government's aid delivery model after hundreds of Palestinians were reportedly killed near sites distributing food. 'International pressure on Israel is only hardening Hamas's stance; global pressure must be on Hamas to free the hostages and lay down its arms,' he said. Sa'ar added that military pressure in Gaza is effective, but it is not the only option, adding that Israel is also ready to use diplomacy. Egypt and Qatar, which have mediated Gaza hostage-ceasefire talks, said that there has been progress in the talks, but the latest round of negotiations in Doha broke off last week without a deal in sight. 'Hamas not only steals aid; they are profiting from it and using [the] funds as a financial resource during the war,' Sa'ar added. 'We are witnessing a distorted campaign of international pressure against Israel over recent days,' the foreign minister said, noting that this campaign is fueling rising antisemitism. Sa'ar addresses claims Israel starving Gazans, calling situation 'tough' He also addressed the recent claims that Israel has been forcefully starving Gazans, saying that while the situation is 'tough,' the idea that Israel has implemented a 'starvation policy' is a lie. 'The reality is the opposite; Israel is working very hard under very complicated circumstances to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.' Regarding the recognition of Palestinian statehood, Sa'ar said, 'Establishing a Palestinian state today is establishing a Hamas state, a jihadist state.' He criticized France's foreign minister, who, while in New York on Monday, said that Europe 'must pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution.' "But this cannot and will not lead Israel to commit suicide," Sa'ar said. Solve the daily Crossword
