Category: 2. World

United States President Donald Trump on Saturday imposed a 30 per cent tariff on imports from Mexico and the European Union beginning on August 1 after weeks of negotiations with the key trading allies failed to reach a more comprehensive trade deal.

The fresh tariffs were announced in separate letters posted on Truth Social on Saturday.

Earlier this week, Trump issued new tariff announcements for a number of countries, including Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, as well as a 50pc tariff on copper.

The EU had hoped to reach a comprehensive trade agreement with the US for the 27-country bloc.

It had been bracing for the letter from Trump outlining his planned duties on the United States’ largest trade and investment partner after a broadening of his tariff war in recent days.

The EU initially hoped to strike a comprehensive trade agreement, including zero-for-zero tariffs on industrial goods, but months of difficult talks have led to the realisation that it will probably have to settle for an interim agreement and hope something better can still be negotiated.

The 27-country bloc is under conflicting pressures as powerhouse Germany urged a quick deal to safeguard its industry, while other EU members, such as France, have said EU negotiators should not cave into a one-sided deal on US terms.

Trump’s cascade of tariff orders since returning to the White House has begun generating tens of billions of dollars a month in new revenue for the US government. US customs duties revenue shot past $100 billion in the federal fiscal year through to June, according to US Treasury data on Friday.

EU warns of ‘countermeasures’, Italy to remain focused on trade talks

The EU is prepared to take the necessary steps to safeguard its interests if the US proceeds with the 30pc tariff on European goods, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by Aug 1”.

“Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” she continued. “We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement from her office that it is crucial to remain focused on trade negotiations with the United States and avoid further polarisation.

Meloni was confident that a “fair deal” could be reached on tariffs between the European Union and the United States, the statement added.

“Rome fully supports the efforts of the European Commission,” the PM’s office said.

Mexico slams tariffs as ‘unfair deal’

Mexico slammed the 30pc tariffs as an “unfair deal,” according to a government statement.

“We mentioned at the table that it was an unfair deal and that we did not agree,” the Mexican economy and foreign ministries said in a joint statement.

Mexico is already in negotiations seeking an alternative to tariffs that would protect businesses and jobs on both sides of the border, the ministries added, saying they hope to avoid the duties.

Mexico is one of the countries most vulnerable to the Republican leader’s tariffs, with 80pc of its exports destined for the United States, its largest trading partner.

CNN
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un restated he “unconditionally” supports all Russian actions during its war in Ukraine, as he welcomed Moscow’s top diplomat to a newly built beach resort on his country’s east coast.

Kim met Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the North Korean city of Wonsan, at a time when Pyongyang is being pulled deeper into the three-year conflict.

During the meeting, Kim reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” that Russia takes in Ukraine, the Associated Press reported, citing the official Korean Central News Agency.

Photos released by Russia’s Foreign Ministry showed the two men smiling and shaking hands, and sitting across from each other at a small circular table in the cabin of a yacht.

Lavrov’s trip comes at a crucial time for Russian-North Korean relations, with Pyongyang set to deploy an additional 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers to assist Moscow’s scaled-up assault on Ukraine, according to Ukrainian intelligence – adding to the estimated 11,000 soldiers Pyongyang sent last year.

It also comes as the United States has grown increasingly frustrated with Russia. US President Donald Trump has accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of throwing “bullsh*t” at peace talks, and pledged more support for Kyiv.

The trip could further strengthen an alliance that has the potential to reshape not only the war but the security dynamic in Asia.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry posted on X that Putin sent “his warm greetings” to Kim, “and reaffirms commitment to all the previous agreements.”

Lavrov, who arrived in North Korea on Friday for a three-day visit, also met with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui in Wonsan Saturday, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Telegram.

“We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian state media agency TASS at a press conference following that meeting. “Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support for all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as for the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces.”

Choe visited Moscow for the first round of strategic talks in November 2024, according to TASS. At the time, Lavrov praised what he called “very close contacts” with the North Korean military and intelligence services.

At the start of his meeting with Choe, Lavrov said he hoped Russian tourists would soon be able to visit the Wonsan resort, opened last month and hailed by state media as a “national treasure-level tourism city.”

“I am sure that Russian tourists will be increasingly eager to come here. We will do everything we can to facilitate this, creating conditions for this, including air travel,” Lavrov said, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

According to KCNA, Kim personally cut the ribbon on the sprawling Kalma beachside resort with waterparks, high-rise hotels, and accommodation for nearly 20,000 guests – a sweeping display of extravagance in one of the world’s most reclusive nations.

The Kalma beach resort is next to an international airport, another indication the project is aimed at attracting foreign currency.

Last year, small groups of Russian tourists visited North Korea for three-day ski holidays at Maskiryong resort, which has been a long-standing tourist attraction since its opening in December 2013.

Despite sustaining heavy battlefield losses, North Korea has become increasingly integrated into Russia’s war. An estimated 4,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia, according to Western officials.

On the ground in the Russian border region of Kursk, where North Korean soldiers helped repel Ukraine’s incursion last year, the reclusive state’s soldiers are reportedly living in dugouts, fighting – and dying – alongside Russian troops.

Satellite images obtained by CNN showed cargo planes and troop transport ships moving between North Korea and Russia, hinting at major military logistics underway.

Facing shortages on the front line, even as its own factories work round-the-clock, Russia has become reliant on North Korea for additional weaponry.

Training manuals for North Korean artillery have been translated into Russian, in a sign of both the ubiquity of the weapons and the increasing interoperability between Moscow’s and Pyongyang’s armed forces. A report from 11 UN member states last month said that Pyongyang sent at least 100 ballistic missiles and 9 million artillery shells to Russia in 2024.

Russia has intensified its aerial assault on Ukraine in recent weeks. Ukrainian officials said Saturday that Russia had overnight launched its second largest aerial assault on the country since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had launched 26 cruise missiles and 597 drones in the attack, killing at least two people in the western city of Chernivtsi. Most of the drones and over 20 missiles were “neutralized,” he said.

Russian attacks in Ukraine continued into the daytime on Saturday, with a further eight people killed in various parts of the country, according to regional officials.

On Wednesday, Moscow launched a record 728 drones and 13 missiles. The next day, Russian drones attacked the capital Kyiv from all directions in an apparent new tactic that tested Ukraine’s strained defenses.

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CNN
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President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened duties of 30% on products from Mexico and the European Union, two of America’s biggest trading partners, in an ongoing tariff campaign that’s upended global trade since he retook office in January.

“The United States of America has agreed to continue working with the European Union, despite having one of our largest Trade Deficits with you. Nevertheless, we have decided to move forward, but only with more balanced and fair TRADE,” Trump wrote in the letter to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, which he posted to Truth Social.

Trump has imposed a slate of tariffs on US trading partners this year – then paused, modified, raised or lowered them, in a chaotic barrage of policy actions that’s left everyone from major nations to individual Americans trying to figure out how to plan for the future even as economic uncertainty grows.

The EU and Mexico join a growing list of countries whose imports will face updated duties on August 1, since Trump began posting tariff letters on Monday with rates of up to 40%.

In his letters to the EU and Mexico, Trump said that all imports were subject to the 30% tariff, excluding “Sectoral Tariffs,” such as the 25% auto tariff.

Von der Leyen said in a statement that the EU remains “ready to continue working towards an agreement” by the August 1 deadline.

But, she said, a 30% tariff on EU exports would hurt supply chains, businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. The EU “will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required,” von der Leyen wrote.

Products from Mexico, meanwhile, have mostly been able to enter the country duty-free, granted they were compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Trump negotiated in his first term. In his letter addressed to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump said that tariff barriers were imposed to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, which he has previously used to justify earlier tariffs on Mexico as well.

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump wrote.

Mexico’s economy minister Marcelo Ebrard posted on X that a Mexican delegation told United States officials during a Friday meeting that plans to establish a new tariff rate would be “unfair treatment and that we did not agree.” But the United States and Mexico are negotiating to find an “alternative to protect businesses and jobs on both sides of the border.”

In the tariff letters, which were dated on Friday, Trump said that any retaliation of tariffs charged on US imports would be met with pushback from the United States. Trump said that “whatever the number you choose to raise (tariffs) by, will be added onto the 30% that we charge.”

He blamed both tariff and non-tariff trade barriers as additional reasons for imposing tariffs on the EU and Mexico.

The Trump administration has taken particular issue with value-added and digital services taxes, which are prominent in several EU member countries.

Digital service taxes are levied on the gross revenue that online firms collect from offering services to users. Countries with these taxes would be able to tax all the revenue large companies that operate online collect — even if the business is unprofitable. That can include what they collect from selling data, advertising as well as payments they receive for subscriptions, software and other kinds of online services users pay for.

Trump and members of his administration said on multiple occasions that the EU was not negotiating in good faith. And two months ago, Trump was so enraged by the lack of progress in trade talks that he was prepared to slap a 50% tariff on goods from the EU come June 1. “I’m not looking for a deal,” he said at the time.

A 30% tariff on the EU is more than the 20% “reciprocal” tariff which goods from there faced before Trump paused them in mid-April.

After Trump made the threat in May, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox News interview that the “EU proposals have not been of the same quality that we’ve seen from our other important trading partners.”

The letters to the EU and Mexico come after Trump threatened 35% tariffs on some Canadian goods on Thursday.

This story has been updated with additional content.

AFP

The United Nations warns that the fuel shortage in Gaza has reached critical levels.  

Fuel is the backbone of survival in Gaza. It powers hospitals, water systems, sanitation networks, ambulances, and every aspect of humanitarian operations. Fuel supplies are needed to move the fleet used for transporting essential goods across the Strip and to operate a network of bakeries producing fresh bread for the affected population. Without fuel, these lifelines will vanish for 2.1 million people.  

After almost two years of war, people in Gaza are facing extreme hardships, including widespread food insecurity. When fuel runs out, it places an unbearable new burden on a population teetering on the edge of starvation.  

Without adequate fuel, UN agencies responding to this crisis will likely be forced to stop their operations entirely, directly impacting all essential services in Gaza. This means no health services, no clean water, and no capacity to deliver aid.  

Without adequate fuel, Gaza faces a collapse of humanitarian efforts. Hospitals are already going dark, maternity, neonatal and intensive care units are failing, and ambulances can no longer move. Roads and transport will remain blocked, trapping those in need. Telecommunications will shut down, crippling lifesaving coordination and cutting families off from critical information, and from one another.  

Without fuel, bakeries and community kitchens cannot operate. Water production and sanitation systems will shut down, leaving families without safe drinking water, while solid waste and sewage pile up in the streets. These conditions expose families to deadly disease outbreaks and push Gaza’s most vulnerable even closer to death.  

For the first time in 130 days, a small amount of fuel entered Gaza this week. This is a welcome development, but it is a small fraction of what is needed each day to keep daily life and critical aid operations running. 

The United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners cannot overstate the urgency of this moment: fuel must be allowed into Gaza in sufficient quantities and consistently to sustain life-saving operations.