Trump aims to impose tariffs on steel, aluminium imports from EU: Report

President Donald Trump intends to impose steep import duties on steel and aluminium imports from Europe starting Friday, after weeks of talks failed to reach a compromise, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Trade officials from Washington and Brussels had continued discussions to find a solution, such as import quotas, that would convince Trump to extend the exemption for the European Union from the 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.

But The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter saying a last minute deal appeared unlikely, and the tariff announcement could come as early as Thursday.

Trump imposed the tariffs in March to address global oversupply of the metals, but though it was largely aimed at China it hit US allies as well.

Washington exempted Canada and Mexico from the tariffs while negotiations continue to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, and South Korea agreed to quotas instead of tariffs.

Trump aims to impose tariffs on steel, aluminium imports from EU: Report

President Donald Trump intends to impose steep import duties on steel and aluminium imports from Europe starting Friday, after weeks of talks failed to reach a compromise, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Trade officials from Washington and Brussels had continued discussions to find a solution, such as import quotas, that would convince Trump to extend the exemption for the European Union from the 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.

But The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter saying a last minute deal appeared unlikely, and the tariff announcement could come as early as Thursday.

Trump imposed the tariffs in March to address global oversupply of the metals, but though it was largely aimed at China it hit US allies as well.

US acted more as an enemy than friend: EU on Trump's Iran nuclear deal exit

Reportedly, the European Union is miffed with the United States President Donald Trump over his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

As per certain media reports on Wednesday, the European Union has slammed the United States saying that it acted more as an enemy than a friend.

It is further said to be forming a united European front against the US in response to leaving the Iran nuclear deal and imposition of trade tariffs on Europe.

One of the EU officials compared the US to its all weather-enemies Moscow and Beijing as he quoted a famous saying 'with friends like that, who needs enemies'.

Earlier, the EU officials met their Iranian counterparts in a bid to save the deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was left in the lurch after President Trump on May 9 announced withdrawal from the deal.

Strikes on T-4 airbase most likely a US attack, says Syria; Pentagon denies

Syrian state TV said on Monday the United States was suspected of striking an air base hours after US President Donald Trump warned of a “big price to pay” as aid groups said dozens of people were killed by poison gas in a rebel-held town.

The United States denied attacking the Syrian base.

“At this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting air strikes in Syria,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“However, we continue to closely watch the situation and support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable.”

When asked about the explosions, an Israeli spokeswoman declined to comment. Israel has struck Syrian army locations many times in the course of the conflict, hitting convoys and bases of Iranian-backed militias that fight alongside Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s forces.

Syrian state TV said there were casualties in what it said was a suspected US missile attack on the T-4 airfield near Homs, which is close to the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria.

Zuckerberg defends Facebook's ad-driven model as a way to connect people

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said it will take “a few years” to solve the issues plaguing the social media company.

“I wish I could solve all these issues in three months or six months, but I just think the reality is that solving some of these questions is just going to take a longer period of time,” he said in a podcast interview with media publication Vox.

The company started investing more in security at least a year ago, Zuckerberg said,“so if this is going to be a three-year process, then I think we’re about a year in already. Hopefully by the end of this year, we’ll have really started to turn the corner on some of these issues.”

Zuckerberg is trying to steer Facebook through one of its worst public crises, after revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked on President Donald Trump’s election campaign, obtained the private data of some 50 million Facebook users. Facebook’s shares have dropped about 14 percent since the news emerged and Zuckerberg has been called to testify before Congress in coming weeks. Politicians in the UK and the European Union have also requested Zuckerberg to come explain how Facebook protects the privacy of its 2 billion monthly users, and Missouri’s attorney general announced Monday that he is launching a wide-ranging probe into Facebook.

Bayer clears EU hurdle for $62.5-bn takeover of Monsanto with BASF sale

German conglomerate Bayer won EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for it's $62.5 billion buys of US peer Monsanto, the last of a trio of mega-mergers that will reshape the agrochemicals industry.

The tie-up is set to create a company with control of more than a quarter of the world's seed and pesticides market.

Driven by shifting weather patterns, competition in grain exports and a faltering global farm economy, Dow and Dupont, and ChemChina and Syngenta had earlier led the wave of consolidation in the sector.

Environmental and farming groups have opposed all three deals, worried about their power and their advantage in digital farming data, which can tell farmers how and when to till, sow, spray, fertilise and pick crops based on algorithms.

The European Commission said Bayer addressed its concerns with its offer to sell a swathe of assets to boost rival BASF confirming a Reuters story on February 28.

EU lawmakers to investigate alleged misuse of Facebook users' data

EU lawmakers will investigate whether the data of more than 50 million Facebook users have been misused, the head of European Parliament said on Monday.

Antonio Tajani urged the social media giant to take more responsibility, saying on Twitter that “allegations of misuse of Facebook user data is an unacceptable violation of our citizens’ privacy rights.”

Data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, the New York Times and London’s Observer reported on Saturday.

German lawmakers elect weakened Angela Merkel for her fourth term

German lawmakers voted on Wednesday to re-elect Angela Merkel as chancellor for a fourth, and likely final, term that may prove her most challenging yet as she takes charge of a fragile coalition with her personal standing diminished.

Lawmakers voted by 364 to 315, with nine abstentions, in favour of re-electing Merkel, a humbling start as the coalition of her conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) has 399 votes in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
"I accept the vote," a beaming Merkel, 63, told lawmakers.
In office since 2005, she has dominated Germany's political landscape and steered the European Union through economic crisis.

But her authority was dented by her decision in 2015 to commit Germany to an open-door policy on migration, resulting in an influx of more than one million people.

News digest: PNB fraud, war against fakes, right to die, and more

Trump slaps tariffs, rattles Indian metal firms; JSW asks govt to retaliate


Indian metal producers with exposure to Europe and the United States warned of increased costs and lower sales with US President Donald Trump signing on Thursday a proclamation levying a 25 per cent duty on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium imports.


As soon as Trump signed the proclamation, Tata Steel Europe asked the Dutch government and the European Union to persuade the US not to levy the duty on steel imports. Read more here...


PNB fraud fallout: Loan disbursements to corporate India take a hit
Loan disbursals to India Inc are taking a hit at this crucial time of fiscal year end, as banks, especially public sector lenders, have turned defensive in the aftermath of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud. The assessment of the impact of the new framework for restructuring of stressed assets is also taking bankers’ time.

US should exclude EU from tariffs to defuse trade dispute: Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today voiced concern over US President Donald Trump's decision to impose hefty tariffs on aluminium and steel imports, and called for talks to defuse the escalating row.
"We see with concern the tariff hikes for specific products," the leader of Europe's biggest economy said, adding that Germany backs the EU in "seeking dialogue with the United States, but also with countries that could be affected, like China."
She stressed that "no one can win in such a race to the bottom", adding that "it would be best if we could be exempted" from the tariffs.

Goldman puts London staff on notice for German move over Brexit stalemate

Goldman Sachs has put more than a dozen UK-based banking, sales and trading staff on notice to move to Frankfurt within weeks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as it braces for divorce between Britain and the European Union.

After months of patience and private lobbying, the US investment bank has decided it can no longer wait for clarity from lawmakers on how its business might be impacted by Britain's imminent exit from the trading bloc and is taking the steps to minimise disruption to clients.

It has informed members of its London-based derivatives and debt capital markets teams working on German accounts that their activities will be relocated to its base in Frankfurt and to make the necessary preparations to move to those offices by end-June, the two sources told Reuters.

Several members of those teams have already negotiated and signed new German employment contracts in advance of the move, one of the sources added.

Goldman declined to comment.

Trade war: Trump faces last-ditch push by aides, allies to thwart tariffs

US President Donald Trump is facing a last-ditch effort from within his own administration and Republican lawmakers to head off steep tariffs on steel and aluminium that threaten to unleash a global trade war.

White House economic advisor Gary Cohn is summoning executives from US companies that depend on the metals to meet this week with Trump to try to persuade him to blunt or halt the tariffs announced last week, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Republicans in Congress are mounting an unusual public campaign to thwart the tariffs, with House Speaker Paul Ryan’s spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, releasing a statement urging the President to halt the plan, a rare public break between the two GOP leaders.

Trump on Monday stood by his call for a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminium, saying “we’re not backing down.” Yet if he doesn’t retreat, Cohn may quit the administration and some in Congress could try to limit the president’s authority to impose trade penalties.

Donald Trump's trade war will only produce losers, warns auto industry

Carmakers and U. S. auto dealers are using a similar refrain to push back against U. S. President Donald Trump’s talk of a trade war: Everyone will suffer if the rhetoric keeps ratcheting up.
“Only losers” will emerge from the U. S. and European Union battling one another with tariffs, said Bernhard Mattes, the president of German auto-industry lobby VDA, which represents carmakers including Volkswagen AG and BMW AG.

Volvo Cars’s chief executive officer and a group representing American auto dealers echoed the sentiment almost verbatim in the wake of a tit-for-tat between Trump and the European Commission’s Jean-Claude Juncker. The comments suggest the auto industry could form a unified front after the president tweeted he could slap levies on BMWs, Audis and other cars shipped from Europe if the U. S.’s planned tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are met with retaliation.

Bayer to win EU approval for $62.5-bn Monsanto deal: Sources

German drug and crop chemicals maker Bayer is set to win conditional European Union antitrust approval for its $62.5 billion bid for world No. 1 seed company Monsanto, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The takeover, one of a trio of major deals in the agribusiness sector in recent years, would create a company with a share of more than a quarter of the world's seed and pesticides market.

Shifting weather patterns, competition in grain exports and a souring global farm economy have spurred consolidation among the major players, triggering protests from environmental and farming groups worried about their market power.

Bayer has already pledged to sell certain seed and herbicide assets for 5.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) to BASF to address EU regulatory concerns.

Germany may start free public transport as pollution exceeds EU limits

The German government has made a proposal to introduce free public transportation as a radical measure to lower nitrogen oxide pollution in cities.

At least 20 major German cities continue to record nitrogen oxide pollution levels that exceed the EU limits and would be unable to correct the circumstance before 2020 according to a new report, Xinhua news agency said.

With the announcement on Tuesday, Berlin attempted to prevent any legal action against it by the European Commission for continually failing to comply with European Union (EU) urban air quality regulations.

Several courts in Germany were also independently mulling imposing a driving ban on diesel vehicles in the worst-affected cities.

European Union adopts blacklist of 17 tax havens

European Union finance ministers adopted on Tuesday a blacklist of tax havens which includes 17 extra-EU jurisdictions seen as not cooperative on tax matters, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates are the countries listed, officials said.

Le Maire said that other 47 jurisdictions are included in a public "grey" list of countries that are currently not compliant with EU standards but have committed to change their tax rules.

Following multiple disclosures of offshore tax avoidance schemes by companies and wealthy individuals, EU states launched a process in February to list tax havens in a bid to discourage setting up shell structures abroad which are themselves in many cases legal but could hide illicit activities.

Blacklisted countries could lose access to EU funds. Other possible countermeasures will be decided in coming weeks, Le Maire said.

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Not end of the world if Brexit is not followed by EU trade deal: WTO chief

The head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Sunday said it would not be "the end of the world" if Britain failed to reach a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, but there would be costs.

Roberto Azevedo told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that although Britain would be better off with an agreement, the impact of falling back on WTO rules would be "manageable".

"About half of the UK's trade is already on WTO terms -- with the US, China and several large emerging nations where the EU doesn't have trade agreements," he said.

"So it's not the end of the world if the UK trades under WTO rules with the EU."

Britain intends to leave the EU's single market and customs union when it withdraws from the bloc in March 2019, but hopes to reach a free trade agreement (FTA) with Brussels before then.

However, trade talks have yet to formally start, and without a deal, bilateral trade would likely be subject to higher WTO tariffs as well as other barriers such as increased red tape.

"If you don't have a fully functioning FTA with the EU, there could be rigidities and costs -- but it's not like trade between the UK and EU is going to stop," Azevedo said.

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Palm oil producers fear looming EU environment law will hurt millions

Millions of people running small-time oil palm plantations will suffer if the European Parliament goes ahead with “unfair” measures that could curb palm oil use, the world’s two largest palm oil producers said on Wednesday.

In April, the European Parliament backed a call for greater vetting of palm and other vegetable oils used in biofuels to prevent the European Union’s renewable transport targets for post-2020 leading to deforestation.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the resolution by the European Parliament singles out palm oil, even as the production of other vegetable oils has “shown to contribute to the deforestation”.

They said restricting market access for palm oil would also work against the United Nations’ goal of eradicating poverty and raising income levels.

“Any discriminatory measures arising from the Resolution will not only be seen as unfair practices to trade but will also affect the livelihood of millions of palm smallholders in Indonesia and Malaysia,” the two leaders said in a joint statement.
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Theresa May govt sets aside extra 3 billion pounds for Brexit

The UK government today announced that it is setting aside an extra 3 billion pounds over the next two years in preparation for Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) after last year's referendum in favour of Brexit.

In his much-anticipated Budget speech, UK Chancellor Philip Hammond was cheered in the House of Commons as he announced that the government will stand ready to allocate further sums in preparation for "every possible outcome" in the tough Brexit negotiations with Brussels.

"While we work to achieve this deep and special partnership [with the EU] we are determined to make sure the country is prepared for every possible outcome," Hammond said.

"We have already invested almost 700 million pounds in Brexit preparations and today I am setting aside over the next two years another 3 billion pounds and I stand ready to allocate further sums if and when needed. No one should doubt our resolve," he said.

The finance minister designed his Budget as a vision for a "Global Britain" after Brexit, which will have a "prosperous and inclusive economy where everybody has the opportunity to shine wherever in the UK they live, whatever their background".
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UK industrial output rises in September; trade gap narrows

British industrial output increased in September at the fastest pace this year and the goods trade deficit improved, mostly upbeat official data showed on Friday.

Despite also showing a sharp downturn in construction, the figures as a whole are likely to hearten Bank of England officials who last week voted to raise interest rates for the first time in more than 10 years.

The Office for National Statistics said the data for September did not imply any change to its preliminary estimate that Britain's economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter, picking up a bit of speed from earlier in 2017 but still slower than growth in the euro zone.

The ONS said industrial and manufacturing output shot up by a monthly 0.7 per cent in September, the fastest growth for each sector since December last year and above all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists.

The consensus had pointed to a reading of 0.3 per cent for both.

Industrial output, which includes manufacturing, accounts for 14 per cent of Britain's overall economic output.
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