52 h. ago Between ‘rollover UK’ and ‘retaliatory China’: will EU hardball secure trade deal with US?

Optimism is growing in Brussels, but high-risk strategy has only weeks to play out before pause in tariff threat endsIn Brussels’ corridors of power, quiet optimism is growing that the EU’s hardball strategy to secure a US trade deal is working. While Britain quickly moved to try to cushion the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs with a deal agreed last month – and US-Chinese relations are a tit-for-tat situation – the EU has taken a different stance. “We are positioning ourselves between ‘rollover UK’ and ‘retaliatory China’,” said a Brussels source.The stakes are not just the £706bn in transatlantic trade between the EU and US but the fallout from what diplomats and businesses say is a dangerous assault on the global rules-based system that governs western democracy. Continue reading...

Economics

1 week ago The trade court’s Trump tariff decision is a ‘deeply American problem’ – with enormous global implications

Experts warned the court decision will not necessarily provide any relief to countries hoping for lower tariffs or even trading uncertainty with the US, Rachel Clun reports

Politics

1 week ago The trade court’s Trump tariff decision is a ‘deeply American problem’

Experts warned the court decision will not necessarily provide any relief to countries hoping for lower tariffs or even trading uncertainty with the US, Rachel Clun reports

Politics

1 week ago US consumer confidence rebounds after five straight months of declines due to tariff anxiety

Americans’ views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines sent consumer confidence to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by anxiety over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs

Politics

2 w. ago On the road to somewhere Cannes film festival reminds us world cinema and ‘globalism’ are not the same

It might look like a platform for the films ‘produced in foreign lands’ that Donald Trump despises. But a surprising number of pictures at this year’s festival side with the locally rooted over cosmopolitan elitesIf Donald Trump really wants to save Hollywood, maybe he needs to venture outside his comfort zone and watch more European art house cinema.The Cannes film festival, which closes on Saturday, is in many ways the very definition of the “globalism” that the American president’s Maga movement despises. Walk past the queues snaking alongside the Palais des Festivals and you hear languages and accents from every corner of the globe. The Marché du Film, where industry professionals strike their deals, is brimming with smart people from all over the world beckoning US producers with irresistible tax incentives – resulting in the kind of movies “produced in foreign lands” that the US president earlier this month proposed punishing with 100% tariffs. At the opening gala, Cannes gave...

Culture

2 w. ago JPMorgan Jamie Dimon warns that the impacts of Trump’s ‘pretty extreme’ tariffs are still being underestimated

Wall Street boss suggests 10 percent stock market sell-off could be on the horizon

Events

2 w. ago ‘Cinema doesn’t ship that way’: Wes Anderson mocks Donald Trump’s film tariff plans in Cannes

While acknowledging he is ‘not an expert in that area of economics’, the director criticised Trump’s announcement of a 100% tariff on films ‘from foreign lands’American director Wes Anderson has mocked Donald Trump’s plan to impose severe tariffs on foreign-made films, suggesting it would mostly financially hit film-makers like him and be unworkable in practice.“Can you hold up the movie in customs?” the world’s chief auteur of cinematic whimsy asked at a press conference at the Cannes film festival. “I feel it doesn’t ship that way. I’m not sure I want to know the details so I’ll hold off on my official answer.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Eurozone growth forecasts cut amid uncertainty over Trump trade war

Tariffs impact demands ‘considerable downgrade’, to 0.9% this year and 1.4% in 2026, says European CommissionBusiness live – latest updatesThe European Commission has cut its growth forecasts for the eurozone this year and next as a result of uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s tariff wars.The commission said the impact of tariffs demanded a “considerable downgrade” to the expected growth this year of the 20-member eurozone to 0.9% from the previous forecast, made in November, of 1.3%. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago This pause in the trade war will be brief. Small businesses, plan accordingly

Trump’s animosity towards China isn’t going to disappear, and his past actions do not bode well for a quick resolutionDonald Trump’s massive Chinese tariffs are on pause. The media debated. Wall Street rejoiced. Many of my clients breathed a sigh of relief. Big retailers jumped for joy. But for how long?For starters, the tariffs that weren’t paused – a 10% levy on all Chinese goods, plus a bonus 20% tax that somehow relates to fentanyl, are still in place. When you take into consideration existing tariffs on steel from previous Trump and Biden administrations, the effective tariff rate on Chinese goods is actually closer to 40%, according to an analysis done by the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago US applications for jobless benefits hold firm as layoffs remain low despite tariff uncertainty

U.S. applications for jobless benefits held steady last week as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty over how President Donald Trump’s tariffs will impact the economy

Economics

3 w. ago White House backed down on China’s tariff after president was told they would hurt ‘Trump’s people’ the most

Several White House staffers had to warn the president that his tariffs would impact ‘Trump’s people.’

Politics

3 w. ago Bollywood fears huge impact of Trump’s tariffs on foreign films

US president wants to impose 100 per cent levy on all films made outside US

Politics

3 w. ago Trump tariff threat worries India’s film industry: ‘Could end theatrical releases in US’

US president wants to impose 100 per cent levy on all films made outside US

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Would do more harm than good’: what will Trump’s tariffs really mean for Hollywood?

The US president’s proposed film industry tariffs have led to confusion and unrest within HollywoodCitizen Kane, The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, Goodfellas, Sunset Boulevard and the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Bloodsport – Donald Trump’s favourite movies are thoroughly American and 20th century. Foreign films? Not his thing.At campaign rally in 2020 he reacted to the South Korean movie Parasite winning the best picture Oscar by demanding: “What the hell was that all about? We got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that they give them best movie of the year? Was it good? I don’t know. Let’s get Gone With the Wind. Can we get Gone With the Wind back please?” Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Equity responds to Trump’s film tariff and says it is ‘industrial action ready’

Earlier in the month the US president said he had authorised a 100% tariff on films ‘produced in foreign lands’.

Politics

last month The Guardian view on the impact of Trump’s film tariffs: a disaster movie waiting to happen | Editorial

The US president’s proposed levies will badly hit the UK industry just as it is recovering from a series of blowsBarbieland, the Emerald City and a galaxy far, far away were all built – at least in part – at film studios just outside London. Now the UK film industry has come crashing down to earth with Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on all movies “produced in foreign lands”. “Hollywood is being destroyed,” Mr Trump announced, like an action hero on a mission. “Other nations have stolen our movie industry.” In the UK the news was met with warnings that the British film sector would be “wiped out” by such a “knock-out blow”. Brian Cox, the Succession star, called the proposed tariffs “an absolute disaster”. Roll the opening credits.Mr Trump has a point. New instalments of Marvel’s Avengers and Spider-Man are filming around London this summer. No wonder the president wants “MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” The UK’s generous tax incentives, skills base and state-of-the-art ...

Politics

last month Ban this foreign filth! Can cinema really threaten national security?

The US president’s plan for Hollywood is full of plot holes. But when it comes to the hidden propaganda baked into movies, he may have a pointAs always with pronouncements by President Trump, once you had peeled away the xenophobia, removed the stew of resentment, ignored the sheer idiocy and asterisked the possible illegality, there was a small kernel of truth to his posting on Truth Social last Sunday. “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote, pointing to the nefarious tax breaks other countries gave film-makers as “a National Security threat” and proposing an 100% tariff on films made oversees. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA AGAIN!”How would a 100% tariff on films made oversees work? Just movies shot overseas? What about movies set overseas? And who would pay? How do you impose tariffs on goods without a port of entry? “Commerce is figuring it out,” said a White House official. In fact, ...

Events

last month Trade deals, global wars and AI Jedi posts: where is Trump’s focus? – podcast

Jonathan Freedland and the senior Washington editor of Semafor, Elana Schor, discuss what the US president is choosing to make a priority, and what he’s neglecting in returnOn Thursday, the White House announced a framework for a US-UK trade deal. Earlier in the week, when asked for his take on India’s missile attack on Pakistan, Donald Trump replied: “I get along with both.” But before all of that, on an otherwise quiet Sunday, the US president announced tariffs on foreign films and the reopening of Alcatraz. Throw in the White House posting another AI-generated image of Trump – this time featuring a lightsabre, muscly arms and two bald eagles – and you have one chaotic week.Archive: BBC News, CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, Sky News, Sky News Australia Continue reading...

Politics