Tempest in a tariff
The EU, the US, Ukraine, Russia, China, Taiwan, Israel, Palestine, and Venezuela.
The five things you need to know today:
EUROPE. UNITED STATES. The transatlantic storm continues.
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Turkey inserts itself as negotiations wobble.
CHINA. TAIWAN. More questions than answers in cross-strait relations.
ISRAEL. PALESTINE. Dealings continue toward a Saudi settlement.
VENEZUELA. The maximum pressure campaign returns.
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EUROPE. UNITED STATES. The trade wind turns
The transatlantic storm continues.
Donald Trump threatened 25% tariffs on European Union imports Wednesday and said the bloc was formed to "screw" the US. Marco Rubio cancelled a meeting with his EU counterpart. Romanian police detained politician Calin Georgescu.
INTELLIGENCE. Transatlantic ties have worsened by the day, but the threat seems to have been triggered by a query about tariffs on Mexico and Canada, to which the president gave a non-committal response before pivoting to Europe. It's likely, in all this, that Trump is again treating tariffs as a bargaining chip for other grievances, from democracy in Romania to negotiations on Ukraine. Keir Starmer, visiting Trump today, may for once be glad the UK has Brexited.
FOR BUSINESS. With Trump's penchant for national leader diplomacy (Brussels doesn’t count), the ball is in Friedrich Merz's court to make an early White House visit. Merz will dine tonight with Macron, fresh from his own trip to Washington, and will likely ask for pointers. Among Merz’s first post-election promises was "real independence" from the US. This could be seen as a good or bad thing from Washington. Merz has been openly critical of Trump before.
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UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Istanbuls and bears
Turkey inserts itself as negotiations wobble.
Russian and US diplomats will meet in Istanbul today, both sides confirmed, with "operational issues" on the agenda. Donald Trump contradicted an official who told Reuters that Volodymyr Zelensky's White House visit may not happen.
INTELLIGENCE. There was speculation that Zelensky would be disinvited following comments that Ukraine’s mooted