World News in Brief: Nobody wins trade wars Guterres warns, WFP alert over US funding cuts, ‘modern slavery’ must be eradicated says Yang

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday warned that when it comes to trade wars, “nobody wins” and “everybody tends to lose.” António Guterres was responding to a journalist at the stakeout in UN Headquarters in New York, who asked him for reaction to the recent decision by United […]

MEPs travel to Washington DC to discuss transatlantic relations with US counterparts

Statement by the European Commission on the U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions on certain EU individuals

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. The European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the United States will travel to the US capital from Wednesday to Friday for talks with representatives of the US Congress. The visit by MEPs takes place against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement […]

Liberation Day or Return to the Middle Ages? Trump bends it like the infamous President Hoover of the 1930s Great Depression

As we write distinctly from most of the outlets out there, we won’t start with the elephant in the room, the tariffs. We will start instead with the last scene of yesterday’s “Liberation Day” promulgation of the notorious Trump administration. He rambled on and he propagated infinite trade wars for an hour with his long […]

Tariffs: Job protectors or trade killers?

This article is published in association with United Nations. The word “tariff” has been catapulted from the business pages to the headlines over the last few months, as major economies impose or threaten them on other nations. But tariffs are not just a blunt weapon to be used in geopolitical brinkmanship: they can, if used effectively, […]

MAGA My God: Trump’s full trade war against China, EU, Canada, Mexico, you name it

Bang, the new US administration recently launched 25% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, almost everything imported from Canada and Mexico as well as 20% on Chinese imports. The Wall Street stock exchange felt its worst day last Monday with investors in panic after Trump’s promulgation of trade wars against everybody. MAGA (Make America Great […]

Press statement by President von der Leyen with Commissioner Šefčovič on EU countermeasures to US tariffs

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. President von der Leyen: The trade relations between the European Union and the United States are the biggest in the world. They have brought prosperity and security to millions of people. And trade has created millions of good jobs on both sides of the […]

Commission responds to unjustified US steel and aluminium tariffs with countermeasures

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. In response to the imposition of new, unjustified US tariffs on EU steel and aluminium imports, the Commission has launched swift and proportionate countermeasures on US imports into the EU. The Commission regrets the US decision to impose such tariffs, considering them unjustified, disruptive […]

EU countermeasures on US steel and aluminium tariffs explained

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. On 12 March, the United States imposed tariffs of up to 25% on imports of steel, aluminium, and certain products containing steel and aluminium from the European Union and other trading partners. In response, the Commission is launching a series of countermeasures to protect […]

US aid cuts will make world ‘less healthy, less safe and less prosperous’: Guterres

This article is published in association with United Nations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that severe cuts to humanitarian and development funding by the United States will have devastating consequences for millions of vulnerable people worldwide. “These cuts impact a wide range of critical programmes,” he told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New […]

US funding cuts confirmed, ending lifesaving support for women and girls

This article is published in association with United Nations. The United States has cut $377 million worth of funding to the UN reproductive and sexual health agency, UNFPA, it was confirmed on Thursday, leading to potentially “devasting impacts”, on women and girls. “At 7pm on 26 February, UNFPA was informed that nearly all of our grants […]

New report flags severity of US funding cuts to global AIDS response

This article is published in association with United Nations. Shuttered clinics and health workers laid off around the world reflect the widespread, negative toll the United States funding freeze is taking on the global AIDS response, according to a new situation report released on Wednesday by the UN agency charged with responding to the disease. UNAIDS […]

Questions and Answers on the US reciprocal tariff policy

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. What is the current value of EU-US trade and investment? Does the EU have a trade surplus vis-à-vis the US? When goods and services are taken into account, the EU has a small surplus with the US of €48 billion; this is the equivalent […]

Statement by the European Commission on potential imposition of US tariffs on EU steel and aluminium

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. At this stage, we have not received any official notification regarding the imposition of additional tariffs on EU goods. We will not respond to broad announcements without details or written clarification. The EU sees no justification for the imposition of tariffs on its exports. […]

International Criminal Court condemns US sanctions move

This article is published in association with United Nations. The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday condemned an executive order signed by United States President Donald Trump imposing punitive sanctions, countering that the order sought to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work.” The court was established by the Rome Statute, negotiated within the UN – […]

US aid funding cuts put HIV prevention at risk, warns UNAIDS

This article is published in association with United Nations. The US pause in foreign assistance funding has created “confusion” in the vital work of community HIV prevention, despite a waiver issued for HIV/AIDS programmes, the UN agency to combat the still deadly disease said on Friday. The waiver allows the continuation or resumption of “life-saving humanitarian assistance” […]

US funding pause leaves millions ‘in jeopardy’, insist UN humanitarians

Statement by the European Commission on the U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions on certain EU individuals

This article is published in association with United Nations. UN agencies on Tuesday offered a dire assessment of the global impact of deep cuts to grassroots humanitarian funding by the incoming US administration and reiterated calls for Washington to retain its position as a global aid leader. The development follows the pause announced to billions of […]

UNAIDS welcomes US decision to keep funding life-saving HIV treatment

This article is published in association with United Nations. UNAIDS has welcomed Wednesday’s emergency waiver from the United States Secretary of State that will allow the continuation of life-saving HIV treatment funded by the US across 55 countries worldwide.  The move from the UN agency dedicated to ending the disease came in response to an immediate […]

Guterres calls on US to exempt development and humanitarian funds from aid ‘pause’

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN Secretary-General on Monday called on the US Government to consider “additional exemptions” to a directive which pauses nearly all foreign aid for 90 days. President Trump’s executive order a week ago called for all foreign aid to be re-evaluated to ensure that it complies which […]

UN regrets US exit from global cooperation on health, climate change agreement

This article is published in association with United Nations. UN agencies responded on Tuesday to President Trump’s executive orders ending US membership of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its adherence to the Paris Climate Agreement, highlighting the massive potential negative impact on public health and efforts to curb global warming. “The WHO regrets the announcement […]

US: UN rights expert welcomes court ruling reaffirming sex-based protections in education

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls has welcomed a ruling by a federal district court in the United States that reaffirms sex-based protections in education.  Independent rights expert Reem Alsalem hailed the landmark 9 January decision by the Kentucky court declaring the US […]

Rutte to MEPs: “We are safe now, we might not be safe in five years”

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. On Monday afternoon, MEPs discussed the security situation in Europe and beyond as well as defence and EU-NATO cooperation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. In his first public discussion with MEPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Security and Defence and Parliament’s […]

US: Rights experts urge Senate to reject bill sanctioning the International Criminal Court

This article is published in association with United Nations. Three experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council on Friday urged the United States Senate to oppose a bill seeking to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), and cut funding to the UN-backed tribunal, in response to its arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.  The […]

UN chief offers condolences amid devastating wildfires in California

This article is published in association with United Nations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed sorrow over the fast-moving wildfires that have devastated the Los Angeles area, claiming lives and displacing thousands. The fires, described as some of the worst in the city’s history, have burned thousands of acres, destroyed homes and left firefighters battling to […]

United States vetoes Gaza ceasefire resolution at Security Council

This article is published in association with United Nations. The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution that demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Despite having secured 14 votes in favour, the draft resolution put forward by the 10 elected members of the Security Council (E10), failed to […]

Trump’s win: a paradox or mere denialism?

The whole world is shocked by the return of The Donald in the world’s most important job. Why? Denialism, the tendency to deny the truth, is a well known syndrom of the human kind. The sane deny that there are insane out there in order to live their bubble life as if short unpredictable life […]

The world is at an inflection point but ‘there’s always a way forward’, says Biden

Statement by the European Commission on the U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions on certain EU individuals

This article is published in association with United Nations United States President Joe Biden told leaders at the United Nations on Tuesday that with the world at a historical inflection point “our task, our test, is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than those that are pulling us apart.”  In his […]

US-Russia prisoner swap ‘an unprecedented diplomatic act’, rights expert says

This article is published in association with United Nations. A UN independent human rights expert has welcomed the landmark prisoner swap on Thursday involving the United States, Russia and five other countries. More than 20 people were released, including journalists and dissidents. Among them were American Evan Gershkovich, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal;  Alsu […]

EU-US joint press release following the EU-US Ministerial on Justice and Home Affairs

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. On 20-21 June 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union hosted the EU-US Ministerial Meeting on Justice and Home Affairs in Brussels. The United States was represented by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Under Secretary for Homeland Security Robert […]

Humongous tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles: is Brussels shooting itself in the foot?

When your own major car companies slam your antidumping duties on electric vehicles, then you know you just made a terrible mistake, right? It was last week that the European Commission launched additional record tariffs against Chinese electric vehicles ranging from 17.4% to 38.1%, and if one adds to those the existing ones of 10%, […]

Gaza: Security Council adopts US resolution calling for ‘immediate, full and complete ceasefire’

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution aimed at reaching a comprehensive ceasefire deal in three phases to end the war in Gaza, with US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield telling members “today, we voted for peace.” The United States-drafted text calls for Hamas to accept […]

US hikes tariffs on Chinese imports, and other global trade stories to read this month

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Guillaume Dabré, Project Specialist, World Economic Forum 1. US hikes tariffs on Chinese imports The United States has sharply hiked tariffs on a range of Chinese imports as a trade tiff between the two economic superpowers escalates. US […]

US jobs market, Japanese inflation and other economics stories to read

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Joe Myers, Writer, Forum Agenda 1. US labour market remains strong The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting strength remains in the labour market. It was the second straight week of declines. Initial claims […]

Undermining the one-China principle will lead to serious tensions in East Asia

The US interference more than often leads to geopolitical tensions and that’s a historical fact. It seems now the world’s greatest power wants to interfere strongly with Taiwan. Taiwan, a whole different story Although the US likes to interfere in anything with a pulse, Taiwan is no Ukraine and will never be. To begin with, […]

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