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Trump Rejects European Union’s ‘Zero-For-Zero’ Tariff Resolution to Remove Industrial Fees on Us Goods: ‘Not Looking at That’

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President Trump turned down a proposal by the European Union Monday for a “zero-for-zero” tariff scheme on industrial products, saying the offer was “not” enough to reverse 20% duties on imports.

“The EU has been very tough over the years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the offer. “It was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade.”

“They don’t take our cars, like Japan in that sense. They don’t take our agricultural product; they don’t take anything practically,” he went on.

“We have a [trade] deficit with the European Union of $350 billion — and it’s going to disappear fast,” he added. “And one of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re going to have to buy our energy from us.”

Asked elsewhere about whether the global tariffs imposed Saturday were merely an opening for further negotiations, Trump responded: “We’re not looking at that.” (Read more from “Trump Rejects European Union’s ‘Zero-For-Zero’ Tariff Resolution to Remove Industrial Fees on Us Goods: ‘Not Looking at That’” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

EU Furious After Elon Musk Pulls Twitter Out of Online Censorship Programme

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Senior EU officials were furious on Friday after Twitter owner Elon Musk pulled the platform out of the bloc’s online censorship project.

Elon Musk has pulled Twitter out of the EU’s “Code of Practice”, a pro-censorship project aimed at countering so-called “disinformation” online, prompting fury from those in Brussels.

It comes after months of mixed messages from the billionaire, who had publicly stated that he wanted to support free speech on the platform while repeatedly insisting that he would support the European Union in its pro-censorship crusade.

According to a report by POLITICO, it appears that the Big Tech entrepreneur may be prioritising his freedom of speech committment over pleasing EU overlords, with the publication detailing rumours that Musk was pulling Twitter out of the voluntary anti-disinformation project.

This was later confirmed by EU Internal Market Commissar Thierry Breton, who wrote on Twitter that the platform had indeed left the project.

(Read more from “EU Furious After Elon Musk Pulls Twitter Out of Online Censorship Programme” HERE)

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Massive Ban on Gas-Powered Cars Given Green Light, Will Impact Hundreds of Millions

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Negotiators from the European Union reached a deal that would effectively ban sales of gas-powered cars beginning in 2035.

The deal was reached on Thursday by negotiators from EU member countries, European Parliament, and the European commission.

By 2035, the new law states that carmakers must cut their CO2 emissions by 100%, rendering it impossible to sell cars that are gas-powered.

Jan Huitema, a lead negotiator for the European Parliament, said that the deal is “good news.” . . .

Additionally, by 2030, carmakers must achieve a 55% cut in CO2 emissions from 2021 levels. The automobile industry was previously operating off of a target of a 37.5% cut in emissions by 2030. (Read more from “Massive Ban on Gas-Powered Cars Given Green Light, Will Impact Hundreds of Millions” HERE)

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Hater of Trump and Israel May Be Next Head of European Union

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This week, the man who has said Israel just has to live with the fact that Iran wants to destroy it was nominated to be the foreign policy chief of the European Union, putting him in the position where he would be likely to succeed EU Chief Federica Mogherini in November.

As The Times of Israel reports, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell’s appointments must still be confirmed by the European Parliament. Borrell is a member of his country’s ruling Socialist Workers’ Party.

Bas Belder, a Dutch member of the European Parliament who is strongly supportive of Israel, tweeted, “More difficult times [are] ahead between the EU and Israel I fear.”

As Politico reported in February, Borrell is complacent about the fact that the despotic theocratic Iranian regime wants to destroy Israel; commenting on the U.S. leaving the Iran nuclear deal under President Trump, he ripped Trump, saying, “The agreement is dead, but not for us. The Americans decided to kill it, unilaterally as they do things without any kind of previous consultation, without taking care of what interests the Europeans have.” When he was asked whether the U.S. perspective was correct, given Iran’s vow to destroy Israel, he answered, “We are not children following what they say. We have our own prospects, interests and strategy and we will continue working with Iran. It would be very bad for us if it goes on to develop a nuclear weapon … Iran wants to wipe out Israel; nothing new about that. You have to live with it.” . . .

In February, Borrell ripped Trump as he lauded Iran, tweeting, “Iran remains an obsession for the U.S. government. They still do not have diplomatic relations and also Trump has withdrawn from the Nuclear Pact and imposed sanctions. Surely Iran can survive sanctions if Trump is not re-elected. Otherwise, the regime could revive the nuclear program for military purposes and multiply its interventions in the region.”

(Read more from “Hater of Trump and Israel May Be Next Head of European Union” HERE)

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Short-Circuiting Sanctions: E.U. Courts Overturn Sanctions On Iranian Banks

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Photo Credit: APEuropean Union courts have quietly rolled back economic sanctions on several Iranian banks that have long been suspected of transferring funds to terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Wednesday announcement of the removal of Iran’s Bank Saderat from the E.U.’s sanctions list has caused concern among experts and some on Capitol Hill who warn the E.U.’s decision could erase years of progress on the economic sanctions front.

Bank Saderat is at least the third Iranian bank to have won an E.U. sanctions reprieve since December.

An E.U. court recently ruled that the sanctions against Bank Saderat were “illegal” and ordered they be removed, according to reports in Iran’s state run media.

“The General Court of the European Union consequently ruled that the sanctions imposed against the Iranian bank were illegal and accepted the bank’s request to lift the restrictions,” Iran’s Press TV quoted the bank as saying in a statement.

Read more from this story HERE.

European Cap-and-Trade Market Takes a Nose Dive

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The European Union’s cap-and-trade system took a huge hit on Thursday, with carbon prices plummeting a record 40 percent after a panel rejected a plan to delay emission permit sales to alleviate the overabundance of permits already in the system.

“The market is panicking, really,” Daniel Rossetto, managing director of Climate Mundial, told Bloomberg, adding that traders fear that Europe’s carbon emissions market won’t continue past 2020.

An excess of carbon emission permits in the 54 billion euro trading system drove the price down 91 percent from its record high in April 2006. Carbon permit prices sank to a record low of 2.81 euros ($3.75) per metric ton immediately after the panel rejected the EU plan. However, prices slightly rebounded to 4.33 euros per metric ton.

“This should be the final wake-up call,” said EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard in a statement. “Something has to be done urgently. I can therefore only appeal to the governments and the European Parliament to act responsibly.”

The Financial Times reports that the carbon market has seen two record-low prices within the last four days, causing some analysts to say carbon permits are “worthless.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Spain’s Economic Implosion Pushing Outlying Regions to Consider Secession

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The government’s drive to rein in regional overspending as part of its austerity measures has prompted a flare-up in independence fervor in Catalonia, the wealthy northeastern region that generates one-fifth of Spain’s economic output.

Just as the euro zone crisis has strained relations between wealthier nations of the north and heavily indebted countries to the south, Spain’s crisis has aggravated tensions between the central government and its self-governing regions.

Catalonia needs a 5 billion euros bailout from the central state to meet debt payments this year, but Catalans are convinced they bear an unfairly large share of the country’s tax burden.

More than half say they want independence from Spain, the highest level ever.

Artur Mas, the conservative president of Catalonia, announced on Tuesday he would hold early elections in November after Rajoy rejected his call for more tax autonomy. Mas’s Convergence and Union, or CiU, party is likely to win an absolute majority in the regional parliament, which he can use to battle Rajoy over spending cuts.

On Wednesday Mas took things further, saying Catalonia should also hold a referendum on independence, which the central government says would be unconstitutional.

Although an independent Catalonia is a remote possibility, the political instability sends a worrying message to investors. Rajoy’s People’s Party has threatened to take control of the budgets of regions that fail to meet deficit reduction targets despite Catalonia already having made tough austerity measures.

Read more from this story HERE.

Czech President: EU in Final Phase of Destroying Democracy, National Sovereignty

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As European Union bosses now openly push for the complete elimination of national sovereignty in favor of a so-called “federation” with its own army, liberty-minded Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus warned that the destruction of democracy and the nation-state within the EU has entered its final phases. The anti-communist hero has been sounding the alarm for years, but his recent public remarks represent the most forceful warning yet about the looming threat posed by the budding supranational regime in Brussels.

Klaus, who has a new book coming out entitled Europe: The Shattering of Illusions, largely blamed “two-faced” politicians for allowing the precarious situation to develop. Included among the culprits is the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, which purports to be skeptical of the EU but has so far refused to allow British voters — polls show they overwhelmingly oppose the institution — any say in the matter. The situation is also partly due to the fact that political leaders want to avoid responsibility and accountability to their constituents, Klaus added.

Opposition to the formation of an “ever-closer union” is growing throughout Europe. The new socialist president of France Francois Hollande and pro-integration extremist Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, however, both demanded last week that more political and economic power be handed over to the EU anyway. “We don’t have a choice, but to march toward the destiny that is ours, march toward a unified Europe,” proclaimed Hollande.

Other officials called for an end to national veto powers over foreign and defense policies as part of an effort to pave the way for a single EU military. In addition, almost a dozen European governments called for changes in the way treaties are adopted to ensure that voters would no longer be able to halt the expansion of the sprawling super-state — not that they could before, as evidenced by the EU steamroller marching on in spite of numerous rejections in referendums from France and the Netherlands to Ireland.

Top European bosses echoed the calls for deeper integration as well. EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, a former Maoist revolutionary, for example, demanded that national governments surrender even more sovereignty to erect what he called a federation. “We will need to move toward a federation of nation states. This is our political horizon,” he announced during a “state of the union” speech, adding that “unavoidable” changes to European treaties had to be made. “This is what must guide our work in the years to come.”

Read more from from this story HERE.

European Union Abandoning Crop-Based Biofuels Due to Food Crisis, Environmental Concerns

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Photo credit: Sweeter Alternative

The European Union will impose a limit on the use of crop-based biofuels over fears they are less climate-friendly than initially thought and compete with food production, draft EU legislation seen by Reuters showed.

The draft rules, which will need the approval of EU governments and lawmakers, represent a major shift in Europe’s much-criticized biofuel policy and a tacit admission by policymakers that the EU’s 2020 biofuel target was flawed from the outset.

The plans also include a promise to end all public subsidies for crop-based biofuels after the current legislation expires in 2020, effectively ensuring the decline of a European sector now estimated to be worth 17 billion euros ($21.7 billion) a year.

“The (European) Commission is of the view that in the period after 2020, biofuels should only be subsidized if they lead to substantial greenhouse gas savings… and are not produced from crops used for food and feed,” the draft said.

A Commission spokeswoman said the EU executive would not comment on the details of leaked proposals.

Read more from this story HERE.