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The European Union on Wednesday announced retaliatory trade action with new duties on U.S. industrial and farm products, responding within hours to the Trump administration’s increase in tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%.The world’s biggest trading bloc was expecting the U.S. tariffs and prepared in advance, but the measures still place great strain on already tense transatlantic relations. Only last month, Washington warned Europe that it would have to take care of its own security in the future.The EU measures will cover goods from the United States worth some 26 billion euros ($28 billion), and not just steel and aluminum products, but also textiles, home appliances, and agricultural goods. Motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter, and jeans will be hit, as they were during President Donald Trump’s first term.The EU duties aim for pressure points in the U.S. while minimizing additional damage to Europe. The tariffstaxes on importsprimarily target Republican-held states, hitting soybeans in House speaker Mike Johnson’s Louisiana, but also beef and poultry in Kansas and Nebraska. Produce in Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia is also on the list. The EU moves to protect itself European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that the bloc “will always remain open to negotiation.”“As the U.S. are applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” she said. The commission manages trade and commercial conflicts on behalf of the 27 member EU countries.“We firmly believe that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs,” von der Leyen said.Trump said his taxes would help create U.S. factory jobs, but von der Leyen said: “Jobs are at stake. Prices will go up. In Europe and in the United States.”“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers. These tariffs are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy,” she said. American business group urges talks The American Chamber of Commerce to the EU said the U.S. tariffs and EU countermeasures “will only harm jobs, prosperity, and security on both sides of the Atlantic.”“The two sides must de-escalate and find a negotiated outcome urgently,” the chamber said Wednesday. What will actually happen? Trump slapped similar tariffs on EU steel and aluminum during his first term in office, which enraged European and other allies. The EU also imposed countermeasures in retaliation at the time, raising tariffs on U.S.-made motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter, and jeans, among other items.This time, the EU action will involve two steps. First, on April 1, the commission will reintroduce what it calls “rebalancing measures,” which the EU had from 2018 and 2020 but which were suspended under the Biden administration. Then on April 13 come the additional duties targeting 18 billion euros ($19.6 billion) in U.S. exports to the bloc.EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič traveled to Washington last month in an effort to head off the tariffs, meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other top trade officials.He said on Wednesday that it became clear during the trip “that the EU is not the problem.”“I argued to avoid the unnecessary burden of measures and countermeasures, but you need a partner for that. You need both hands to clap,” Šefčovič told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. European steel companies brace for losses The EU could lose up to 3.7 million tons of steel exports, according to the European steel association Eurofer. The U.S. is the second biggest export market for EU steel producers, representing 16% of the total EU steel exports.The EU estimates that annual trade volume between both sides stands at about $1.5 trillion, representing some 30% of global trade. While the bloc has a substantial export surplus in goods, it says that is partly offset by the U.S. surplus in the trade of services.Britain, which isn’t part of the EU, meanwhile said it won’t impose retaliatory measures of its own on the U.S. British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Wednesday he would “continue to engage closely and productively with the U.S. to press the case for U.K. business interests.”He did not rule out future tariffs on U.S. imports, saying “we will keep all options on the table and won’t hesitate to respond in the national interest.” McHugh reported from Frankfurt. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report. This story corrects Maroš Šefčovič’s title to EU trade commissioner, not European Commission vice president. Lorne Cook and David McHugh, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Forget a diamond ring, the latest symbol of commitment now comes in the form of wearable tech. The RAW ring, created by the dating app RAW and Queens Tech, allows couples to track each others emotions, both good and bad. Coming as a pairone for you, one for your partnerthe rings track the wearers heartbeat, use bio-sensors to track their vitals, and detect voice and emotional cues for changes. Think, a digital mood ring, but for someone elses emotions. Keep you and your partners hearts beating as one. Feel their emotions, share your vibe, and stay connected in ways that go beyond words, reads a statement on the RAW website. Marriage evolves, and so does loyalty. Sacred vows go digital. RAWs mission? Making true love trackable. The rings makers claim that the device can identify emotional states such as stress, anxiety and arousal. When somethings up, youll know. Simple as that, adds Marina Anderson, RAW cofounder. Tracking your partners emotions comes with some obvious pitfalls. While the company claims that the ring understands contextsuch as telling the difference between a spike in heart rate from exercise versus emotional arousalthings could still get awkward. If your synced ring suddenly flashes purple-red (a signal for arousal) in the middle of the workday, thats probably not a conversation youll be excited to have when you both get home. While for some couples, sharing their location is quickly becoming a modern relationship milestone, is it really healthy to know every tiny fluctuation of your partners emotions throughout the day? As technology becomes increasingly woven into our daily lives, the line between convenience and control is growing increasingly blurred. Granting your partner access to your intimate emotions is a recipe for disaster if jealousy is a pre-existing issue in the relationship. In extreme cases, abusers have also been known to use tracking technology to stalk and surveil their partners. For those who are eager to test out the Raw ring, the device has yet to hit the market but is likely to be made available to purchase in late 2025 or early 2026. Details on the price have yet to be announced.
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E-Commerce
Over the last month, Jamie Dimon has rapidly emerged as one of the most vocal proponents of the return-to-office movement. During a recent appearance at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, the J.P. Morgan Chase CEO could not help but complainagainabout workers who were pushing back on RTO policies. When fielding a question about his recent colorful remarks on RTO, Dimon noted that it was only “people in the middle” who were unhappy about going into the office. “If you work in a restaurant, you’ve got to be in. You all may not know this, but 60% of Americans worked the whole time,” he said, seemingly in reference to the pandemic. “Where did you get your Amazon packages from? Your beef, your meat, your vodka? Where did you get the diapers from?” “You got UPS and FedEx and manufacturers and agriculture and hospitals and cities and schools and nurses and sanitation and firemen and military. They all worked,” he added. “It’s only these people in the middle who complain a lot about it.” Dimon has had a lot to say about workers who are reluctant to return to the office. This month, J.P. Morgan started requiring that employees come into the office five days a week, officially ending its hybrid work policy. The new mandatewhich was announced at the start of the year and echoes a broader shift across corporate Americastirred up discontent among the company’s workforce and even prompted an online petition making a case for hybrid work, which has since drawn nearly 2,000 signatures. Dimon, however, was quick to dismiss employee concerns. “I dont care how many people sign that fucking petition,” he said during an internal meeting, according to a recording obtained by Reuters. Dont give me the shit that work from home Friday works. Dimon added that the company would not allow managers to approve or make decisions about in-office requirements. There is no chance that I will leave it up to managers, he said. Zero chance. The abuse that took place is extraordinary. He also argued that employees did not pay attention during Zoom meetings and called for J.P. Morgan to increase efficiency by 10% through through cutting down on training sessions and the number of documents produced by the companyas well as meetings. (J.P. Morgan was not immediately available for comment.) Like plenty of other CEOs, Dimon has embraced a full return to the office under the pretext of promoting collaboration and productivity. But Dimon has been far more blunt and outspoken than some of his peersnot to mention more dismissive of dissent from employees. While he later apologized for the language he used in the internal meeting, noting that he should “never curse” and “get angry,” Dimon has continued to double down on his stance that employees should work from the office full-time. “I completely respect people that dont want to go to the office all five days a weekthat’s your right,” he told CNBC recently. “But they should respect that the company is going to decide whats good for the clients [and] the company, not an individual. So they can get a joband Im not being meanthey can get a job elsewhere.” Dimon also referenced the petition again, though he struck a different tone than he did when speaking to his staff. Theres a petition, he said. And they have the right to feel that way. But were not going to change. Were going back to the office. Of course, as J.P. Morgan employees have returned to the office this month, they have reportedly encountered many of the same issues facing workers at other companies, from limited workspace to noisy colleagues. And despite his open disdain for remote work, Dimon does seem to believe in its efficacy for certain workersnamely, the people staffing J.P. Morgan’s call centers. We did it to see if theyd be effective, he said at the Stanford event. Theyre highly effective. They work from home.
Category:
E-Commerce
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