Skoda Kodiaq automobiles on the production line at the Volkswagen AG plant in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images A small landlocked country in the heart of Europe appears to be uniquely exposed to President-elect Donald Trump’s “America First” economic agenda. Nicknamed the “Detroit of Europe” due to…
The European Union is planning for talks with Donald Trump’s transition team as it seeks to head off a major economic and political shock after his convincing victory in Tuesday’s US presidential election. High on their wish list will be keeping the tap open for US funds to flow to Ukraine and avoiding scything tariffs…
The European Union‘s trade chief-in-waiting has described China as the bloc’s “most challenging trade partner” at a parliamentary confirmation hearing in which he vowed to crack down on mainland-exported overcapacity “with all our force”. Maros Sefcovic, regarded as a close ally of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, stuck closely to the tone established…
“The total value of business in China for Finnish companies is estimated to be more than 20 billion euros per year,” a 2023 report from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said, which labeled China as “one of our most important trade partners.” “Chinese investments play the largest role in Finland compared to any other…
A Chinese diplomat beams with satisfaction as an unlikely world leader smiles while leafing through a book dedicated to Xi Jinping Thought, plucked from a box on the desk that separates the pair. The remarkable photo was taken a little over a year ago, in July 2023. The leader is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,…
In European Union circles, last week will be remembered for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s consolidation of her position as the most powerful politician in Brussels. She vanquished her rivals and pitted her new commissioners against each other in a grand reshaping of the bloc’s executive functions, blurring the lines of reportage and…
BRUSSELS, Sept 17 – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday nominated her candidates for posts in the EU executive. Who’s who in top picks for European Commission Each of the EU’s 27 member states gets a seat at the Commission table. Here are some of the key posts and nominees: BUDGET Piotr…
Germany and China are actively working to convince European Union members to oppose electric vehicle tariffs during a vote next week, senior EU sources say. Berlin has been phoning other capitals in a late bid to get them to oppose the duties during a vote planned for September 25. The development comes as Chinese commerce…
“Europe has a China problem.” These are not words you would have heard from a budding EU trade commissioner a decade ago, when cutting juicy deals with booming economies like China was the top line of the job description. But in 2024, this might be the kind of rhetoric needed if you want to be…