Latest news with #EuropeanCommission
The Star
5 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
EU probes Musk's xAI buyout of X, Bloomberg News reports
FILE PHOTO: xAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (Reuters) -Elon Musk's $33 billion xAI acquisition of X has drawn fresh scrutiny from the European Union, as regulators evaluate potential fines under the Digital Services Act, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The European Commission recently circulated fresh questions to X, probing the social media platform's corporate structure following its acquisition by xAI, the report said citing people familiar with the matter. Musk said in March the combination valued "xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion". Before its summer recess in August, the regulator could announce a fine on X for alleged infractions under the DSA, though delays are possible, according to the report. Representatives for the European Commission, xAI and X did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Any firm found in breach of the DSA faces a fine worth up to 6% of its global turnover, and repeat offenders may be banned from operating in Europe altogether. Earlier this month, X highlighted a disclaimer to its blue checkmark in an attempt to head off a possible hefty fine from EU antitrust regulators. The Commission issued preliminary findings under the DSA in July last year that X violated rules on deceptive design, especially by turning the blue checkmark into a paid verification, assigning false credibility to users. X had disagreed with the assessment. The EU had announced a probe into X's alleged breaches of the DSA in December 2023. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft)
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Overcapacity: the economic buzzword fuelling Europe's clash with China
In a soulless conference room in Brussels in November, officials and experts from around Europe and the United States were locked in a technical debate over a cryptic bit of economic jargon: global non-market overcapacity. Advertisement Beneath the geography-free legalese so common in Brussels, China was undoubtedly the subject. The conference, organised by the European Commission, was designed to thrash out solutions to the problem of overcapacity in China's economy and the second-order effects Europe fears. Decades of overinvestment and state subsidies in China, weak domestic consumption, an addiction to manufacturing, crashing corporate profits, zombie companies that the state does not let die and a superpower trade war have, the EU believes, created a perfect storm. 18:59 Why the EU, US are concerned about China's overcapacity Why the EU, US are concerned about China's overcapacity China's industrial overflows must go somewhere, Brussels thinks, probably at a discount, and the only logical destination is Europe. Governments fear companies that make everything from industrial machinery and chemicals to hydrogen electrolysers and wind turbines will be eaten alive, industries decimated and jobs lost forever. They worry about a wave that could sweep populist parties to power in Europe's hollowed-out manufacturing heartlands. They insist that Beijing should worry too, or face a European anti-China backlash similar to the one that has coursed through the United States over the last decade. Advertisement 'We are seeing a new 'China shock' – as China's economy slows down, Beijing floods global markets with subsidised overcapacity that its own market cannot absorb,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the G7 meeting in Canada this week. Back at the Brussels forum on global non-market overcapacity last year, the discussion was becoming bogged down in terminology – 'decreasing profit margins', 'returns on capital', 'underutilised assets' – when an arm shot up in the middle of the room.
NZ Herald
7 hours ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Mutilation ban and microchips: EU lawmakers approve cat and dog welfare rules
Compulsory microchips as well as bans on ear-cropping and tail-docking are among a set of new rules to protect cats and dogs that European politicians approved on Thursday. The European Union is home to more than 72 million dogs and 83 million cats, according to the European Commission, which so
Qatar Tribune
7 hours ago
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
EU increasingly resigned to 10% baseline reciprocal tariff in trade talks with US
Agencies Brussels European officials are increasingly resigned to a 10 percent rate on 'reciprocal' tariffs being the baseline in any trade deal between the United States and the European Union, five sources familiar with the negotiations said. President Donald Trump has announced wide-ranging tariffs on trade partners and wants to reduce the US goods trade deficit with the EU. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has ruled out going below a 10 percent baseline rate for the so-called reciprocal tariffs that cover most goods the EU exports to the US. EU neg are still pressing for the rate to be lower than 10 percent, said the European sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. But one of the sources, an EU official, said negotiating the level down had become harder since the US started drawing revenues from its global tariffs. 'The 10 percent is a sticky issue. We are pressing them but now they are getting revenues,' said the official. A second European source said there had been no acceptance by the EU of 10 percent as the baseline rate at talks, but acknowledged that it would be difficult to change or abolish that baseline. A spokesperson for the European Commission, the EU's executive body which negotiates trade deals for the 27-nation bloc, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The US government also did not immediately comment. US officials have long worked on the assumption that America will end up with higher tariffs with its trading partners and do not expect to move away from the 10% tariff rate in talks with the EU. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the 'Pod Force One' podcast in an interview broadcast Wednesday that Trump's decision to double tariffs had spurred greater willingness on the part of European leaders to negotiate. The EU has said publicly it will not settle for a double-digit baseline rate - as did Britain, which agreed a limited trade deal in May that retains 10 percent tariffs on British exports while cutting higher rates for steel and cars. Notable orders included one for up to 150 planes for Vietnamese budget airline VietJet. Trump has hit Europe with a 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminium and a 25 percent levy on cars, and the EU is trying to secure a deal before July 9, when reciprocal tariffs on most other goods could rise from 10 percent to up to 50 percent. With an annual trade surplus of $236 billion with the US in 2024, the EU has more to lose from tariffs than non-EU member Britain, which runs a trade deficit with the US. Trump, who has said he wants to use tariff revenues to help finance his sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, said on Tuesday the EU was not offering a fair deal. Washington has sought to fold non-tariff barriers, such as digital services taxes and corporate sustainability reporting rules, as well as LNG sales and food standards into the talks. The US posted a $258-billion budget surplus for April, up 23 percent from a year earlier, and the Treasury Department said net customs duties in April more than doubled versus the same period last year. The sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump since early April and the subsequent pauses on some of them have generated upheaval for companies worldwide, causing some to withdraw or refrain from giving financial guidance. European automakers have been hit hard. Mercedes pulled its earnings guidance, Stellantis suspended its guidance and Volvo Cars withdrew its earnings forecasts for the next two years. One European car executive said premium carmakers could stomach a 10 percent tariff but that it would be much tougher for a mass-market producer. The tariffs targeting steel and aluminium, and cars and car parts, were applied on grounds of national security, with investigations into pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, timber and trucks possibly leading to further increased duties. EU officials say they are not willing to accept these. Trump said on Tuesday that pharma tariffs were 'coming very soon'. A pharma industry source said the European Commission was resisting sector-specific tariffs. The Commission has told the pharma industry that while it does not want the 10% baseline reciprocal tariffs, accepting a 10% base tariff may provide leverage in those negotiations, the source said. A European beverage industry source said the wine and spirits sector would rather have a deal at 10 percent than protracted negotiations. Not securing a deal would have a 'huge negative impact... on our market,' said Rob van Gils, CEO of Austrian company Hammerer Aluminium Industries. 'It can be 0 it can be 10 percent. If it's both ways that's all manageable. It will not kill business.'
Middle East Eye
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Nine EU countries are seeking to discontinue trade with Israeli settlements
Nine European Union countries have asked the European Commission to brainstorm proposals on how to discontinue EU trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday. Foreign ministers in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden signed the letter, which is addressed to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
