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 trans-Atlantic 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 around 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 also be hit, as they were during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term.
Pakistani authorities on Wednesday said insurgents who ambushed a train carrying hundreds of people have killed some of the hostages, as a standoff continued with the separatists wearing explosive-laden vests and barricaded with about 250 passengers.
Security officials gave no details about the killings a day after the separatists attacked the train in a tunnel in a remote part of southwestern Balochistan province. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Jeeyand Baloch said the group was ready to free passengers if authorities agree to release jailed militants.
There has been no comment on that from the government, which has rejected such demands in the past.
Voters in a Minnesota House district at the center of post-election drama over chamber control decisively chose Democrat David Gottfried on Tuesday, tying the House and ending a short-lived Republican majority. The Democratic victory will force the two parties to work together on a budget for the next two years.
Gottfried got about 70% of the vote to defeat Republican Paul Wikstrom, who also ran for the seat in November.
The special election in the heavily Democratic district in the northern St. Paul suburbs of Roseville and Shoreview was scheduled after a state court ruled that Democratic winner Curtis Johnson failed to meet residency requirements.
That disrupted an expected 67-67 tie in the House and led to the collapse of a power-sharing agreement when Republicans tried to capitalize on their unexpected majority, prompting a three-week Democratic boycott of the chamber.
Emmy Schulz can be reached at schu4600@stthomas.edu.
