EU countries are calling for tougher trade measures against China

Several European Union countries are calling for tougher trade measures against China and are urging Brussels to raise tariffs on Chinese goods. Germany, however, has not signed the proposal. For some of its proponents, the primary target is not so much the automotive sector as the flood of cheap goods inundating the European market, such as products sold on platforms like Temu.

Fears of accelerated deindustrialisation dominate this initiative. European manufacturers say they are caught in a vice between US tariffs, high energy prices and the massive influx of Chinese goods, ranging from cars and batteries to green technologies. Many believe the playing field is now uneven, with China relying on state subsidies, low-interest loans and a currency deemed to be undervalued.

The standoff is not without risk, however, as Beijing has formidable levers of retaliation at its disposal. China has already threatened to retaliate against any new measures targeting it. In the event of an escalation in tariffs, it could suspend its exports of batteries, magnets and rare earths, on which many European industries depend.

The Nexperia episode illustrates this vulnerability. When the Dutch government attempted to take control of this Chinese-owned semiconductor manufacturer, Beijing imposed export controls on the part of the business passing through its territory. The result was a severe chip shortage in the European automotive industry, with several manufacturers and their suppliers, such as Bosch, heavily reliant on these components. The Hague eventually backed down. Financial Times

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🇺🇦 Ukraine – 🇷🇺 Russia • Russia stepped up its attacks on Ukraine this weekend. During the night between Saturday and Sunday, massive bombardments targeted Kyiv and the surrounding region, killing at least four people and injuring more than a hundred, according to the authorities. According to the Ukrainian army, Moscow fired 90 missiles and 600 drones, and used its Oreshnik missile – which has nuclear capability but was deployed without a warhead – for the third time since 2022. The strikes damaged schools, markets, shopping centres and several cultural institutions in the capital, including the Chernobyl museum, which Volodymyr Zelensky said had been “destroyed”. The Albanian ambassador’s residence was also hit. Vladimir Putin had promised a retaliation following a Ukrainian drone strike on buildings in Starobilsk, in the occupied zone, which left 21 people dead. Today, Moscow called on foreigners in Kyiv to leave the city, announcing strikes against the defence industry and command centres, which Ukrainian diplomats described as “blackmail”. Earlier on Saturday, a Russian drone struck a funeral procession near Sumy, killing one person. Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz condemned Moscow’s “desperation” and “irresponsible escalation”.

🇺🇦 Ukraine • On Monday, Kyiv buried the nationalist leader Andriy Melnyk, who died in 1964, as part of a project to create a pantheon of national heroes amidst the war with Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who comes from a Jewish family, paid tribute to a “great Ukrainian figure”. Former head of a branch of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, Melnyk belonged to a movement that fought the Soviets but collaborated with Nazi Germany and took part in the Holocaust.

🇧🇾 Belarus – 🇺🇦 Ukraine • The exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya arrived in Kyiv today, her first visit since the start of the Russian invasion, as a sign of solidarity with the Ukrainians. She paid her respects at the grave of Maria Zaitseva, a Belarusian woman who served in the Ukrainian army and was killed on the front line in 2025. Her visit coincides with Kyiv’s reinforcement of its northern border, in the face of the threat of Russian attacks from Belarusian territory. Forced into exile following the disputed 2020 presidential election, the opposition leader praised a generation of young people for whom “the freedom of Belarus and that of Ukraine are inseparable”.

🇳🇴 Norway • As Russia’s neighbour in the Far North, Norway has designated 2026 as its “total defence” year, a concept that mobilises the military, government departments and businesses in preparation for a major crisis. As a member of NATO, the kingdom aims to reinstate the requirement for air-raid shelters in new large buildings, double the Civil Defence workforce and increase its food self-sufficiency to 50% by 2030. Households are being asked to be self-sufficient for seven days. According to a survey, 37% of Norwegians say they have stepped up their preparations, but only 21% fear a war on their soil within the next five years.

🇩🇰 Denmark • King Frederik has tasked the acting Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, with making a fresh attempt to form a government, following the failure of centre-right coalition negotiations led by Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen. As leader of the Social Democrats – the country’s largest party despite their worst result since 1903 in the March general election – she may have to make concessions to the centrist Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose support is considered essential in a parliament split between twelve parties. These negotiations are delaying a public decision at a tense time in relations with Washington over Greenland.

🇨🇭 Suisse • In mid-June, the Swiss will vote on a radical right-wing initiative aimed at capping the population at 10 million, compared with 9.1 million today. Backed by the Swiss People’s Party, the country’s largest party, this anti-immigration proposal would end free movement with the EU if the threshold is exceeded, which would nullify all bilateral agreements. Most other parties are calling for a ‘no’ vote, but polls show the two sides neck and neck. A Geneva-based study highlights negative economic effects in an ageing country facing a labour shortage.

🇹🇷 Turkey • Hundreds of riot police stormed the headquarters of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition party, in Ankara on Sunday to remove leaders who had been dismissed by the courts on Thursday. Amid tear gas, they dragged out the CHP leader, Özgür Özel, who vowed to continue the fight “in the streets”. A court had invalidated his election in late 2023 due to irregularities. Having won the 2024 local elections, the CHP has since been reeling from investigations and arrests, including that of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. Human Rights Watch has condemned this as a blow to the rule of law.

🇨🇳 China • On Monday, China launched its Shenzhou-23 manned spacecraft, which docked a few hours later with the Tiangong space station, as part of its goal to send humans to the Moon by 2030. The mission marks the first spaceflight for a Hong Kong astronaut, Li Jiaying, a former police officer. Crucially, one of the three crew members is set to spend a full year in orbit – a first designed to study the effects of a long stay in microgravity, a key step towards the Moon and Mars. Beijing plans to welcome its first foreign astronaut, a Pakistani national, in late 2026, and aims to establish a manned lunar base by 2035.

🇵🇰 Pakistan • At least 24 people were killed and more than 50 injured on Sunday when a car bomb exploded near a train carrying military personnel and their families in Quetta, in the unstable province of Balochistan. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the act as “cowardly”. The poorest province in the country, Balochistan is the scene of an insurgency in which fighters accuse Islamabad of exploiting its gas and mineral resources without benefiting the local population.

🇰🇭 Cambodia • Former Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is acting as interim head of state, announced on Monday that he had pardoned the main opposition figure, Kem Sokha, who was sentenced in 2023 to 27 years in prison for treason. A co-founder of a party that has since been dissolved, Kem Sokha, 72, has always denied plotting with foreign agents, charges that human rights defenders believe were intended to remove him from political life. The pardon does not, however, lift the five-year ban on him leaving the country. The opposition leader has decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court, calling instead for dialogue among the Khmer people.

🇮🇳 India – 🇺🇸 United States • At a crucial juncture in negotiations with Iran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a tourist trip to India on Monday, visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra with his wife. He justified this day off ahead of the meeting in New Delhi of the foreign ministers of the Quad – comprising Australia, India, Japan and the United States – aimed at counterbalancing China in the Indian Ocean. Rubio is also seeking to revive relations with New Delhi, which have been strained by the tariffs imposed and subsequently eased by Donald Trump.

🇮🇷 Iran – 🇺🇸 United States • On Monday, Donald Trump called on Saudi Arabia and Qatar to normalise relations with Israel as part of a peace deal on Iran, arguing that these countries should sign the Abraham Accords simultaneously. Earlier, Tehran had reported progress in talks with Washington, whilst ruling out an imminent agreement and criticising the Americans for their fickleness. A high-level Iranian delegation, including the chief negotiator and the governor of the Central Bank, travelled to Qatar. A ceasefire has been in force since 8 April, but the global economy remains shaken by the virtual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran is now proposing “navigation service” fees rather than tolls. Hopes of a reopening caused Brent crude to fall by 5%, below $100. The Lebanese front remains the “poison pill” that could derail the talks.

🇵🇸 Palestine • An Israeli airstrike on a flat in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday killed a six-month-old baby and his parents, according to health authorities. Another Palestinian was killed later near a UN clinic in Jabalia. The Israeli army has not commented. Negotiated by Donald Trump, the October ceasefire has not put an end to the strikes: some 880 Palestinians have been killed since it came into force, according to Gaza, and four Israeli soldiers over the same period. Israel, which controls more than half the territory, claims it is preventing attacks.

🇱🇧 Lebanon • Two people, including a paramedic linked to Hezbollah, were killed on Sunday by Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, the day after a raid that left eleven people dead, including six women and a child, according to the Ministry of Health. Israel claims to be targeting Hezbollah sites despite the ceasefire that came into force on 17 April, whilst the Shia movement continues its rocket fire. Its leader, Naim Qassem, has called on Beirut to abandon direct negotiations with Israel and reaffirmed his refusal to disarm. Marco Rubio has accused Hezbollah of seeking to “plunge Lebanon back into chaos”.

🇾🇪 Yemen • With no food aid available, displaced families in southern Yemen are reduced to eating boiled leaves. In the Al-Manij camp, near Taiz, 65-year-old Saeedah Mohammed has been gathering leaves from a local tree to feed her grandchildren since the World Food Programme aid on which her family depended was cut off more than six months ago. The poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has been ravaged by more than a decade of civil war, which has displaced at least 4.5 million people. Humanitarian funding continues to decline.

🇺🇸 United States • A man opened fire on Saturday evening at a checkpoint near the White House in Washington before being shot dead by the Secret Service; a passer-by was injured. Donald Trump, who was inside the building after cancelling his weekend engagements due to the crisis with Iran, was unharmed. Several media outlets have identified the suspect as Nasire Best, 21, who has a history of mental health issues and was already known for loitering around the White House. Trump has survived three alleged assassination attempts in two years, the latest in April.

🇻🇪 Venezuela – 🇺🇸 United States • Five months after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, US helicopters flew over and landed in Caracas on Saturday for an evacuation drill at the US embassy, watched by residents torn between curiosity and criticism. General Francis Donovan, head of the US military command for the region, was making his second visit. A handful of pro-government activists demonstrated against the “Yankee exercise”. Caracas and Washington restored diplomatic relations in March; interim President Delcy Rodríguez is governing under heavy US pressure, having opened up the hydrocarbons and mining sectors to foreign capital.

🇧🇷 Brazil • President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, began preventive radiotherapy treatment on Monday, following the removal last month of a skin lesion on his scalp – a basal cell carcinoma linked to sun exposure. The hospital has assured that he will continue his duties without restriction. A candidate for a fourth term in October’s presidential election, the left-wing leader has been posting numerous photos showing him in good health, in response to concerns about his well-being. His main opponent is Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.