From Brussels to Berlin, leaders across Europe are getting ready to spend hundreds of billions to rebuild their armies. The spending, they say, is necessary to prepare Europe for the dangers of a world where the United States no longer guarantees its security. But many of them are also hoping that the surge of money … Read more
President Trump escalated his trade war with the European Union on Thursday, threatening 200 percent tariffs on European wine and champagne that deepened anxiety among businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Trump’s announcement, in which he called the European Union “hostile and abusive,” came a day after the bloc’s leaders unveiled … Read more
A day after President Trump ordered the suspension of American military assistance, Ukrainian diplomats and politicians scrambled on Tuesday to find a way to salvage their alliance with Washington while the war weary nation prepared for the possibility that it will have to fight on without U.S. support. With the White House and the Kremlin … Read more
President Trump’s rancorous threat to abandon Ukraine is stoking support for a long-debated proposal to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine and finance its reconstruction. The money — roughly $300 billion owned by Russia’s central bank — was frozen by the United States, the European Union, Britain and … Read more
European leaders have dealt with President Trump’s return to office by trying to keep him cooperating on Ukraine while pushing to ramp up their own defense spending so they are less reliant on an increasingly fickle America. But Friday’s meeting in the Oval Office, in which Mr. Trump berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, underscored … Read more
President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum on Monday, re-upping a policy from his first term that pleased domestic metal makers but hurt other American industries and ignited trade wars on multiple fronts. The president signed two official proclamations that would impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum from all … Read more
The European Union spent last year drawing up secret plans for what the bloc would do if President Trump made good on his threats of imposing higher tariffs on European goods and services. Now, as those threats go from hypothetical to potentially imminent, its plans are coming into broad focus. Hit specific, politically sensitive sectors … Read more
When I crossed a bridge spanning the Rhine last year, a checkpoint blocked the route between France and Germany, on the Pont de l’Europe. Borders are closing in Europe, for reasons ranging from “ongoing crises in Eastern Europe and the Middle East” to “increasing migratory pressures and the risk of terrorist infiltration.” France cites “threats … Read more
For centuries in Morlaix, a city of cobblestones and creperies on the Breton coast of France, the best-known dealers were the ones who traded in linen during the Renaissance and built a number of unique half-timbered houses in the middle of town. The new dealers are another story. France, long a major European market for … Read more
Syria’s new leaders are set to meet the French and German foreign ministers in the capital, Damascus, on Friday in one of the highest-level Western diplomatic visits since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last month. Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s top diplomat, and Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, arrived in Damascus for the first such … Read more