April 8, 2025 UPDATE 1

The latest news from RRI

Newsroom, 08.04.2025, 18:51

Trade war – The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged on Tuesday, during a telephone call with the Chinese Premier Li Qiang, to avoid escalation following the tariffs imposed by the United States, the EU announced in a statement, quoted by AFP. On Tuesday China promised to fight against the US tariffs ‘to the end’, despite Donald Trump’s threat to introduce new and higher tariffs of 50% on Chinese imports if Beijing does not drop additional tariffs of 34% on American products starting on Thursday. Faced with the ‘global disruptions’ caused by the US announcements, Von der Leyen also stressed ‘the responsibility of Europe and China’ to ‘support a strong reformed trading system, free, fair and founded on a level playing field’. The European Union is also concerned about a possible influx of Chinese goods into its territory in an attempt to avoid tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. The EU President stressed in this regard China’s ‘essential role’ in the fight against this ‘possible diversion’, especially ‘in sectors already affected by global overcapacity’.

Withdrawal – The US Department of Defense is considering withdrawing up to 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe. The information was made public by the American television station NBC News, which cited six European and American officials who preferred to remain anonymous. They believe that such a measure would encourage the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who would perceive the move as a weakening of NATO’s deterrence capacity. The forces that would be withdrawn would represent almost half of the 20,000 American soldiers that former President Joe Biden deployed to NATO’s Eastern Flank, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Among the countries from which the United States would withdraw some of its troops are Romania and Poland. According to NBC News, the discussions on reducing the number of American troops are taking place at a time when the US President Donald Trump is trying to convince his Russian counterpart to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine. If the proposal materializes, it will reinforce fears that the US is abandoning its traditional allies, who see Russia as a growing threat. At the same time, American journalists believe that the current Trump administration wants to focus its military resources on other threats, such as China. (LS)