Crumbling Apart - the Atlantic Alliance: How Boeing vs. Airbus Became Trump vs. Europe - by David Gelles

Donald Trump retaliates
 against Europe 

Just weeks after his inauguration, President Trump toured Boeing’s factory in North Charleston, S.C., holding a rally with workers, admiring a new 787 Dreamliner and calling on the company to bring down the cost of new Air Force One planes.

But Boeing wanted something from Mr. Trump, too.

During a private conversation at the event, Boeing’s chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, talked to Mr. Trump about a long-running trade dispute between the United States and the European Union that had its roots in the pitched rivalry between Boeing and Airbus, according to three people familiar with the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a delicate matter.

The case, which centered on subsidies that Europe provides Airbus, had been working its way through the World Trade Organization for years, but an end was finally in sight. In the event that it was settled on Mr. Trump’s watch, Mr. Muilenburg urged the president to enforce the ruling, which would mean levying tariffs on European goods.

On Wednesday, Boeing got its wish. After an announcement by the World Trade Organization, the Trump administration said it would tax as much as $7.5 billion of European exports annually.

It was the largest-ever authorized retaliation in the organization’s history, adding another layer of complexity to a global economy already rattled by brewing trade wars and further straining relations between the United States and the European Union. And it was the government’s boldest-ever step to protect Boeing, America’s largest manufacturing exporter.

“All of those countries were ripping off the United States for many years,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday at a news conference with the president of Finland, a European Union member. “They know I’m wise to it. We’ve had a lot of wins. This was a $7 billion win. Not bad".

Read more at: How Boeing vs. Airbus Became Trump vs. Europe - The New York Times

Italy: Trump Tariffs - Italy retaliates, as Italy says it won't buy any more F-35's from the US

Italy says it won't buy more F-35 fighter jets, and may even cut its current order

Read more at:

http://flip.it/GaHezU

Trump Tariffs: Escalation of trade tensions as India now imposes retaliatory tariffs on US

India imposes retaliatory tariffs, escalating U.S. trade tensions

Read more at :

http://flip.it/tutZ.H

EU nations back retaliating against U.S. steel tariffs - by Philip Blenkinsop

European Union countries on Thursday unanimously backed a plan to impose import duties on 2.8 billion euros ($3.3 billion) worth of U.S. products after Washington hit EU steel and aluminum with tariffs at the start of June, EU sources said.

The European Commission has also launched a legal challenge against the U.S. tariffs at the World Trade Organization. In addition, it is assessing the need for measures to prevent a surge of imports of steel and aluminum into Europe as non-EU exporters divert product initially bound for the United States.

Read more" EU nations back retaliating against U.S. steel tariffs | Reuters

US tariffs: EU and Canada will retaliate

US slaps steel and aluminum tariffs on the EU

For complete report go to:

http://p.dw.com/p/2ygBS

Middle East - Syria: Trump’s strikes on Syria risk retaliation, escalation in a war he wants to avoid - by Paul Sonne

Last week, President Trump promised to withdraw from Syria. This week, he opened a new front against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad that risks drawing the United States into a broader conflict there.

By attacking Assad late Friday, the Trump administration says it sought to warn the Syrian leader against what Western nations said was his use of illegal chemical warfare agents, following the gassing of civilians near Damascus last weekend.

The administration calculated that the need to send a signal to Assad over chemical weapons outweighed the possibility of provoking a response from his allies, Russia or Iran, on the battlefield in Syria, elsewhere in the Middle East or even in cyberspace.

The risk, analysts say, is that the United States would then end up in a cycle of escalation that entangles the American military more deeply in the Syrian conflict than the administration intended.

Read more: Trump’s strikes on Syria risk retaliation, escalation in a war he wants to avoid - The Washington Post

Middle East: Syria: U.S. fires missiles at Syria in retaliation for suspected poison gas attack - by Bob Drogin and David S. Cloud

U.S. and allied warships and warplanes in the eastern Mediterranean launched a fiery barrage of missiles at multiple military targets in Syria to punish the Russian-backed government in Damascus for its alleged use of poison gas against civilians last weekend, President Trump announced.

Trump authorized the punitive attack against President Bashar Assad's government and sought to cripple its chemical and biological weapons facilities with what he called precision airstrikes. French and British forces joined the attack, Trump said in a televised address Friday night.

The Pentagon said about 120 missiles targeted a scientific center near Damascus that was used for research, development and production of chemical and biological agents; a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs; and a separate chemical agent storage site and command post near Homs. Officials said no U.S., French or British casualties were reported.

"We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents," Trump said. Loud explosions and air raid sirens were reported in the Syrian capital as he spoke at 9 p.m. in Washington. It was before dawn Saturday in Damascus

Read more: U.S. fires missiles at Syria in retaliation for suspected poison gas attack

China: U.S. expected to impose up to $60 billion in China tariffs by Friday -

The Trump administration is expected to unveil up to $60 billion in new tariffs on Chinese imports by Friday, targeting technology, telecommunications and intellectual property, two officials briefed on the matter said Monday.

One business source, who has discussed the issue with the administration, said that the China tariffs may be subject to a public comment period, which would delay their effective date and allow industry groups and companies to lodge objections.

This would be considerably different from the quick implementation of the steel and aluminum tariffs, which are set to go into effect on March 23, just 15 days after President Donald Trump signed the proclamations.

A delayed approach could allow time for negotiations with Beijing to try to resolve trade issues related to the administration's "Section 301" probe into China's intellectual property practices before tariffs take effect.

Read more: U.S. expected to impose up to $60 billion in China tariffs by Friday - AOL News

Ukraine: NATO should not waiver : destroy Buk and other missile launchers in and around the border of Ukraine

"Come on NATO do what you are supposed to do"

A missile launcher allegedly used to destroy Flight MH17 has been smuggled across the Ukrainian border into Russia to cover up its role in the strike, Ukraine’s interior minister claimed Friday.

Amid mounting evidence that Russian-backed separatists were behind the disaster, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said “technical assistance” from Russia could not be ruled out.

In a pointed reference to Moscow, Samantha Power added that the perpetrators should not be “sheltered” by any UN member state.

In a day of claim and counter-claim, Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said a Buk mobile launch vehicle had been moved since the destruction of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 on Thursday, and that it was missing at least one rocket. He claimed the launcher had been tracked by Ukrainian intelligence agents as it passed by the town of Krasnodon in the Luhansk region.

A 13-second video showed a tarpaulin-covered vehicle being driven through a semi-rural location with green and white missiles still visible, but it was not possible to confirm the veracity of the claim.

Mr. Avakov wrote on Facebook: “To all appearance, this is exactly the Buk rocket complex which fired at the aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.”

Photographs also emerged purportedly showing a Buk battery being moved in a rebel-held area close to the crash site.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, dismissed suggestions that Moscow was involved in the alleged strike. The separatists also denied involvement, claiming that they did not have a weapon capable of such an attack.

However, the separatists themselves announced last month that they had seized at least one Buk missile launcher from a Ukrainian army base in Donetsk.

Ms. Power told the UN Security Council: “We assess Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 … was likely downed by a surface-to-air missile, [likely] an SA-11 [the U.S. designation for a Buk missile], operated from a separatist location in eastern Ukraine.” She added: “We cannot rule out technical assistance from the Russians.

The perpetrators must be brought to justice, they must not be sheltered by any member state of the United Nations.”

The father in a Dutch family which had lost relatives in the Russian missile shoot down of the Malaysian Airliner above Ukraine said:   "Why doesn't NATO, which never hesitates to us drone attacks on anything they find suspicious or smell of terrorism, doesn't destroy these Buck bases in and on the border of Russia". 

"What will Russia do? Probably nothing. Mr. Putin certainly can't be that stupid to risk the third world war by striking back ? - the world owes it to the victims to do something dramatic, so the perpetrators never do this again."

EU-Digest

The Netherlands: Dutch struggle with loss of 189 - by Jacquelin Magnay

Relatives of Dutch victims killed in the Malaysia Airlines crash have struggled to come to grips with the horrific loss of family and friends as they demand a thorough investigation. 
 
The country woke up in shock yesterday and flags were flying at half-mast as they digested the loss of 189 Dutch passengers as the toll grew throughout the day.

“I expect there to be a thorough investigation by the authorities into what has happened,” Sander Essers, who lost several relatives in the crash, said in The Hague.

Mr Essers lost his brother Peter, 66, Peter’s wife Jolette Nuesink, 60, and their two children, Emma, 20, and Valentijn, 17.

Their story is like those of many other Dutch citizens on the plane in the country’s second-worst air disaster.
The Essers family were on holiday travelling to Borneo to explore the jungle for three weeks with a group of friends when they ­boarded the ill-fated flight MH17.

“I spoke to my brother 20 minutes before he boarded the flight,” Mr Essers said. “But I can’t tell you what he told me” he said, as tears welled up in his eyes.

An Amsterdam man said he hadn’t been able to sleep since the disaster and had gone to Schiphol Airport to pay his respects to a Balinese friend who had died.

Artur Laumann, 36, arrived with a bunch of tropical flowers — “for tulips aren’t appropriate’’ — to ensure one of his friends would be remembered. He placed the flowers with a picture of his colleague Wayan Sujana and a message of condolence written in Indonesian, and then acknowledged the Australian reaction to the disaster had been more in keeping with the strength of the atrocity.

“Your Prime Minister Tony Abbott has spoken in very strong language but here, we are in shock,’’ Mr Laumann said. “I think we should be as angry as Australia and I think that very soon we will see our politicians speak out loudly too.

“I haven’t slept since hearing about the plane going down and it is only now that I am starting to tremble a bit and realise what has happened.’’

Mr Sujan was just 24 and had been visiting The Netherlands for several weeks with his boss, a hotel manager. Both were on board the ill-fated MH17.

Mr Laumann said he wanted to highlight the plight of the Indonesian victims, whom he felt may have been overlooked in the catastrophic loss of Dutch nationals.

‘’Wayan was from a little village called Periteran at the norther top of Bali where the ferry comes in from Java and his family were only told a few hours ago that he was on board,’’ said Mr Laumann, who promised his Balinese friend Susili that he would represent Mr Sujan and try and find out as many details as possible.

‘’They are from a poor country and don’t have access to information. It took many hours for the family to discover that Wayan had died. I just decided I should try and help and create a small memorial for him.’’

But another Dutchman, Henri Karsten, who was checking in for a flight to New York, said: “The Dutch people are still in a state of shock.

Read more: Dutch struggle with loss of 189 | The Australian