Mercedes-Benz reports steep drop in annual profits
Mercedes-Benz Group has released its full-year 2025 financial results revealing a dramatic decline in profitability that marks the company's weakest performance…
Trade
Latest reporting and analysis on trade.
Dutch giant Heineken to cut up to 6,000 jobs on falling demand, despite solid profits
Dutch brewing giant Heineken has announced plans to eliminate between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs globally over the next two years.
Begrudging critics need to admit Trump is delivering a US boom
European incomprehension of President Trump has now been stretched to reluctant acknowledgement of the success of his economic policies with dire warnings of the…
Paying for a selfie: Rome starts charging tourists to visit Trevi Fountain
Italy's Trevi Fountain has launched a new ticketing system, making the famous Rome landmark the latest tourist site to charge entry in a bid to raise funds and battle…
History tells us: Ukraine into the EU will be Europe’s self-destruction
In her seminal work, The March of Folly, American historian Barbara Tuchman provided four historical examples, from the Trojan War to the Vietnam War, of absurd…
Why do EU farmers prefer trade deal with India over Mercosur?
The European Union and India signed a free trade agreement and, unlike the bloc’s deal with South America's Mercosur, it has not trigger protests or backlash from…
Global wine crisis hits Europe hard, especially France
The global wine crisis of falling demand is hitting hard in Europe, particularly France, where the government has launched a pay-out scheme to encourage wine makers…
EU only whispers it, but ‘uncapped mobility’ for Indians is key in trade deal
While the European Union hails its freshly inked Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India as a "historic milestone" for economic prosperity and resilience, Indian officials…
Powerful India now ‘indispensable’ to fading Europe
The images from New Delhi this week offer a master class in geopolitical theatre.
Volkswagen CEO may pull plans for new US plant unless tariffs cut
The chief executive of German automotive behemoth Volkswagen Group says his companies will have to scrap plans for a new production plant in the US unless tariffs…
Canada drops free trade deal with China after US tariffs threat
Canada’s centre-left Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his country will not pursue a trade deal with China following a threat of huge retaliatory tariffs from…
Germany can no longer afford purity: Berlin reroutes to Russia
When Friedrich Merz speaks twice of reconciliation with Russia shortly after a strategically important visit to India, it is not a slip of the tongue. It is a signal.
MEPs send Mercosur deal to EU court, possibly postponing it
The European Parliament has voted to refer the European Union-Mercosur trade agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for an opinion on its…
Turkey lobbying to get ‘Made in Europe’ car label
Turkey is lobbying Brussels to be included in a future “Made in Europe” car label, according to industry figures and European Union officials.
Scientists question alarming claims of microplastics in human bodies
A wave of alarming headlines about microplastics and nano plastics accumulating in human brains, testes, placentas and arteries may have been built on shaky scientific…
Russia takes over assets of Polish-US packaging giant
Russia’s authorities have taken control of Polish-US aluminium packaging company Canpack operations in Russia as well as Danish insulation giant Rockwool.
German tax revenue jumps to €1bn record high as economy languishes
The combined tax income of Germany’s federal administration, its states and municipalities surpassed the mark of €1 billion for the first time ever last year,…
EU replaces China EV tariffs with a ‘price floor’. Who benefits?
Replacing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) with a minimum price system would lower consumer prices while raising margins of European manufacturers and…
Mercosur governments say agriculture agreement may need re-negotiating
Despite celebrations and lamenting in the European Union over Brussels’ approval of the bloc’s trade agreement with South American trade group Mercosur, the…
Mercosur is the public humiliation of France
In the wake of the Trump tariffs, European leaders have loudly proclaimed the merits of free trade, often pointing to the stupendous increase in general prosperity…
China-EU trade up 5% in 2025, despite disputes
Trade between China and the European Union increased by around 5 per cent in 2025, even as political tensions and regulatory disputes between the two sides continued…
Warsaw and Berlin close to agreement on stationing of German forces on Polish soil
A new defence agreement to be signed this year between Poland and Germany is designed to facilitate the stationing of German armed forces on Polish territory.
French farmers slam Mercosur safeguards as just ‘crumbs’
French farmers and political voices are criticising the European Union’s proposed safeguards for the Mercosur trade deal, calling them insufficient to protect…
US defence stocks jump after Trump calls for 50 per cent boost in military spending
The shares of US defence contractors have risen to multi-year highs following an announcement by US President Donald Trump that he was demanding a 50 per cent increase…
Farmers in Paris on tractors in protest at Mercosur trade deal
French farmers rolled into Paris on tractors today early in the morning to show of dissent against an EU trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur they fear…
Greenlandic MP says there is ‘no risk’ of annexation by US
There is no risk of the US annexing Greenland, but the island needs the US to monitor possible Chinese and Russian incursions, Kuno Fencker, a pro-independence…
France says it will not support EU agriculture policy reform
France will not support a proposed reform of the European Union’s agricultural policy, with its farmers facing a worsening cattle disease outbreak and renewed…
Eurostar suspends ‘all trains’ to and from London
Eurostar suspended all trains between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels today after a power supply issue in the Channel tunnel, a spokesperson said.
Danish postal service stops delivering letters after 400 years
PostNord, Denmark's state-run postal service, will deliver its last ordinary letters on December 30, ending more than 400 years of traditional letter delivery in…
Brussels sanctions, fertiliser wars and European farmers paying the price
The tractors returned to Brussels before Christmas. Farmers once again blocked streets, surrounded EU buildings, and made their anger impossible to ignore.