European Union

August 1st is the deadline Donald Trump set for hiking tariffs with U.S. trading partners. The current trade deal between the U.S. and South Korea could cost Alabama consumers close to a billion dollars. The website Observatory of Economic Complexity says the state imported close to six billion dollars in goods from South Korea last year. If the fifteen percent tariff is tacked onto that figure on items entering the U.S., and the cost passed to consumers, the total increase would reportedly be close to a billion dollars.

U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have announced a sweeping trade deal. It raises tariffs on most European goods to 15%, warding off Trump’s threat of a 30% rate if no deal had been reached by August 1st. One question was the cost of of European cars like Mercedes Benz built in Alabama.

Donald Trump threatened a 50% tax on all imports from the European Union as well a 25% tariff on smartphones unless those products are made in America. Alabama has a stake in the outcome.

The European Union is targeting Alabama and other Republican states in a retaliatory trade action, in the form of new duties on U.S. industrial and farm products. This response came within hours to the Trump administration's increase in tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%. Alabama produce is specifically mentioned.

The U.S. State Department, and the citizens’ diplomacy group Global Ties Alabama in Huntsville, recognized Alabama Public Radio for a series of talks delivered to foreign delegations on subjects ranging from APR’s 14-month investigation into human trafficking to its efforts to educate about news disinformation.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said its Gulf Coast expansion will build new facilities and add 275 jobs in Mobile. In their Thursday announcement,…

Hyundai Motor Company's labor union says steep auto tariffs could cost U.S. jobs, including here in Alabama.The labor union at South Korea's largest auto…