Month: July 2018

A top NATO official on Tuesday said a letter from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vowing to block any moves toward Ukraine’s accession at an upcoming summit will have no impact on Kyiv’s standing with the alliance.

On Monday, Ukrainian news outlet Europeiska Pravda reported that the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a missive to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stating, “Orban is planning to vote against any document that will be proposed for adoption by the members of the Alliance after the meeting with the Ukrainian and Georgian leaders.”

According to the Pravda report, the letter was sent just days after a Ukrainian-Hungarian ministerial where officials from both countries had largely resolved a dispute over a Ukrainian law on education that stood in violation of the Venice Commission, a legal advisory body to the Council of Europe.

If Ukraine agreed to come into compliance with the law, Hungarian officials said, they would unblock Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO. As NATO member since 1999, Hungary’s permanent delegation can veto accession efforts by aspiring NATO member countries, such as Ukraine.

Neither NATO nor Hungarian officials have commented on why Budapest suddenly reversed its decision on NATO-Ukrainian ties, nor has either party agreed to divulge the contents of the letter.

NATO officials on Tuesday confirmed possession of the letter, but directed queries about its contents to Budapest.

“The Hungarian government has written to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the topic of Ukraine,” a NATO spokesperson confirmed with VOA’s Ukrainian Service. “For any queries about the content, I refer you to the Hungarian authorities.”

“NATO provides strong political and practical support to Ukraine and there are no plans for this to change,” the alliance spokesman added. “Over the last years, Ukraine has implemented substantial reforms in the security and defense sector, but also in areas including health, education and welfare. It is important that Ukraine continues on the path of reforms.”

Although it was not clear whether Orban’s letter sought to block Ukrainian participation in the summit, the NATO official wrote: “Ukraine will take part in next week’s NATO summit. The summit formats will be announced shortly. We expect that allied leaders will recognize the Ukraine is making and strongly commit to continue to provide political and practical support.”

Representatives of Hungary’s Foreign Ministry declined to respond to VOA inquiries by phone and email prior to publication.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine’s vice prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, told VOA that she remains optimistic that NATO will seek continued cooperation with Ukraine.

“We meet with the alliance to discuss common challenges, to share the achievements in reform of our security and defense sector, to outline directions for further enhanced cooperation,” she told VOA. “We also hope that Ukraine’s constructive appeal to Hungary to sort out the national minorities’ education language issue in Ukraine [can be addressed] on a bilateral level, as opposed to dealing with it in multilateral formats. … 

“We also believe that one of the allies has decided actually to take NATO hostage in a bilateral dispute with a Ukraine [that is actively] fighting [Russian] aggression only weakens the alliance,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

NATO formally invited Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to the upcoming summit last month in a historic move that circumvented Hungarian efforts to block meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, allowing NATO allies to hold talks with Poroshenko outside the format of the commission.

The summit is currently slated for July 11-12 in Brussels.

This story originated in VOA’s Ukrainian Service. Bogdan Tsioupine in London contributed to this report.
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China is putting pressure on the European Union to issue a strong joint statement against President Donald Trump’s trade policies at a summit

this month, but it’s facing resistance, European officials said.

In meetings in Brussels, Berlin and Beijing, senior Chinese officials, including Vice Premier Liu He and the Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, have proposed an alliance between the two economic powers and offered to open more of the Chinese market in a gesture of goodwill.

One proposal has been for China and the European Union to launch joint action against the United States at the World Trade Organization.

But the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc, has rejected the idea of allying with Beijing against Washington, five EU officials and diplomats told Reuters, ahead of the Sino-European summit in Beijing on July 16-17.

Instead, the summit is expected to produce a modest communique that affirms the commitment of both sides to the multilateral trading system and promises to set up a working group on modernizing the WTO, EU officials said.

Liu has said privately that China is ready to set out for the first time what sectors it can open to European investment at the annual summit, expected to be attended by President Xi Jinping, China’s Premier Li Keqiang and top EU officials.

Chinese state media have promoted the message that the EU is on China’s side, officials said, putting the bloc in a delicate position. The past two summits, in 2016 and 2017, ended without a statement because of disagreements about the South China Sea and trade.

“China wants the European Union to stand with Beijing against Washington, to take sides,” said one European diplomat. “We won’t do it and we have told them that.”

China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Beijing’s summit aims.

In a commentary on Wednesday, China’s official Xinhua news agency said China and Europe “should resist trade protectionism hand in hand.”

“China and European countries are natural partners,” it said. “They firmly believe that free trade is a powerful engine for global economic growth.”

China’s moment?

Despite Trump’s tariffs on European metals exports and threats to hit the EU’s automobile industry, Brussels shares Washington’s concern about China’s closed markets and what Western governments say is Beijing’s manipulation of trade to dominate global markets.

“We agree with almost all the complaints the U.S. has against China. It’s just we don’t agree with how the United States is handling it,” another diplomat said.

Still, China’s stance is striking, given Washington’s deep economic and security ties with European nations. It shows the depth of Chinese concern about a trade war with Washington, as Trump is set to impose tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese imports on Friday.

It also underscores China’s new boldness in trying to seize leadership amid divisions between the United States and its European, Canadian and Japanese allies over issues including free trade, climate change and foreign policy.

“Trump has split the West, and China is seeking to capitalize on that. It was never comfortable with the West being one bloc,” said a European official involved in EU-China diplomacy.

“China now feels it can try to split off the European Union in so many areas — on trade, on human rights,” the official said.

Another official described the dispute between Trump and Western allies at the Group of Seven summit last month as a gift to Beijing because it showed European leaders losing a longtime ally, at least in trade policy.

European envoys say they already sensed a greater urgency from China in 2017 to find like-minded countries willing to stand up against Trump’s “America First” policies.

No ‘systemic change’

An April report by New York-based Rhodium Group, a research consultancy, showed that Chinese restrictions on foreign investment were higher in every single sector save real estate, compared with the European Union, while many of the big Chinese takeovers in the bloc would not have been possible for EU companies in China.

China has promised to open up. But EU officials expect any moves to be more symbolic than substantive.

They say China’s decision in May to lower tariffs on imported cars will make little difference because imports make up such a small part of the market.

China’s plans to move rapidly to electric vehicles mean that any new benefits it offers traditional European carmakers will be fleeting.

“Whenever the train has left the station, we are allowed to enter the platform,” a Beijing-based European executive said.

However, China’s offer at the upcoming summit to open up reflects Beijing’s concern that it is set to face tighter EU controls, and regulators are also blocking Chinese takeover attempts in the United States.

The European Union is seeking to pass legislation to allow greater scrutiny of foreign investments.

“We don’t know if this offer to open up is genuine yet,” a third EU diplomat said. “It’s unlikely to mark a systemic change.”
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Anti-government protests broke out late Tuesday in Warsaw and several other Polish cities in defense of the country’s constitution, judicial independence and the rule of law.

The protests came as a lower retirement age was taking effect for Poland’s Supreme Court justices. The law introduced by the ruling right-wing party is forcing the chief justice and as many as one-third of the court’s sitting judges to step down.

 Thousands of people gathered in front of the Supreme Court building in Warsaw, where they held candles, sang the national anthem and shouted “Free courts!” and “Down with dictatorship!”

There were also protests in Krakow, Lodz, Katowice, Wroclaw and other cities. In Gdansk, the cradle of the anti-communist Solidarity movement of the 1980s, legendary democracy leader Lech Walesa denounced Poland’s current government, saying it is even more “perfidious” than the communists he helped topple. 

The protests come as Supreme Court First President Malgorzata Gersdorf is being forced to resign under the legislation that lowers the mandatory retirement age for justices from 70 to 65, a change that could force one in the court’s every three judges out. 

Gersdorf, 65, vowed to remain on the court, in line with the constitution, and said she planned to show up for work as usual Wednesday. 

“My term as the Supreme Court head is being brutally cut, even though it is written into the constitution,” Gersdorf told law students during a lecture. “We can speak of a crisis of the rule of law in Poland, of a lack of respect for the constitution.”

Pawel Mucha, an aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda who co-authored the new law, said Gersdorf has no choice but to retire even though she says her term runs until 2020 under the country’s constitution.

In a surprise move, Mucha announced that the temporary acting head of the court will be another of its judges, Jozef Iwulski, who is 66.

The Supreme Court shake-up represents the culmination of a comprehensive overhaul of Poland’s justice system that gives the ruling party new powers over the courts. 

The changes began after the Law and Justice party came to power in 2015 and have expanded gradually. The Constitutional Tribunal, the court that determines if legislation passes legal muster, was the first put under the party’s control.

The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal for criminal and civil cases in Poland. Its justices also rule on the validity of elections. 

European Union officials and international human rights groups have expressed alarm, alleging the moves represent an erosion of judicial independence that violates Western standards and a reversal for democracy in Poland.

At the protests, people expressed fears that Law and Justice would use its control of the Supreme Court to falsify elections.

Malgorzata Szuleka, a lawyer with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw, said forcing Gersdorf to retire before the end of her term is a “clear violation of the constitution.”

The European Commission, which polices compliance with EU laws, opened an “infringement procedure” Monday over the Supreme Court law. The action is the commission’s second against Poland over rule of law and could lead to further legal action and fines.

The government insists it is improving Poland’s justice system, saying it was inefficient and controlled by an untouchable “caste” of judges. It argues that putting judges under the control of the legislative and executive branches will makes the courts answerable to the voters, and thus more democratic. 

The lowering of the mandatory retirement age is affecting 27 of the court’s 73 judges. Some of them have asked Duda for extensions of their service. Gersdorf did not, however, arguing that the constitution guaranteed her continued tenure.
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Foreign ministers from Iran and the four world powers that still want to be a part of the nuclear agreement they signed in 2015 are set to hold talks Friday on how to maintain the deal following the withdrawal of the United States.

Iranian state media reported Tuesday that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would meet in Vienna with his counterparts from Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is also traveling to Switzerland and Austria this week on his own diplomatic tour to try to preserve the agreement that limits Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief. He said he expects European countries to unveil a package of measures in the coming days designed to keep the deal alive.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States of out the agreement in May. All the other parties to the nuclear deal say they remain committed to the agreement and have expressed strong disappointment at Washington’s withdrawal.

The United States on Monday announced its plans to reimpose tough sanctions on Iran’s energy and banking sectors, saying the Iranian government needs to change its behavior and act like a “normal country.”

“Our goal is to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by reducing to zero its revenue on crude oil sales,” said Director of Policy Planning Brian Hook. “We are working to minimize disruptions to the global market but we are confident there is sufficient global spare oil capacity.”

During a press briefing at the State Department, Hook called on the Iran to meet demands in order to deem it what he called a “normal country.”

“Normal countries don’t terrorize other nations, proliferate missiles, and impoverish their own people,” Hook said. “As Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo has said, this new strategy is not about changing the regime, it is about changing the behavior of the leadership in Iran to comport with what the Iranian people really want them to do.”

The State Department’s director of policy planning noted the first part of U.S. sanctions will snap back in early August (August 6). These sanctions will include targeting Iran’s automotive sector, trade and gold, and other key metals. He said the remaining U.S. sanctions will snap back in early November (November 4). These sanctions will include targeting Iran’s energy sector and petroleum related transactions and transactions with the central bank of Iran.

In addition to the sanctions on Iran, the United States has warned other countries that they will also face sanctions if they continue to trade with sanctioned sectors of the Iranian economy.

Hook said State Department and Treasury officials are traveling around the world meeting with U.S. allies to try to convince them to cooperate with the sanctions.
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Austria said Tuesday it is ready to implement unspecified border protections if Germany enacts a set of stricter immigration controls its government announced Monday.

An Austrian government statement said it is “prepared in particular to take measures to protect our southern borders,” which include those with Italy and Slovenia.

Austria did not say what those measures would be.

Germany’s ruling coalition has been divided on the issue of immigration, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party advocating a more welcoming stance while her Bavarian coalition partner argued for stricter controls over who is allowed into the country.

The divide threatened to push Merkel to seek a new coalition or call new elections. But after hours of negotiations, she and Christian Social Union leader and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer both said they had agreed on a plan that worked for both sides.

The agreement calls for establishing transit centers to hold asylum-seekers while their cases are evaluated. If they are found to have already applied for asylum in a different European Union country they would be sent back to that country, or to Austria, pending agreement with the Austrian government.
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For days Thailand anxiously followed every twist and turn of a dramatic race against time to find twelve boys and their football coach trapped deep in a cave complex and surrounded by rising monsoon floodwaters.

The search finally ended Monday, with dramatic footage showing the boys — exhausted, mud-caked and rake thin after nine days stranded — crammed onto a wedge of dry ground, some speaking faltering English with the British diving team that found them.

Now the focus shifts to the arduous task of extracting the group from the winding chambers and narrow passageways of the 10 kilometer (6 mile) long Tham Luang complex.

Rescuers said Tuesday they plan to supply the boys with up to four months’ food while a rescue can be planned, indicating the football team’s stay underground — and their families’ agonizing wait on the surface — may not be over just yet. 

From miners trapped underground, to sailors trapped underwater, here are some dramatic rescue operations that ended happily despite massive obstacles.

Gramat, France. 1999

On November 22, 1999, rescuers reached seven men who had been trapped in a cave system in southwest France for 10 days.

The men, all experienced cavers, became trapped in the caves at Vitarelles when heavy storms caused flooding, cutting them off from the exits.

The unprecedented rescue mission riveted France, with experts drilling multiple shafts into the rock in a bid to find the men.

They eventually reached them after squeezing into one of the shafts and following an underground river.

The men had carefully rationed their food and still had enough water and lighting gas for two days when they were rescued. All were in good health.

Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. 2005

The seven-man crew of a Russian Priz mini-submarine were running out of air after three days trapped under water when they were finally rescued.

Their submarine became entangled in marine debris on August 4, 2005, and the Russian crew was powerless to move from the position around 190 meters (625 feet) below the ocean surface.

The incident immediately drew comparisons with Russia’s Kursk submarine accident five years earlier, which ended in tragedy with the deaths of all 118 crew.

But the Priz crew were rescued after a British undersea robot cut the vessel free.

Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded medals to the British team who rescued the submarine crew and Moscow announced it would purchase several of the type of underwater robots used in the rescue.

Copiapo, Chile. 2010

The plight of 33 men trapped in a Chilean mine 600 meters (2,000 feet) underground after a rock collapse on August 5, 2010 captured international headlines.

The men had been virtually given up for dead when a probe sent down through a narrow borehole struck lucky, 17 days later.

The men had been surviving on dwindling rations, with just 15 cans of tuna between them, said survivor Franklin Lobos.

“We ate a teaspoon of it every 24 hours, then every 48 hours and finally we were eating a teaspoon every 72 hours. It was horrible.”

Even after the men were located and supplies were sent to them, it took weeks before rescuers were finally able to bring the miners to the surface.

In all, their ordeal lasted nearly 70 days.

Ica, Peru. 2012

Nine miners, including a father and son, spent seven days trapped underground after a cave-in in southern Peru on April 7, 2012.

Rescuers led the men out wrapped in blankets and wearing dark glasses to protect their eyes after so many days without sunlight.

The rescue operation at the illegal mine was hampered by fears of additional collapses as rescuers dug through rock and soil.

Huddled in an opening 250 meters (800 feet) underground, the men joked and exercised to pass the time and stay positive.

“This moment, it’s like being reborn,” said one of the rescued men after a tearful reunion with his family.

Untersberg, Germany. 2014

More than 700 emergency personnel worked to rescue Johann Westhauser after he sustained a serious head injury deep inside a German cave system on June 8, 2014.

The 52-year-old was with two other people when a rockfall caused the head injury. One made the hours-long walk back to the surface to raise the alarm, while the other stayed with Westhauser.

His injury made it impossible for him to move, and rescue workers and medical professionals from five countries worked to medically evacuate him from a spot 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) below ground.

His rescuers battled dangerous conditions and near-freezing temperatures as they methodically negotiated a treacherous network of tunnels and chambers, underground lakes and ice-cold waterfalls.

He was eventually hauled out of the cave system on a stretcher 11 days after being injured, in an operation local officials said had seemed “simply impossible.”
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Chancellor Angela Merkel and her rebellious Bavarian allies searched Monday for a way to resolve a standoff over migration after Germany’s interior minister offered to resign, but a compromise looked elusive in the dispute that has rocked her government.

The crisis that has raised questions over the future of Merkel’s 3½-month-old government pits Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and his Bavaria-only Christian Social Union against Merkel, head of its longtime sister party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Ahead of a difficult Bavarian state election in October, the CSU is determined to show that it is tough on migration. Seehofer wants to turn back at the border asylum-seekers who have already registered in another European Union country but Merkel is adamant that Germany shouldn’t take unilateral actions that affect other EU nations.

Seehofer and Merkel, who have long had a difficult relationship, have sparred over migrant policy on and off since 2015. However, the current dispute has erupted even as Germany is seeing far fewer newcomers than in 2015.

Seehofer reportedly argues that measures to tackle migration agreed at a European Union summit last week aren’t enough. He offered his resignation at a meeting with leaders of his party Sunday night — though he put it on hold ahead of a meeting Monday in Berlin with the CDU leadership.

The leadership of Merkel’s party approved a resolution Sunday stating that “turning people back unilaterally would be the wrong signal to our European partners.”

It is unclear what effect Seehofer’s resignation as interior minister and CSU leader, if he goes through with it, would have on the alliance between the two conservative parties and their governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats.

Over recent days, speculation had focused on the possibility that Merkel would fire Seehofer if he went ahead unilaterally with his plan. That would likely end the seven-decade partnership of the CDU and CSU, which have a joint parliamentary group, and would leave the government just short of a majority.

In comments to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Seehofer complained he was in an “inconceivable” situation.

“I won’t let myself be fired by a chancellor who is only chancellor because of me,” he was quoted as saying in an apparent reference to the CSU’s traditionally strong election results in Bavaria.

CDU leaders and lawmakers earlier Monday stressed the importance of maintaining the conservative alliance, Germany’s strongest political force for much of its post-war history.

Merkel says a plan to regulate immigration that EU leaders approved Friday and bilateral agreements in principle that she hashed out with some EU countries for them to take back migrants would accomplish what Seehofer seeks.

However, the more conservative CSU believes its credibility is at stake as it tries to curb support for the rival anti-migration Alternative for Germany party, known as the AfD, in the Bavarian election.

So far, however, the gambit has played poorly in polls and Germans seem to be losing their patience.

“I think it’s caused by the atmosphere with the AfD,” said Joerg Hauvede, 47, as he left Berlin’s main train station. “I hope that the CSU will receive their just deserts for their actions.”

Hard-line Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said “action in Germany to strengthen European interests is absolutely necessary.”

But he also struck a conciliatory tone, saying “there is an abundance of possibilities… for compromises” and insisting the CSU doesn’t want to break up the conservative partnership.

“We can achieve a lot in a government, but not outside,” Soeder said.

The Social Democrats, who have largely been bystanders so far, demanded that their coalition partners get their act together, and called for a meeting later Monday with the conservative leaders. Party leader Andrea Nahles said  “the CSU is on a dangerous ego trip that is paralyzing Germany and Europe.”

“The blame game between CDU and CSU must end, because it is irresponsible,” she said.
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Jordan’s foreign minister said on Monday he will hold talks with his Russian counterpart over the conflict in Syria, where the latest government offensive in the country’s south has displaced 270,000 people, according to a U.N. official.

The Jordanian diplomat, Ayman Safadi, said he will head to Moscow on Tuesday and added that he was confident his meeting with Sergey Lavrov would produce more understandings and lead to “more steps forward to contain this crisis and prevent more destruction.”

Russia backs a Syrian government offensive in the southern province of Daraa, which has displaced tens of thousands of Syrians, sending most of them toward the closed Jordanian border or the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Khetam Malkawi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. agencies in the Jordanian capital of Amman, said the ongoing fighting in Daraa has displaced 270,000 people — a sharp rise in the displacement numbers since the offensive began on June. 19.

 U.N. organizations have sent a convoy of food and medical supplies across the border from Jordan earlier on Monday, she noted.

Jordan has maintained the closure of its border, insisting it can no longer endure more influx of refugees. Instead, Safadi said Jordan is delivering aid to the displaced and has deployed field hospitals near the border.

Safadi said Amman keeps open channels with Damascus and Moscow and that his talks with Lavrov will focus on reaching a cease-fire and halting the displacement.

“Our goal is to work on three specific targets,” he said. “The first is reaching a cease-fire as soon as possible because this means stopping the Syrian bloodshed and saving Syrians more destruction.”

Opposition activists reported more violence in the southern province of Daraa on Tuesday, saying that government forces bombarded towns and villages in the province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday’s fighting was concentrated near the villages of Tafas and Nawa. It added that two weeks of fighting have killed 123 civilians.

The Nabaa Media, an opposition activist collective, also said that fighting is taking place in Tafas, adding that thousands of people have fled toward the fence along the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
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The European Union has warned the United States that President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 20 percent tariff on imported European cars would seriously hurt the U.S. economy and invite retaliatory levies on up to $294 billion in U.S. exports.

In a 10-page letter sent to the U.S. Commerce Department last Friday, the European Union said that new tariffs on European-made vehicles and auto parts were unjustifiable and would be an economic mistake.

Trump has often attacked the EU trade surplus with the United States — $101 billion last year — and criticized the 28-nation bloc for its 10 percent tariff on U.S. car imports compared to the 2.5 percent levy the U.S. imposes.  In late May, Trump ordered the Commerce agency to investigate whether the 20 percent tariff should be imposed on national security grounds, although it was not immediately clear what security concerns there might be.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC it was “premature” to say whether Trump will go ahead with the tariff increase.

The European Commission, the EU executive that handles trade issues, said Monday, “We’ll spare no effort, be it at the technical or political level, to prevent” the U.S. from imposing the higher tariff. Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission’s president, is headed to Washington later in July in an effort to try to convince Trump officials to back off increased tariffs on European vehicles.

“We should de-dramatize these relations,” Juncker told a news conference last week.

On Sunday, Trump attacked EU trade practices, telling Fox News, “The European Union is possibly as bad as China, only smaller.  They send a Mercedes in, we can’t send our cars in.  Look what they do to our farmers.  They don’t want our farm products.  Now in all fairness they have their farmers… But we don’t protect ours and they protect theirs.”

Europe sent $43.6 billion worth of vehicles to the U.S. last year, compared to $7.1 billion worth of cars the U.S. shipped to Europe.  In addition, the European Union says European companies manufactured nearly 2.9 million cars in the United States, directly supporting 120,000 U.S. jobs, 420,000 jobs if car dealerships and car parts retailers are included.

The U.S.-EU tariff dispute on cars comes at a time Trump has feuded with the European Union, China and Canada over his imposition of new levies on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S.

Last week, the EU retaliated by imposing 25 percent tariffs on U.S. motorcycles, orange juice, bourbon, jeans and other products.

Canada said Sunday it has imposed higher tariffs on $12.6 billion worth of U.S. steel products, toffee, maple syrup, coffee beans and strawberries.

China and the United States, the world’s two biggest economies, are set Friday to impose tit-for-tat higher tariffs on $34 billion worth of goods the two countries export to each other.

 
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A notorious French gangster is on the run after three heavily armed accomplices landed a helicopter in the prison where he was being held and flew out with him.

Redoine Faid, 46, was serving a 25-year sentence for the murder of a police officer during a failed robbery in 2010.

“This was a spectacular escape. It was an extremely well-prepared commando unit that may have used drones to survey the area beforehand,” Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said.

Faid was being visited by his brother in Reau prison near Paris when the helicopter landed in the prison courtyard. Two men dressed in black left the helicopter and using smoke bombs and power tools broke into the visiting room where Faid was meeting with his brother.

A third man waited in the helicopter to watch over the pilot, a flight instructor who was taken hostage earlier in the day from a nearby airport. He was later released, in shock but with no physical injuries.

The helicopter was found in the town of Garges-les-Gonesse, in the northern suburbs of Paris.

Faid’s brother is being questioned by investigators.

Faid has broken out of jail before. In 2013 he used dynamite to blast his way out of a prison in northern France. He was captured six weeks later.

Faid led a gang involved in armed robbery and extortion in the French capital during the 1990s. He has previously said his lifestyle was inspired by Hollywood gangster films, including Scarface starring Al Pacino.

 
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