U.S. auto tariffs raised the risk of a global trade war
President Trump’s plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on cars and parts has sent a shudder through the global auto industry. Markets in Asia, Europe and the U.S. wobbled yesterday as many automakers’ share prices fell. Trump has threatened to target the E.U. and Canada if they band together to retaliate.
The tariffs on all cars, and some auto parts, exported to the U.S. are set to take effect next Thursday. Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Canada account for about 75 percent of U.S. vehicle imports. Here’s how major car companies will be affected.
The tariffs put Trump’s unorthodox trade theory to the test. To the president, tariffs encourage companies to move factories to the U.S., creating more American jobs. Economists say their effects are more complicated and that they could cause significant collateral damage.
Reactions: Mark Carney, Canada’s leader, said the U.S. was “no longer a reliable partner” and that his country would announce retaliatory tariffs next week. In Germany, whose auto industry is a huge exporter to the U.S., the economy minister, Robert Habeck, said it was “crucial that the E.U. delivers a decisive response to the tariffs,” adding, “It must be clear that we will not back down.”
A murky vision of a postwar Ukraine
European leaders in Paris yesterday discussed a French proposal to send a “reassurance force” to help safeguard an eventual peace in Ukraine. But Emmanuel Macron, France’s leader, said the specifics of such a force were still being ironed out. Russia has called the proposal unacceptable.
The meeting followed three days of U.S.-brokered talks in Saudi Arabia this week that yielded deals, with caveats, between Russia and Ukraine to halt attacks on energy infrastructure and fighting in the Black Sea.
Russian aims: Moscow wants relief from restrictions on shipping, insurance and banking that have complicated its agricultural exports. “Russia also wants sanctions lifted on the state agricultural bank, and for it to be reconnected to the international payments system Swift,” my colleague Paul Sonne, who covers Russia, said. “But that would require agreement from European allies who have been cut out of the talks.”
At the front: Journalists for The Times were embedded with Ukrainian forces in eastern and southern Ukraine. Amid drones, mines and snipers, peace talks seemed a world away.
Anti-Hamas protests in Gaza grew
Rare public protests in Gaza for an end to Hamas’s rule — and to the war — have spread to a number of towns over the past three days. While most of the demonstrations have been small, they represent the boldest challenge to Hamas’s authority since the war began in 2023.
Hamas has brutally clamped down on protests in the past. This time, its security forces have been largely absent, most likely because of the group’s delicate position with Gazans and the difficulty of mobilizing under the threat of Israeli airstrikes.
Quotable: “Hamas needs to go away,” said Ahmad al-Masri, who helped call for the demonstrations. “If it doesn’t, the bloodshed, the wars and the destruction won’t stop.”
Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition gave itself more power to pick judges, resuming a judicial overhaul that divided the country before the war.
Yemen: Middle East experts said the Iran-backed Houthis wouldn’t be easily defeated, despite the intentions disclosed by U.S. officials in their Signal chat.
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That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next week — and thank you to those who let us know that yesterday’s subject line incorrectly suggested that it was Monday.
Happy Friday, and have a great weekend. — Natasha
Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.