New York Times (June 22)
“With billions of dollars in trade at stake, China and the European Union have agreed to engage in talks to try to resolve an escalating dispute over tariffs.” To block the threatened tariffs on electric vehicles, “Beijing would need to persuade a majority of European Union countries, representing at least 65 percent of the bloc’s population, to overrule the European Commission” and it is expected to strategically target Germany, France, Italy and other key countries.
Tags: China, Dispute, Escalating, EU, EVs, France, Germany, Overrule, Resolve, Target, Tariffs, Trade
Automotive News Europe (June 12)
“European automakers are being challenged by an influx of lower-cost EVs from Chinese rivals,” which have surged in popularity, with their EU market share rising to 8% (from less than 1% in 2019), and potential to reach 15% in 2025. Still, Mercedes, BMW and VW all lined up against the EU’s new 38% tariff on EVs exported from China because “China is a key profit center” for the German automakers who “could face counter measures in China.”
Tags: 38% tariff, BMW, Challenged, China, Chinese rivals, Counter measures, EU, EVs, German automakers, Influx, Market share, Mercedes, Popularity, Profit center, VW
Deutsche Welle (February 2)
“EU member states on Friday finally came to agreement and approved new laws governing the safety and use of artificial intelligence, or AI…. The crux of the problem in finding unanimity came down to the balance between giving companies enough maneuvering room to make the development of AI products lucrative within the EU, while at the same time establishing rules for the use of a technology that is already affecting every aspect of society.”
Tags: Agreement, Approved, Artificial intelligence, Companies, EU, Lucrative, Rules, Safety, Society, Technology, Unanimity
Markets Insider (January 17)
“The US and European Union are seeing large stockpiles of solar panels after soaring manufacturing capacity fueled a substantial oversupply.” At year end, “an estimated 45 gigawatts of modules in the US and 90 gigawatts in the EU had piled up, nearly twice the forecast installations for 2024.” The glut is leading to “even lower prices” and “fierce competition between manufacturers,” with “less efficient manufacturers… bound to lose out, as overcapacity and low module prices add to financial challenges.”
Tags: 2024, 45 GW, 90 GW, Competition, EU, Forecast installations, Glut, Manufacturing capacity, Overcapacity, Oversupply, Prices, Soaring, Solar panels, Stockpiles, U.S.
CNN (January 15)
“Germany’s economy shrank last year for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic… increasing the risk of an economic contraction in the wider euro area.” GDP dropped 0.3%, both during 2023 overall and during Q4. “The data bodes ill for the entire area that uses the euro because Germany is the largest of its 20 economies.”
Council on Foreign Relations (December 27)
Development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to proceed at an exponential rate. Its rise “could mirror previous technological revolutions, adding billions of dollars worth of productivity to the global economy while introducing a slew of new risks that could upend the global geopolitical order and the nature of society itself. Managing these risks will be essential, and a global debate over AI governance is raging as major powers such as the United States, China, and European Union (EU) take increasingly divergent approaches toward regulating the technology.”
Tags: AI, China, Deployment, Development, Divergent, EU, Exponential, Geopolitical order, Global economy, Governance, Productivity, Risks, Society, Technological revolutions, U.S.
South China Morning Post (September 16)
“The European Union is scrambling to answer SOS calls from its hi-tech industries to fend off the challenge of China’s manufacturing juggernaut. From electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels to wind turbines and hi-tech batteries, European businesses say they are being eaten alive by Chinese imports sold well below market rates.”
Tags: Batteries, Challenge, China, EU, EVs, Hi-tech, Imports, Manufacturing juggernaut, Market rates, Scrambling, Solar panels, SOS, Wind turbines
The Guardian (September 8)
“Public opinion has swung away from Brexit, with more than half the country thinking it was wrong to leave the bloc. Crucially, a chunk of 2016 leave voters have changed their minds because Brexit hasn’t delivered either on promises that it would energise the economy or on reducing immigration. Rather, leaving the EU probably made the cost of living crisis worse.”
Tags: Brexit, Cost of living, Crisis, Economy, Energise, EU, Immigration, Leave voters, Promises, Public opinion, Wrong
Investment & Pensions Europe (September Edition)
“Continental Europe appears to have largely escaped the trend known in the US as the ‘Great Retirement Boom’, where an economically comfortable cohort of 50 to 64-year-olds has retreated from work in the post-COVID period.” In contrast, labour market participation in the EU is increasing among the over-55s and “the EU expects the proportion of economically active over-55s to continue increasing, reaching around 72% by 2040.”
Tags: 2040, Cohort, Comfortable, Economically active, EU, Europe, Great Retirement Boom, Labour market participation, Over-55s, Post-Covid, Trend, U.S., Work
Investments and Pensions Europe (June 20)
“Four German states have recently revised their sustainable investment strategies, sticking to stricter ESG standards, a move that has caused shifts to the allocation of public pension assets worth close to €30bn.” The states (North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Brandenburg) “switched to a Paris Aligned Benchmark (PAB), lining up with the EU taxonomy and United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to invest their assets.”
Tags: €30bn, Allocation, Assets, ESG standards, EU, Germany, PAB, Public pension, Revised, SDGs, Strategies, Stricter, Sustainable investment
