The European Union (EU) has introduced retaliatory tariffs on US goods as a top official launched a fresh attack on President Donald Trump’s trade policy.
The duties on €2.8bn (£2.4bn) worth of US goods came into force on Friday.
Tariffs have been imposed on products such as bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and orange juice.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said duties imposed by the US on the EU go against “all logic and history.”
India, meanwhile, has raised taxes on 29 products imported from the US – including some agricultural goods, steel and iron products – in retaliation for the wide-ranging US tariffs.
The new duties will come into effect from 4 August and will affect US almonds, walnuts and chick peas, among other products.
India is a top buyer of US almond exports and so the move is expected to hurt farmers in America.
The Trump administration announced in March that it would introduce tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium imported into the US.
After being deferred, the duties on steel and aluminium went ahead on June 1 and affect the EU, Canada, Mexico and other close US allies, including India.
European Commission President, Mr. Juncker, who has previously criticised the move, saidon Thursday: “It goes against all logic and history. Our response must be clear but measured.”
Addressing the Irish parliament in Dublin, he added that “we will do what we have to do to rebalance and safeguard” the EU.
The majority of US goods targeted by the EU, such as tobacco, Harley Davidson motorcycles, cranberries and peanut butter, will now carry a tariff of 25%.
However, the EU has introduced a 50% duty on goods such as footwear, some types of clothing and washing machines.
The new duties have been imposed as tensions over trade continued to grow between the US and China.
Italy to seize NGO rescue ships as migrant row deepens
Italy said it will seize two migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean, amid a deepening row over migrants.
Two German NGO ships carrying migrants “will be seized” to determine their legal status.
The move comes as French President Emmanuel Macron attacked the “leprosy” of anti-EU feeling, angering Italy’s new populist government.
Italy sparked the fresh row earlier this month when it refused to take in the Aquarius rescue ship.
Carrying 630 migrants rescued off the North African coast, the ship eventually sailed to Spain after being turned away by both Italy and Malta.
Leaders from 10 EU member states will meet in Brussels on Sunday to discuss how best to stem the flow of migrants to the bloc.
The Italian government earlier said it will not sign up to any EU plan unless it makes helping Italy a priority, while Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – known as the Visegrad Group – said they will boycott the talks.
The UN refugee agency on Thursday said it was “shocked and saddened” by the recent drowning of 220 people off the coast of Libya, and called for urgent action.
Relations will be further strained after President Macron’s comments.
In a speech in Brittany, Mr. Macron said anti-EU feeling was rising “a bit like a leprosy all across Europe,” including in “neighbouring countries” – without specifically naming any one nation.
“They’re saying the worst things, and we’re getting used to it,” he said.
Deputy Italian Prime Minister and leader of the populist Five Star Movement, Luigi Di Maio, tweeted in Italian that Mr. Macron’s words were “offensive and misplaced,” saying that “true leprosy” is when countries turn back migrants and then “preach to us” about calls for them to redistribute to other EU states.
The two ships, Lifeline and Seesuchs, belong to the German body Mission Lifeline.
According to the NGO, Lifeline rescued 224 migrants off the coast of Libya on Thursdaymorning.
Italy’s interior minister and leader of the right-wing League Party, Matteo Salvini, said on Facebook the ship should “go to Holland,” as it was said to be flying under a Dutch flag, and should not dock in Italy.
However, the Dutch delegation to the EU later clarified in a tweet that the ships are not registered in the Netherlands, and not flying under its flag.
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India police ‘sorry’ for lynching photo
Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have apologised after a photograph of a lynched man being dragged by a crowd in the presence of three officers caused outrage.
The victim, identified as Kasim, died soon after the picture was taken, while on the way to hospital.
Police say he was beaten up after a “minor tiff” over a motorcycle accident.
They deny he was attacked over reports of cow slaughter.
The state police tweeted the apology.
Speaking to the BBC, the chief spokesperson of the state police, Rahul Srivastava, said the pictures were “misleading” and the “policemen did not support lynching”.
“The picture shows that man is being dragged and the policemen are doing nothing about it, but that’s not true – the mob just wanted to continue attacking the man and our men were trying desperately to keep them away. However, they should have been more careful in how the man was carried and looked after him better. That is why we have apologised and ordered an inquiry,” he added.
However this apology was also condemned by some who called it a weak justification for what had happened.
The image, which was widely shared on social media, had generated massive outrage amid reports that the victim had been targeted by “cow protection” vigilantes.
Hindus consider cows to be sacred, and for many, eating beef is taboo.
The slaughter of cows is also banned in many Indian states.
Melania wears ‘I really don’t care do u?’ coat on migrant visit
First Lady Melania Trump has been criticised for the choice of her coat worn on a trip to a migrant child detention centre in Texas.
Mrs. Trump was spotted in the coat, which featured graffiti writing on the back with the words “I really don’t care do u?” as she boarded a plane.
Her spokeswoman said “there was no hidden message” in the former fashion model’s sartorial choice.
The $39 (£29) jacket from Zara has caused an uproar on social media.
US President Donald Trump later tweeted that his wife’s coat “refers to the Fake News Media.”
Hours after the photo of her departure outfit went viral, she again donned the jacket to disembark from the plane at an Air Force base outside Washington DC.
She ignored questions from reporters as she entered the presidential motorcade.
Mrs. Trump’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, lambasted US media on Twitter for focusing on her fashion choice.
Mrs. Trump was not seen wearing the coat when she first arrived in Texas, but had it on again when she returned to Washington DC.
Melania Trump’s empathetic visit to the Mexican border risks being overshadowed by the unempathetic message on the back of her coat.
It stretches credulity that the First Lady would make the effort to fly down to Texas, visit children, talk to staff and engage in this heartbreaking story only to deliberately undermine it with a callous choice of clothing.
