2025-07-12 16:34
O'Donnell criticized administration's handling of Texas floods The pair have a feud going back almost 20 years Under U.S. law, a president cannot revoke citizenship of an American born in the United States WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he might revoke talk show host Rosie O'Donnell's U.S. citizenship after she criticized his administration's handling of weather forecasting agencies in the wake of the deadly Texas floods, the latest salvo in a years-long feud the two have waged over social media. "Because of the fact that Rosie O'Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, invoking a deportation rationale the administration has used in attempts to remove foreign-born protesters from the country. Sign up here. "She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!," he added. Under U.S. law, a president cannot revoke the citizenship of an American born in the United States. O'Donnell was born in New York state. O'Donnell, a longtime target of Trump's insults and jabs, moved to Ireland earlier this year with her 12-year-old son after the start of the president's second term. She said in a March TikTok video that she would return to the U.S. "when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America." O'Donnell responded to Trump's threat in two posts on her Instagram account, saying that the U.S. president opposes her because she "stands in direct opposition with all he represents." Trump's disdain for O'Donnell dates back to 2006 when O'Donnell, a comedian and host on The View at the time, mocked Trump , opens new tab over his handling of a controversy concerning a winner of the Miss USA pageant, which Trump had owned. Trump's latest jab at O'Donnell seemed to be in response to a TikTok video she posted this month mourning the 119 deaths in the July 4 floods in Texas and blaming Trump's widespread cuts to environmental and science agencies involved in forecasting major natural disasters. "What a horror story in Texas," O'Donnell said in the video. "And you know, when the president guts all the early warning systems and the weathering forecast abilities of the government, these are the results that we're gonna start to see on a daily basis." The Trump administration, as well as local and state officials, have faced mounting questions over whether more could have been done to protect and warn residents ahead of the Texas flooding, which struck with astonishing speed in the pre-dawn hours of the U.S. Independence Day holiday on July 4 and killed at least 120, including dozens of children. Trump on Friday visited Texas and defended the government's response to the disaster, saying his agencies "did an incredible job under the circumstances." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-threatens-revoke-rosie-odonnells-us-citizenship-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 14:26
July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday a 30% tariff rate for goods imported from the European Union and Mexico, starting on August 1. The EU had initially hoped to reach a comprehensive trade agreement with the U.S. for 27-country bloc, but until Trump's social media post on Saturday it was unclear if it might get a letter announcing more tariffs or when an agreement might be finalized. Sign up here. Earlier this week, Trump issued new tariff announcements for a number of countries, including Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, as well as a 50% tariff on copper. COMMENTS: MICHAEL BROWN, SENIOR MARKET STRATEGIST, PEPPERSTONE, LONDON: "There are still three weeks until August, 1 which is a lifetime in this sort of situation. Again, I think it's all part of this 'escalate to de-escalate' strategy in terms of trying to bring people to the table and get some more concessions out of them. In terms of the EU one specifically, I guess you could argue that the threat (from Trump) the other day was 50%." "The risk is whether the EU, because all of the reporting has been around the U.S.-EU deal is close, take this poorly and actually go: 'OK, fine, well, we're just going to throw in place some countermeasures' and then things start to escalate once more, which I think really then starts to change the calculus away from, this is just a negotiating gambit and back towards Liberation Day." "Depending on what happens in the next 24 hours or so, I imagine that the knee-jerk move is euro-negative, eurozone asset-negative. And then, as calmer heads prevail, it comes back to the fact that, is it just a negotiating gambit? "Certainly, I think that the initial reaction will be a case of, actually, this is pretty devastating if it does come into effect and we need to price, not necessarily the full probability of it coming into effect, but at least there needs to be a chance, discounted that an export-led economy to its main market has got a 30% tariff on it, and it's just not going to be able to cope with that." KARL SCHAMOTTA, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, CORPAY, TORONTO: "Traders spent much of the last week hedging against a broadening in the president’s tariff schedule, but at 30%, today’s action has likely topped expectations. “Although rising tariffs remain a bigger threat to the US itself, it is fair to expect the euro and Mexican peso to come under renewed selling pressure at tomorrow’s Asia open. “At some point soon, it will become clear that Trump’s protectionist agenda has not been appropriately discounted in currencies, in asset prices, or in measures of volatility. A moment of capitulation is coming, in financial markets, or in the White House itself." MATHIEU SAVARY, CHIEF STRATEGIST -EUROPE, BCA RESEARCH, MONTREAL: “Trump’s strategy is to make outrageous demands, then bring them down, then make another push to win some last-minute concessions, and then a trade deal materializes. It’s a framework that we remember from Trump in his first presidency and that is what is happening now." “Whatever is said now doesn’t matter; what matters is where we will settle.” Savary said he expects that Europe eventually “will have to resign itself to accept a 10% tariff, but that is something that the EU can actually handle." MARK MALEK, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, SIEBERT FINANCIAL, NEW YORK: “If you look at the 22 or 23 letters that went out, 30% now is the average proposed across the board number here, which is significantly higher than the 10% that the market had been accepting as a baseline figure." If this new, higher tariff level sticks, “it has significant implications for the trade relationship with the EU and the US economy, since we import everything from luxury cars to industrial chemicals.” "Markets have been moving higher on the assumption that these trade talks would be resolved. But that comfort is going to turn into a headwind for the market unless we get some real results one way or another. The market has been giving Trump a pass so far recently on tariff talks, but earnings season could upset that balance” if companies release weaker-than-expected results or include warnings about the impact of tariffs on their future revenues and profits. “A trading day like yesterday (Friday) really wasn’t a huge decline given that we’re still sitting right below all time highs, and right ahead of earnings season. But if markets stop giving Trump the benefit of the doubt, who knows?” SAM STOVALL, MARKET STRATEGIST, CFRA, PENNSYLVANIA: “I think investors will still just take a wait and see attitude and that in the end markets will respond to certainty. That will come if get an unexpectedly hot reading on inflation, as tariffs filter their way down into the hard data. "Unless and until we get a change in the data, I think the path of less resistance is higher” for U.S. stocks.” https://www.reuters.com/business/view-investors-react-trumps-30-tariffs-eu-mexico-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 12:43
July 12 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has told U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian officials that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, Axios reported on Saturday, citing sources. Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim denied the report, quoting an "informed source" as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/putin-urges-iran-take-zero-enrichment-nuclear-deal-with-us-axios-reports-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 10:12
NEW DELHI, July 12 (Reuters) - India has reversed a decade-old mandate to install $30 billion worth of clean-air equipment, easing sulphur emission rules for most coal-fired power plants, a government order said. Reuters in December reported the government was reviewing 2015 norms that required nearly 540 coal-based power units to install flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems that remove sulphur from the plants' exhaust gases in phases starting in 2027. Sign up here. The federal environment ministry late on Friday issued a gazette notification that exempted 79% of the coal-fired power plants, outside a 10-km (6 mile) radius of populated and polluted cities, from the 2015 mandate. The mandate to install FGD for another 11% of the plants near populated cities would be taken on a "case-to-case basis," the notification said. The balance of 10% of the coal-fired power plants closer to New Delhi and other cities with a million-plus population will be required to install the desulphurisation equipment by December 2027, according to the new mandate. The notification comes after state-run NTPC (NTPC.NS) , opens new tab, India's top electricity producer, spent about $4 billion on installing the equipment at about 11% of the power plants, and about 50% of the units either placed orders for the desulphurisation systems or are installing them. The Friday notification did not mention the impact on the competitiveness or recovery of costs by these power plants. It said the decision was taken after the Central Pollution Control Board carried out a detailed analysis of the increase in "carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere due to operation of control measures being deployed." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/india-eases-sulphur-emission-rules-coal-power-plants-reversing-decade-old-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 09:21
PRAGUE, July 12 (Reuters) - Slovakia aims to reach an agreement with the European Commission and EU partners by Tuesday on guarantees it will not suffer from the end of Russian gas supplies and on a new sanctions package against Russia, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday. Slovakia has been blocking the EU's 18th sanctions package over its disagreement with a separate Commission proposal to end all imports of Russian gas from 2028, which Slovakia argues could cause shortages, a rise in prices and transit fees, and lead to damage claims from Russian supplier Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab. Sign up here. "We need to win something in this fight, though it will not be a 100-0 result," Fico said. "We want political commitments, guarantees from partners and the Commission that this problem will not remain only on Slovakia's back." Fico said it was not clear at this point if a deal would be reached as some issues were still outstanding. Fico said one topic under discussion was capping the transit fees that Slovakia would have to pay for alternative routes for non-Russian gas. Slovakia gets the majority of its gas from Gazprom under a long-term deal valid until 2034 for about 3.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year. Since Ukraine stopped Russian gas from transiting through its pipelines at the end of 2024, Slovakia has taken some gas through the Turkstream pipeline and Hungary. The Commission's proposal to end Russian energy imports from 2028 requires the backing of the majority of EU states, but not unanimity. However, sanctions against Russia need unanimity, therefore Slovakia merged the two issues and has refused to back the sanctions package until its concerns over energy are satisfied. The European Commission on June 10 proposed a new round of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, targeting Moscow's energy revenues, banks and military industry. The sanctions package -- which in itself is not a problem for Slovakia, Fico said -- could be approved by the EU's foreign ministers on Tuesday if Slovakia lifts its opposition. Fico said he discussed Slovakia's concerns with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Saturday, but did not give details. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/slovakia-aims-agreement-by-tuesday-end-russian-gas-supplies-sanctions-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 07:43
TKSE to cut jobs, capacity, working hours Deal will see around 40% of TKSE's jobs go Cuts to save more than 100 mln eur in savings a year - source FRANKFURT, July 12 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) , opens new tab and trade union IG Metall on Saturday said they had agreed on reduced working hours, lower bonus payments and site closures as part of a push to revamp Germany's largest steelmaker and prepare it for a standalone future. The accord with steel workers marks a major step in Thyssenkrupp's restructuring, under which the former German industrial icon is planning to turn into a holding company, and comes after renewed tension between management and labour representatives. Sign up here. Implementation of the new collective bargaining agreement, which runs until September 30, 2030, must be approved by IG Metall members at Thyssenkrupp's steel unit TKSE and is pending an agreement on the division's future financing, they said. The package, agreed after several days of non-stop negotiations, will result in annual savings of more than 100 million euros ($117 million), a person familiar with the matter said. Dirk Schulte, TKSE's board member in charge of human resources, told journalists on Saturday that the comprehensive deal was "the biggest ever" in the group's history. The agreement follows Thyssenkrupp's announcement that up to 11,000 jobs at TKSE, or around 40%, had to be cut or outsourced and that annual production capacity would be lowered to 8.7-9.0 million tons from 11.5 million tons. "We went to the pain threshold and only made concessions where it was really necessary in order to secure jobs and locations," said Tekin Nasikkol, head of Thyssenkrupp's works council and member of the group's supervisory board. "We have now created the conditions for the company to emerge from the difficult situation out of its own strength," Nasikkol said in a statement. Thyssenkrupp had wanted to reach a deal regarding the restructuring by summer and both sides aim to finalise the current agreement by the end of September. Reaching a wage deal has been seen as a key hurdle to be cleared before Thyssenkrupp can sell an additional 30% stake in TKSE to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, as planned. The investor already owns a 20% stake via a holding company. ($1 = 0.8555 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/thyssenkrupp-steel-workers-agree-site-closures-lower-working-hours-revamp-2025-07-12/
