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Published on 08/07/2025 – 13:04 GMT+2•Updated
13:13

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The EU and the US are preparing for a trade deal involving the US imposing a baseline 10% tariff on EU goods, according to several sources briefed by EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

A preliminary agreement is expected to be concluded by Wednesday, with legal implementation by 1 August — the new deadline set by US President Donald Trump before additional tariffs come into effect if no deal is signed, sources said.

“The US will not drop the baseline tariffs, because they’re a revenue source,” the Parliament’s trade committee head MEP Bernd Lange (Germany/S&D) told reporters on Tuesday.

He said that aircraft and spirits would be exempted from the baseline 10% tariffs. Whether wines are included remains unclear.

The US currently apply 25% tariffs on EU cars, 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium and 10% tariffs on all other EU imports.

Lange said negotiations are ongoing on attempts to remove tariffs on cars, with much at stake for the German automotive industry, which is highly exposed to trade with the US.

“There are already estimates that up to 50,000 jobs could be at risk,” Lange added.

Germany and Italy — the largest EU exporters of goods to the US along with Ireland — remain concerned by US proposals not to exempt key sectors such as cars, steel and aluminium or pharmaceuticals, according to an EU diplomat.

EU retaliatory measures remain on the table but have not yet been finalised by the Commission. The EU must still decide when to use them.

“There is no immediate plan to do anything with the list,” Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said on Monday.

A first list of measures covering €21 billion worth of US products has been suspended until 14 July.

A second list, reduced following lobbying by industries and EU member states from €95 billion to €72 billion worth of US products, according to the French news agency AFP, has yet to be submitted for final approval by EU member states. 

WASHINGTON — The government of El Salvador has acknowledged to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains control of the Venezuelan men who were deported from the U.S. to a notorious Salvadoran prison, contradicting public statements by officials in both countries.

The revelation was contained in court filings Monday by lawyers for more than 100 migrants who are seeking to challenge their deportations to El Salvador’s mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

The case is among several challenging President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities,” Salvadoran officials wrote in response to queries from the unit of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The U.N. group has been looking into the fate of the men who were sent to El Salvador from the United States in mid-March, even after a U.S. judge had ordered the planes that were carrying them to be turned around.

The Trump administration has argued that it is powerless to return the men, noting that they are beyond the reach of U.S. courts and no longer have access to due process rights or other U.S. constitutional guarantees.

But lawyers for the migrants said the U.N. report shows otherwise.

“El Salvador has confirmed what we and everyone else understood: it is the United States that controls what happens to the Venezuelans languishing at CECOT. Remarkably the U.S. government didn’t provide this information to us or the court,” American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelerent said in an email.

Skye Perryman, chief executive and president of Democracy Forward, said the documents show “that the administration has not been honest with the court or the American people.” The ACLU and Democracy Forward are both representing the migrants.

Administration officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The administration in March agreed to pay $6 million for El Salvador to house 300 migrants. The deal sparked immediate controversy when Trump invoked an 18th century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to quickly remove men it has accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

In a related case, the administration mistakenly sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the same prison, despite a judge’s order prohibiting the Maryland man from being sent to El Salvador.

The administration initially resisted court orders to bring him back to the U.S., saying he was no longer in American custody. Eventually, Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S., where he now faces criminal charges of human smuggling while legal battles continue.

Last month, a coalition of immigrant rights groups sued to invalidate the prison deal with El Salvador, arguing that the arrangement to move migrant detainees outside the reach of U.S. courts violates the Constitution.

Sherman writes for the Associated Press.

A Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation spurred national outcry in the United States will remain in jail for now, as lawyers discuss how to prevent him from being removed from the country a second time.

On Wednesday, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was set to be released from pre-trial custody without having to post bail. He is being held in detention in Nashville, Tennessee, on criminal charges of human smuggling.

The administration of President Donald Trump had sought to stop his release, deeming him to be a flight risk.

But US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw upheld a magistrate judge’s earlier decision finding that Abrego Garcia was eligible to walk free.

However, in an unexpected twist, lawyers on both sides argued that, if Abrego Garcia were released, he risks being taken into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a second deportation.

That would deprive Abrego Garcia of the chance to defend himself against the charges, which he has denied. And lawyers for the government argued that it would also scuttle their criminal case against him.

Judge Crenshaw noted in a written decision that, since it is the government’s choice whether or not to deport Abrego Garcia, the situation appeared to be a case of the executive branch doing “injury on itself”.

“If deported, the Government argues, the Department of Justice will be deprived of the opportunity to pursue its criminal charges against Abrego,” Crenshaw wrote.

But, he added, “it is the Executive Branch’s decision that places the Government in this predicament.”

Ultimately, it was decided that Abrego Garcia would remain in custody while lawyers sparred over whether they could prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation if he were released to await trial.

A high-profile case

Abrego Garcia appeared at the Wednesday hearing wearing an orange jail-issued T-shirt and a headset to listen to the proceedings through a Spanish interpreter.

It was the latest chapter in an ongoing fight between Abrego Garcia and the Trump administration over whether he would be allowed to stay in the US.

According to his lawyers, Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador as a teenager to avoid gang violence, arriving in the US around 2011. He has lived for more than a decade in Maryland, where he and his American wife are raising three children.

In 2019, a judge granted him a protection order that barred his removal from the US.

But on March 15, Abrego Garcia was swept up in the immigration raids being conducted as part of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

He and more than 200 other Venezuelans and Salvadorans were accused of being gang members, and they were deported to El Salvador.

Many of the men were sent to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, a maximum-security prison for those accused of terrorism. But advocates for the deported immigrants have argued that many of their clients had no criminal records and were in the process of seeking legal immigration status in the US.

Advocates have also pointed out that ICE has provided scant evidence against some of the deported individuals, in some cases appearing to arrest people based solely on their tattoos.

The Trump administration, however, has designated Latin American gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua as “foreign terrorist organisations” and sought to crack down on their presence in the US.

A number of legal challenges followed the deportation flights to El Salvador. In Abrego Garcia’s case, the government acknowledged that his removal had been the result of an “administrative error”.

But the Trump administration initially insisted he could not be brought back to the US even after the Supreme Court in April ordered the government to “facilitate” his return.

A return to the US

That changed on June 7, when Abrego Garcia was returned to the US. The Trump administration justified the return as necessary to confront him with charges of smuggling undocumented migrants inside the US.

Those charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee. In a video recording of the stop, one of the police officers observed that Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers and speculated he might be a smuggler. But no criminal charges were brought at the time.

In announcing Abrego Garcia’s return to the US this month, the Trump administration revealed it had sought a criminal indictment in May of this year.

At the recent detention hearings, Homeland Security special agent Peter Joseph testified that he did not begin investigating Abrego Garcia until April.

Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges on June 13, and his lawyers have characterised them as an attempt to justify his mistaken deportation.

On Sunday, US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia does not have to remain in jail before his criminal trial.

But she described that decision as “little more than an academic exercise”, given that it was likely Abrego Garcia would be taken back into custody by ICE if released.

How to prevent Abrego Garcia from being deported a second time became the focus of Wednesday’s hearing.

A lawyer for Abrego Garcia, Sean Hecker, noted that witnesses cooperating with the Trump administration had been protected from possible deportation.

“The government has ensured witness cooperation by ensuring that people will not be deported,” Hecker said.

If the government could protect those witnesses from removal, Hecker asked why it could not do the same for Abrego Garcia.

Representing the government’s case, meanwhile, was acting US Attorney Rob McGuire. He argued that the executive branch of the government was vast, and he had little control over every entity’s actions.

Still, he added, he would ask the Department of Homeland Security for its cooperation in not deporting Abrego Garcia.

“That’s a separate agency with separate leadership and separate directions,” McGuire said. “I will coordinate, but I can’t tell them what to do.”

Speaking at a news conference before the court hearing, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, noted that it had been 106 days since her husband had been “abducted” by the government. She called for his safe return.

“Kilmar should never have been taken away from us,” she said. “This fight has been the hardest thing in my life.”

NASHVILLE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in jail for at least a few more days while attorneys in the federal smuggling case against him spar over whether lawyers have the ability to prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation if he is released to await trial.

The Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation became a tinderbox in the fight over President Trump’s immigration policies has been in jail since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7, facing two counts of human smuggling.

Although a federal judge has ruled that he has a right to be released and even set specific conditions for his release, his attorneys expressed concern that it would lead to immediate detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deportation.

On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia does not have to remain in jail before that trial. On Wednesday afternoon, she will set his conditions of his release and allow him to go, according to her order. However, his defense attorneys and prosecutors have said they expect him to be taken into custody by ICE as soon as he is released on the criminal charges.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said during a news conference before Wednesday’s scheduled court hearing that it’s been 106 days since he “was abducted by the Trump administration and separated from our family.” She noted that he has missed family birthdays, graduations and Father’s Day, while “today he misses our wedding anniversary.”

Vasquez Sura said their love, their faith in God and an abundance of community support have helped them persevere.

“Kilmar should never have been taken away from us,” she said. “This fight has been the hardest thing in my life.”

Federal prosecutors are appealing Holmes’ release order. Among other things, they expressed concern in a motion filed Sunday that Abrego Garcia could be deported before he faces trial. Holmes has said that she won’t step between the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security — it is up to them to decide whether they want to deport Abrego Garcia or prosecute him.

Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty June 13 to smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify his mistaken deportation in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Those charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. At his detention hearing, Homeland Security special agent Peter Joseph testified that he did not begin investigating Abrego Garcia until April this year.

Holmes said in her Sunday ruling that federal prosecutors failed to show that Abrego Garcia was a flight risk or a danger to the community. He has lived for more than a decade in Maryland, where he and his American wife are raising three children.

However, Holmes referred to her ruling as “little more than an academic exercise,” noting that ICE plans to detain him. It is less clear what will happen after that. Although Abrego Garcia can’t be deported to El Salvador — where an immigration judge found he faces a credible threat from gangs — he is still deportable to a third country as long as that country agrees to not send him to El Salvador.

Loller writes for the Associated Press.

Russian appears to have raised the scale of hostilities as the US has become distracted with the Israel-Iran war.

Russia and Ukraine have swapped drone strikes, with at least three people reportedly killed by Moscow near the shared border.

Strikes were reported overnight on Tuesday in several areas of Ukraine, as well as in Moscow.

The attacks are the latest in a series of intensifying hostilities as the efforts of the United States to broker a ceasefire have stalled, with Russia appearing eager to take advantage, as global attention is dominated by the war between Israel and Iran.

A Russian drone attack on a village in Sumy killed an eight-year-old boy and two adults, and injured another three people, the military administration of the region said.

Drone strikes also wounded five people in Kharkiv and four others in the Dnipropetrovsk region, local authorities said.

The attacks came a day after a “massive” missile and drone strike on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv killed at least 10 people.

“The strike took the lives of people from different families,” the military administration said on Telegram regarding the Sumy attack. “They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes. But Russian drones interrupted their sleep – forever.”

Ukraine has also stepped up its drone attacks on a wide range of targets in Russia in recent months.

Russia said a Ukrainian drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, and triggering a fire.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said that the drone started a fire on the 17th floor of the building in the town of Krasnogorsk, west of the capital.

“About 100 people were evacuated from the building, including 30 children,” Vorobyov said, adding that the injured were receiving treatment at a hospital.

Russia’s air defence units destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the Moscow region, local news agencies reported, citing Russian defence ministry data.

Russia currently occupies about a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 – in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.

US President Donald Trump had promised to swiftly end the war while on his campaign trail, but his diplomatic attempts have not resulted in a ceasefire so far.

While Washington succeeded in bringing the two sides together for direct talks last month, little progress was made and no meetings have taken place in the last three weeks.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal in order to prolong its full-scale offensive and seize more territory.

WAILUKU, Hawaii — Warm, breezy and feeling good.

That was the prevailing feeling among the Rams this week as they ended their off season with a “Mauicamp,” a low-key event heavy on bonding and light on drills for a team expected to contend for a championship.

Star quarterback Matthew Stafford is under contract for another potential Super Bowl run.

The Rams also added star receiver Davante Adams, drafted tight end Terrance Ferguson and bolstered depth to an ascending defensive front.

The Rams, however, have areas of concern as they head into a break before reporting to training camp at Loyola Marymount in July.

Offensive tackle and cornerback could be vulnerabilities for a team aiming to improve upon last season’s 10-7 record and an NFC divisional round loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Here’s how confident the Rams were in those positions going into free agency and the draft: They did not sign or select a player at either spot.

Whether that was wise is another matter.

Stafford, 37, remains the Rams’ most important player and — other than coach Sean McVay — their most valuable asset. So the tackles must foil edge rushers hellbent on hitting the quarterback while playing perhaps the most pressure-packed position other than Stafford’s.

With his play last season, Alaric Jackson convinced the Rams he was their longtime solution at left tackle. They awarded him a three-year contract that included $35 million in guarantees.

But uncertainty now reigns. Jackson sat out the final week of offseason workouts because he is dealing with blood-clot issues for the second time in his career. If, or when, he will be able to practice and play is unknown.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passes during organized team activities on June 3.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The Rams hurriedly signed D.J. Humphries, but the veteran is of late something of an unknown quantity. He played only two games last season for the Kansas City Chiefs after returning from major 2023 knee surgery and then suffering a hamstring injury.

Right tackle Rob Havenstein, 33, is entering his 11th season and the final year of his contract. He is coming off two shoulder surgeries.

Swing tackle Warren McClendon Jr. started five games last season, but he has not established himself as a frontline player. The Rams also recently signed eight-year pro David Quessenberry, who made 17 of his career 30 starts in 2021.

The Rams are confident in the secondary — in large part because of the defensive front.

A rush led by rookies Jared Verse and Braden Fiske helped the Rams rank 20th among 32 teams in pass defense last season. That rush is expected to improve with the addition of tackle Poona Ford and rookie edge rusher Josaiah Stewart.

So the Rams stood pat with the same defensive backs from last season.

Cornerback Darious Williams, 32, does not have salary guarantees beyond this season, according to Overthecap.com. Ahkello Witherspoon, 30, is playing on a one-year deal for the third consecutive season but was signed early enough this time to participate in offseason workouts.

Cobie Durant is in the final year of his rookie contract, and Emmanuel Forbes Jr. is trying to prove that the Washington Commanders erred by releasing the 2023 first-round pick last season.

Derion Kendrick, coming off a knee injury that forced him to sit out the 2024 season, was waived last week in a cost-cutting move and then re-signed with the Rams for a veteran-minimum contract. Josh Wallace and Charles Woods, undrafted free agents in 2024, also are on the roster.

McVay this week indicated that there were probably too many obstacles to trade for Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey, the three-time All-Pro who was an integral part of the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI championship team.

Two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander was recently released by the Green Bay Packers, but McVay said last week that was “not a direction” the Rams would go. Alexander signed with the Baltimore Ravens, the Rams’ Week 6 opponent.

While the NFL largely shuts down until the start of training camp, general manager Les Snead in the past has added players before it opens and after it begins.

But for now, with their Hawaiian excursion behind them, the Rams appear ready to go with what they’ve got.