trade

Aug. 19 (UPI) — The United Arab Emirates announced it was indefinitely severing trade relations with Iran on Wednesday after accusing Tehran of firing two ballistic missiles at it.

The move was announced by the UAE’s Foreign Affairs Ministry communications director, Afra Al Hameli, who said “in light of regional escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security, all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice.”

“The UAE remains firmly committed to safeguarding the integrity of the international financial system, in line with international law and the highest global standards,” she said in a statement, while stressing the UAE’s “steadfast commitment to dialogue cooperation and regional integration as essential means of advancing peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”

The UAE-Iran trade relationship was worth billions a year, with the Observatory of Economic Complexity platform stating the UAE exports nearly $6 billion in goods, mostly electronics, to Iran each year, while Iran exports nearly $500 million, mostly in grapes, nuts and crustaceans.

The announcement came hours after the UAE’s Ministry of Defense said its air defense systems had detected two ballistic missiles fired from Tehran toward maritime traffic, with both falling into the sea, one within the UAE’s territorial waters.

“The Ministry of Defense confirms that it is on high alert and readiness to deal with any threats, and to firmly confront everything that targets undermining the state’s security or the security of navigation in the region, thereby ensuring the preservation of the state’s sovereignty, security and stability, and protecting its interests and national capabilities,” it said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected the accusations that Iran had launched missiles toward the UAE, saying Abu Dhabi was violating “the principle of good-neighborly relations” in doing so, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported.

According to the UAE’s Ministry of Defense, its air defenses have engaged more than 550 ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles and more than 2,265 drones fired at it by Iran since the war began on Feb. 28. However, Tuesday’s launches were the first since May.

Iran denies launching missiles at the UAE, suggesting the incident was a ‘false flag operation’.

The United Arab Emirates has imposed an indefinite trade embargo on Iran after accusing Iranian forces of firing two ballistic missiles at the country, an allegation Tehran denies.

In a statement early on Wednesday, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the decision was made in “light of escalations that undermine peace and security in the region”.

“All trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice,” it added.

The statement came after the UAE’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran, with one falling outside the country’s territorial waters and the other landing within them.

In a follow-up statement, the ministry said the missiles had been “targeting maritime traffic” and promised to “resolutely confront any attempt to undermine the security of the nation or maritime navigation in the region”.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the accusation as “baseless”, with spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei suggesting it was a “false flag operation” amid the war launched by the United States and Israel against his country.

Baghaei warned the claim “contradicts the principle of good neighbourliness” and urged regional parties to steer clear of what he called unfounded claims against Tehran, and argued that any honest assessment of the situation must also weigh the “malicious actions” of the US and Israel.

US naval blockade

Tuesday’s attack came a day after a 60-day window for US-Iranian peace talks expired without a breakthrough in the more than five-month-old conflict.

In the war’s first six weeks, Iran targeted the UAE with retaliatory strikes more than any other Gulf country, launching more than 530 ballistic missiles, dozens of cruise missiles and over 2,200 drones at what it described as US assets. Tuesday’s strike is the first targeting the UAE since May, and comes days after Abu Dhabi accused Tehran of attacking two of its state-owned ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has not claimed responsibility for the ADNOC attacks.

The trade embargo comes as the US maintains a naval blockade on Iranian ports, with President Trump signalling a pivot towards economic pressure, rather than military pressure, to compel Tehran into accepting US demands.

Mark Kimmitt, a retired US general and former assistant secretary of state, told Al Jazeera the UAE’s trade embargo could hit Iran harder than anything Washington has imposed, with Dubai having quietly become Iran’s most important trading partner, edging out both China and Turkiye to supply roughly a third of everything Iran imports each year.

The UAE had suspended direct cargo shipping between the two countries in early March, just days after the war began, and resumed trade only in late June via Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port.

“I don’t think that you can overstate or understate the importance of the trade, both financial and goods trade, between Dubai and Iran,” Kimmitt said.

That reliance runs deeper than goods on ships, given Dubai’s standing as a global financial hub, which Kimmitt said has long given Iran a discreet way to move money around international sanctions, cutting off a route Tehran has long relied on for years. “In many ways, the embargo being put on by the UAE is even more significant than the embargo being put on by the United States,” he said.

The former general said he doesn’t expect other Gulf states to follow suit immediately, predicting a “wait-and-see” approach even if Iranian attacks continue.

But he said the UAE’s move is significant enough that Tehran could interpret it as bordering on an act of war, likening it to the near-total embargo the US imposed on Japan after World War II.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Trump announces pause on 50 percent duty on Canadian exports shortly before midnight deadline.

The United States and Canada have reached a deal to avert steep tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian goods, US President Donald Trump has announced.

Trump made the announcement shortly before the expiry of a midnight deadline for imposing a 50 percent duty on a wide range of Canadian exports, including electronics, industrial machinery, furniture, and dairy products.

“I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“The great Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave!”

More to follow…

Published on
11/08/2026 – 13:25 GMT+2

Crude and US Treasury yields rose together as traders judged that the exchange of compensation demands between the US and Iran has pushed any potential deal further out of reach.

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The US president said on Monday he had told his negotiators to seek payment from Iran for Americans killed and wounded in attacks he attributes to Tehran going back decades, including the bombing of the USS Cole in the year 2000 and for Iranians killed in protest crackdowns.

In a follow-up post on Truth Social he expanded on the demand, saying Iran should also pay for “the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza”.

Tehran, whose representatives had sought compensation for five months of US and Israeli bombardment, says the Strait of Hormuz will stay shut until Washington lifts its naval blockade, ends sanctions and releases frozen Iranian assets.

The front month contract on Brent traded at around $89.8 a barrel on Tuesday and West Texas Intermediate at about $84.2, both up roughly 2.5%.

The US bond market read it the same way, with yields rising across the US curve in a modest global sell-off, the two-year over 4.25%, the ten-year above 4.7% and the thirty-year higher than 5.27%. The yields for all durations are trading at the highs of this year.

Since yields move inversely to prices, the rise means investors are selling government debt as they expect that costlier oil will feed into inflation and strengthen the case for higher interest rates.

Money markets now put roughly even odds on a Federal Reserve rate hike in September, with July inflation data due on Wednesday.

Control claimed, traffic missing

The current stalling of US-Iran negotiations is deliberate as US President Donald Trump appears to have been favouring a slower approach as of late.

The US president told Axios in an interview published on Sunday that the US is “low-keying it,” meaning Washington was only semi-negotiating and content to watch Iran’s inflation and empty coffers do the work, a signal he is prepared to let economic pressure mount rather than order a fresh military campaign.

In the Oval Office on Monday, he struck a triumphant note, claiming the US controls “100%” of the Strait of Hormuz, that only the US Navy holds sway in the region, that American forces have swept it clear of Iranian mines and that the blockade of Iranian ports is impenetrable.

However, shipping data tells another story.

Confirmed crossings have run at 6 to 11 vessels a day recently, against the 130 to 140 daily before the war, according to Kpler data, leaving traffic at a fraction of normal levels throughout the five-month conflict.

Serbia and Ukraine have agreed to deepen economic cooperation, with both sides pledging to finalise a long-stalled free trade agreement by the end of the year as Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic hosted his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Belgrade.

The commitment came on the final day of a two-day visit that concluded on Saturday, Zelenskyy’s first to Serbia since taking office in 2019. The two leaders have met several times previously, most recently in Kyiv on July 15.

Speaking at a joint news conference, Vucic said Serbia would support Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union and maintain its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including territories seized by Russia since 2014.

Belgrade has, however, refused to impose sanctions on Russia, its longtime ally.

Ukraine, for its part, has not recognised Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. Serbia considers Kosovo part of its territory.

“You have never heard a single bad word about our country, neither from Volodymyr Zelenskyy nor anyone else [in Ukraine], and I am extremely grateful to our Ukrainian friends for that,” Vucic said.

“Our cooperation is expanding and will become much bigger,” he told reporters, adding that Serbia would help rebuild Ukrainian cities damaged by Russia’s invasion.

Long-delayed free trade agreement

The proposed free trade agreement has been under discussion for more than two decades, with both countries now aiming to complete a deal by the end of the year.

The agreement is crucial to Serbia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization and is a prerequisite for its EU membership. Ukraine has blocked a deal since 2005 over quotas and tariffs affecting its agricultural sector.

Both leaders pointed to progress on the agreement as a sign of strengthening economic ties, alongside Serbian commitments to provide humanitarian aid and infrastructure and energy support to Ukraine this winter.

Zelenskyy said the two leaders had discussed joint infrastructure projects as well as cooperation on energy and food security before the winter, saying that “virtually not a single thermal power plant remains intact” in Ukraine because of Russian strikes.

He said Russian attacks had also damaged railway stations, hospitals, universities and civilian businesses, and thanked Serbia for preparing a new humanitarian aid package focused particularly on the medical and energy sectors.

“We are developing all formats of cooperation which can give our people … more resilience,” Zelenskyy said.

In a post on X on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he also discussed economic and logistics projects with Serbian Prime Minister Duro Macut, including the Danube Corridor and closer links between Ukraine, the Western Balkans and the EU.

Zelenskyy thanked Serbia for pledging 2 million euros ($2.3m) to support Ukraine’s energy sector.

The two countries also signed a memorandum on animal health and food safety, according to the Kyiv Post. The agreement was signed by Serbia’s Agriculture Minister Dragan Glamocic and Ukraine’s ambassador to Serbia, Oleksandr Lytvynenko.

Serbia balances EU ambitions and Russia ties

Vucic expressed doubts that either Serbia or Ukraine would secure rapid EU membership.

“I wish Ukraine every success, but this is not just a merit-based process,” he said, noting that the bloc has not admitted a new member since Croatia joined in 2013.

He also warned that he did not expect the war in Ukraine to end soon.

“I’m very afraid that we’re in for a very difficult winter – especially for Ukrainians,” Vucic said, according to the Kyiv Post.

Belgrade had condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but it has resisted joining Western sanctions against Moscow. Serbia also remains dependent on Russia for most of its gas.

At the same time, Serbia has sought to reduce some of its military dependence on Russia, including through an agreement to replace its ageing Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets with French Rafale aircraft.

The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Serbia of selling ammunition that ultimately reached Ukraine through intermediaries. Belgrade has denied supplying ammunition to Ukraine, but has said it sells ammunition to buyers around the world.

Vucic and Zelenskyy said military cooperation was not discussed during the visit.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. It’s too hot. I’m convinced that the Earth has been torn from its orbit and is hurtling toward the sun.

Trade deadline review

The Dodgers made some acquisitions at the deadline, the big one being Tarik Skubal. Let’s take a look:

Acquired Skubal from the Tigers for minor leaguers Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith

Andrew Friedman recently told reporters, “There just aren’t that many star-level players in the game. Any time one is available, we’re always going to participate in those conversations.”

Participate he did, as the Dodgers got the top player available. Skubal won the last two AL Cy Young Awards when he went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA in 2024 and 13-6 with a 2.21 ERA last season, leading the league in ERA both seasons. He also led in strikeouts in 2024 with 228. Last season he struck out 241. You can see all of his stats here.

Skubal was taken by Detroit out of Seattle University in the ninth round of the 2018 draft. He reached the majors in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, going 1-4 with a 5.63 ERA in eight starts. He has gotten better each season since until this season, where he is 7-6 with an ERA of “only” 2.81.

Skubal was born in Hayward, Calif., on Nov. 20, 1996. He was a freshman All-American for Seattle in 2015, then missed most of the 2016 and all of the 2017 season after having Tommy John surgery. He pitched again in 2018 and was drafted by Detroit.

After winning his second Cy Young last season, he set the arbitration record by getting $32 million for 2026 (the Tigers had countered with $19 million). On May 4 this season, he had surgery to remove loose bodies in his pitching elbow (the same surgery Edwin Díaz had). He came back on June 13 and since then he has gone 4-4 with a 2.88 ERA in 59.1 innings, giving up 43 hits and walking 10 while striking out 77. The Dodgers will be on the hook for about $10 million of his salary this season.

Was this a good trade? Well, for now, yes, as the Dodgers are a better team with Skubal than without him. Long term, it depends on a lot of things. Will he be a key factor if they win the title again? He’s a free agent after this season, will the Dodgers re-sign him? Will the three prospects the Dodgers gave up turn out to be good to great major leaguers?

In 1987, Detroit was battling for the AL East and pulled off a deadline deal, acquiring Doyle Alexander from the Atlanta Braves. Alexander went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA for the Tigers, who won the division thanks in large part to that. So, a great trade, right?

Well, Alexander retired two years later, and the prospect the Tigers sent to the Braves turned out to be pretty good: John Smoltz.

Hope, 21, is an outfielder who has hit at every level of the minor leagues. He is hitting .291/.368/.525 at double-A this season. He is considered by all sources to be one of the top 100 prospects in baseball, ranked 63rd by Baseball America, 27th by MLB and 18th by Baseball Prospectus.

Ryan, who turns 28 this month, pitched for the Dodgers in 2024, with a 1.33 ERA in four starts. He has been hampered by injuries ever since. He had arm surgery in August 2024 that sidelined him for the 2025 season. He made eight starts for triple-A Oklahoma City this season, with a 4.46 ERA. He has great stuff, but his age and injury history indicates he might never get a real chance to show it.

Smith, 21, was drafted in the third round in 2023. He missed the 2024 season because of injuries. He made only nine starts with a 6.00 ERA last season and in 21 starts in Class A ball this season, he was 0-7 with a 4.36 ERA, striking out 113 in 74.1 innings.

Acquired Ben Rortvedt from the New York Mets for Chayce McDermott

Rortvedt is a familiar name to Dodgers fans, as he filled in admirably when needed for Will Smith last season and took the backup catcher job from Dalton Rushing. He hit only .224/.309/.327, but he seemed to always get key hits, or laid down a bunt when needed. And the pitching staff loved him. It was as if he had been a Dodgers catcher for years. Look at the team ERA by catcher last season:

Rortvedt, 2.89 (140.1 innings)
Rushing, 3.87 (325.1)
Smith, 4.00 (865.1)
Chuckie Robinson, 5.14 (seven)
Austin Barnes, 5.16 (103)

Doesn’t it seem like Barnes has been off the team for a few seasons already?

McDermott has a career 12.00 ERA in 15 major league innings.

Acquired Hunter Feduccia and Jacob Kmatz from the Tampa Bay Rays for Jack Suwinski and $250,000 in international bonus pool money

The Dodgers acquired another old friend by getting Feduccia, who is also a catcher. He played in eight games for the Dodgers in 2024 and 2025 before he was traded to Tampa Bay for Rortvedt and pitcher Paul Gervase. Feduccia is one of those Dodger prospects who never panned out, as he is hitting .207/.297/.290 in 104 major league games. But, he knows the Dodger pitching staff and the Dodgers are better with Rortvedt/Feduccia than with Robinson/Eliezer Alfonzo.

The reason the Dodgers acquired two catchers is because of some bad news. Rushing has a torn UCL in his right elbow and more than likely won’t be able to play catcher again this season, though he may be able to serve as a right-handed pinch-hitter. With Rushing out, and Will Smith still sidelined by his neck injury, the Dodgers turned toward defense. Neither Rortvedt nor Feduccia have proven to be starting catchers, but they have been solid backups. The question is, who will get the most playing time the rest of the way? They both bat left-handed.

Acquired pitcher Kris Bubic from the Kansas City Royals for Carlos Duran

This reminds me of the trade for Danny Duffy at the 2021 deadline. Duffy was a good pitcher who was injured, but the Dodgers hoped he would return in time to help down the stretch during the 2021 season. He didn’t return. They signed him in the offseason hoping he would return from injury to help during the season. He didn’t return. He then retired.

Bubic was on the 60-day IL for the Royals, and is on that IL for the Dodgers. He was an All-Star last season for the Royals, finishing the season 8-7 with a 2.55 ERA in 20 starts (116 innings). He was 3-2 with a 4.11 ERA in nine starts this season before going on the IL because of shoulder soreness. The Dodgers hope he can return before the end of the month.

But let’s not hold our breath awaiting that, OK?

Duran, 25, had a 3.38 ERA in 42.2 innings at triple-A Oklahoma City.

Acquired reliever Seth Halvorsen from the Colorado Rockies for Nick Frasso and Landyn Vidourek

This trade happened on July 20, but we will include it. Halvorsen was, wait for it, on the 15-day IL for the Rockies because of shoulder inflammation. He is currently off the IL and has pitched 5.1 scoreless innings at Oklahoma City. He reaches 100 on the radar gun and has a 4.31 career ERA in 71 innings in the majors.

Frasso, 27, was selected in the fourth round by Toronto in the 2020 draft, was sent to the Dodgers for Mitch White in 2022 and never reached the majors with L.A. He had shoulder surgery before the 2024 season and sat out the season.

Vidourek, 22, an outfielder, was chosen by the Dodgers in the third round of the 2025 draft. He has power but strikes out a lot, fanning 141 times in 317 at-bats in the minors, where he is hitting .205/.357/.369.

So, there you have it. Your new Dodgers. The Dodgers are a better team today than they were before the deadline. It guarantees nothing though. They got Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer in previous years and did not win the title.

The Dodgers rotation, if everyone is healthy:

Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Skubal
Shohei Ohtani
Blake Snell
Tyler Glasnow

Next in line: Justin Wrobleski, Roki Sasaki, Eric Lauer, Emmet Sheehan.

Here’s what the other NL contenders did. I won’t comment, because this newsletter is long enough already and there’s still another item after this one, but if you click on each player’s name, you will be taken to their stat page at baseball-reference.com.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Acquired Lars Nootbaar from the St. Louis Cardinals for Daniel Eagen, Sandro Santana and a player to be named later.

Atlanta Braves

Acquired Tyler Uberstine from the Boston Red Sox for Eli White.
Acquired Duncan Davitt from the Chicago White Sox for Joey Bart.
Acquired Brent Suter from the Angels for Nacho Alvarez Jr.
Acquired Tyler Mahle from the San Francisco Giants for Anthony Molina.
Acquired Lane Thomas and Bailey Falter from the Kansas City Royals for Carter Holton and Lucas Braun.

Chicago Cubs

Acquired Kevin Gausman from the the Toronto Blue Jays for Brett Bateman and Ty Southisene.
Acquired Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor from the New York Mets for Jefferson Rojas.
Acquired Ryan Zeferjahn from the Angels for Moises Ballesteros and Mason McGwire.
Acquired Braxton Garrett from the Miami Marlins for Jonathon Long and Jace Beck.
Acquired Aaron Civale and cash from the Athletics for Aiden Moffett.
Acquired David Peterson from the New York Mets for Cole Mathis.

Miami Marlins

Acquired Brandan Bidois, Hyun Seung Lee, and Brian Sanchez from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Lake Bachar.
Acquired Victor Vodnik from the Colorado Rockies for Connor Norby and Aiden May.
Acquired Jonathon Long and Jace Beck from the Chicago Cubs for Braxton Garrett.
Acquired Brayden Taylor, Adrian Santana and Jacob Kisting from the Tampa Bay Rays for Liam Hicks.

Milwaukee Brewers

Acquired Antonio Senzatela from the Colorado Rockies for Mark Manfredi and Juan Martinez.
Acquired Dustin May and JoJo Romero from the St. Louis Cardinals for Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale.
Acquired Bo Naylor and Codi Heuer from the Cleveland Guardians for Blake Perkins and Craig Yoho.
Acquired Braden Shewmake from the Houston Astros for cash considerations.

Philadelphia Phillies

Acquired Luis Arraez and Caleb Kilian from the San Francisco Giants for Ramon Marquez and Marty Gair.
Acquired Colby Thomas from the Athletics for Seth Johnson.
Acquired Manuel Colon and cash considerations from the Kansas City Royals for Nolan Hoffman.
Acquired Brooks Raley from the New York Mets for Luke Gabrysh and John Spikerman.

San Diego Padres

Acquired Robbie Ray from Giants for Miguel Mendez and Joniel Hernandez.
Acquired Hunter Stratton from Pirates for Andrew Moore.
Acquired Casey Mize and Gage Workman from Tigers for Kash Mayfield and Jackson Wolf.

For full reports on all the trades across the majors, I suggest visiting mlbtraderumors.com.

What, me worry?

So, the Dodgers have lost six in a row and were swept in two consecutive series. Time to worry or panic?

To find the last time the Dodgers lost six in a row and were swept in consecutive series, you have to go all the way back to … July 2025. The Dodgers woke up on July 4 leading the NL West by nine games. They then proceeded to get swept twice:

lost to Houston, 18-1
lost to Houston, 6-4
lost to Houston, 5-1
lost to Milwaukee, 9-1
lost to Milwaukee, 3-1
lost to Milwaukee, 3-2

The then lost their first game against the Giants, 8-7. After that, they were in first place by only four games.

Then they won two in a row and lost three more in a row. They went 5-13 over one stretch that month and went 10-14 in July. They lost five in a row to start September. They ended up winning the division by three games, but did not get a first-round bye.

My memory fails me, what happened in the postseason last season?

If the Dodgers get a couple of major injuries and lose like 15 in a row, then we can begin to panic. But they are going to make the postseason, and anything can happen in the postseason. They could be swept in the first round, they could win it all again. It’s all part of the ride.

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 5-5, 4.64 ERA) at Arizona (Merrill Kelly, 8-9, 5.04 ERA), 6:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 11-7, 2.76 ERA) at Arizona (Brandon Pfaadt, 6-1, 3.66 ERA), 5:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Dodgers (*Justin Wrobleski, 11-3, 3.31 ERA) at Arizona (*Eduardo Rodriguez, 10-4, 2.71 ERA), 1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

All times Pacific

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Shohei Ohtani, Pete Crow-Armstrong put on a show as NL MVP talk heats up: ‘He’s a great player’

‘Dodgers do all the right things.’ Tarik Skubal dismisses the ‘ruining baseball’ critics

Two of Rob Reiner’s children pay tribute to their late parents with Dodgers ceremonial first pitches

Dodgers add catchers Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia, pitcher Kris Bubic at trade deadline

Dodgers Debate: The Dodgers will stop at nothing to win

Inside the aggressive push Andrew Friedman and Dodgers made to acquire Tarik Skubal

Shaikin: ‘L.A. is America’s team.’ But the Brewers should have been Tarik Skubal’s team

Plaschke: Tarik Skubal trade brings Dodgers hate, envy … and another championship

And finally

Vin Scully is interviewed by Roy Firestone. Watch and listen here.

Until next time …

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Tarik Skubal is a Dodger.

The five words every baseball soul outside of Los Angeles dreaded hearing.

The Dodgers are going to three-peat.

The six words that every baseball soul everywhere must now acknowledge.

It’s over. The chase for baseball’s best pitcher, the hunt by baseball’s best team, the pennant race, the World Series, all of it.

It’s over. The Dodgers just stole it all again, three months early but right on time, their third consecutive championship cemented when they traded for the Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal, the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner and quite simply the best pitcher in baseball.

Everybody wanted him. The Dodgers were the only team with enough assets to get him. Of course they were. They always are.

And in return, they surely will win a third consecutive championship against a withering and overmatched group of pretenders that could add Skubal only in their dreams.

He cost the Dodgers minor leaguers Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith. So? None of the three is considered a top-five Dodgers prospect in what appears to be a scandalously one-sided deal.

He could be a free agent this winter and may cost $400 million to retain. So? The Dodgers have that much in their couch cushions.

The Dodgers’ injury-scarred rotation needed a stud starting pitcher like Skubal and, as this column noted last month, there was no excuse for baseball’s wealthiest and smartest team not to grab him.

So the Dodgers grabbed him. Of course they did. They are rushing full bore toward that three-peat and, to the delight of the most appreciative fans in baseball, nothing is going to get in their way.

“Everything that we do is in mind with the partnership that we have with our fans, the 50,000 people that come out here every day,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, in a Sunday afternoon news conference, later adding, “And so for us, it’s about doing our part to try to back up our end as much as we can in partnership with them to hopefully have another parade.”

Friedman has won many trades in the dozen years he’s run the Dodgers, but this may be his greatest swindle yet. Think about it. He acquired the hottest pitcher on the market for three mostly unheralded prospects nearly two full days before the trade deadline.

Geez, Detroit, you think you could have taken more time to scour the market? And with the prospect-rich Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves in the mix, you think you could have done better than one good outfielder, one injury-prone 28-year-old pitcher and one anonymous dude going nowhere?

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, can’t wait to see Tarik Skubal “in Dodger blue.”

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The Dodger player reaction was shock, disbelief then joy.

“They were fired up, obviously,” said Friedman.

Nobody was more excited than Friedman, who showed rare emotion when talking about his latest triumph.

“Watching Tarik Skubal pitch in the playoffs last year was must-see TV,” he said. “I was in awe watching the energy, the dominance he exhibited there, and I can’t wait to see it in Dodger blue.”

The rest of baseball will hate them for this. They don’t care. Critics will say this is yet another example of how they are ruining the game. They could give a rip.

A move like this — the insanely rich getting insanely richer — could be cited this winter as a reason for the game shutting down over a labor dispute. Not their problem.

With a sore Shohei Ohtani looking increasingly doubtful for a meaningful October on the mound, with Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow still sidelined because of injuries, Skubal can slide into the No. 2 spot in a rotation that, if everyone gets healthy, could wind up being the best in baseball history.

Tarik Skubal was a two-time Cy Young winner for the Detroit Tigers.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

Of course, in the immortal words of Kobe Bryant, the job is not finished.

There are still questions, even for a team that has all the answers.

Skubal is a tremendous postseason pitcher, with a 2.04 ERA in six starts, but will his surgically repaired left elbow survive through his third postseason?

After pushing 200 innings the last two seasons, he underwent a newfangled minimally invasive procedure on May 6 to remove a loose body from his elbow. Recovery time for a similar surgery performed the old-fashioned way is two to three months, but he was back on the mound in a game just a month later.

Will this new operation hold up? Time will tell, but the Dodgers will be holding their breath.

After Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Skubal, the Dodgers have another potentially big question. What do they do about Ohtani?

He’s got a balky knee, and now a painful biceps, and the Dodgers have kept him off the mound for a moment, but what happens in October?

By acquiring Skubal, the Dodgers can afford to pull Ohtani out of the rotation altogether and allow him to focus on hitting, which has taken a bit of a hit with the pitching issues. But would he accept such a move, which might feel like a demotion? Ohtani always has put winning first, but he also began the season openly acknowledging his quest for a Cy Young Award. So there’s that.

The Dodgers still will need some good fortune to round out the rotation.

Tarik Skubal returned to the mound in June after surgery to address an elbow issue.

(Jason Miller / Getty Images)

They say Snell and Glasnow are both on the verge of returning from what has essentially been season-long injuries. But, come October, they’ll both be 33, so believe only what you see.

Roki Sasaki has been tremendous since the All-Star break — that new glove has been a giant success — but he’s still never started a postseason game. And for all his surprise greatness this summer, Justin Wrobleski also has yet to start a postseason game.

It all could get interesting. But it shouldn’t be suspenseful.

Skubal solves all mysteries. Skubal ends all arguments. Skubal saves the summer.

The Dodgers are the most championship-driven and fan-devoted team in all of sports. They will do whatever it takes, however it takes, whenever it takes, to win.

Five words that unequivocally prove it.

Tarik Skubal is a Dodger.

Humanoid robots are no longer a laboratory experiment; they are a growing market. Morgan Stanley estimates it could hit $5 trillion by 2050, with more than a billion humanoids in use worldwide.

However, much of the global robot supply chain runs through China. It produces robot components at a scale and a price its competitors struggle to match.

The United States has banned imports of foreign-made humanoid robots, citing national security. It has also blocked power inverters used in data centres and solar energy systems. The move is seen as part of a broader effort to protect US industry and limit China’s technological rise.

As a wave of cheap Chinese imports has flooded the EU in recent years, Brussels is now facing a new challenge: new import routes passing through Morocco and Turkey, the EU’s neighbouring countries, where Beijing can leverage tariff-free trade agreements with the bloc.

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By investing heavily in those countries, China is seeking to circumvent the EU’s trade barriers, including the extra duties imposed by the EU on products such as electric vehicles, and channel its industrial overcapacity into the European market.

European policymakers are now bracing for a surge in low-cost Chinese goods entering duty-free through these gateway countries, thanks to an association agreement that liberalises trade with Morocco and a customs union linking Turkey to the EU.

The European Commission launched negotiations with Beijing in June in a bid to rebalance a trade relationship that has left the EU with a €1 billion deficit. However, it is not guaranteed to reach concrete results by October — the deadline set by Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

Brussels has already made clear it is prepared to deploy new unilateral trade defence measures. But Beijing is becoming increasingly adept at getting around the EU’s traditional trade tools, particularly trade defence tariffs.

Its circumvention strategy is now to go through Morocco and Turkey, which are becoming the new front line in the EU’s trade battle with China.

Billions in investments

Over the last four years, these investments have reached a record $6 billion in Morocco and $2 billion in Turkey, according to Rhodium Group, an independent research provider.

Cairo is also attracting Chinese money, with $6 billion invested in 2025 alone. But Chinese products made in Egypt are mainly exported to the US and Gulf countries.

In Morocco, Beijing has been investing in an entire electric vehicles (EV) manufacturing ecosystem. “There is a genuine long-term trend that began after COVID-19. We are seeing Chinese companies setting up operations in the country to manufacture high-value-added goods,” Armand Meyer, an expert at Rhodium Group, told Euronews.

Chinese battery producer Gotion is settling in the country, along with BTR, Tinci and Huayou, which produce battery materials, APG, an automotive brake manufacturer, and Sentury Tire, a tyre maker. All will soon have factories in Morocco.

The EU, which hit Chinese EVs with anti-subsidy duties in 2024, is concerned about China’s move into neighbouring countries.

In Turkey, part of the investment targets the local market, while Chinese export plans also threaten European producers. China’s EV giant BYD was granted preferential access to the Turkish market to build a factory, although the project has been suspended for now.

“The idea was to build a mega-factory in exchange for an exemption from Turkish import duties, as Turkey imposes tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles,” Meyer said. Chinese home appliance maker Haier is also investing in the country, as is Astronergy, which manufactures solar panels.

China’s manufacturing push in those countries spans multiple sectors, exploiting trade agreements with the EU that cover a wide range of products.

“The free trade agreements with Morocco and Turkey cover almost all goods. So it’s complicated to counter the Chinese export strategy,” Thomas Grjebine, an economist at the French Centre for Research and Expertise on the World Economy, told Euronews.

Grjebine added that China has understood these countries can serve as “a staging ground”, with investments rising year after year.

“Investments in these gateway countries account for about a quarter of China’s total investment in Europe and the Maghreb,” he said.

Reducing Morocco and Turkey’s access to the EU market

However, in March, the Commission proposed a landmark bill called the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) which aims to protect the EU market from foreign competitors — provoking anger from China.

The IAA creates a European preference for access to public procurement and EU public funding schemes, ruling out non-EU countries under certain conditions. China was targeted in particular, leading to threats of retaliation from Beijing.

All foreign countries are now lobbying EU lawmakers, who are discussing the bill, to be considered trusted partners, allowing their products to qualify as “Made in Europe”.

Industries with parts of their value chains outside the EU are also urging MEPs to include those countries. Euronews has learnt that ACEA, for instance, which represents European carmakers in Brussels, has been lobbying EU lawmakers to include Morocco, where many European manufacturers have production plants.

Paradoxically, if Morocco and Turkey — where European carmakers are also established — were considered trusted partners whose products could be labelled “Made in Europe”, it would also serve Beijing’s interests — despite fierce competition with the EU in the automotive sector — as China is building factories there.

“The Chinese know full well that a number of companies have located part of their value chain in those countries and are lobbying hard to ensure that Morocco and Turkey are not excluded from what is considered ‘Made in Europe’,” French socialist MEP Pierre Jouvet told Euronews.

“This is part of Beijing’s investment and tariff circumvention strategy,” he said.

The MEP is campaigning to exclude Morocco and Turkey from the scope of the IAA unless both countries open their public procurement markets to EU companies.

That position is backed by French liberal MEP Christophe Grudler and German Green MEP Anna Cavazzini, who, along with Jouvet, are expected to present a report on the issue to fellow MEPs in September.

EU trade defence instruments lack effectiveness

Without such a bill, the EU’s trade defence instruments remain modest compared with the scale of the coming wave of cheap Chinese products manufactured in those neighbouring countries.

The EU can only tackle Chinese dumping — where a product is sold below its normal value — on a product-by-product basis, as well as tariff circumvention when parts of the goods come from China and have only been assembled in Morocco or Turkey. The Commission usually assesses the value added generated in those countries before deciding whether to sanction Chinese companies with duties.

“For years, it was mostly a matter of transhipment through these countries, with Chinese exporters simply changing the certificate of origin, but defending the EU market has now become far more challenging,” Laurent Ruessmann, partner at law firm RB Legal, told Euronews.

Ruessmann has represented European glass fibre producers — whose products are used as reinforcement materials — in their fight against cheap Chinese imports. Eventually, glass fibre from China and from Chinese companies located in Egypt was hit with EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties in 2020.

But the Commission then had to open new cases involving glass fibre fabrics — used in wind turbine blades — imported from Morocco and Turkey. In 2022, it found that they were made using Chinese glass fibre already subject to EU anti-dumping duties imposed in 2020, a textbook case of tariff circumvention.

More recently, in 2025, the Commission also slapped countervailing duties on aluminium road wheels made in Morocco after concluding China had unfairly subsidised them.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Chinese companies receive up to eight times more subsidies than Western firms.

With recent investments in Morocco and Turkey, the EU executive is facing a new challenge: Chinese companies are setting up factories abroad, generating more added value in those countries than in China.

“In those cases, the Commission can no longer rely on anti-circumvention rules and has to launch a fresh investigation. The challenge is that it is much more difficult to prove dumping or unfair subsidies, making it far harder to impose duties high enough to protect the European market,” Victor Crochet of law firm Nishimura & Asahi told Euronews.

Looking at recent judgments by the Court of Justice of the European Union, however, the lawyer believes EU judges will progressively allow the Commission to be “more aggressive” towards Chinese operations located in the EU’s neighbouring countries.

“The Commission will have to come up with new instruments. It will try to push the boundaries of the concept of circumvention to keep pace with the times, even when the raw materials no longer come from China,” Crochet said.

Published on
04/08/2026 – 8:09 GMT+2

In addition to earnings reports this week, investors were also still weighing the impact from last week’s joint US-Japan currency intervention, analysts said.

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Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3% to 63,585.58, as the US dollar inched up to 157.51 Japanese yen from 157.18 yen. The euro cost $1.1511, little changed from $1.1514. The dollar was trading at 160-yen levels before regulators stepped in to boost the yen’s value after it fell to nearly 40-year lows.

Some analysts said the effectiveness of such an intervention remains uncertain as it doesn’t address the fundamental economic reasons behind the currency fluctuations, including inflation, interest rates and the relative strengths of the economies.

“A US-backed operation carries far more signaling weight than Tokyo acting alone, and the pledge of further action will give speculators pause. But any US contribution will probably be constrained by size,” a report by BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, said.

Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at global financial services firm Ebury, noted the latest effort could have some impact because it appears to signal a real change in monetary policy rather than just a one-time defensive move.

“This is an historic and meaningful development for the yen, which materially improves confidence in our mildly bullish call for the currency,” he said.

Markets unsettled

South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.3% to 6,174.72. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.2% to 9,129.00. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5% to 25,881.99, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.2% to 3,802.61.

Markets remain unsettled by swings for stocks of companies that make computer chips. They’ve been veering up and down for weeks on worries about whether their surging revenues because of the artificial-intelligence boom are sustainable.

Dow hits all-time high

On Wall Street, share prices rallied Monday after easing oil prices helped calm worries over inflation. The S&P 500 jumped 1.5% and is just 0.1% below its record set earlier this summer.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which measures a narrower slice of the US stock market, climbed 693 points or 1.3% to an all-time high, while the Nasdaq composite leaped 2.1%.

Oil prices rebound

In energy trading in Asia early Tuesday, benchmark US crude gained 84 cents to $81.18 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $1.15 to $84.92 a barrel.

A day earlier, oil prices dropped more than 5% after US President Donald Trump said over the weekend that he had decided to hold off on new strikes against Iran at the urging of allies in the region.

Brent’s price careened between $72 and $102 last month as worries rose and fell over the war in Iran and when oil tankers would be allowed to freely exit the Persian Gulf again to deliver crude to customers worldwide.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.68% from 4.75% late Friday. It remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran.

Additional sources • AP

Aug. 4 (UPI) — The U.S. military’s strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific may have killed people not involved in drug trafficking, said Sen. Tim Kaine after reviewing classified documents on the operation.

The senior Democratic lawmaker from Virginia and a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees sent President Donald Trump a letter Monday urging him to examine whether military leaders exceeded his orders by targeting people the Justice Department did not say could be legally targeted and killed.

“And once you have done so, I urge you to halt this illegal, costly and ineffective operation,” Kaine said.

Since the first strike on Sept. 2, the U.S. Southern Command has killed at least 221 people in 66 publicly acknowledged attacks, according to UPI’s count based on military press releases.

Human rights and legal experts have widely condemned the strikes as illegal extrajudicial killings carried out by the military in what is ostensibly a law enforcement matter. The Trump administration argues that it is in “armed conflict” with the drug cartels.

Little information about the strikes has been made public because much of it is classified. SOUTHCOM has responded to UPI’s requests for information on the planning and execution of these strikes by stating it does not comment on ongoing operations.

In July 2025, Trump authorized the Department of Defense through a still-classified directive to us military force against organizations he selected in a classified target list.

In September, after the strikes began, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion providing legal support for the operation, and stipulating who could be targeted in the attacks. That opinion remains classified, as does an October order from the Pentagon that contains targeting criteria SOUTHCOM is to use in carrying out these strikes.

Kaine said he had reviewed the classified documents, which often include descriptions of the targets and their activities during the kinetic operations. He said the documents make clear “that the United States is engaged in violent and fatal attacks against people far beyond those whom the OLC opinion claimed could be lawfully targeted.”

“In other words, a careful review of the available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” he said.

“They are murder victims.”

At least some of those killed in the strikes have been credibly described as fishermen who were not involved in drug trafficking. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused Trump of murdering Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza in an early September attack. The families of two men killed in October are also suing the Trump administration for damages, saying their loved ones were killed as they were heading home to Trinidad and Tobago after working as fishermen and farmers in nearby Venezuela.

Kaine’s letter follows a report by The Washington Post that found the fatal strikes have failed to curb the amount of cocaine entering the United States.

SOUTHCOM’s Operation Southern Spear, which includes the boat-strike campaign, had incurred $647 million in obligations through March, according to a Pentagon inspector general report.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Dearica Hamby scored 23 points, Nneka Ogwumike had 20 of her 22 in the second half and the Sparks — after learning star teammate Kelsey Plum was traded — ended a six-game losing streak with a 106-101 win over the Portland Fire on Sunday.

Plum, sidelined since June 21 with a leg injury, was sent to the Phoenix Mercury late Saturday night. The Sparks are now 3-9 without Plum.

Ogwumike hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:25 to play, making it 98-96. Hamby followed with a layup off an Ogwumike assist. In the last 24 seconds, Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler went six for six from the foul line.

Wheeler, Ariel Atkins, Rae Burrell and reserve Jihyun Park all added 12 points for the Sparks (11-17). Hamby and Ogwumike both had 10 rebounds and Wheeler had eight assists.

Bridget Carleton hit seven three-pointers, scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Fire (11-19), who lost their fifth straight, four times allowing 100-plus points. Carla Leite added 21 points and eight assists and Megan DiLeo scored 19.

Portland took advantage of four offensive rebounds and six Los Angeles turnovers to lead 29-22 after one quarter. The lead reached 10 in the second quarter and the Fire were up 49-43 at the break.

Wheeler and Ogwumike had back-to-back three-pointers to give the Sparks their first lead since 10-8 at 65-64. Carleton’s three in the last minute pulled the Fire into a 72-72 tie entering the fourth quarter.

Up next for the Sparks: Play at Chicago on Wednesday.

High-beta momentum (SPMO) is starting to resemble past boom-bust cycles, although BTIG is stopping short of calling the trade a bubble.

In a note titled “The Anatomy of a Bubble,” BTIG technical strategist Jonathan Krinsky said the firm is “not calling High-Beta Momentum

The Sparks reportedly agreed to trade All-Star guard Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night, ending a brief stint in Los Angeles as the franchise continues its rebuild ahead of the WNBA trade deadline.

ESPN reported the Sparks acquired guard Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round draft pick and a 2028 second-round selection for Plum.

The move comes less than two years after the Sparks acquired Plum in a blockbuster three-team trade with the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm, sending the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft as part of the package to land the two-time champion.

The Sparks fired general manager Raegan Pebley on July 12 following two straight wins. Since then, the Sparks have lost six in a row and dropped further back in the playoff race.

Despite Plum’s individual success, the partnership never translated into team success. The Sparks entered the deadline well outside the playoff picture, and reports in recent days indicated Plum was not expected to re-sign after the season, making a trade the organization’s best opportunity to recoup assets before free agency.

Plum, who has been out because of a lower leg injury, was enjoying one of the best offensive seasons of her career before sitting out 10 games, averaging 23.9 points and 6.4 assists and while shooting 52.7% from the field and 38.3% from three-point range in 12 games. She earned another All-Star selection while serving as the focal point of the Sparks’ offense.

For Phoenix, Plum provides an immediate offensive boost. One of the league’s premier scoring guards, she brings championship experience, perimeter shooting and playmaking to a team that is trying to move back into the WNBA playoff picture. The Mercury (11-19) are 12th in the standings just behind the Sparks (10-17).

The Sparks, meanwhile, are stuck in their rebuild limbo, with several veterans on long-term contracts and just Rae Burrell on an expiring contract.

The trade is one of the most significant moves before the WNBA deadline on Sunday and could reshape the championship race. But for the Sparks, it’s just another indicator that they are still searching for a way to contend.

World Series champions for the past two years add Skubal to star-studded roster that already includes Shohei Ohtani.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired the biggest prize on the trade deadline market, getting two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers.

Skubal got the news on Saturday night during the Tigers’ 8-6 win over the Athletics and was emotional after the game as he prepared to leave the team that drafted him in 2018 and developed him into a pitching star to join the World Series champions for the past two years.

“I’m excited to be a Dodger,” he said. “I’m excited to get down there and meet all those guys and chase three championships in a row. That’s hard to do, so I’m so excited to be a part of that. But it’s a lot of different emotions. Definitely kind of a roller-coaster a little bit.”

Skubal is the latest star to join the high-priced roster for the Dodgers, which already has big-name players like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mookie Betts.

If everyone is healthy, he could be part of a rotation with Ohtani, reigning World Series MVP Yamamoto, fellow two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. The Dodgers lead the majors with a 3.36 ERA from their starting pitchers and now add Skubal to the mix.

The Dodgers are in first place in the National League West and before adding Skubal were already the favourites to become the first team to three-peat since the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2000.

ESPN first reported the deal and said the Tigers would receive three minor league prospects in right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith and outfielder Zyhir Hope.

Skubal is eligible for free agency after the World Series in October. He has a $32m annual salary, a record total in arbitration after the team offered $19m, and is expected to sign an enormous contract in the off-season.

The 29-year-old left-handed pitcher said in July that it was his preference to finish the season with the Tigers and to compete for a World Series championship, which has eluded the franchise since 1984. Skubal said it was “very tough” to leave the Tigers having fallen short of the goal of winning a title.

Skubal is 7-5 this season with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings. He is 61-42 with a 3.04 ERA over seven seasons, all in Detroit. In two postseasons, Skubal is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in six starts.

Skubal had a minimally invasive surgery on May 6 to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow and returned to pitch on June 13.

“The way the surgery went is exactly how it was supposed to go,” he said in July.

Your team could have done this.

Is baseball headed for a lockout this winter? Yes.

Because the Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal? No.

The Dodgers play a video before each home game, which includes these words from a sinister-sounding voice: “You need teams like us to point your finger and say, ‘That’s the bad guy.’ ”

In this case, “you” means the owners of the other 29 teams. You can hear them wailing now: Baseball is rigged, and only a salary cap can unrig the sport. The Dodgers are the back-to-back champions, and they just picked up the best player on the trade market.

They. Have. Too. Much. Damn. Money.

But here’s the thing: All the money the Dodgers lavish upon their major league roster isn’t what made the trade for Skubal possible.

Oh, all that money helped put them in position to where Skubal could help them in October, but Skubal could have helped the Milwaukee Brewers or the Chicago Cubs or the Tampa Bay Rays or the Atlanta Braves or the New York Yankees or the Philadelphia Phillies.

When the Detroit Tigers took bids for Skubal, they liked the Dodgers’ offer the best. And here is what the Dodgers offered: three prospects, none a first-rounder, none ranked among baseball’s top 20 prospects.

Outfielder Zyhir Hope was drafted in the 11th round, by the Cubs. When the Cubs needed a corner infielder, the Dodgers shipped them a surplus major leaguer, Michael Busch, in exchange for two prospects. One was Hope, whose professional experience was limited to 11 games of rookie ball.

Pitcher River Ryan was drafted in the 11th round, by the San Diego Padres. When the Padres needed a left-handed bat that could play the outfield, the Dodgers shipped them a surplus major leaguer, Matt Beaty, for a prospect that had yet to make his professional debut, Ryan.

Pitcher Brady Smith was drafted in the third round, by the Dodgers. This is his second professional season.

The Dodgers developed Hope and Ryan from minor leaguers into top prospects, and the Tigers hope some of that Dodgers development dust has rubbed off on Smith.

Tarik Skubal delivers during a game between the Detroit Tigers and the Baltimore Orioles on July 29.

(Paul Sancya / Associated Press)

For now? The prospect rankings on the league website put Hope at No. 25 and Ryan at No. 68. The Baseball America prospect rankings put Hope at No. 55, with Ryan outside the top 100. Neither ranking includes Smith among the top 100.

As Baseball America editor-in-chief J.J. Cooper wrote, Hope was the third-best outfielder on the Dodgers’ double-A team.

That might be the greatest testament of all to the Dodgers’ player development system, particularly considering all of their winning means they draft at the end of every round, every year.

Maybe the trio of prospects never pans out, at least not the way the Tigers hope. Two of three prospects traded at the deadline never do, according to Baseball America research.

Will money come into play here? Yes, but not yet. Skubal is a free agent at the end of the season, and not every team could afford $300 million or $400 million or so to sign him to a long-term contract.

But, for these final months of the season, the cost to pay Skubal is $9 million. Any team can do that. And, if the owner of your team tells you he could not have done that, the proper response would be to laugh, and then chant “Sell the team!”

And, as the Brewers and Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays prove just about every year, any team can afford to build an excellent player development system.

Look, I am not going to try to tell you that every team could sign Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts and Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker.

But the New York Mets, in the largest market in the major leagues, certainly could. Their Saturday was not spent trading for Skubal. It was spent taking trade offers for players on their last-place team and commemorating the 40th anniversary of their 1986 World Series championship team — their last championship team.

In Anaheim, the last-place team in the second-largest market in the major leagues lost to the Brewers, the team in the smallest market in the major leagues — and, as of Saturday, the team with the best record in the majors.

Market size need not be destiny, if you can scout and sign and coach and develop players. The owners could learn from that, but it’s easier to point at the Dodgers and say, “That’s the bad guy.”

Instead, some poor league employee probably stayed up late Saturday night, planning how to splice clips of Skubal wearing a Dodgers uniform into the “Level the Playing Field” ad campaign the owners are running to persuade fans to take their side in collective bargaining. Imagine what they could do with clips of Skubal waving to fans in a championship parade.

Clashes near Sheraro mark one of the most serious threats yet to the fragile 2022 Pretoria peace deal.

Fighting has broken out in western Tigray, in one of the most serious breaches yet of the three-year-old peace deal between Ethiopia’s federal government and fighters in the northern region.

Tigray’s regional government said in a statement from Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital, that federal forces opened the assault at dawn on Saturday, advancing from the direction of Sheraro, near the Sudanese border.

Abraham Belay, a government minister who led Tigray’s transitional government during the war, confirmed the clashes but accused Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) chairman Debretsion Gebremichael’s forces of starting them.

“Enough war! Let us resolve our differences through dialogue,” he said in a post on Facebook.

The fighting follows months of deteriorating relations between Addis Ababa and the TPLF, the party that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.

Both sides have accused each other of failing to implement the provisions of the 2022 peace agreement.

Tigrayan authorities said Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party has waged a long blockade and drone campaign against the region, adding that this had now escalated into full-scale war.

The regional government urged Tigrayan forces, civil society and religious institutions to prepare for a struggle it called one of national survival, using the slogan “No to National Destruction”.

Getachew Reda, a former TPLF spokesman who now advises Abiy, separately urged the Tigray Defence Forces commanders to abandon Debretsion, accusing him of relying on Eritrea and Amhara’s Fano militia to force his way back to power.

Reda and Redwan Hussein, Ethiopia’s intelligence chief, who signed the Pretoria deal for TPLF and the federal government respectively in 2022, co-wrote an Al Jazeera op-ed in June warning that war was imminent.

Kjetil Tronvoll, an Ethiopia specialist at Oslo New University College, told Al Jazeera that the fighting marked the “most serious incident” since the 2022 peace deal. The deal, Tronvoll added, halted the war between the two parties but left “the core reasons of conflict between Mekelle and Addis” unresolved.

In the days running up to the armed clashes, Ethiopian state media ran a campaign accusing Debretsion by name of rallying Tigrayans toward war.

The fighting caps months of escalating confrontation since the Pretoria Agreement of November 2022, which ended a war that began two years earlier and killed hundreds of thousands, but left unresolved deeper disputes over disarmament and the TPLF’s legal status.

In June, the United States imposed visa restrictions on what it said were TPLF “hardliners” accused of blocking peace. The TPLF described it as being based on an “incomplete and imbalanced” picture of the standoff.

By mid-July, TPLF had declared the Pretoria agreement “effectively dead”, even as US Ambassador Ervin Massinga travelled to Mekelle to try to preserve the deal.

Faisal Roble, a regional analyst, told Al Jazeera that the beginning of the fighting was a sign that efforts to resolve the dispute between the parties by the US had not succeeded.

“Without a powerful international intervention,” he said, “we could be heading to a much larger war.”

United States economic growth slowed in the second quarter of 2026 amid a growing deficit and increasing inflationary pressures.

US gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.5 percent between April and June. That is a sharp decline from 2.1 percent growth in the first quarter of the year, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report released on Thursday.

A widening trade deficit is a key reason why GDP is slowing, as is a jump in petrol prices, experts say.

“It’s a classic supply shock. The combination of tariffs and oil price spikes is exactly what a macroeconomist would expect to happen,” Michael Klein, professor of international economic affairs at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, told Al Jazeera.

The US has increased purchases of goods like semiconductors, telecommunications equipment, and industrial equipment, according to BEA data. Business investment in equipment rose by more than 15 percent in the second quarter. Those are essentially the elements needed for the ongoing investment boom to support the growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

“Imports rose due to the investment and consumption driver, and so net exports were a drag on overall growth. Overall, the US is investing and consuming more but not producing more,” Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera.

Exports have not kept pace. The trade deficit in May grew to $77.6bn, a 42 percent increase from the month before, according to BEA data.

Exports tumbled by 3.2 percent to $317.7bn, and imports rose by 3.3 percent to $395.3bn.

This comes as countries around the globe seek to reduce their dependence on the US due to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

Among them is Canada, historically one of the US’s biggest trading partners. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has pursued new trade deals with China and Saudi Arabia in recent months, for example, as Trump has slapped steep tariffs on the country, threatened to annex it and called it the 51st state, and refused to renew a trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

Are US tensions with Iran a factor?

In the second quarter, energy prices fluctuated greatly over the past few months. For US consumers, that was mostly reflected in petrol prices. During the second quarter, US petrol prices hit $4.48 per gallon (3.78 litres) in May.

They later retreated to $3.96 per gallon by the end of June. But the reprieve was short-lived as a fragile peace deal failed to take hold, with petrol prices increasing throughout July after the deadline for data to be included in second-quarter GDP had passed. Prices have since moved back above the $4 mark.

Petrol prices drove inflation for much of the second quarter. Between March and April, petrol prices jumped 5.4 percent. The next month, they jumped another 7 percent. They eased between May and June, falling 9.7 percent as global benchmark prices pulled back.

According to analysis from Bank of America, discretionary spending surged in June, the final month of the second quarter, as spending on products outside of petrol jumped while fuel prices temporarily eased.

“With gasoline prices easing in June, total card spending excluding gas surged 5.6% YoY [year over year] – also the strongest growth since April 2022,” the report said.

How can the GDP recover?

US consumers have ramped up spending on prescription drugs, automobiles like light trucks, and new furniture. There was also increased spending in areas like restaurants and hotels, suggesting that consumers remain somewhat resilient.

But, says Fletcher School’s Klein, that spending is by high-income earners, a trend that indicates a K-shaped economy, which is when the wealthy thrive, while lower-income consumers and small businesses face tougher economic conditions.

“The continued consumption growth of those who are better off depends upon things like the stock market staying strong and housing prices staying strong, because people feel wealthier through the value of their house or their stock portfolios, so they’ll spend more. But by a number of measures, the stock market seems to be very highly valued,” Klein, who also authors the EconoFact economic analysis website, told Al Jazeera.

Overall, consumer confidence fell for the third straight month in July, according to a Conference Board report released on Tuesday. Consumers attributed the decline to “current business conditions”, and the organisation expects “little improvement” for the remainder of the year.

Business investment would also need to surge more broadly to lift the wider economy. While there has been a boom in the AI sector, other industries have not been as eager to keep their inventories stocked.

Klein says consistent trade policies would change that.

“The pervasive uncertainty in the economy will affect businesses’ decisions on hiring and investing. That can also contribute to the slowdown, because, in an uncertain environment, businesses don’t want to make decisions that have long-lasting consequences when they have little idea of what the future will look like,” Klein said.

Creating economic conditions that encourage consumers and businesses to spend would help drive up GDP in the coming quarters. However, uncertain trade policies and concerns about widespread layoffs, as has been the case in several tech companies, have made consumers more cautious with the pocket books.

“If people were more secure and felt that their jobs would be there next year; if they felt that things weren’t more expensive and they could afford to spend more. But those are not easy fixes, right? And talk is not going to change what people rightly perceive as a fraught situation,” Klein added.

GDP grew by 1.5 percent in the second quarter following a 2.1 percent increase in first quarter.

Economic growth in the United States slowed in the second quarter amid a growing trade deficit and tensions between the US and Iran which weighed on global fuel prices.

The US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of goods and services, grew by 1.5 percent between April and June, marking a slowdown from 2.1 percent growth in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis report released on Thursday.

Consumer spending saw a bump of 3.2 percent for the quarter, both on the back of generous tax refunds from US President Donald Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ as well as heightened petrol prices that cost consumers.

Fuel prices are on the upswing after a brief reprieve. The average price for a gallon of petrol (3.78 litres) is $4.09, up from $3.84 this time last month, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), which tracks daily petrol prices. By comparison, the average price was $2.98 when the US and Israel first struck Iran on February 28 .

Analysts also point to the artificial intelligence spending boom as a reason for the surge, even as those are heavily import reliant and contributing to trade deficits.

“Overall, the economy continues to rely on technology investment,” Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera.

That will likely continue into third-quarter reports, which will take into account the month of July. On Monday, it was reported that Nvidia is in talks to make a $250m investment in OpenAI.

However, there are concerns about how long such investments will last amid questions over circular financing propping up the sector.

“Data centres continue to drive investment and economic growth, increasing the sector’s role in the economy while raising questions about its sustainability,” Ziemba said.

Meanwhile, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price (PCE) Index report, one of the US Federal Reserve’s key metrics for gauging the rate of inflation, increased 3.7 percent on an annual basis for the month of June after a 4.1 percent surge in May.

The slowdown was marked by a brief retreat in petrol prices last month before they climbed higher again over the past month.

“Today’s report is a snapshot of an economy under a ceasefire that no longer exists. Even with last month’s temporary inflation relief, prices are still elevated and families are saving less as they try to keep up,” Alex Jacquez, a member of the National Economic Council under former US President Joe Biden, said in a note provided to Al Jazeera.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve opted to maintain interest rates at 3.5-3.75 percent.

US markets are on the upswing in midday trading, largely driven by an increase in Microsoft stock amid better-than-expected sales and growth in cloud services. Markets have also risen following the PCE and GDP reports.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 2.6 percent, with the S&P 500 following at 1.2 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.5 percent.

Gold prices, which are typically considered a safe investment during economic uncertainty, extended their gains by 1.9 percent to $4,108.30 per ounce after rising 2 percent on Wednesday.

Dodgers defeat the Mariners

From Maddie Lee: Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman all but confirmed Wednesday that the team would be in contact with the Tigers to gauge their asking price for reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.

“There just aren’t that many star-level players in the game,” Friedman said Wednesday afternoon when asked how aggressive the Dodgers would be in pursuing big-name players. “Any time one is available, we’re always going to participate in those conversations. We’ve shown to be very aggressive in the past. … We’ve traded a lot of really talented young players.

“But we’re able to be in those conversations because of the incredible work by our scouts and our front office and our player development group that has our farm system in such a strong spot to be able to talk to any team basically about any player.”

All that was expected. Checking in is simply due diligence.

Friedman avoided showing his hand when asked the odds of the Dodgers (68-40) acquiring a player like that at the Aug. 3 deadline.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not in the handicapping business.”

Before the Dodgers’ 4-2 win against the Mariners on Wednesday, they activated closer Edwin Díaz and designated left-hander Charlie Barnes for assignment. Díaz earned the save in his first major-league appearance since undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow in late April, giving up two hits and a run.

Continue reading here

‘Do we consider pushing this?’ Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound remains unclear

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Angels trade O’Hoppe, Silseth

The Angels traded reliever Chase Silseth and struggling catcher Logan O’Hoppe to the Texas Rangers for minor league third baseman Angel Arredondo on Wednesday night.

The deal, announced a few minutes before the Angels’ series finale against the Houston Astros, could mark the beginning of an extensive rebuilding process for the Angels, who entered play Wednesday with an American League-worst 42-66 record and 13 1/2 games behind the Rangers in the AL West.

“We know we have to start shaking up this roster, and today was day one,” Angels interim general manager John Mozeliak said. “Clearly, where the Angels are at right now, we need to do things differently.”

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Angels are swept by the Astros

Shaikin: Can a new minor league team in Irvine attract fans if the Angels are so affordable?

Angels box score

MLB standings

Update on how to get Olympics tickets

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: After 4 million tickets sold and maybe a million more headaches, the Olympic ticket booth opens again this week.

LA28 sold a record number of tickets during its first drop in April, signaling unprecedented interest in the Olympics as they return to Southern California for the first time since 1984. High prices, service fees and unavailable seats frustrated fans but did not deter them. In fact, interest in the Games has only grown since April’s first drop.

LA28 announced Wednesday that more than 12 million people from more than 200 countries have registered for tickets, a dramatic increase from the 5 million registrants the organizing committee boasted in late February before the first ticket drop.

Sports from the traditional standbys (artistic gymnastics) to the newest additions (flag football, lacrosse and squash) all sold through their first-drop availability. The second drop that begins Wednesday offers “refreshed inventory across all Olympic sports,” LA28 said.

Here’s what to know about the next ticketing phase:

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Bob Chesney is ready to win

From Ryan Kartje: In the nearly nine months since he was hired as head coach at UCLA, Bob Chesney has won over a lot of hearts and minds with his unwavering sense of belief.

First, he won over his star quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, who opted to stick with the Bruins after a 3-9 season a year ago. He won over 45 new transfers, who came to UCLA as part of the portal’s 11th-ranked class and seems to be winning over recruits, too, with UCLA currently ranked in the top 10 among 2027 classes. He even won over once-dormant Bruin donors, who, according to the school’s athletic department, have now poured over $41 million in private support into UCLA athletics over the last fiscal year, an increase of 80% from the previous year.

“It’s his energy, man,” Iamaleava said. “He brings a different type of energy.”

At this point, the only thing it seems Chesney hasn’t won yet at UCLA is an actual football game.

He couldn’t do anything about that Wednesday from the podium at Big Ten media days. But as the season draws nearer and a new era of Bruin football begins, all the enthusiasm does beg the question: What does a successful debut actually look like for Chesney at UCLA?

Chesney said Wednesday he had no interest in setting those expectations or “in putting artificial limits on ourselves.”

“Outcomes have to be earned,” he said. “And I think in the end, potential is a gift, right? The work is becoming. That’s the work.”

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It’s time for the Sparks to trade Kelsey Plum

From Bill Plaschke: Another failed summer. Another broken promise.

The most underachieving team on the Los Angeles sports landscape is embarrassingly stumbling through another season.

The Sparks stink. Again.

They’re not making the playoffs. Again.

There’s no reason to watch them even though there’s more than a month left on their schedule. Again.

For the sixth consecutive season, one of the WNBA’s legacy franchises has come apart at the seams, tattering the franchise’s three-championship history with a sordid record that mandates a clear response.

Trade your best player.

Trade Kelsey Plum.

The trade deadline is Sunday so do it quickly, and do it boldly, sending her to the sort of playoff contender who would find her worthy of young talent and draft picks.

Trade KP and do it now.

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Chargers feel good as camp opens

From Sam Farmer: If there’s a day of uncontaminated enthusiasm on the NFL calendar it’s the first day of training camp. Everyone’s healthy, everyone’s hopeful, and the Super Bowl is seemingly in reach for everyone.

A few thousand Chargers fans were at the team facility Wednesday to watch the inaugural practice, and afterward coach Jim Harbaugh and many of the players stuck around to sign autographs, pose for selfies and make small talk. It was the kind of scene unfolding all around the NFL.

“It was amazing,” said All-Pro safety Derwin James of the practice. “Kind of like the first day of school.”

Were they to receive a grade for their first two seasons under Harbaugh, the Chargers might get an incomplete. They played well enough to make the playoffs in both seasons — overcoming a dizzying array of injuries on the offensive line a year ago — yet failed to show up in the postseason, suffering lopsided losses at Houston and New England.

Harbaugh said the first day of camp feels like “Christmas morning” to him. When asked whether the entire team was full speed and ready to go, he made the analogy of an airplane gathering speed down a runway before achieving flight. There’s a deliberate ramp-up to the intensity of training camp, he said.

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This day in sports history

1870 — Monmouth Park opens with a five-day meet.

1930 — Host Uruguay beats Argentina 4-2 for soccer’s first World Cup in Montevideo.

1932 — The 10th modern Olympic Games open in Los Angeles.

1961 — Jerry Barber edges Don January by one stroke in a playoff to win the PGA title at Olympia Fields in Illinois.

1966 — England beats West Germany 4-2 at London’s Wembley Stadium to capture soccer’s World Cup.

1971 — In the NFL Chicago All-Star Game, the Baltimore Colts beat the All-Stars 24-17.

1976 — Bruce Jenner sets the world record in the Olympic decathlon with 8,618 points, breaking Nikolai Avilov’s mark by 164 points.

1984 — Michael Gross of West Germany sets a world record in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:47.44 at a meet in Munich.

1996 — The American softball team wins the gold medal, beating China 3-1 behind a controversial two-run homer from Dot Richardson in the first Olympic competition in that sport.

2009 — Seven more world records on the fifth night of the world swimming championships in Rome are set, pushing the total to 29 and moving past last summer’s Beijing Olympics. Ryan Lochte gets things rolling by breaking Phelps’ mark in the 200-meter individual medley. The Chinese women finish it off, eclipsing the 800 freestyle relay mark by more than two seconds, with the Americans also breaking the previous record but only getting silver.

2012 — In London, Missy Franklin, a 17-year-old from Colorado, wins the women’s 100-meter backstroke. Franklin has a brief 13-minute break after taking the final qualifying spot in the 200 freestyle semifinals before she had to get back into the water for the backstroke final. Ruta Meilutyte, 15, becomes the first Lithuanian to win an Olympic swimming medal by holding off a late charge from world champion Rebecca Soni of the U.S. in the 100 breaststroke.

2013 — Katie Ledecky crushes the world record in the 1,500 freestyle for her second gold medal at the world swimming championships in Barcelona, Spain. The 16-year-old American finishes with a time of 15:36.53 to beat the previous mark by more than 6 seconds — Kate Ziegler’s 15:42.54 in 2007.

2015 — North Korea wins its first gold medal at the world aquatics championships through 16-year-old Kim Kuk Hyang in women’s 10-meter diving. In her first international competition, Kim produces a stunning final dive, earning two perfect 10 scores from the seven judges, for a total of 397.05 points. On the next dive, the leader up to that point, world champion Si Yajie of China, makes an error to drop to fourth.

2021 — South African swimmer Tatjana Shoemaker sets a new women’s 200m breaststroke world record of 2:18.95 at the Tokyo Olympics.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1917 — Ty Cobb, Bobby Veach and Ossie Vitt, each went 5-for-5 in Detroit’s 16-4 romp over Washington.

1933 — Dizzy Dean struck out 17 Cubs for the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat Chicago 8-2.

1947 — The New York Giants defeated Ewell Blackwell and the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 in 10 innings, ending Blackwell’s 16-game winning streak.

1959 — Willie McCovey had four hits in four at-bats in his major league debut, with the San Francisco Giants. His hits included two triples in a 7-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

1962 — The American League, led by homers from Leon Wagner, Pete Runnels and Rocky Colavito, powered past the National League 9-4, in the second All-Star Game of the year. Wagner of the Angels was named MVP.

1968 — Washington shortstop Ron Hansen pulled off an unassisted triple play, but the Cleveland Indians still won the game 10-1.

1969 — Houston, behind grand slams by Denis Menke and Jim Wynn, scored 11 runs in the ninth inning to pound the New York Mets 16-3 in a doubleheader opener at Shea Stadium. Mets pitchers Cal Koonce and Ron Taylor gave up the slams, marking the first time this century that two grand slams were hit in the same inning of a National League game.

1973 — Jim Bibby of the Texas Rangers pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the Oakland A’s.

1980 — Houston Astros pitcher J.R. Richard had a stroke during a workout at the Astrodome and underwent surgery to remove a blood clot behind his right collarbone.

1982 — The Atlanta Braves returned Chief Noc-A-Homa and his teepee to left field after losing 19 of 21 games and blowing a 10½-game lead. The teepee was removed for more seats. The team recovered to regain first place.

1988 — John Franco of the Cincinnati Reds set a major league record with 13 saves in one month. Franco was tied with Sparky Lyle, Bruce Sutter and Bob Stanley.

1990 — George Steinbrenner was forced to resign as general partner of the New York Yankees by Commissioner Fay Vincent.

2008 — Kelly Shoppach of Cleveland tied a major league record with five extra-base hits, including a game-tying homer in the ninth, but Detroit beat the Indians 14-12 in 13 innings. Shoppach had two homers and three doubles.

2011 — The New York Yankees broke loose for 12 runs in the first inning of the nightcap of a day-night doubleheader, setting a franchise record en route to a 17-3 rout of Baltimore.

2012 — Kendrys Morales homered from both sides of the plate during a nine-run sixth inning, capping the burst with a grand slam that sent the Angels romping past the Texas Rangers 15-8. Morales became the third switch-hitter in major league history to homer as a lefty and righty in the same inning. Carlos Baerga did it for Cleveland in 1993 and Mark Bellhorn of the Chicago Cubs duplicated the feat in 2002.

2017 — Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Published on
30/07/2026 – 12:57 GMT+2

The European Commission is considering opening an investigation into imports of certain construction materials from several Balkan countries over suspicions that they were made using low-cost Chinese glass fibre already subject to EU anti-dumping duties, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The probe will focus on so-called open mesh fabrics, including thermal insulation systems.

The case comes as the European Commission continues to step up pressure on low-cost Chinese imports, which are contributing to the EU’s record-high €1 billion-a-day trade deficit with China. The commission launched negotiations with Beijing in June in a bid to rebalance trade ties, with hopes of securing tangible results by October.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič expected to travel to China in October.

At the same time, the Commission has warned that it would deploy its trade defence instruments before the deadline to counter low-cost Chinese imports, arguing that China uses unfair practices to gain access to the EU market – including strategies to circumvent EU tariffs.

Open mesh fabrics are often manufactured with Chinese glass fibre, which the Commission has accused Chinese producers of selling at unfairly low prices on the EU market, causing injury to European manufacturers. The EU has targeted glass fibre with additional duties several times in recent years, including imports from Egypt that are produced by Chinese companies.

But Chinese producers are suspected of circumventing those anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties by relying on local manufacturers in several Balkan countries to assemble open mesh fabrics using low-cost Chinese glass fibre.

The overcapacity problem

The EU produces around 1 million tonnes of melted glass annually from installations operating in eight countries, among them Germany, France and Italy.

But according to Glass Fibre Europe, which represents the glass fibre industry in Brussels, Chinese glass fibre overcapacity exceeds 100 percent of total EU market demand, raising the risk of further harm to European producers unless the EU strengthens its trade defence measures.

Over the past year, the number of cases involving alleged Chinese unfair trade practices across several industrial sectors has increased, and the Commission has been criticised for the length of its investigations.

At a summit in mid-June, EU leaders gave the Commission a mandate to review and update its trade defence instruments.

But the EU’s current trade regulation toolbox remains limited, with Commission only able to address unfair trade practices on a product-by-product basis. Additional safeguard measures – including tariffs and quotas – are also under consideration, Euronews has learned, to protect the European chemicals sector from intense Chinese competition.

The Commission was contacted for comment but did not reply.