Overview

• EU and US negotiators continue daily technical and political contacts to finalize a tariff accord targeting a 15% base duty with sectoral exemptions ahead of the Scotland summit.
• Brussels approved a €93 billion counter-tariff list covering U.S. goods such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Levi’s jeans, Boeing jets, poultry and soy to phase in from August 7 if no deal is struck.
• Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump will meet Sunday in Scotland by mutual invitation to formalize and legitimize the transatlantic tariff agreement.
• At the 50-year EU-China summit in Beijing, leaders agreed on an updated mechanism for rare earth exports and pressed Beijing to rebalance a record €305 billion trade deficit and ease market access barriers.
• EU intelligence reports reveal that China covertly shipped drone motors disguised as industrial refrigeration units to Russia, boosting its attack drone production.