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EU and US still haggling over trade deal fineprint

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Ceri Morgan appointed UK trade commissioner for Europe

Good morning (h/t Soapbox newsletter)

Senate just confirmed Andrew Puzder as US ambassador to EU.

RT @SenateCloakroom: Confirmed, 53-44: Confirmation of Executive Calendar #186 Andrew Puzder to be Representative of the United States of A….

This was not on my bingo card.

RT @DavidHenigUK: . and if you think major industries are going to relocate to the UK on the basis of a 5% tariff advantage that may not a….

Trade negotiations as prime time TV entertainment. Next up India - let’s spin the wheel…oh, it’s 25%! (Plus a penalty, whatever that means)

Say what you like about the EU’s deal with the US - but many other countries, mostly poorer countries, are still facing sky-high tariffs from 1 August and have nowhere near the same negotiating clout as Brussels. The “I’m alright jack” messaging from the EU is not a good look.

RT @vonderleyen: Together, the EU and the US are a market of 800 million people. And nearly 44 percent of global GDP. It’s the biggest t….

I’m off on holiday today for 3 weeks, I don’t suppose anything big in trade will happen during that time….

RT @vonderleyen: Following a good call with @POTUS, we have agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations,….

People told us not to refer to Trump's blanket tariffs as "reciprocal tariffs", and yet the European Commission regulation published yesterday does just that. It doesn't even qualify the term with speech marks

EU list of planned countermeasures now published here. Won’t be enacted until early August and only if there is no deal with Trump

EU diplomat tells me there is now a majority of member states who would back using the anti-coercion instrument in case Trump follows through with his tariff threats

EU member states today approved an enlarged package of countermeasures to hit US exports in case no agreement can be reached with the Trump administration. European Commission will adopt the list later today and publish it tomorrow.

European Commission says it will merge the two lists of retaliatory tariffs against the US into a single list which it plans to put to a vote by member states. A new single list makes the bloc's countermeasures “clearer, simpler, and stronger”.

EU-Japan summit joint statement, including the "competitiveness alliance" in the annex. Current geopolitics is pushing these two 'likeminded' partners closer together, including on trade and economic security

Brazilian vice president Geraldo Alckmin says Brasilia still hopes to sign the EU-Mercosur accord before the end of the year

Japan does a trade deal with the US on the day of the EU-Japan summit.