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Europe
European Commission
(Monday), 28/07/2025 European Commission chief der Leyen clinched an agreement Sunday with US President Trump. Both leaders are hailing a good deal. The key takeaways from the deal: There will be a 15-percent across-the-board rate on a majority of EU goods – the same level secured by Japan this month – with bilateral tariff exemptions on some products. 15 percent is much higher than pre-existing US tariffs on European goods averaging 4.8 percent. The deal will bring relief for the bloc’s auto sector, employing around 13 million people. A 15-percent levy will remain costly for German automakers, “but it is manageable”, said trade geopolitics expert Fabry at the Jacques Delors Institute. ’The EU committed to buy $750 billion of liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels from the United States – split equally over three years’ – to replace Russian energy sources. ’And it will pour $600 billion more in additional investments’ in the United States. Trump said ’EU countries – which recently pledged to ramp up their defence spending within NATO – would be purchasing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment’. There are exemptions. Der Leyen said the 15-percent rate applied including semiconductors and pharmaceuticals – a critical export for Ireland, which the bloc has sought to protect. Brussels and Washington agreed a bilateral tariff exemption for key goods including aircraft, certain chemicals, semiconductor equipment, certain agricultural products and critical raw materials, der Leyen said. The EU currently faces 50-percent tariffs on its steel exports to the United States, but von der Leyen said a compromise on the metal had been reached with Trump - tariffs will be cut and a quota system will be put in place. It is understood that European steel would be hit with 50-percent levies only after a certain amount of the metal arrived in the United States. No details were initially provided on the mechanism. Der Leyen described the deal as a framework agreement. The deal needs to be approved by EU member states, whose ambassadors will meet first thing today morning for a debrief from the European Commission. And there are still technical talks to come. She said there has yet to be a final decision on alcohol, critical since France and The Netherlands have been pushing for carve-outs for wine and beer respectively. (Source: France 24 „with AFP” = France)
Armenia
(28 July 2025) Commenting on possible Armenian-Azerbaijani transport link, Iran has indicated its strong opposition to the U.S. proposal to have an American company run a transport corridor - the so-called Zangezur corridor - to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave that would pass through Armenia’s Syunik region bordering the Islamic Republic. 'This project is not only part of America’s strategy to shift pressure from Ukraine to the Caucasus but is also supported by NATO and certain pan-Turkist movements,' Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamene said. The Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Baghaei rejected any arrangement that would change Armenia’s borders or regional geopolitics. Speaking at a July 16 news conference, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian confirmed that the U.S. has suggested that the transit of people and cargo through Syunik be administered by a U.S. company. The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. proposal on July 24, saying that it is part of the West’s continuing efforts to sideline Russia and Iran. The criticism came as Pashinian met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on the sidelines of a conference held in Siberia. Just hours after those talks, a senior lawmaker from Armenia’s ruling party said that Yerevan has rejected the U.S. offer to lease the Armenian transit routes for Nakhichevan “because we saw a danger of ceding our sovereignty there.” (Source: ազատություն / Azatutyun = Freedom/ - Armenia)
Russia
28.07.2025 Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, who is a former Russian president and prime minister, today assessed the recent trade deal inked between Brussels and Washington, arguing that US President Trump has ’smeared’ Europe with the signing of the agreement. „Trump is harshly pushing through the economic interests of his country,” Dmitry, said on Telegram. Arguing that the deal is completely humiliating for Europeans because it only benefits the United States, Medvedev said the agreement creates huge additional costs for industry and agriculture in many EU countries, and redirects a powerful flow of investment from Europe to the US. He also described the deal as clearly anti-Russian in nature because it prohibits the purchase of Russian oil and gas. ’It is clear that such an approach will lead to further deindustrialization of Europe, to the outflow of investments from Europe to the US, and this will be a very strong blow, first of all, to energy prices, an outflow of investments for European industry, European agriculture,’ Foreign Minister Lavrov, said. He criticized European Commission President der Leyen for ’literally boasting that they are going down this path,’ adding that the agreement will be ’detrimental’ for Europe. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Ukraine
28.07.2025 Ukraine signs deal on importing Azerbaijani gas via Transbalkan route for 1st time. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Asia
China
Jul 28, 2025 After a company boss destroyed a journalist’s camera earlier this month, state media rushed to the defense, sounding off about the “right to report.” This moral signaling distracts from the systemic violence against journalism that is the real policy of the state. China’s constitutional right to freedom of expression is routinely trampled by a system that pulls journalists back from breaking stories, directs them to avoid sensitivities, and obliterates online posts in the millions. (Source: The China Media Project - now based in the United States, with a research hub in Taipei, Taiwan)
Gaza
Monday 28 July 2025 07:11 BST Israeli forces kiledl 63 Palestinians across Gaza within hours of ‘humanitarian pause’, health officials say. The military said on Sunday it would suspend operations daily from 10am until 8pm in parts of central and northern Gaza and promised to open aid corridors from 6am to 11pm to let in food and medical supplies. However, within hours of the so-called “humanitarian pause” taking effect, Israeli forces resumed air raids. Six more people starve to death in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 133, as hunger and malnutrition crisis continues to worsen. The World Food Programme said one in three people in Gaza had gone days without food and about half a million were experiencing famine-like conditions. More than 20 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women were malnourished, according to the World Health Organization. Israel has severely limited the flow of food and humanitarian aid into Gaza, allowing only a small number of trucks to enter each day after enforcing an 11-week total blockade earlier this year. Israel’s war on Gaza has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, injured over 144,000, and left most of the densely populated coastal territory in ruins and the majority of its 2.2 million people homeless and starving. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)
Iran
(28 July 2025) A segment of the diaspora, Iran's monarchist elite based primarily in North America and Europe are staging a comeback, through satellite TV Manoto - a Persian-language channel with over 17 million followers - viral content, and alliances with Netanyahu and Trump. Online narratives, infused with far-right elements, promote a nostalgic slogan: Things were better before; let's make Iran great again. From exile they are attempting to co-opt Iran's opposition by recasting the Pahlavi dynasty as a golden age of freedom. Monarchy supporters seek to reconstruct an Iranian identity rooted in Persianness and the legacy of the Pahlavi monarchy, cast as an era of modernity, freedom and prosperity. In the background emerges a neocolonial dynamic, where the West delegates to a sometimes disconnected or discredited exile elite the production of regime-change narratives. They advance a pro-Israeli stance, supportive of war with Iran and opposed to any form of diplomacy. Reza's - eldest son of the last Shah - wife, Yasmine, posted a picture on Instagram of graffiti reading: 'Hit them, Israel, Iranians are behind you'. Pahlavi's unconditional support for Israel dates back to 1982 when Israeli intelligence attempted to reinstall him via a coup. Since then, he has appeared frequently in neoconservative American media, attended congresses such as the Israeli American Council, mingled with figures like Adelson - a Republican billionaire who proposed 'nuking Iran' - and relentlessly echoed Netanyahu's hardline stance. He is a regular at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank linked to AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobby in the US. He later supported Trump's second term and the maximum pressure strategy on Iran, claiming harsh economic sanctions are 'what Iranians want.' Manoto reinforce the narrative of maximum pressure and foreign intervention. It has become powerful platform for anti-Palestinian rhetoric, instilling in many Iranians that Gaza and Lebanon have "stolen" Iran's wealth via Iranian support for Hezbollah and Hamas - justifying the total abandonment of the Palestinian cause and promoting Pahlavi as a providential figure. Iran's monarchists have joined the new international far right, sidelining the Palestinian question and supporting military confrontation with the Islamic Republic while seeking to shape a new, homogenised Iranian identity around Persian nationalism and the legacy of the Pahlavi dynasty. Paradoxically, they have come to resemble the regime's ultra-conservatives, sharing their opposition to pro-democracy forces, militarism, xenophobia against Afghans and marginalisation of minorities. The monarchist stance contrasts with that of many committed figures for democracy and social justice inside Iran, who are often targeted by monarchists and imprisoned by the regime. This group includes Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohammadi, lawyer Sotoudeh, Kurdish feminist activist Azizi and trade unionist Shahabi. These activists have consistently emphasised calls for the defence of human dignity and the fight against all forms of discrimination, state violence, and religious fundamentalism - whether in Iran or Israel. Equipped with technical and organisational skills, they could ensure effective governance if regime change occurs. Iran deserves much more than a choice between the turban and the crown. Their social base remains limited, not only due to the repression carried out by the Iranian state, but also because of the dominance of monarchist currents within the exiled opposition. (Source: Qantara.de, an Internet portal in German, English, and Arabic, owned by the German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations since July 2024, when the previous editorial team resigned.)
Iraq
06:34-28 July 2025 A gun battle erupted in Baghdad's Karkh district on Sunday between police and fighters from the state-sanctioned Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), killing at least one police officer and leading to the arrest of 14 fighters. The clash broke out in after a group of fighters from the PMF stormed an Agriculture Ministry building. The arrested fighters belong to PMF brigades 45 and 46. Both brigades are affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group. The PMF is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq's state security forces. (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - based in London, United Kingdom, owned by a member of the Saudi royal family)
Taiwan
28 July 2025 Trade talks with China. Trump’s administration has denied permission for Taiwan’s President Lai to stop in New York en route to Central America, after China raised objections with Washington about the visit. China objects to Taiwanese leaders visiting the US, which does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei. Treasury secretary Bessent and Chinese vice-premier He started a third round of negotiations in Stockholm today. (Source: Financial Times - United Kingdom)
North America
United States
July 28, 2025 The US struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15 percent import tariff on most EU good. The trade between the two allies account for almost a third of global trade. Trump and European Commission President der Leyen announced the deal at Trump’s luxury golf course in western Scotland. after an hour-long meeting. Trump was lauding EU plans to invest some $600 billion in the United States and ’dramatically increase its purchases of US energy and military equipment’. Der Leyen, describing Trump as a tough negotiator, later was telling reporters it was ’the best we could get.’ ’It’s a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability,’ she said. The agreement leaves many questions open, including tariff rates on spirits. The deal calls for ’$750 billion of EU purchases of US energy in coming years’ and ’hundreds of billions of dollars’ of arms purchases, Trump said. The baseline 15 percent tariff will still be seen by many in Europe as too high, compared with Europe’s initial hopes to secure a zero-for-zero tariff deal. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the deal, saying it averted a trade conflict that would have hit Germany’s export-driven economy and its large auto sector hard. German carmakers, VW, Mercedes and BMW were some of the hardest hit by the 27.5 percent US tariff on car and parts imports now in place. Lange, the German Social Democrat who heads the European Parliament’s trade committee, said the tariffs were imbalanced and the hefty EU investment earmarked for the US would likely come at the bloc’s own expense. Trump retains the ability to increase the tariffs in the future if European countries do not live up to their investment commitments, a senior US administration official told on Sunday evening. The euro rose around 0.2 percent against the dollar, sterling and yen within an hour of the deal’s being announced. Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo, said Sunday’s accord was merely a high-level, political agreement that could not replace a carefully hammered out trade deal. While the tariff applies to most goods, including semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, there are exceptions. The US will keep in place a 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminum. A senior administration official said EU leaders had asked that the two sides continue to talk about the issue. Der Leyen said there would be no tariffs from either side on aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. We will keep working to add more products to this list, der Leyen said, adding that spirits were still under discussion. A US official said the tariff rate on commercial aircraft would remain at zero for now, and the parties would decide together what to do after a US review is completed, adding there is a reasonably good chance they could agree to a lower tariff than 15 percent. No timing was given for when that probe would be completed. The deal will be sold as a triumph for Trump, who is seeking to reduce decades-old US trade deficits, and has already reached similar framework accords with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has not hit its goal of "90 deals in 90 days." US officials said the EU had agreed to lower non-tariff barriers for automobiles and some agricultural products, though EU officials suggested the details of those standards were still under discussion. "Remember, their economy is $20 trillion ... they are five times bigger than Japan," a senior US official told reporters during a briefing. ’So the opportunity of opening their market is enormous for our farmers, our fishermen, our ranchers, all our industrial products, all our businesses.’ Trump has fumed for years about the US merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to US Census Bureau data. (Source: The Korea Herald - South Korea / Reuters - United Kingdom)
(Monday), July 28, 2025 President Trump announced Sunday in Scotland that the U.S. and European Union have come to a trade agreement after high-stakes meetings. /Video/ (Source: CBS News - U.S.)
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