Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary at the Saudi-US CEO Forum in New York last week. The secretary had called for a revival of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary at the Saudi-US CEO Forum in New York last week. The secretary had called for a revival of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Photographer: MichaelShow more

No revival of Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, says EU



The European Union distanced itself from the idea of reviving talks on a broad free-trade agreement with the US as part of EU efforts to gain a permanent exemption from President Donald Trump’s controversial import tariffs on steel and aluminium.

A day after US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Trump administration is willing to restart negotiations on the stalled Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the European Commission said it’s seeking a “dialogue” with Washington “on issues of common interest” including global steel overcapacity.

“More contacts will be held in the coming weeks to agree [on] the exact scope and framework of this EU-US dialogue,” a spokesman for the commission, the 28-nation EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said on Friday. “The commission is committed to engaging in this process in an open and constructive way. However, it should be clear that this dialogue does not represent the revival of the process for a comprehensive Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.”

The TTIP negotiations to expand the world biggest economic relationship have been frozen since Trump entered the White House with an “America First” agenda that has shunned multilateral trade initiatives. This extended to the completed Trans-Pacific Partnership, from which Trump withdrew.

"He terminated the Trans-Pacific deal; he didn't terminate TTIP," Ross said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. "That was meant quite deliberately and quite overtly as a message that we're open to discussions with the European Commission."

European trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom and Ross spoke four days ago with their eyes on a May 1 deadline for Trump to decide whether to prolong an exclusion for the EU from U.S. import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium.

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Read more:

Don’t rule out EU-US trade renegotiations after Trump’s tariff ‘threats’

UAE seeks exemption from US steel and aluminium tariffs

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The White House justified the levies introduced a week ago on national-security grounds dismissed by the EU, which has demanded a permanent exemption and threatened to join China in applying tit-for-tat tariffs on American goods and complaining to the World Trade Organisation.

Trump set a vague condition for prolonging the metal-tariffs waiver beyond May 1: The status of “discussions of satisfactory long-term alternative means to address the threatened impairment to US national security.”

EU leaders showed as much annoyance as relief at the temporary exemption on March 23, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying “we won’t talk about anything while there’s a gun pointed at our head.”

After 14 months of the Trump administration, EU officials are sceptical that it would be willing to seek the kind of broad market-opening TTIP deal that the bloc was negotiating with the government of former President Barack Obama.

In May last year, Malmstrom refused to rule out the possibility of a free-trade accord between the EU and the US while stressing that the planned TTIP had been left “in the freezer” as a result of Trump’s election.

“There’s still a case for an ambitious trade agreement between us, not to mention a huge potential,” Malmstrom said in a speech at the time. “But we both need a bit more time, and to know there was shared ambition and common ground.”

Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

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Oscars in the UAE

The 90th Academy Awards will be aired in the UAE from 3.30am on Monday, March 5 on OSN, with the ceremony starting at 5am

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

The low down on MPS

What is myofascial pain syndrome?

Myofascial pain syndrome refers to pain and inflammation in the body’s soft tissue. MPS is a chronic condition that affects the fascia (­connective tissue that covers the muscles, which develops knots, also known as trigger points).

What are trigger points?

Trigger points are irritable knots in the soft ­tissue that covers muscle tissue. Through injury or overuse, muscle fibres contract as a reactive and protective measure, creating tension in the form of hard and, palpable nodules. Overuse and ­sustained posture are the main culprits in developing ­trigger points.

What is myofascial or trigger-point release?

Releasing these nodules requires a hands-on technique that involves applying gentle ­sustained pressure to release muscular shortness and tightness. This eliminates restrictions in ­connective tissue in orderto restore motion and alleviate pain. ­Therapy balls have proven effective at causing enough commotion in the tissue, prompting the release of these hard knots.

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE


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