Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on the EU delaying retaliatory tariffs on US until August

The EU's retaliatory tariffs on US exports have been delayed again - this time until early next month.

The countermeasures, which were due to begin this month, came in response to President Donald Trump's initial import taxes on steel and aluminium.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says Trump has recently threatened to bring in higher tariffs for the European Union on top of the earlier sanctions. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Devin Gray are UK correspondent Givin. Good to have you
on the show. As always, the banks, the EU retaliatory
tariffs on UISH exports, they have been given the delay button.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Again, yes, yet again, and all this I think is
sort of almost a dance, if you like, with the
President of America. Obviously now he's threatening much larger tariffs
on the EU, up to thirty percent, and they're basically
now I think in this thing about timing, the EU

(00:35):
is being accused by Donald Trump of pulling its dragging
its feet, really not getting into this fast enough. He's
getting impatient. But I think that the European Commission President
versull A vonderlyon announcing these delays, is basically suggesting that
it is being done in order to try and sort
out that thirty percent tariff as well. So the EU's

(00:56):
retaliation would have hit twenty one billion euros roughly forty
billion New Zealand dollars worth of US goods. It was
first suspended in March. The break has been extended down
until early August, and EU trade ministers meeting in Brussels
today to discuss how to respond to the latest threat
from Donald Trump and those thirty percent tariffs on EU imports.

(01:20):
He says, really the trade imbalance between the EU and
America is ridiculously high and disgusting in his own words,
and he said that has got to stop. The EU
is saying, well, this is not the way to go
about it. And he thinks that European Union countries think
it's time everyone got round the negotiating table and really
thrashed the deal out. But these steals are never very

(01:41):
quick to do.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, no, they're certainly not keivin. There's a good chunk
of laboring peace who are wanting the government to recognize
Palestine as a state.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, very interesting this So nearly sixty labor MPs have
called on the Foreign Office to immediately recognize Palestine as
a state. They really want to ratchet up pressure on
their own government here, and they believe that Gaza is
being ethically cleansed and have set out five different measures
to prevent the Israeli government from carrying out a trapa plan.

(02:14):
Of course, Israel verhemently deny those claims of being acting
in that way against Gaza, but the letters that the
ministers have received says that Palestine should be recognized as
a state. It should continue support for the UN Agency
for Palestinian Refugees, something which Israel says has been riddled

(02:35):
with the corruption and hammers integration. It should secure the
release of hostages, press for the full and unhindered resumption
of humanitarian aid, and also make a full review and
place restrictions on trade and financial support of illegal Israeli
settlements in West Bank. And it's that last one that
they may actually get a bit of traction with a

(02:56):
great amount of discussion here about trade with Israel, whether
perhaps that is the best way the UK can act
in order to try and force Israel into climbing down
over some of its actions.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
From the Weird Files, Gevin the UK airport playing a
looped soundtrack in the background of what.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Of an airport? Yes, believe it or not. It has
commissioned a soundtrack which will be on loop, which will
basically be called the Music for Heathrow. So this is
Britain's biggest airport, just to the west of London, and
they've got this musician, multi instrumentalist and producer, a Grammy
nominee to yeah, try and sort of work out a

(03:38):
little soundtrack and bizarrely it isn't music as such, it's
seat of ambient noises that will include a lady on
a tannoid, hurried footsteps on a tiled floor, the rumble
of a baggage belt, the hum of an escalator. Why
why are they spending all this money? Well, they want
to kickstart what they call passenger holidays by reflecting the

(03:59):
excitement and anticipation Ryan of going on holiday. I have
to tell you the biggest excitement and anticipation I get
is seeing if my flight has not been delayed or canceled.
And many people think this is rather an odd way
of spending money for all those charges that they levy.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Very so they play this and the background while wouldn't
you have the natural ambience sounds doing the job for you?
Very good question, bizarre, very bizarre, Gavin. Thank you for
Kevin Gray, UK correspondent.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
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