Must Reads Germany’s Largest Auto Makers Back Scrapping EU-U.S. Car Import Tariffs: The U.S. ambassador to Germany is expected to deliver a peace offering to the White House from car makers offering a proposal to abandon all import tariffs for cars between the EU and the U.S.. EU to Begin Retaliatory Tariffs Against U.S. on Friday: The European Union will start imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods on Friday, in response to President Donald Trump’s duties on steel and aluminum imports from the bloc. Merkel and Macron Unite on Europe’s Future: Angela Merkel bowed to French President Emmanuel Macron’s demands for a eurozone budget on Tuesday as part of a package of measures to overhaul the European Union, which the two will now put to their neighbors in a bid to overcome the continent’s deepening divisions. Separatist, Nationalist Attacks in Europe Increased in 2017: Separatist and far-right attacks have increased in Europe, particularly in the U.K., but also in France and Spain, according to the European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol. European Firms Fret Over Made-In-China Policy: The Chinese government’s plan to promote domestic high-tech industries, a prime target of the latest U.S. trade measures, is also stirring unease among European companies. Countries Face the Tricky Task of Undoing Negative Interest Rates: Europe has finally emerged from its debt crisis with healthy economic growth, but it can’t shake one relic of its troubled times: negative interest rates. Productivity Push: Labour Calls for Broader BOE Remit: The U.K.'s Labour Party would change the Bank of England's mandate. Boosting productivity would be one key aim. Why Europe’s Cyber Insurance Windfall Hasn’t Happened: One of the biggest data-privacy laws in history was supposed to kick off a new era of surging demand for cyber insurance in Europe. So far, it hasn’t. OECD Records First Drop in Immigration Since 2011: The number of people migrating to developed countries fell last year for the first time since 2011, but remained near record levels and is unlikely to fall by much over coming years, according to the Organization for Economic Coo peration and Development. |