The Trump administration is now signaling that its threat to raise tariffs on EU car imports from 15% back to 25% is not just negotiating theater. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told EU and German officials over the weekend that Washington would move forward with the increase, while also describing the tariff as “one part of the deal,” suggesting the administration still sees it as leverage inside a broader bargaining framework rather than a fully settled end state.

As of Monday afternoon, the higher tariff had not yet been formally adopted. The immediate dispute is about alleged EU non-compliance with last summer’s trade deal, a claim Brussels rejects. Trump said the bloc had failed to uphold the agreement and that EU officials responded by calling the move arbitrary and warning that they would keep options open to defend European interests.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have triggered a global scramble, as many of America’s traditional trading partners seek to recalibrate their relationships—not just with Washington, but also with Beijing. Now, Chinese President Xi Jinping is leveraging the trade turmoil to reassert China’s global influence and frame his country as a pillar of economic stability, despite growing wariness over its own trade practices.

Xi is intensifying diplomatic outreach across Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, aiming to peel countries away from the U.S. orbit and draw them deeper into China’s economic system. His first overseas trip since Trump’s return to office has taken him across Asia, where Beijing’s message is clear: China stands for stable, rules-based trade—an implicit contrast to what it casts as Trump’s erratic tariff agenda.

The recent surge in copper prices, reaching $10,000 a ton, underscores a fundamental issue within the industry. There’s a significant gap between demand and supply, and miners are struggling to bridge it. Despite the eagerness of major producers to increase copper output to meet the rising demand…