Trump: EU has “very unfair trade policies”
In an interview with British broadcaster ITV on Sunday, US President Donald Trump has threatened to confront the European Union over what he calls its “very unfair” trade policy toward the USA. Reuters reported that Trump said: “”We cannot get our product in. It’s very, very tough. And yet they send their product to us - no taxes, very little taxes. It’s very unfair.”
Last week, Trump slapped a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panels, one of the first unilateral trade restrictions which will usher in more protectionism.
Niinistö wins second presidency in Finland
The incumbent president, Sauli Niinistö, got reelected by 62.7% of the vote in Sunday’s elections in Finland, as reported by Politico.
Niinistö, who is not affiliated to any party, will not face a second round--the first time a presidential candidate has done so since Finland switched to a two-round system in 1994.
He beat 7 other candidates. His main rival, Pekka Haavisto from the Green League, came in second with 12.4 percent of the vote. None of the other candidates managed to score more than 10 percent.
The current and future Finnish president has carefully balanced relations with neighboring Russia and his counterpart Vladimir Putin, while also moving his country closer to NATO, despite remaining outside the military alliance, according to Politico.
Poland wants to ban reference to “Polish” concentration camps, Israel furious
Legislation that would make it illegal to say Poland helped Germans during WWII has passed the lower house of parliament on Friday. Statements that “publicly and against the facts ascribe responsibility or co-responsibility for the crimes perpetrated by the Third German Reich to the Polish nation or the Polish state” will be criminalised for up to three years in prison. The law is to apply to both Polish and foreigners who would describe the Nazis concentration camps in Poland aas “Polish concentration camps”.
The bill still has to pass the upper house and be signed by president Andrzej Duda. The Polish prime minister wrote on Twitter: “Auschwitz-Birkenau is not a Polish name and “Arbeit macht frei” is not a Polish saying.”
Voted a day before the Holocaust Remembrance Day, the law drew heavy critcism from Israel’s minister president Benjamin Netanyahu, according to ARD: “The law has no foundation. I absolutely reject it. You can’t change history, and the Holocaust cannot be denied.”
Israeli president Reuven Rivlin warned of falsifying history: “Even among Poles, there were some who helped the Nazis commit their crimes. Any crime, any crime must be condemned.”