US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross has expressed confidence that trade negotiations with the EU would likely take place “with or without tariffs in place” (Photo: The White House)

US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross has expressed confidence that trade negotiations with the EU would likely take place “with or without tariffs in place” (Photo: The White House)

EU will not be exempt from tariffs

Trade talks between the United States and the European Union in Paris on Wednesday have failed to make progress ahead of Friday’s tariff exemption deadline. US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross said that, unlike China, the EU was “insisting we can’t negotiate if there are tariffs.” Having warned the current round of exemptions from tariffs is the final one, the United States looks likely to announce on Thursday that it will begin imposing duties of 25 and 10% respectively on EU imports of steel and aluminium, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Ross calls for clarity on GDPR

The US commerce secretary has been a busy man. Wilbur Ross has also written an op-ed piece in the Financial Times that calls for EU authorities to “provide clearer rules and a more predictable regulatory environment” with regards to the General Data Protection Regulation. Ross says that GDPR, which came into effect on 25 May, “will force big changes in the way US and European companies do business.” Claiming guidance on the regulation is too vague, Ross says the US is willing to work with the EU but that a way must be found “to implement GDPR without creating undue barriers.”

Crisis fund plans to be unveiled

The European Commission is to present its plan for a European Investment Stabilisation Function on Thursday, according to the Financial Times. The €30 billion loan plan for countries hit by economic shocks was first mooted in the Commission’s budget proposal on 2 May. The plans would allow countries to borrow to invest in infrastructure and other programmes to cushion the economic blow caused by one-off problems such as a natural disaster or a localised banking crisis, says the FT.

Fed to ease Volcker Rule

The Federal Reserve has unveiled proposed changes to the Volcker Rule, which bars banks from proprietary trading. The Guardian reports that the proposals would apply less stringent requirements on banks that do less than $10bn in trading assets and liabilities.

Smart people wear specs

Intelligent people are almost 30% more likely to have genes which might indicate they’d need to wear glasses, a study has revealed. The Guardian reports that research conducted at the University of Edinburgh analysed cognitive and genetic data from over 300,000 people aged between 16 and 102 in the UK. The study also found “negative correlations between cognitive function and a number of health problems, including angina, lung cancer and depression.”

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Duncan Roberts