If President Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminium go into effect, Europe could drag blue jeans and breakfast beverages into the ring, according to Joseph Sternberg, the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Page Editor for Europe.
“The EU is going to focus on trying to find ways that they can retaliate without damaging the EU economy itself,” explained Sternberg.
Early on Wednesday, the European Union released a list of American goods that it could tax, including Levi’s jeans, orange juice, and motorboats.
“That list is worth about $3.5 billion each year,” Sternberg said. “The point here is to try to send this message that the U.S. isn’t the only trading country in town here.”
More broadly, the tariffs could also decrease foreign investment into the U.S., said Sternberg.
It could start “affecting the willingness of European companies to invest in the U.S. and those companies are creating a lot of American jobs too.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/starting-a-tariff-war).
New Year celebrations are approaching and across the world there is an urge to party. But the desire to let loose is being countered by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, remaining at a historically low level that reflects the job market’s strong recovery from the coronavirus recession last year.
The Biden administration is extending a student loan moratorium that has allowed tens of millions of Americans to put off debt payments during the pandemic.
President Joe Biden plans to deliver 500 million free COVID-19 tests to Americans, increase support for hospitals and expand the availability of vaccines to confront a winter surge of coronavirus cases driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant.
Former deputy assistant U.S. Secretary of State Joel Rubin joined Cheddar to break down the latest dispute between G7 nations and Russia as its increased military buildup along the Ukrainian border drew stern warnings of "massive consequences" should an invasion occur. "If Putin wants to keep on going further, there will be many tools that the financial system can use against him, and the United States, now, is gathering our allies in a way that is really unprecedented," he said.
Carlo and Baker cover the latest developments after a devastating tornado outbreak over the weekend, plus an eye on Omicron and inflation, and not even Spielberg can save the box office.