European Union

A Reuters report said on Friday that UNI Global Union has shot off a letter to the European Commission, demanding to widen their antitrust investigation of Amazon. "As further revelations of the scale of Amazon's operations to undermine that level playing field surface, further action is needed to ensure it is held accountable at every turn," according to the letter seen by Reuters.

Gentiloni said Europe was "not only looking for an (economic) rebound" but "a sustained and sustainable growth". He said 18 national economic recovery plans had been approved so far, with work continuing on the rest. During a meeting of the eurozone Finance Ministers, they discussed "the uneven impact of COVID-19 across economic sectors and regions", as well as medium-term policy actions to avoid further divergences.

The report added that the US initial offer pertained to steel only and didn't include aluminium shipments. Tariff-rate quotas allow countries to export specified quantities of a product to other nations at lower duty rates, but subject shipments above a pre-determined threshold to a higher duty, it said.

The amount includes outstanding commitments made prior to January 1, 2020; contributions to the EU's pension and sickness schemes; as well as other minor items, according to Balazs Ujvari, the Commission's spokesperson for budget and human resources. The calculation was made in line with the provisions of the Brexit deal, Ujvari said. The total amount will be paid over several years in instalments.

The European Union's (EU) antitrust authority found that the two companies had made illegal agreements between June 2009 and October 2014 to limit the introduction of AdBlue (an aqueous urea solution) to diesel engine exhaust gases, reducing its effectiveness as a way to produce cleaner emissions, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Dombrovskis said at a press conference on Thursday that the deadline was "realistic" and that he was confident that an agreement will be reached, reports Xinhua news agency. We had intensive and broad discussions on this topic with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai last week and also during today's video conference she confirmed this timeline so we are working to reach this agreement by July 11," Dombrovskis said.

According to the EU's statistical service, the bloc's imports from China throughout the year 2020 grew by 5.6 per cent year-on-year to 383.5 billion euros (US $465 billion), and exports grew by 2.2 per cent to 202.5 billion euros.