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EU to hit Teslas imported from China with 19% tariffs

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EU to hit Teslas imported from China with 19% tariffs

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Brussels plans to hit Tesla cars imported into the EU from China with tariffs of 19 per cent, a lower rate than those for Chinese electric-vehicle makers.

The European Commission said on Tuesday that Teslas manufactured in China could be subject to an additional levy of 9 per cent on top of existing duties of 10 per cent applied to all foreign-made cars.

The announcement comes after Tesla requested an individual investigation into its operations in China in the hope of avoiding the higher rates that Brussels has applied to Chinese manufacturers of up to 47 per cent.

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Elon Musk’s car company had also complained to European capitals about the probe, an EU diplomat said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

EU officials claim that the US company’s Chinese operations have benefited from subsidised rates for land, income tax reductions and other support from Beijing, including beneficial rates when buying batteries.

The levies are part of a more aggressive approach by the EU against heavily subsidised imports from China, particularly in technologies critical for the transition to green energy, including solar panels and wind turbines.

They are the result of an investigation announced by commission president Ursula von der Leyen into Chinese electric vehicle imports last September.

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Brussels said that the probe was based on “growing evidence-based concerns about the recent and rapid rise in low-priced exports of electric vehicles coming from China to the EU”.

China’s commerce ministry on Tuesday said the investigation was an act of “unfair competition”.

The EU “abused the method of sampling to treat different types of Chinese companies differently and distorted the results of the investigation,” said a spokesperson for the ministry. “China firmly opposes and is highly concerned about [the final ruling].” 

Beijing had provided “tens of thousands” of pages of documents to defend itself in EU’s anti-subsidies investigation and both sides had held more than 10 rounds of negotiations since the end of June, the spokesperson added. 

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU said it was in “firm opposition” to the tariffs and that there was not “sufficient evidence” to show that the European EV industry would be affected by Chinese imports.

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“The competitiveness of electric vehicles made in China is not driven by subsidies but by factors such as industrial scale, comprehensive supply chain advantages and intense market competition,” it added.

China has retaliated to the EU probe by filing a complaint at the World Trade Organization and opening its own anti-dumping probes against French cognac and EU pork imports.

After an initial assessment, the commission announced in June that Chinese vehicle manufacturers including BYD and Geely could be subject to higher than expected tariffs of up to 48 per cent on cars imported into the bloc.

On Tuesday, it marginally lowered these rates after the Chinese companies provided more information. The maximum additional levy was reduced by about 1 per cent.

At present, the duties are being paid in the form of bank guarantees ahead of member states’ approval of the measures by an October 30 deadline. If EU countries vote in favour, the duties will be applied for five years.

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An EU official said there was a “risk” of Chinese manufacturers stockpiling cars ahead of the tariffs coming into force but added, “it takes time to transport them from China”.

Another said there were “intensive” discussions with Chinese counterparts to find “an alternative solution”.

“We are open to China making proposals that would solve the problem in the same manner as a duty, but it is very much up to them,” the official said.

Europe’s electric vehicle industry has been struggling in recent months as consumer sentiment cools. The withdrawal of subsidies for EV purchases in Germany, for example, has also resulted in “substantial year-on-year losses” for manufacturers, according to Schmidt Automotive Research.

SAR found in a separate report published last week that Chinese manufacturers had increased exports to the EU ahead of the final duties being applied.

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Additional reporting by Gloria Li

Video: Joe Biden’s EV crusade has a long way to go | FT Energy Source

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Video: How Trump’s Tariffs Affected the Economy After One Year

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Video: How Trump’s Tariffs Affected the Economy After One Year

new video loaded: How Trump’s Tariffs Affected the Economy After One Year

One of Donald Trump’s central campaign promises was to raise tariffs on imports from multiple countries. Ana Swanson, a New York Times reporter, analyzes data from the past year to examine how those tariffs have affected the economy.

By Ana Swanson, Leila Medina and June Kim

February 2, 2026

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Kennedy Center will close for 2 years for renovations in July, Trump says, after performers backlash

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Kennedy Center will close for 2 years for renovations in July, Trump says, after performers backlash

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will move to close Washington’s Kennedy Center performing arts venue for two years starting in July for construction.

Trump’s announcement on social media Sunday night follows a wave of cancellations since Trump ousted the previous leadership and added his name to the building.

Trump announced his plan days after the premiere of “Melania” a documentary of the first lady was shown at the storied venue. The proposal, he said, is subject to approval by the board of the Kennedy Center, which has been stocked with his hand-picked allies. Trump himself chairs the center’s board of trustees.

“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment,” Trump wrote in his post.

Leading performing arts groups have pulled out of appearances, most recently, composer Philip Glass, who announced his decision to withdraw his Symphony No. 15 “Lincoln” because he said the values of the center today are in “direct conflict” with the message of the piece.

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Earlier this month, the Washington National Opera announced that it will move performances away from the Kennedy Center in another high-profile departure following Trump’s takeover of the U.S. capital’s leading performing arts venue.

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Minnesota citizens detained by ICE are left rattled, even weeks later

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Minnesota citizens detained by ICE are left rattled, even weeks later

Aliya Rahman is detained by federal agents near the scene where Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 13 in Minneapolis.

Adam Gray/AP


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Adam Gray/AP

It’s a video many saw on social media soon after it happened: Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, dragging a woman out of her car and forcing her to the ground.

The woman in the video is Aliya Rahman, a Bangladeshi-American and a U.S. citizen. The day she was arrested, Rahman was on her way to the doctor, when she came across an ICE operation and a group of people protesting. She said the ICE officers told her to move her car, but the scene was chaotic and she received multiple instructions at once.

The Department of Homeland Security said in an earlier statement they arrested Rahman because she “ignored multiple commands.” But Rahman, who is autistic and also recovering from a traumatic brain injury, says it sometimes takes her a moment to understand auditory commands. Before she knew it, the officers were carrying her away by her limbs.

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“I thought I might well die,” Rahman said. She was placed in an SUV with three ICE officers.

“I heard the laughing driver radio in, ‘we’re bringing in a body,’” she recalled. It took her a second to realize they meant her.

In recent days, federal officials have signaled a willingness to reduce the large number of immigration agents in Minnesota, though they say any decrease will depend on state and local cooperation. Even if a draw-down occurs, they’ll leave behind a changed community, including many citizens questioned and detained by immigration officers in recent weeks.

Rahman was taken to the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, where immigration agents have brought detainees before releasing them or sending them out of state. While at Whipple, Rahman experienced a severe headache, and asked for medical care for more than an hour. Eventually, she passed out. She says she woke up in a downtown hospital, where doctors told her she had suffered a concussion.

Her arrest was more than two weeks ago, but she can’t shake the fear.

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“I do not feel safe being in my own home, driving these streets,” she said. “And even then, I am in a significantly better place than a lot of the other folks who have been detained.”

Rahman is far from the only U.S. citizen in Minnesota with such a story.

ChongLy Scott Thao, a Hmong man and U.S. citizen, was pulled from his home wearing only sandals, underwear and a blanket around his shoulders. Thao said the immigration agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and photographed him. He told reporters he feared they would beat him. They later brought him back to his house.

Mubashir Khalif Hussen, a Somali-American and U.S. citizen, also was detained by ICE.

“I wasn’t even outside for mere seconds before I seen a masked person running at me full speed,” Hussen said at a news conference last month. “He tackled me. I told him, ‘I’m a U.S. citizen.’ He didn’t seem to care. He dragged me outside to the snow while I was handcuffed, restrained, helpless and he pushed me to the ground.”

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Hussen is now suing the Trump administration as part of a class action lawsuit, accusing it of racial profiling. According to the lawsuit, ICE eventually released Hussen outside the Whipple building, telling him to walk the seven miles back to where they detained him.

In a statement to NPR, the Department of Homeland Security said “allegations that ICE engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.”

But Walter Olson, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, says many legal experts are coming to a different conclusion.

“This is no longer just a series of accidents that could have been due to someone being badly trained or being a bad apple. This is a systematic assault on constitutional rights,” he said.

The Fourth Amendment protects people from being stopped without reasonable suspicion and arresting without probable cause, a higher standard. Courts in the U.S. have decided skin color alone does not meet either bar.

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Last fall, however, the Supreme court ruled that “apparent ethnicity” could be used to determine reasonable suspicion, as long as there were other factors too. Legal experts say the decision may give ICE more discretion.

Olson says even if the Minnesota immigration crackdown eases, these same concerns could arise elsewhere. He noted that judges ruled against the federal government during its crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland.

“And they were not led to call off or rethink the campaign. They just regrouped and came back to another state,” Olson said.

Even citizens who were not arrested but still questioned are rattled after run-ins with immigration officers. Luis Escoto, the owner of El Taquito Taco Shop in West St. Paul, said immigration agents surrounded his wife Irma’s car in their restaurant’s alley when she went out to get more lettuce before the dinner hour. Escoto ran outside.

Luis Escato poses for a portrait inside of his restaurant, El Taquito in West St. Paul, Minnesota.

Luis Escoto poses for a portrait inside of his restaurant, El Taquito in West St. Paul, Minnesota.

Jaida Grey Eagle for NPR

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“I said, ‘Hey, hold on. That’s just my wife,’” Escoto said. “They said, ‘We need proof of U.S. citizenship,’ and I said, ‘She’s a U.S. citizen.’”

Luis and Irma Escoto are both citizens. Escoto showed one of the officers their passport cards, which he still had in his wallet after a recent trip to Mexico.

“He said, ‘Well, next time she should carry that all the time, because if she doesn’t have proof of citizenship we’re going to arrest her,’” Escoto recalled.

The immigration agents left. But weeks later, Escoto is still shaken and angry. Some of his customers are now escorting him and his wife home each night when the restaurant closes.

When he became a citizen 35 years ago, Escoto said he was nervous because the government took away his green card. He asked the judge about it.

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Irma Escoto poses for a portrait inside of her restaurant, El Taquito in West St. Paul, Minnesota.

Irma Escoto poses for a portrait inside of her restaurant, El Taquito in West St. Paul, Minnesota.

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“I said, ‘Sir, what happens if the immigration officers stop me?’ And he said ‘Well, today you’re proud to be a United States citizen,’” Escoto said.

The judge told him you don’t need documentation when you’re a citizen. But now, Escoto said, that doesn’t seem so true anymore.

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