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Apple has suffered a significant defeat after the EU’s top court ruled that the iPhone maker must pay €13bn in back taxes, overturning an earlier decision in the Big Tech group’s favour.

The ruling relates to a 2016 case when the EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager said that Ireland had given the company an illegal sweetheart deal, amounting to a tax rate of less than 1 per cent.

The European Court of Justice said on Tuesday its ruling “confirms the European Commission’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover”.

A lower court had in 2020 quashed the commission’s order and the ECJ’s decision to overturn that ruling was unexpectedly decisive.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has previously dismissed the commission’s position as “total political crap”. On Tuesday the company said the EU was “trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US”.

The case has been watched carefully across the bloc as a watershed moment over Big Tech’s tax affairs in Europe.

Japanese stocks made overall gains on Tuesday after an initial slump fuelled by a sell-off of semiconductor-related stocks.

The Topix benchmark was up 0.6 per cent in morning trading. Chipmakers Disco, Advantest and Tokyo Electron dropped as much as 2.5 per cent, 1.8 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively, before recovering.

South Korea’s Kospi index was up 0.2 per cent. Among semiconductor makers, SK Hynix rose 2.8 per cent, while Samsung SDI fell 2 per cent.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.8 per cent. Car accessories maker ARB rose as much as 6.2 per cent after announcing an expansion in the US, but those gains were later wiped out with the stock down 0.3 per cent.

As the 2024 US presidential election approaches on November 5, what was expected to be a repeat of the 2020 election turned into a high-stakes contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump following Joe Biden’s exit from the race for the White House. This left the nation wondering whether it would witness a historic moment with its first female president or a return to Trump’s leadership.
Polls show a close race
Polls had consistently shown Biden trailing Trump before he exited the race.At that time, Kamala Harris was also not polling strongly, but after hitting the campaign trail, she managed to narrow the gap. According to recent national polling averages, Harris led with 47%, while Trump sat at 44%, reported BBC. Harris’s campaign received a slight bump during the Democratic convention in Chicago, where she spoke of “a new way forward.” However, Trump’s endorsement by Robert F. Kennedy in late August did not seem to alter the race, as his numbers remained relatively steady.
Swing state showdown
While these national figures offered insights, they did not paint the full picture due to the US Electoral College system. The real battle was fought in a handful of swing states—Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and others—that could tip the scales in either direction. In these key battlegrounds, the margin between the candidates was razor-thin, often less than one percentage point. Pennsylvania, with its significant electoral vote count, was expected to play a crucial role in determining the winner.
High-stakes debate ahead
The looming presidential debate is expected to be a game-changer. A New York Times/Siena poll suggested that Trump held a narrow one-point lead nationally, signaling that the race remained highly competitive. What was even more telling was that while 90% of voters said they knew all they needed to about Trump, only 71% said the same about Harris. This discrepancy meant that Harris had much more to prove during the debate, where a large audience was tuning in to decide between the two candidates.
“We were up against a guy who was a convicted felon, a terrible president, and continued to be a terrible human,” a Democratic strategist said. “Yet, this race was still tight as a tick.”
Tight polls, strong fundraising for Harris
Despite the neck-and-neck race, some Democrats believed the tight polls could actually benefit Harris. “I was glad this poll came out. It was a gift to Democrats,” said Anthony Coley, a former Biden administration official, who saw the close numbers as a motivating factor.
Momentum shifts and challenges
Polling expert Nate Silver also noted that the momentum had shifted slightly in Trump’s favor, warning that Harris could face further challenges as Republicans continued to paint her as too progressive. A Times poll reflected this narrative, with 44% of respondents agreeing that Harris was too progressive compared to 32% for Trump being too conservative.
Still, Harris’s camp remained optimistic, with strategists pointing to her strong fundraising numbers. In August, her campaign raised a staggering $361 million—nearly triple what Trump’s campaign brought in. Democratic strategist Christy Setzer downplayed concerns over Trump’s recent lead in the polls, saying, “Anyone worried that a single poll, showing Trump up by a single point, needed more drama in their life.”
Harris’s base continued to rally behind her, with packed campaign events across swing states. “The paths that Kamala Harris had to 270 [electoral votes] had expanded from when she stepped into the race,” noted Democratic strategist Joel Payne.
As the campaign intensified, all eyes were on the upcoming debate, where Harris had the chance to elevate her candidacy and shift the narrative in her favor.