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President Zelensky has said that he will not agree to any deal with the US over minerals which would jeopardise Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Rights to mine rare earth minerals in Ukraine have formed part of ongoing discussions about continuing US support for Ukraine. A US proposal has been handed on to the European Commission to review its compatibility with EU membership.
Zelensky goes to the commission for advice.
The Prime Minister is reportedly considering retaliatory tariffs against products from the US in response to imminent tariffs on UK products entering the United States. Optimism about the prospects of a US/UK deal to avoid the tariffs set to be imposed on 2nd April have given way to realism. The UK is reportedly still trying to use its digital services tax as a negotiating tool, but to little avail.
The Trump administration has written to leading European companies demanding that they comply with a recent executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes. The administration has said that the order applies to any company which supplies or provides services to the US government. It is the latest sign that the President’s aspirations extend far beyond the borders of the country he was elected to govern.
Trump’s war against woke goes international
Microsoft has said that a planned £2.5 billion investment in the UK is in jeopardy because of delays associated with crumbling energy infrastructure. The tech giant had planned to build several data centres around the UK, but has now expressed doubts about the plans over ongoing concerns with the ability of the National Grid to keep up with energy demand. This should be a wake up call for the government, which is trying to tow an impossible line between promoting investment in AI and unreliable renewable energy sources.
President Trump has expressed frustration at President Putin and has threatened to tighten sanctions on Russian industry. Talks over the future of Ukraine have reportedly stalled, and US officials are losing faith in their Russian counterparts’ good intentions. The threat of further sanctions perhaps suggests Trump will take a more even-handed approach to the war in Ukraine than many have assumed.
Media
Aled Maclean-Jones on Rolls Royce
Jon Moynihan on the economic consequences of Labour
News
Briefings was sad to hear that Eddie Millers has passed away. Eddie played a significant role in Brexit, setting up the Centre for Brexit Policy, which made important contributions to national debate and government policy-making. He will be greatly missed.
Blog
Facing up to Danger by Robert Tombs
The perils we face in an increasingly uncertain world are real, but less frightening than were faced by governments in the 1930s. Those government nevertheless had the courage to face up to danger. Today’s government needs to do the same.
Like Chamberlain, we have received a severe shock. It made him and his advisors confront the real perils facing Britain and plan rapidly how to respond. The threats today are real but fortunately more limited. Nevertheless, making us safe and strong enough to influence events in the world – which a country with global interests and dependent on imports cannot ignore – demands money and effort. Words and political theatre are not enough, as Chamberlain realized only months after he had triumphantly waved the notorious scrap of paper signed by Hitler. Starmer’s government must prove that it is equally capable of learning and acting. May we never again need to blame ‘guilty men’ for being inadequately defended.
Key Points
Donald Trump’s attempt to enforce a US ban on DEI programmes in Europe is a bold attempt to extend US executive power. He may be right to think that DEI programmes are out of place in a competitive free market, but the US President has no business telling European companies how they should govern themselves. If he wants to wage an ideological war against ‘woke’, he would do better by letting the market determine whether or not it produces better results.
It is easy to rage against some of the more extravagant excesses of DEI programmes but an overlooked feature is that it promotes inefficiency. Instead of focussing on output and outcomes, it obsesses over equitable hiring and promotion processes and creates a light industry of bureaucrats designing ever more byzantine policy documents. It is perfectly reasonable for the US President to say that his administration will not enter contracts with US companies that promote inefficient processes.
But to try and tell non-US companies that they must comply with an Presidential executive order even in those parts of the business with which the US government has no active dealings is to overstep the proper authority of the President. The free market principles which the President presumably wants to promote by refusing to deal with companies with active DEI programmes in the US would be undermined by trying to assert a particular way of doing things on foreign private companies. These companies should be free to choose how they govern themselves, and the US can take or leave the services they offer.
A better way to convince European companies to abandon DEI policies would be to step back and allow US companies who have taken the President’s advice to flourish and take over contracts once they are in a position to provide a better service. If DEI really is a drag on efficiency, then it shouldn’t be long before companies which take a different approach are in a position to price their ‘woker’ rivals out of the market.
