Aftershocks of Trump win felt by European leaders at Budapest summit
Donald Trump did not send a video message to the European summit in Budapest today, as its host Viktor Orban is reported to have wanted – but his impact was felt everywhere.
UK and European leaders discussed possible US tariffs – which could have a huge economic impact – migration, and of course, Ukraine, where changes in the White House will determine the course of the war.
Messages of support were sent to Kyiv from allies. Keir Starmer, one of 42 national leaders attending, had a bilateral meeting with President Zelenskyy and reassured him of the UK’s “ironclad” support.
Starmer says ‘special relationship’ as important as ever – Politics latest
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was more direct – saying it was in all European countries’ interests to show “the autocrats of the world that there’s not a right of might” and to defend “the integrity of countries”.
Only Orban, Trump’s chief cheerleader in Europe – who said he had toasted the election result with vodka – favours negotiations with Vladimir Putin.
Trump, who said he would solve the war “in 24 hours” if he was re-elected, is feared to be planning to pressure Zelenskyy into surrendering territory to bring the war to an end.
Whatever it takes to back Ukraine was the message from most here, but there was anxiety about whether Europe has what it takes.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Donald Trump’s US election victory was a hot topic of discussion at the European Political Community meeting.
EU leaders – minus the UK and others attending today – will be meeting for dinner tonight to chew over the new trans-Atlantic relationship in more detail.
The European Political Community, holding its fifth meeting, was set up in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a chance for the EU to meet wider partners such as the UK, Turkey and Caucasus nations to discuss key security challenges including conflict and irregular migration.
This one – as the enormity of the US result sank in – saw starker messages than usual about money; the need for countries to step up to spend more on defence if the US disengages from European defence.
Read more:
Trump’s main pledges for second term
Trump’s victory in maps and charts
The new secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, said Trump had forced fellow members to pay their way and that he was right to do so. A total of 22 of the bloc’s 32 members are now spending 2% – double what it was two years ago.
But not all – and Sir Keir has already faced questions at home about when he’ll meet his campaign promise to spend 2.5%. Today, he said he was pleased to have announced a recent boost in the budget, but the “roadmap” to that target is still unclear.
Zelenskyy himself told reporters at the summit he believes Trump wants a quick end to war – but that doing so without first agreeing security guarantees for Ukraine is “very dangerous”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
At the summit, Sir Keir told President Zelenskyy: “We need to step up.”
The German defence minister, who met his French counterpart within hours of Trump’s win, said ahead of the summit that the challenge from the US was clear: “They’ll be able to do less in Europe. We need to fill this gap to be more credible in terms of deterrence.”
Europe has other security concerns, including irregular migration, on which Keir Starmer is trying to galvanise joint action in order to show that his promise to reduce small boat crossings can be met.
But there was little doubt leaders are feeling the aftershocks of what could be a major shift with implications for decades.
Tulip Siddiq has told Sky News her “lawyers are ready” to handle any formal questions about allegations she is involved in corruption in Bangladesh.
Asked whether she regrets apparent links with the Bangladeshi Awami League political party, Ms Siddiq said “why don’t you look at my legal letter and see if I have any questions to answer… [the Bangladeshi authorities] have not once contacted me and I’m waiting to hear from them”.
The London MP resigned as a Treasury minister in January after being named in several corruption inquiries in Bangladesh.
In her first public comments since leaving government, Ms Siddiq said “there’s been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me”.
Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had “wealth left behind” in the country “and should be made responsible”.
Lawyers acting for Ms Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were “false and vexatious”.
The letter said the ACC must put questions to Ms Siddiq “by no later than 25 March 2025” or “we shall presume that there are no legitimate questions to answer”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Staff from the NCA visited Bangladesh as part of initial work to support the interim government in the country.
In a post online today, the former minister said the deadline had expired and the authorities had not replied.
Sky News has approached the Bangladeshi government for comment.
The allegations against Ms Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina – who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.
Ms Hasina was forced to flee the country in August following weeks of deadly protests.
She is accused of becoming an autocrat, with politically-motivated arrests, extra-judicial killings and other abuses allegedly happening on her watch. Hasina claims it’s all a political witch hunt.
Electrocuted on their genitals and mouths sewn up: Inside Bangladesh’s ‘death squad’ jails
Ms Siddiq was found to have lived in several London properties that had links back to the Awami League political party that her aunt still leads.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but added it was “regrettable” Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.
Ms Siddiq said continuing in her role would be “a distraction” for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX reportedly hired former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to advise it over the federal probe that resulted in the firm pleading guilty to several violations and agreeing to pay $505 million in fines and penalties.
Cuomo, a New York-registered attorney, advised OKX on legal issues stemming from the probe sometime after August 2021 when he resigned as New York overnor, Bloomberg reported on April 2, citing people familiar with the matter.
“He spoke with company executives regularly and counseled them on how to respond to the criminal investigation,” Bloomberg said.
The Seychelles-based firm pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business in violation of US Anti-Money Laundering laws on Feb. 24 and agreed to pay $84 million worth of penalties while forfeiting $421 million worth of fees earned from mostly institutional clients.
The breaches occurred from 2018 to 2024 despite OKX having an official policy preventing US persons from transacting on its crypto exchange since 2017, the Department of Justice noted at the time.
A spokesperson for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, told Bloomberg that Cuomo has been providing private legal services representing individuals and corporations on a variety of matters since resigning as New York governor.
“He has not represented clients before a New York city or state agency and routinely recommends former colleagues for positions,” Azzopardi added.
OKX reportedly wasn’t willing to comment on its relationships with outside firms.
Cuomo also influenced OKX to make executive appointments: Bloomberg
Cuomo, who is now running for mayor of New York City, also advised OKX to appoint his friend US Attorney Linda Lacewell to OKX’s board of directors, Bloomberg said.
Lacewell, a former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, was added to the board in 2024 and was named OKX’s new chief legal officer on April 1, according to a recent company statement.
Source: Linda Lacewell
Related: New York bill aims to protect crypto investors from memecoin rug pulls
After the investigation concluded, OKX said it would seek out a compliance consultant to remedy the issues stemming from the federal probe and bolster its regulatory compliance program.
“Our vision is to make OKX the gold standard of global compliance at scale across different markets and their respective regulatory bodies,” OKX CEO Star Xu said in a Feb. 24 X post.
Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again
United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
The reciprocal levies on will be approximately half of what trading partners charge for US imports, Trump said. For example, China currently has a tariff of 67% on US imports, so US reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods will be 34%. Trump also announced a standard 25% tariff on all automobile imports.
Trump told the media that tariffs would return the country to economic prosperity seen in previous centuries:
“From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation. The United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been. So wealthy, in fact, that in the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting.”
“Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying,” Trump said.
Full breakdown of reciprocal tariffs by country. Source: Cointelegraph
Trump presented the tariffs through the lens of economic protectionism and hinted at returning to the economic policies of the 19th century by using them to replace the income tax.
Related: Bitcoin rally to $88.5K obliterates bears as spot volumes soar — Will a tariff war stop the party?
Trump proposes eliminating federal income tax and replacing it with tariff revenue
Trump proposed the idea of abolishing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and funding the federal government exclusively through trade tariffs while still on the campaign trail in October 2024.
According to accounting automation company Dancing Numbers, Trump’s plan could save each American taxpayer $134,809-$325,561 in taxes throughout their lives.
US President Donald Trump addresses the media about reciprocal trade tariffs at the April 2 press event. Source: Fox 4 Dallas
The higher range of the tax savings estimate will only occur if other wage-based taxes are eliminated at the state and municipal levels.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who assumed office in February, also voiced support for replacing the IRS with the “External Revenue Service.”
Lutnick said that the US government cannot balance a budget yet consistently demands more from its citizens every year. Tariffs will also protect American workers and strengthen the US economy, he said.
Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway