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WASHINGTON — The United States is increasing tariffs on Airbus planes imported from Europe to 15 per cent, authorities said, in a move the aerospace giant said on Saturday was “deeply” regrettable.

Friday’s decision to hike tariffs from March 18 “further escalates trade tensions between the US and the EU”, the European aerospace giant said in a statement, adding it creates “more instability for US airlines that are already suffering from a shortage of aircraft”.

The announcement from the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) came just days after President Donald Trump said it was time to talk “very seriously” about a trade deal with the European Union.

Duties have been at 10 per cent since October, when Washington hit European products worth $7.5 billion with tariffs.

“Airbus deeply regrets USTR’s decision to increase tariffs on aircraft imported from the EU as well as the decision to maintain tariffs on goods from other sectors,” the company said, referring to products — including wine, cheese, coffee and olives — which have been taxed at 25 per cent since October.

The latest decision also “ignores the many submissions made by US airlines, highlighting the fact that they — and the US flying public — will ultimately have to pay these tariffs”, it added.

‘Ultimately harmful’ 

The German finance ministry said it had taken note of the move by the United States, and reiterated its stance on tariffs.

“Our basic position is clear: We reject any unilateral increase in customs taxes,” it said in a statement. “Customs taxes are ultimately harmful to everyone, including the USA.”

Washington imposed punitive taxes on the $7.5 billion in European products after the World Trade Organisation gave the United States a green light to take retaliatory trade measures against the EU over its subsidies to European aerospace giant Airbus.

Industry executives in Europe and the United States are on tenterhooks awaiting each new announcement from trade authorities.

Trump, a real estate developer turned politician, sees tariffs as a negotiating tool.

After a trade war with China that lasted nearly two years and featured punishing reciprocal tariffs, Trump declared at the signing of a “phase one” trade deal with Beijing in January that it was a “momentous step ... righting the wrongs of the past”.

He has now turned his sights to Europe as Washington brandishes the threat of taxing European auto imports, a move targeting Germany, Europe’s biggest auto exporter.

Trump wants EU member states to further open their markets to American products, particularly agricultural goods.

He has also threatened to hike tariffs on French wine — currently taxed at 25 per cent — even further unless there is a deal on a digital tax which European nations want to impose on American giants such as Amazon and Facebook.

PARIS — Airbus on Thursday reported a net loss of 1.36 billion euros for 2019, weighed down by massive fines to settle bribery scandals and extra costs for the A400M military transport aircraft. 

Airbus has agreed to pay 3.6 billion euros ($3.9 billion) in fines to Britain, France and the United States to settle corruption probes into some of its aircraft sales.

While the bottom line was hit by one-off charges, business operations looked solid with operating profit rising to 6.9 billion euros.

Airbus' current order book establishes it as the world's biggest civilian aircraft maker ahead of arch-rival Boeing which has been struggling with the fallout of two 737 MAX crashes on production and sales.

Airbus said it expects to deliver about 880 commercial planes in 2020 against 863 in 2019 when it booked 768 aircraft orders, up from 747 in 2018, thanks mostly to the A320neo programme.

CEO Guillaume Faury acknowledged, however, that the rollout of the A320neo was six months behind schedule. 

The objective is "to recover this six month delay in the course of the next 18 months", he told a news conference.

"We achieved a great deal in 2019. We delivered a strong underlying financial performance driven mainly by our commercial aircraft deliveries," he said.

"The reported earnings also reflect the final agreements with the authorities resolving the compliance investigations and a charge related to revised export assumptions for the A400M."

Development problems and delays for its A400M transport plane forced Airbus to book 1.2 billion euros in charges to reflect lowered expectations for exports.

Airbus also said that it had bought struggling Canadian manufacturer Bombardier out of the A220 programme, marking the exit of Bombardier from commercial aviation.

Airbus is paying debt-laden Bombardier $591 million for its stake in the A220 joint venture, formerly Bombardier's C-Series.

Airbus now has 75 per cent in the programme, with the government of Quebec holding the rest.

The company had already booked a 64 per cent rise in A220 orders since taking a controlling stake in the programme in July 2018.

Separately Airbus announced the signature of a memorandum of understanding with Nigerian airline Green Africa for the sale of 50 aircraft of the A220-300 range, with a 2018 list price of $4.6 billion.

LUXEMBOURG — Google and the EU battled in court on Wednesday as the search engine giant tried to persuade judges that it was unfairly accused of ill-treating rivals of its Shopping service.

The Silicon Valley juggernaut is appealing a 2.4 billion euro ($2.6 billion) fine from 2017 that was the first in a series of major penalties imposed by the European Commission, the EU’s powerful anti-trust regulator.

The court case launches a new phase in the decade-long duel and is a major test of the combative tactics taken by the EU commission against big tech.

The next months will see Google appeal all three decisions that saw Brussels slap a total $9 billion in EU fines, with the giant’s Android mobile operating system and ad service also caught out for illegal behaviour.

The tech giant has paid the fines and changed its behaviour, but the company on Wednesday strongly condemned the EU’s verdict on shopping in the EU’s General Court as ill-founded and unfair.

“If Google would have faced the commission’s decision in 2008, Google would have had no other option but to abandon its innovative technologies and its improved designs,” Thomas Graf, a lawyer for Google told the EU’s General Court.

Supporting Google, a lawyer for the CCIA tech lobby in Brussels argued that the Commission’s demands “would ultimately harm consumers and internet users”.

The Commission’s lawyer, Nicholas Khan, deplored the power of the Mountain View, California giant. “Google’s status as the colossus of the digital age is unquestioned and until recently unquestionable.”

The commission was joined by other plaintiffs, who shot down Google for aggressive business practices.

“Google’s behaviour constitutes a serious abuse of dominance which must stop or it will destroy competition in all the markets in which it decides to enter,” said Thomas Höppner, a lawyer for three companies fighting the group.

The EU and Google have been locked in battle since 2010 when the commission first looked into accusations that the search engine was squeezing rivals from results in order to promote ads and Google Shopping, its price comparison service.

For several years Brussels and the US giant sought a negotiated settlement, but the EU abruptly reversed course in 2014 after the intervention of member states and the arrival of Margrethe Vestager who took over as EU competition chief.

Vestager, a former Danish finance minister, quickly became known for her relentless pursuit of US tech giants that drew attention worldwide.

Instead of negotiation, she repeatedly fined Google and slapped Apple with a 13 billion euro tax bill that boss Tim Cook dismissed as “political crap”.

The appeal hearing is to last three days with a decision possible by June. The case can then go to the EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice.

The EU’s case mirrors similar litigation against Microsoft, a legal labyrinth that ran throughout most of the 1990s and early 2000s and saw the Windowsmaker fined about 1.4 billion euros.

Google was expected to plead that the commission had wrongly applied arguments used successfully against Microsoft and that the company has the right to give advantage to its own services.

The company would also underline that the EU case erroneously failed to account for the spectacular rise of Amazon and eBay in its assessment of Google Shopping.

Players in other sectors are following the case closely, and hoping that Vestager swoops in on other features such as maps, travel and job ads where Google has yet to face push back from regulators.

More than 30 travel firms — including TripAdvisor and Expedia — wrote to Vestager on Monday complaining that Google was unfairly trying to enter the vacation rental ad business.

The EU has already said it was looking into Google’s similar push into job ads.

NEW YORK — A federal judge cleared the way on Tuesday for T-Mobile to acquire wireless rival Sprint, in the final legal hurdle for the blockbuster deal to combine the third- and fourth-largest US mobile carriers.

US District Judge Victor Marrero turned back an antitrust challenge from New York, California and other states that had sought to block the deal, saying he was "not persuaded" by the contention that the new company would pursue anticompetitive behavior after the deal.

The two firms said in a statement they were "now taking final steps to complete their merger to create the New T-Mobile".

The states had filed the suit last June, seeking to block a proposed $26 billion tie-up they argued would cause "irreparable harm" leading to higher costs that would price out low-income consumers.

Backers of the deal have argued that combining T-Mobile and Sprint will create a strong number three US wireless carrier behind Verizon and AT&T, with the resources to invest in 5G, or fifth-generation, networks.

Marrero acknowledged that ruling in such a case "virtually turns the judge into a fortuneteller" who must weigh competing claims from specialists on both sides.

But in the end, he was unconvinced by key arguments posed by states, including that Sprint, absent the deal, "would continue operating as a strong competitor in the nationwide market for wireless services". 

As part of approval of the deal by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the companies must divest its prepaid division Boost Mobile to the satellite broadcast group Dish, which will begin building a new national wireless network.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai applauded the ruling, saying "the T-Mobile-Sprint merger will help close the digital divide and secure United States leadership in 5G," and, pointing to a pledge from T-Mobile to expand telecom services to rural areas in the United States.

Shares of Sprint surged 73.8 per cent to $8.34 in early trading, while T-Mobile jumped 11.2 per cent to $94.02.

SYDNEY — Australia and Indonesia announced a 100-day plan on Monday to implement a long-awaited trade deal, as the two countries hailed a "new beginning" for their sometimes troubled relationship.

The two G-20 economies hope to deepen trade currently worth a modest $12 billion a year, in a region increasingly dominated by China's economic and military might.

Addressing Australia's parliament on a landmark state visit, President Joko Widodo cast the two nations as would-be "Avengers" — "forces of good" uniting to defeat a "common enemy" and shared challenges like protectionism, intolerance and climate change.

Widodo said his visit to Australia marked "a new beginning of a new relationship" between the two nations.

The 58-year-old former furniture manufacturer was sworn in for a second term late last year, promising to reduce widespread poverty as Indonesia becomes one of the world's largest economies.

Negotiations over the Australia-Indonesia trade deal began in 2010 and it was ratified by Indonesia's parliament last week, ahead of Widodo's visit.

The agreement will eventually see the elimination of all Australian trade tariffs, while 94 per cent of Indonesian duties will be gradually eliminated.

Greater access to the Australian market is expected to spur Indonesia's automotive and textile industries, and boost exports of timber, electronics and medicinal goods.

The pact also includes improved access for Australia's agriculture industry to Indonesia's vast market of 260 million people.

Australian universities, health providers and miners will also benefit from easier entry to southeast Asia's biggest economy.

In a joint public appearance with Widodo in Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison outlined a 100-day "action plan" for implementation. 

He called the long-delayed deal a "mutually beneficial arrangement, one that sees the cooperation of our economies for the strong growth that we will see over the next decade and beyond".

The leaders also eyed talks aimed at making it easier for Indonesians to enter Australia and a review of Australian travel advice for tourist destinations in Indonesia, Morrison said.

Ties between Canberra and Jakarta have often been strained, including over Australia's hardline approach to asylum seekers.

The trade deal was meant to be signed in 2018, but stalled when Morrison proposed the relocation of Australia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem — a move that angered Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.

Both countries have also struggled to manage their relationship with a more assertive Beijing.

Last month, Indonesia sent jets and warships to patrol islands near the disputed South China Sea, accusing Chinese vessels of "trespassing".

MONROVIA — Liberians have faced long queues at petrol pumps for nearly two weeks as sloppy bookkeeping and poor port infrastructure have triggered economically damaging fuel shortages.

Incorrect fuel-reserve figures in the impoverished west African country partly led to the shortage, which has dragged on since late January, an industry official said. 

But an undredged port in the capital Monrovia has also prevented large fuel tankers from docking, according to port and government officials.

Liberia’s Commerce Minister Wilson Tarpeh told AFP the shortage has caused an “economic downtrend”, without giving precise figures. 

Consumers are spending less on household items as fuel prices rise, he said, and businesses are operating under capacity.

Liberia suffers frequent fuel shortages, but the current one has lasted an unusually long time. Queues forming before dawn at petrol stations are now commonplace, and scarcity has forced taxis and buses to hike fares. 

“I have been here since 5am but until now I am yet to receive gasoline,” said Victor Gray, 45, at a Monrovia petrol station at 8am this week.

“I think the kids will miss class today,” he added, exhausted after he and his children slept in the car.

The shortage is another blow to President George Weah, who is under increasing pressure to improve living conditions in the country of some 4.8 million people. 

He inherited an economy already devastated by back-to-back civil wars from 1989 to 2003, and by the 2014-2016 west Africa Ebola outbreak.

Inflation is now running at about 30 per cent, according to the World Bank, which has incited anger and protests. 

Compounding economic difficulties, fuel scarcity means it is harder to move goods around the country. 

“My store is empty,” said Anthony Kai, who sells dried goods in the town of Zwedru, some 550 kilometres east of Monrovia. 

“Very soon the population will lack the necessary things they need,” he added.

Fuel distributors which overstated their reserves are also partly to blame for the shortage, according to an official from the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company (LPRC) who requested anonymity. 

The LPRC is a state-owned company charged with ensuring a consistent oil supply.

The greater problem, officials say, is that large petrol tankers have been unable to dock in the port of Monrovia for weeks because of unusually shallow waters.

Silt and detritus have accumulated in the port since summer, when heavy rains prevented crews from dredging, said the managing director of the National Port Authority, Bill Tweahway.

Ships with a draft of more than 10 metres can no longer enter the port, Tweahway said, although smaller ones can still dock, which has averted a crisis. 

The government said it would start dredging, after which ships with a draft of over 13 metres would be able to dock. 

Losses and frustration 

Liberia is also expanding the port so that more than one vessel can dock at a time, Weah’s office told AFP, pointing to the port as the main cause of the fuel shortage.

An importer who declined to be named said that businesses are losing “a huge amount of money” chartering several smaller ships rather than one freighter.

But a foreign official in Monrovia, who declined to be named, said the smaller ships meant that some petrol was still arriving. 

“I don’t think this is an existential crisis, just a screw-up,” he said.

Everyday frustration is nonetheless rife. 

Civil servant Emmanuel Gaye said he would not be able to afford his fare to work if the fuel shortage lasts another week, since it has doubled.

“We can’t continue like this,” said Solomon Fayah, a driver, sitting in a fuel queue in Monrovia. 

PARIS — France's consumer watchdog said on Friday that Apple had agreed to pay 25 million euros ($27.4 million) for failing to tell iPhone users that software updates could slow down older devices.

The scandal erupted in December 2017, when the US tech giant admitted that its most recent iOS software was slowing the performance of older telephones whose battery life was deteriorating.

Critics accused the firm of surreptitiously forcing users to buy phones sooner than necessary, and the outcry forced Apple to upgrade its software and offer steep discounts on battery replacements.

French prosecutors opened an inquiry in January 2018 at the request of the Halt Planned Obsolescence (HOP) association.

"IPhone owners were not informed that installing iOS updates [10.2.1 and 11.2] could slow down their devices," the DGCCRF anti-fraud agency said in a statement.

"This is a historic victory against scandalous ready-to-rubbish practices, for consumers as well as the environment," HOP co-founders Laetitia Vasseur and Samuel Sauvage said, adding that they will consider filing claims for additional damages for iPhone clients.

Apple said it welcomed the accord with the DGCCRF, which will allow it to avoid a potentially embarrassing public trial.

"Our goal has always been to create secure products appreciated by our clients, and making iPhones that last as long as possible is an important part of that."