US President Donald Trump has threatened to progress from rhetoric to legal action in his dispute with the BBC, just weeks away from trade talks on key sectors.
Hot off the press, the UK has also rejected joining the EU's new multi-billion euro defence fund, SAFE, over the high cost proposed by the bloc. In better news for Switzerland, the European nations is also closer than ever to negotiating down its eye-watering 39% US tariff rate after an assembly of billionaires met at the White House.
BBC lawsuit
The ongoing Trump-BBC controversy has come at an inopportune time for UK-US relations, ahead of trade talks later this month.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is set to touch down in the UK on 24 November to continue negotiations on pharmaceutical trade and key UK exports like Scotch whisky.
Although the UK was first to agree a tariff reduction agreement with the US after Trump’s April Liberation Day announcement, unlike other large US trading partners such as the EU and Japan, its 10% rate does not cap additional sector-specific levies the US could introduce on certain goods.
However, President Trump’s threats against the UK’s public broadcaster over a selectively edited Panorama clip of his 2021 Capitol Hill speech, aired prior to the 2024 US presidential election, could prove an escalating source of tension.
Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for at least US$1bn, with lawyers also demanding the BBC “retract” any “defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements”.
The BBC has said it will review the allegations made by Trump’s lawyers “and respond directly in due course”.
Trump’s ‘winning record’ on media lawsuits
Chris Ruddy, head of Conservative US media outlet Newsmax and an ally of Trump, told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme that he “may very well sue the BBC because he’s had a winning record”.
During the course of his second term, Trump has already taken legal action against US broadcasters Paramount and ABC for alleged defamation, securing $16m and $15m payouts respectively.
This is the first instance of him making legal threats against an international media organisation.
Media lawyers have questioned the strategy of pursuing a case in the US, given that the BBC does not broadcast in Florida, where the lawsuit has been filed. The statute of limitations in the UK, which limits lawsuits to within one year of the alleged offence, has passed, preventing Trump’s legal team from filing in the UK.
Criticism of the organisation’s coverage of Trump, Gaza and other issues in a leaked memo, sent by former Sunday Times political editor Michael Prescott, led to the resignation of BBC director general Tim Davies and head of news Deborah Turness yesterday.
UK SAFE rejection
The UK has chosen not to join the EU's new defence-spending fund, following a request by the European Commission that it pays €6.75bn to participate.
The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme will facilitate greater defence spending among EU member in response to the increased military threat from Russia.
The UK had been on track to become an approved supplier of military goods within the programme, although concerns about EU financial expectations from the UK had been reported in recent months.
Speaking to Bloomberg this week, a senior British official described the fees sought by Brussels as unreasonable and above the amount expected.
Amid ongoing efforts to 'reset' the UK-EU relationship, with talks to define a planned Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area expected next year, the decision is being viewed by some as a setback.
According to Bloomberg's source, EU member states are divided on whether the joining fee is too high, with some warning that an impasse on the issue could signal vulnerability to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Switzerland-US deal
More cordial relations elsewhere in Europe, as Switzerland closes in on a tariff deal with the US.
Sources close to the negotiations told Bloomberg that Switzerland could be about to secure 15% tariffs on its US-bound exports, having been hit with 39% rates in August – the highest rate of any ‘developed nation’.
A meeting between Trump and a group of Swiss billionaires last week in the Oval Office is reportedly the catalyst for the deal. Following the meeting, Trump then ordered Greer to push on with negotiations.
Although he didn’t confirm the 15% rate directly, when asked about talks, Trump said that his administration was aiming to reach a deal:
“We’re going to be working on something to help Switzerland along. We hit Switzerland very hard. We want Switzerland to remain successful.”
Following the imposition of tariffs, Swiss GDP fell in Q3 and its employment level rose slightly for the first time in four years. Its Central Bank warned that that the country’s economic outlook “has deteriorated due to significantly higher US tariffs”.
US-China trade truce enacted
China has suspended its ban of export of key critical minerals to the US, in a sign that agreements made with the US in South Korea earlier this month are being implemented.
Export controls on gallium, germanium and antimony – essential to the production of cutting-edge commercial and military technology – were lifted on Sunday (9 November), Politico reports.
In line with the one-year trade truce that was agreed, the suspension will remain in place until 27 September 2026, China’s commerce ministry has confirmed.
Reciprocal port fees levied by the US and China on one another’s vessels were also halted yesterday (10 November) for a year, another sign of the détente being honoured.
Elsewhere in the headlines
- Early reports of an end to Houthi attacks on vessels transiting the Red Sea
- UK unemployment has hit 5%, the highest rate for a decade outside the Covid-19 pandemic
Yesterday in trade
- A preview of Brazil’s COP30
- Upcoming UK GDP release
- A possible end to the US government shutdown
You can read more about those stories here.
