Headlines

President Trump’s planned 15 percent tariff on medicines from Europe has shined a spotlight on Ireland, which sends the United States tens of billions of dollars’ worth of cancer medications, weight-loss drug ingredients and other pharmaceutical products each year. No other country sends more, the New York Times reported. Manufacturing blockbuster medications there offers tax benefits for American drug companies. But the appeal of Ireland for the industry goes deeper: Drugmakers have long shifted their patents and profits there, as well, to avoid billions of dollars in taxes.

Already struggling with “astronomical” input cost increases, independent brewers are set to face a further hike in their commercial water charges, the Irish Times reported. Despite the dramatic increases to their costs, independent brewers across Ireland are limited in their ability to pass them on to consumers, as they compete with far larger, commercial breweries. The confirmation of a 9.8 per cent hike in water charges has brewers concerned amid the closures of several well-known, award-winning breweries across the country.

Potato producer CêlaVita is expected to file for bankruptcy later this week with the potential loss of 215 jobs, DutchNews.nl reported. The company, based in Wezep, Gelderland, supplied supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and institutions across Europe, but had been struggling financially for some time. A month ago unions rejected a final offer from the company in negotiations for a new pay deal and said a majority of workers were prepared to take industrial action.

Many subsidiaries of the shoe brand Van Lier have been declared bankrupt, according to the Zeeland-West-Brabant court, the NL Times reported. It had previously been reported that the company was facing financial difficulties. It is not immediately clear how extensive the bankruptcy is. On the website of the alternative exchange Bondex, the company states that the parent company VANLIER b.v. is not bankrupt, but bankruptcy has been declared for subsidiaries Van Lier b.v., Van Lier Amsterdam, and Van Lier Shoes b.v.

An esports company backed by David Beckham has been put up for sale on an insolvency marketplace, City AM reported. Guild Esports, which owns a multi-story gaming venue in Shoreditch, is seeking offers from prospective buyers with a bid deadline of Friday. Founded in 2018, the company employed esports teams which competed in popular gaming tournaments such as Fortnite and FC25. It also had partnerships with Sky Broadband and Subway.

Norway’s central bank kept its key policy rate unchanged Thursday as inflation remains above target, but it continued to hint at further easing later this year to avoid constraining the economy more than necessary, the Wall Street Journal reported. After surprising with a quarter-point cut at its last meeting, policymakers said in a statement that inflation is still too high and a restrictive monetary policy is still needed for now. “The job of tackling inflation has not been fully completed,” Gov. Ida Wolden Bache said.

In the ongoing trade battles between the United States and China, one besieged front line runs through the factories, warehouses and ports of Thailand, the Washington Post reported. Under pressure to close tariff loopholes, officials in the Southeast Asian country are poring over receipts and cross-checking business registration documents from exporters who want to sell wire rods, steering wheels and hard disks to American buyers. They’re conducting spot checks at factories to verify that products claiming to be made in Thailand are genuinely manufactured in the country.

European industry felt the effects of the pullback of tariff frontrunning in June, as industrial production declined more than expected, the Wall Street Journal reported. Industrial production fell 1.3% on month in June, more than reversing the 1.1% increase in May, Eurostat data showed Thursday. The data highlights that the boost to production from U.S. firms’ stockpiling of European goods to get ahead of expected tariffs has now faded.

The U.K. economy defied US tariff pressures in the second quarter, expanding by 0.3% and outpacing most G7 peers despite a slowdown from the optimistic 0.7% growth seen earlier in the year, EuroNews.com reported. Strong performances in the services and construction sector helped drive the gains, offsetting a drop in manufacturing and other production sectors. Compared with the same period last year, the economy expanded by 1.2%.

British goods exports to the United States fell to their lowest level in more than three years in June, according to official data published on Thursday that showed the hit from U.S. President Donald Trump's initial import tariff blitz, Reuters reported. Sales of British goods to the United States fell to 3.9 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) during the month, down by 0.7 billion pounds from May and about 20% lower than a monthly average of 4.9 billion pounds in 2024.