The ministry will offer up to 10,000 euros to individuals and up to 20,000 euros to small firms

International News via Reuters:

Italy has approved new subsidies worth almost 600 million euros ($698 million) for the purchase of electric vehicles as sales lag, the environment and energy ministry said on Friday.

The ministry will offer up to 10,000 euros to individuals and up to 20,000 euros to small firms, covering up to 30% of the total purchase price of a new electric car or commercial vehicle.

The subsidies, financed by European Union’s post-COVID recovery funds, will be restricted to individuals or companies based in larger urban areas with the aim of reducing pollution and improving air quality.

To qualify for the programme, beneficiaries will be required to scrap an internal combustion vehicle of up to the Euro 5 emission class, dating from 2015 or earlier, the ministry said.

EV sales are struggling in Europe, hindered by high prices and lack of charging stations, even as the EU is using regulations in an effort to phase out combustion engine cars to meet carbon emissions goals.

In Italy, battery electric vehicles accounted for only 6% of new car sales in June, compared to more than 15% across the European Union.

Next year, the bloc is due to review its ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 under pressure from the auto industry and some national governments to slow the transition.

($1 = 0.8596 euros)

Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Joe Bavier

Mexico and Canada are in many ways natural allies

International News via Reuters:

Prime Minister Mark Carney is scrambling to save his country’s relationship with Mexico after it disintegrated late last year when Canadian officials suggested they’d be better off negotiating a trade deal with the Trump administration alone.

Carney attempted to break the ice in a phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in July by complimenting an indigenous-made soccer ball she had gifted him at their last meeting and saying he hoped to visit Mexico soon. 

The warm overture, relayed to Reuters by three people familiar with the call, highlights Canada’s attempt to repair the damage after a string of public slights by Canadian officials, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said in November that any comparison of Canada to Mexico was “the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard.”

Mexico and Canada are in many ways natural allies. They’ve benefited from trilateral trade deals with the U.S. for 31 years: first the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 and subsequently the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that replaced it in 2020.

But the relationship between the two countries has been beset by allegations of betrayal on both sides and memories of fraught negotiations with Trump. Top officials virtually stopped talking in November after former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mused about cutting a trade deal with the U.S. without Mexico, suggesting the U.S. and Canada were more aligned on issues like China.

A few days later, Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago for a surprise visit with U.S. President Donald Trump, stunning Mexican officials. It seemed as if Canada had already developed a strategy for dealing with Trump while Mexico was wringing its hands, one Mexican official said. 

An infuriated Sheinbaum directed her lieutenants to stop dealing with the Canadians, at least until Trudeau left office, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.  

Nine months later, Canada finds itself on the back foot with Trump while Mexico is reveling in its relative success. Last week, Trump gave Mexico a 90-day pause on new tariffs going into effect, keeping the rate at 25%, while raising tariffs on Canada to 35%.

Now, in a remarkable about-face, Canadian officials are on a campaign to win back Mexico’s favor and save the trilateral trade deal Trudeau suggested he was willing to ditch, according to two people with knowledge of the countries’ tense relationship.

That treaty continues to shield a large number of Canadian and Mexican exports to the U.S. from Trump’s latest rounds of tariffs.

Carney said on Tuesday that “it’s important to preserve” the trilateral agreement while Canada’s foreign minister and finance minister traveled this week to Mexico for a two-day visit with top officials. 

   Asked by Reuters whether the purpose of her visit was to repair shattered ties with Mexico, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said: “It is extremely important for Canada to have a resilient relationship with Mexico, and indeed, I’m here to kick start that relationship.”

Sheinbaum, on X, reiterated that message. “We’re strengthening the relationship between our countries,” she wrote.

A spokesperson for Sheinbaum declined to comment. 

‘LOOK IN THE MIRROR’

Whether they repair their partnership and become a tightly-knit bloc in negotiations with the U.S. will have lasting consequences not only for the three countries but the thousands of companies that depend on free trade in the region, from automakers to medical suppliers, three trade analysts said.

“The big question I have is whether there’s a real sense of communication or coordination between Mexico and Canada,” said Kenneth Smith Ramos, a former trade negotiator for Mexico. “I don’t get the sense that is the case. I think both are operating bilaterally with the U.S. and that’s it.” 

He said Mexico saved Canada from being ousted from the USMCA treaty when Canadian and U.S. negotiators got into a “severe fight” during negotiations in 2018.

“Mexico insisted that the agreement remain trilateral,” said Smith, who represented Mexico in those negotiations, adding it’s that history that likely made Mexican officials especially bitter when Canada appeared to spurn Mexico to curry favor with Trump.

A Canadian source involved in the 2018 talks sharply disputed that characterization. 

“The Mexican team went behind our back and negotiated their own bilateral deal with the U.S. Trump then used that to pressure Canada to make concessions,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The source said the bad blood with Mexico stemming from the 2018 negotiations is part of the reason Canadian officials expressed interest last year in a bilateral deal with the U.S.

“If there are Mexicans who feel Canada betrayed them, they should look in the mirror.”

TRADING BARBS

After Trudeau came away from Mar-a-Lago empty-handed at the beginning of the year, the relationship became openly hostile with him and Trump trading barbs. Sheinbaum, meanwhile, insisted on staying on Trump’s good side, virtually at any cost, according to three people familiar with her strategy. 

As the Canadians fell into a deeper rut with Trump, Carney, who replaced Trudeau as prime minister in March, sought to make amends with Mexico by inviting Sheinbaum to attend the Group of 7 summit in Canada. 

Sheinbaum delayed accepting for nearly three weeks but eventually assented. Trump left the summit early without meeting Sheinbaum, a development that “worried” Mexico’s president, one of her advisors said. 

Carney’s invitation and Sheinbaum’s attendance appeared to be a reset of sorts in the two countries’ relationship, said Pedro Casas, CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico. It sent a “clear message” that the two leaders are “in this together,” he said.

The Canadian prime minister extended his good-faith gestures to Sheinbaum during their follow-up phone call in July. He told her that the following day Canada would announce limits on imports of steel produced in other countries in an effort to help the country’s domestic steel sector, which is reeling from Trump’s 50% tariffs.

But Carney assured Sheinbaum that the measure wouldn’t affect imports from Mexico, according to two people with knowledge of their conversation.

Whatever her reservations about Canada, Sheinbaum has made clear she is completely invested in saving the trilateral trade deal with it and the U.S. If the three countries fail to renew the pact next year, the treaty will automatically expire in 2036, creating a potentially disastrous economic blow to Mexico. 

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has privately raised the idea of ditching the agreement in favor of a bilateral trade deal with Mexico, according to the Mexican official – a scenario the person said Mexico is not keen to pursue. 

Secretary Lutnick did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“Mexico knows very well that if we try to go head-to-head, toe-to-toe with Washington the asymmetry in the negotiations is going to favor the U.S,” said former Mexican trade negotiator Juan Carlos Baker. “It’s always better to have a three-player game.”

Reporting by Emily Green, David Ljunggren and Stephen Eisenhammer. Editing by Christian Plumb and Michael Learmonth

Higher U.S. tariffs against a host of trade partners went into effect on Thursday

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices were stable on Friday but poised for the steepest weekly losses since late June on a tariff-hit economic outlook and a potential meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Brent crude futures were up 21 cents, or 0.32%, at 6.64 a barrel by 0901 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 18 cents, or 0.28%, to $64.06. 

Brent was on track to be down 4.3% over the week while WTI was set to finish 4.9% lower than last Friday’s close.

Higher U.S. tariffs against a host of trade partners went into effect on Thursday, raising concern over economic activity and demand for crude oil, ANZ Bank analysts said in a note.

The latest tariffs arrive against a backdrop of an already weaker than expected U.S. labour market and Thursday’s announcement by the Kremlin that Putin and Trump would meet in the coming days as trade tensions rise between the U.S. and Russia’s oil customers.

Trump this week threatened to increase tariffs on India if it kept buying Russian oil, which the market viewed as putting further pressure on Russia to reach a deal with the U.S., said independent analyst Tina Teng.

Trump also said China, the largest buyer of Russian crude, could be hit with tariffs similar to those levied against Indian imports.

The potential meeting raises expectations of a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine, which could lead to eased sanctions on Russia, with Russian stocks rallying after the news.

However, some analysts remain cautious.

“The Russian leader is expected to insist on having his territorial demands granted, a hard sell for the invaded country, while his U.S. counterpart will push for a ceasefire,” said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.

“No breakthrough is anticipated, and the U.S. following through on its threat to impose secondary sanctions on those dealing in Russian energy – including China and India – remains a possibility.” 

Reporting by Robert Harvey in London, Shariq Khan in New York and Colleen Howe in BeijingEditing by David Goodman

The herd wandering from town to town is part of a pilot project set up in the city of Mataro

International News via Reuters:

Amid a symphony of tinkling bells, some 300 black, brown and dappled goats trot along a paved road in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, stopping every now and then to nibble with gusto on the dry shrubs lining the edge of a forest.

The herd wandering from town to town is part of a pilot project set up in the city of Mataro, which forms part of a broader European Union-funded effort to mitigate the risk of wildfires.

Jose Antonio Ricis, Mataro’s local councillor in charge of agriculture, said the project was a success and was “here to stay”.

Each summer, scorching heat sparks wildfires in countries across southern Europe ravaging vast swathes of land as climate change intensifies. In Catalonia last year, despite being in the third year of the worst drought in a century, the number of outbreaks decreased, with the regional government attributing the decline to improved fire prevention measures, of which goats are just one part.

Goats are known for their voracious appetites, even feeding on thorny plants like cacti or thistles, making them ideal for clearing brush and other combustible materials to create natural firebreaks.

The practice of using livestock to clear flammable undergrowth dates back centuries, but some farmers are turning away from machines favoured in modern times and back to goats and other animals in search of more sustainable farming techniques. In Spain’s Galicia region, wild horses perform the job.

Whistling in short bursts, Francesc Teixido and Pedro Alba, both 38, instruct their working dogs to get the goats moving along the perimeter of a residential area in wildfire-prone Maresme county, hugging central Catalonia’s coast.

The two business partners recently decided to combine their respective flocks and embrace the nomadic goat-herding life.  

Teixido’s story began 14 years ago with a small experiment in goatherding in the Barcelona suburb of Badalona. However, others in the original group soon grew tired of the demanding lifestyle, and Teixido was left alone with his modest flock of seven goats. 

CHANGE OF LIFESTYLE

“At first, it wasn’t even a profession. I did it as a hobby, to learn,” says Teixido, who had worked as a skiing, sailing and windsurf instructor before.

“When you’re an instructor, you’re also looking after a group of children or adults and have to try to make sure they behave as well as possible,” he quips, adding that he prefers his current sense of freedom.

Alba also left a very different life behind: He had been a touring musician, but then the pandemic hit and travel restrictions became the norm. 

Faced with an unintended career change, he prioritised finding a job in which he could also spend time with his young son, so he started by buying a few goats from Teixido after meeting him at a party.

Aside from the ability to bring his child along, Alba says he loves to consume high-quality milk and meat, but he intensely dislikes dealing with the red tape.

The goatherders are paid by individual municipalities who use their services and by cheesemakers who particularly prize milk from the roving goats. However, these income streams also mean they have to deal with more bureaucracy related to tax and health regulations.

The constantly moving animals graze on a wide variety of plants and don’t require supplemental feed such as lucerne – resulting in a sweeter, fattier and more protein-rich curd with a higher yield and flavours that change with the season, the pair explain.

“What seemed like a handicap at first became our main strength,” Teixido says, referring to the goats’ lack of fixed abode. 

Most of the income from milk sales and the municipalities that pay for the wildfire prevention programme is spent on getting better equipment.

Ultimately, neither of them is in it for the money. “If you count the hours, it doesn’t add up,” says Alba. “We do it because we believe in another way of life and of managing the land.”

Reporting by Albert Gea and Horaci Garcia; Writing by David Latona; Editing by Sharon Singleton