… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.

• EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said the EU-US trade was “in a tough stop” but he hoped the EU and EU would “sooner or later” end up at a negotiation table, as he hoped for a negotiated solution to prolonging uncertainty surrounding US president Donald Trump’s tariffs (16:18).

• But the Slovak politician admitted that “until now, despite of efforts … we haven’t seen the real engagement which would lead to the mutually acceptable solution” from the US side (16:12), as he warned that the Trump administration seemed to be determined to send an ideological signal to markets (16:30).

• Šefčovič also spoke about a “clear difference of opinion” on figures in EU-US trade, arguing it it is wrong to look at trade in goods in isolation, without services, mutual investment, and other instruments.

• European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen earlier said that “Europe is always ready for good deal,” but signaled the bloc was “also prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests” (15:00).

• Outgoing German economy minister Robert Habeck offered a brutal takedown of the US tariffs, saying the underlying calculations were “nonsense,” and “wrong,” as he urged US to “stop the nonsense … the mess you have made in the last week” (11:12).

And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

British prime minister Keir Starmer spoke about US tariffs this afternoon too, warning that global consequences of Trump’s move “could be profound.”

Nobody is pretending that tariffs are good news. You know that better than anyone – 25% tariffs on automotive exports and 10% on other goods, that is a huge challenge for our future, and the global economic consequences could be profound.

Starmer said we live in a new era, where the old assumptions don’t apply any more, that he calls the age of insecurity.

For more on his comments and the UK’s plans, see Andrew Sparrow’s UK live blog here:

In response to the final question of the conference, Šefčovič says the EU and the US have “a clear difference of opinion” about the figures as he says it is wrong to look at trade in goods in isolation, without services, mutual investment, and other instruments.

In a hint at a potential US vulnerability, he adds: “I’m not even going into the direction of billions the US companies are generating from online advertising and different digital services that they’re offering in Europe.”

He eventually says that the actual deficit that would need rebalancing is not higher than 50 billion euros.

“If we know that this is the issue, I think then we can sort it out very quickly.

But my feeling is that at this stage it is more of a, I would say, decision of US administration to … transform the global trading system, and they see the tariffs as a corrective measures for many of the political goals, which I’m sure the US administration can describe much better, much better than I [can.”

They conclude the press conference here.

Šefčovič says he sees today’s market reactions as “a kind of black day for the markets … all over the world,” saying ministers described it “as the most important paradigm shift in global trading patterns since the second world war.”

“This introduces a lot of uncertainty, lack of predictability, inflation fears and the fact that tariffs are, in the end, the taxes which will be paid by the businesses, but especially by the final consumers,” he says.

He says the tariffs prompted fears among consumers on spending, inflation, jobs, and future prospects.

“So these are the I would say the debates which are now taking place, I would say all across the world … and I’m not even going to tell you [about] the distressed phone calls we are getting from emerging economies and from the developing countries,” he says.

He repeats that the EU will be “careful” and respond in a “measured and well calibrated way.”

“We know what kind of impact this might have on the real economy and on the people, and therefore you see that we are really progressing step by step in this regard.

But I wouldn’t dare to speculate if it would have an impact on decision making across the Atlantic.”

Šefčovič says that while the focus so far has been on finalising steel and aluminium countermeasures, the announcement of the new “so-called reciprocal tariffs … forces us to look at additional steps.”

“We got some valuable input from the member states, from the ministers, which we of course, evaluate, and we will proceed, as always, in the close consultations with our member states and with the key stakeholders,” he says.

Šefčovič says the EU is “in early stages of discussions” with the US, complicated “because the US view tariffs not as a tactical step, but as a corrective measure.”

But he says that “ while the EU remains open to and strongly prefers negotiations, we will not weigh endlessly until we see tangible progress.”

The EU has prepared a “robust list of countermeasures” on steel and aluminium after receiving feedback from over 600 stakeholders.

“After carefully reviewing all of it, we have worked to table a robust list of countermeasures, while balancing the burden across all member states, we will be sending the final list and tariff levels to them later today,

The vote is set for 9 April, with the final list adopted on 15 April, and then duties on products will kick in on that day for the first set of measures, and on 15 May for the remaining ones.”

EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič says that the EU’s trade situation with the US is “in a tough spot.”

He says that “70% of our total exports are facing tariffs of 20% of 25% or even higher.”

He acknowledges recent meetings with his US counterparts, as he says the two sides agree that “the EU-US trade relationship could benefit from a fresh look and a boost in strategic areas,” noting both markets “face similar challenges.”

He repeats von der Leyen’s comment from last half hour that the EU “we have offered zero for zero tariffs for cars and all industrial goods.”

As we wait for the press conference after the ministerial meeting, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen shared her views on US tariffs, as she welcomed Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre to Brussels.

She said that the US tariffs “come … at immense costs for US consumers and businesses,” as she insisted the EU “stand ready to negotiate with the United States.”

“Europe is always ready for good deal. So we keep it on the table,” she said, adding the EU “offered zero for zero tariffs for industrial goods, … because Europe is always ready for good deal.”

But she added the EU was “also prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests,” as it looked to step up its protection against “indirect effects [of] trade diversion.”

Von der Leyen said she engaged with key industrial stakeholders across the bloc to consult on next steps.

She also stressed that the EU should work on “strengthening our single market [by] getting rid of remaining barriers” in response to tariff disruptions.

À propos Le Pen’s conviction in French courts and linked protests I reported on earlier today, my colleague Ashifa Kassam looked at how the ruling in this case proved to be fuel for the global right’s attacks on court authority.

The three-word message, launched minutes after the verdict came in, was succinct in its solidarity. “Je suis Marine!” Hungary’s Viktor Orbán posted on social media after Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling European parliament funds and barred immediately from running for public office.

Messages soon came tumbling in from Brazil to Belgium, hinting at how rightwing nationalist and populist leaders had seized on the ruling to push their own narrative.

Most of them paid little heed to the judges’ finding of the key role Le Pen and more than two dozen others had played in a scam that prosecutors alleged had diverted more than €4m (£3.4m) of European parliament funds to benefit the party.

As France reeled from the political upheaval, opponents of liberal democracy jumped at the chance to peddle their claims that some justice systems are being used as a blunt tool to silence the will of the people.

Legal experts pushed back against the claims. “The decision is extremely well reasoned, the court handed down a judgment that seems to me implacable on its merits and without any real possible dispute,” said Mathieu Carpentier, a law professor at Toulouse Capitole University, citing the more than 150-page ruling delivered by the three judges.

“If Madame Le Pen had not broken the law, she would not have been convicted.”

It was a point that leaders in countries such as the US, Russia and Hungary – all of whom have faced accusations of undermining their country’s judiciary – were seemingly content to overlook.

Full story:

And now for something truly magical: a replica of the world-famous Orient Express made its debut journey from Rome on Friday, transporting well-heeled passengers into the heart of Tuscany’s wine region.

La Dolce Vita Orient Express, the first Italian-made luxury train, is aimed at reviving the glamour of the classic version as well as the romanticised notion of Italy’s dolce vita, or “sweet life”, all the while promoting slow tourism.

The train, the first of a fleet of six, is made up of 12 refurbished carriages that once chugged along Italian rail tracks in the 1960s and which have been decked out with 18 suites, 12 deluxe cabins, a bar, a lounge and a restaurant serving haute cuisine by the Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck.

The itinerary is one of eight that collectively cover 14 Italian regions, from Veneto and Liguria in the north to Basilicata and Sicily in the south. On Friday afternoon passengers travelled along the coast, passing the seaside towns of Santa Severa and Santa Marinella before gliding through the countryside of Tuscan, where by early evening they could sip locally made Brunello wine as part of the aperitivo.

As an option, they could disembark and be taken to the hilltop town of Montalcino before returning to the Dolce Vita for their evening meal and entertainment. The train, which also passes through Florence and Pisa, completes its loop back to Rome on Saturday morning.

Full story:

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Spain over the weekend in the latest protest against housing speculation and to demand access to affordable homes.

Organisers claim that up to 150,000 joined the protest in Madrid while smaller demonstrations were held in about 40 cities across the country. Protesters from Málaga on the Costa del Sol to Vigo in the Atlantic northwest chanted “end the housing racket” and “landlords are guilty, the government is responsible”.

Valeria Racu, a spokesperson for the Madrid tenants’ union, called for rent strikes such as those mounted recently in some Catalan coastal towns.

The union says 1.4m Spanish households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, 200,000 families more than 10 years ago.

Housing has become the number one social issue in Spain as a combination of property speculation and tourist apartments have driven the cost of rented housing beyond the reach of all but the most wealthy.

Full story:

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has told supporters in Paris on Sunday she would fight “a political, not a judicial ruling” that could bar her from the next presidential election, as a rival rally denounced an “existential threat” to the rule of law after her conviction for embezzling public funds.

Speaking from a temporary stage in front of the Hôtel des Invalides with the party’s 120 members of parliament behind her, Le Pen said she would “not give up” and was the victim of a “witch-hunt.”

But speaking at a leftwing rally a few kilometres away on the Place de la République, the Green party leader, Marine Tondelier, said Le Pen’s defence amounted to “a total conspiracy theory” and a full-blown attack on judicial independence.

Police said 7,000 people were at the RN rally – several thousand fewer than the party had hoped for – and about 5,000 at the leftwing rival.

The three-time presidential candidate and frontrunner to succeed Emmanuel Macron was found guilty on Monday of embezzling more than €4m (£3.4m) of European parliament funds to pay RN party workers in France through a vast fake jobs scam.

The Paris appeals court has said it will deliver a verdict on her case by next summer, potentially allowing her to contest the 2027 presidential race if her conviction is overturned, which is seen as unlikely, or the ban on running for public office lifted.

The ruling, which followed a 10-year investigation and a nine-week trial, has dramatically shaken up the political landscape and been fiercely attacked by far-right politicians in France and beyond as politically motivated and anti-democratic.

Full story:

French minister delegate for trade Laurent Saint-Martin also criticises “very aggressive and arbitrary” trade measures adopted by US president Donald Trump as he says France “prefers cooperation to confrontation.”

“Our end goal remains the same, to negotiate this escalation and negotiate back to where things were, and if it’s not possible, of course, European Union must react, must react firmly and must react proportionately,” he says.

He also stresses the need for Europe to remain united.

Ireland’s Harris continues:

“This is a trading relationship that matters, and Europe has been very clear: we’re up for a deal.

President von der Leyen has talked about wanting to address any of the trade barriers that exist, wanting to buy more stuff from the United States and vice versa. We’re up for a deal.

I suppose the outstanding question is, is the United States up for one?”

Irish foreign and trade minister Simon Harris says that it is “becoming abundantly clear now to anybody who was under any illusion in relation to this is that tariffs are really bad” for the US, for Europe and for Ireland.

“We need to find a negotiated way forward,” he says, calling for a “de-escalation.”

“I think the turmoil being seen in global stock markets and global markets is a real indication of the pain that tariffs are causing and will cause, not just to economies in some sort of macro sense, but also to individual citizens in Europe and individual people in the United States of America,” he says.

Harris also very pointedly rejects calls for measures targeting US tech and digital services.

He says that “if you were to get into that space, it would be an extraordinary escalation at a time when we must be working for a de-escalation.”

“The European Commission, and I believe the overwhelming majority of member states [do not want] to get into tit for tat, it’s not to accept that where we are now is the inevitable outcome, and actually seek to engage and I really think economics is on our side here,” he says.

He adds that he will travel to Washington for further talks with US representatives on Tuesday.

Outgoing German economy minister Robert Habeck is not mincing his words this morning in response to a question on US tariffs and how they were calculated.

He says:

“The calculations, from my point of view, are nonsense. Even the basis of the calculation is nonsense.

The assumption that a trade budget surplus or deficit is a problem in itself, is a wrong estimation, because in the end, globalisation serves all economies, and especially the American economy, [which] has [seen] huge growth figures in GDP, better than a lot of European countries. So you see, if we the rest of the world, are selling cheaper goods to the American economy, it’s of use of the American economy.

So, even the basis of the calculation that, the economical philosophical basis, it’s nonsense.”

He adds that European partners need to “stay united” as they will not be able to resolve the problem going alone.

Habeck is also asked about Elon Musk’s comments over the weekend, calling for free trade with the EU.

Making a video appearance at a rally of the far-right League party, Musk said “ideally, both Europe and the United States should move to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America.”

But Habeck says he sees his comments as “a sign of weakness and maybe of fear,” given the reality of US actions is “completely different.”

“If he has something to say, he should go to his president and say [it]. Before we are talking about zero tariffs, let’s stop the nonsense, … the mess you have just made in the last week,” he says, adding it is “ridiculous.”

Swedish trade minister Benjamin Dousa says the US decision was “extremely unfortunate,” and the EU “stands ready for countermeasures that are well targeted and proportionate,” with “all options on the table right now.”

“We’re going to discuss the countermeasures, and Sweden will be in favour of countermeasures, but always be open for negotiations,” he says.

He adds “they have to be well targeted and proportionate but Europe wants more trade with all countries and continents.”

“When China, when Canada, when the European Union, for the coming days and weeks, will put into place countermeasures, it will put a strong pressure on the US administration to negotiate with us,” he says.

Asked if US tech companies could be targeted, he says “all options are on the table right now” with focus on maintaining EU unity.

“They have to be well targeted … so we don’t hurt European companies more than it hurts American companies.

EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič says EU leaders will “focus our discussion on the next steps, how to prepare our next move in relation vis a vis the US,” and how to prepare Europe for any potential “trade diversion” including support for companies.

But he describes the situation “as a paradigm shift [for] the global trading system.”

Poland’s deputy economy minister Michał Baranowski is first to turn up at the meeting as Poland holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of June.

He says there has been “no tariffs like we have seen the last past week … for the last 100 years”.

He said the last similar episode “led to worsening of the Great Depression, which in the end … caused losses of millions of jobs, led to political extremism and … many historians point to [as one of] the sources … of international conflict”.

“This is what is at stake. I hope that we all will learn from history,” he says.

Baranowski says EU “regrets” the tariffs and is “still trying to understand the exact maths and ideas” behind Trump’s tariffs, but warns “it is very clear there will be no winners in this confrontation”.

“So far, the approach that we have seen is perhaps a little bit too much ‘shoot first, talk later’. I hope that we can switch to negotiations as soon as possible, serious negotiations with the United States, because again, the transatlantic economic relationship is the biggest one in the world,” he says.

He declines to take any questions.

German chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz warned that international stock and bond markets could deteriorate further following the announcement of US president Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime, in a statement to Reuters.

“The situation on the international equity and bond markets is dramatic and threatens to deteriorate further. It is therefore more urgent than ever for Germany to restore its international competitiveness as quickly as possible,” Merz said in an emailed statement.

“This issue must now be at the centre of the coalition negotiations,” he added.

The talks between the conservative CDU/CSU party and the Social Democrats have been continuing at pace since elections in February, with the stated intention of completing the process by Easter in late April.

If you’re interested in what is going on stock markets – a fair warning, it’s not a pretty sight – we have the latest on our business blog below.

UK’s FTSE 100 is 4.8% down, Germany’s DAX40 is 6.25% down, France’s CAC40 is 5.86% down, Stoxx Europe 600 is 5.74% down.

And if you’re wondering if there are any signs of Trump intending to soften his position against the EU, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

In comments aboard Air Force One overnight, he said that Europe “has treated us very, very badly,” and “has taken our leaders for a ride”, and declined to hold talks on changing tariffs “unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis”.

He also once again criticised Europe for not spending a fair share on Nato.

Here are his comments in full, carried by Fox News:

The problem is that Europe has made a fortune with us.

You know, Europe also has had a tremendous surplus with the United States. Europe has treated us, is a little smaller, but they’ve treated us very, very badly. China has, but Europe has also. Europe has been very, very bad as Europe has taken our leaders for a ride.

They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our food products, they don’t take anything. If we take their cars, Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, you know, we take their millions of cars. They take no cars. They don’t take our farm product. They don’t take anything, Europe’s treated us very badly …

They are coming to the table, they want to talk, but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis, number one for present, but also for past, because they’ve taken a lot of our wealth away and we are not going to allow for that to happen …

This is not sustainable. The United States can’t lose $1.9tn on trade. We can’t do that and also spend a lot of money on Nato in order to protect European nations, we cover them with military and we then lose money on trade.

The whole thing is crazy, and I got elected on that basis. We explained it. The American people understand it a lot better than the media.

Spanish economy minister Carlos Cuerpo said he would push the European Union to approve aid for industries hit by US tariffs.

Cuerpo also said on Monday the EU ministers will discuss a list of products to be submitted to retaliatory tariffs in response to the ones on steel, aluminium and cars, Reuters reported.

Cuerpo’s comments follow a speech by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez last week in which he promised a financial package of loans and direct aid worth €14.1 bn, comparing the crisis response to that during the Covid-19 pandemic.

EU ministers are expected to start arriving around 10am – I will bring you their doorstep reactions – but we are getting first lines from national leaders.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister and foreign, trade minister Simon Harris told Newstalk Radio that leaders agree on a need for a “calm, measured” response as he sought to play down the prospect of a retaliation on digital services that would be aimed at US big tech companies.

“My strong sense now is that the majority view by some distance is to take a calm, measured response and to try and get the US to the table,” he said.

Targeting digital services is “highly unlikely at this stage,” he said, Reuters reported.

US president Donald Trump have signaled no intention to back down on his tariffs policy over the weekend, as he urged reporters to “forget markets for a second” and insisted “we have all the advantages.”

“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said amid continuing slumps on global markets.

This morning, EU ministers will meet in Luxembourg to consider the EU’s response and hear the unfiltered version of EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič’s meetings with US counterparts late last week.

On social media, he said that he told US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Gree that Trump’s tariffs were “damaging” and “unjustified.”

Today he will probably ministers not only on what he thinks of them, but also on what the bloc could do in response as there are first signs of internal divisions within the EU.

Italy and Spain are understood to be among the more cautious countries willing to avoid a further escalation, while France’s Emmanuel Macron leads the more hawkish group, after he appeared to call for suspending French investments in the US as part of the reaction.

I will bring you all the latest political reaction from across Europe, as we also monitor the latest on Ukraine, Le Pen and France, and other stories from the continent.

It’s Monday, 7 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.