外媒每日新闻 Independence Day & Tariff War Edition

European leaders joined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday for celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence Day, as Russia pressed on with its 4-year-old invasion. U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, on his first overseas trip since taking office, co-chaired a meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" — a group of over two dozen countries helping Ukraine resist Russia's onslaught. European Council President António Costa, Luxembourg PM Luc Frieden, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, and Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda also attended. Burnham announced that the U.K. has agreed to allow defense company MBDA to release classified information on British components used in the SCALP long-range missile, paving the way for France and Ukraine to advance plans for the weapon's production on Ukrainian soil. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the U.K. of "taking part in this war," while Burnham retorted: "Who started the fire?" Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike killed three teenagers in Russia's Krasnodar region, and Russian forces struck a shopping mall in Odesa.^[1][2]

Iran's currency crashed to a record low of 2.02 million rial to the U.S. dollar on Monday as Washington prepared to announce new sanctions including secondary penalties on countries still doing business with Tehran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote in a Financial Times op-ed: "President Trump decimated Iran's economy to a point where the rial has never been weaker and inflation has rarely been higher." Since the war began in February, rice prices are up 60% and beef prices have surged over 150%. The IMF forecasts GDP will contract more than 5%. The UAE — long one of Iran's largest trading partners — announced last week it was suspending all trade with Tehran. Yet economic pressure has not translated into political pressure: Iran retains its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil once passed. Iran is now refusing to fully reopen the strait unless it can charge ships passing through. Iran and Oman are reportedly in the final stages of agreeing on a joint management plan for the waterway, with Oman's foreign minister set to visit Tehran on Tuesday. Pakistan, which brokered a 60-day ceasefire in June, sent a high-level delegation to Iran on Monday. "There is no hope for a deal and peace," said 73-year-old Sadegh Mahmoudi, queuing to buy dollars in downtown Tehran.^[3]

President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to impose a 50% tariff on Canadian automobiles, car parts and steel starting next year, escalating the trade rift with Ottawa to a new level. The announcement comes after 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian products — from hockey sticks to wine, cement, honey and cameras — went into effect Saturday following the collapse of trade talks. "Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years," Trump posted on social media. Ontario Premier Doug Ford fired back in an AP interview, saying the late President Ronald Reagan — whose portrait hangs near Trump's desk — would be "throwing up" over the current president's trade policies. Ford threatened to cut off electricity and critical minerals to the United States if the trade fight worsens: "I'll cut them off. You won't get a grain of sand out of Ontario." Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced Canada's retaliation will begin Sept. 8, targeting steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer downplayed the fallout as "a tempest in a teapot," noting the tariffs cover only about 5% of Canadian trade.^[4]

U.S. forces struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific on Monday, killing two people the Pentagon says were trafficking drugs, raising the death toll from the Trump administration's campaign of bombing boats off Latin America's coast to over 210 after more than 60 strikes. The Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere "executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes," U.S. Southern Command announced. "We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists — disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership, and eliminating cartel terror across the region," said Gen. Francis Donovan. The escalation comes days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced during a visit to Panama that the U.S. would extend its offensive to land across multiple Latin American countries, saying Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil — though Guatemala denied reaching such an agreement. Ecuador launched similar joint missions with the U.S. in March.^[5]

U.S. stocks drifted Monday ahead of a week packed with potentially market-moving events. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, pulling further from its all-time high set earlier this month. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.6% as tech stocks led the decline, with Micron Technology dropping 5.5% and Broadcom falling 1.5%. Chip giant Nvidia — Wall Street's largest and most influential stock — slipped 0.7% ahead of its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, which could dictate the next big move for AI-related stocks. The bond market showed tentative signs of calming after the Treasury Department's surprise move to increase Treasury buybacks: the 10-year yield eased to 4.70% from 4.74% Friday. But analysts warned the buybacks are too small to fix fundamental problems of excessive government debt and high oil prices. Brent crude fell 1.3% to $91.51 per barrel, though it remains about 20% higher than before the Iran conflict. All eyes now turn to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's first Jackson Hole keynote on Friday — his first major speech since taking office. Warsh has removed forward guidance from Fed statements, the first such move in 15 years, insisting markets should react to data rather than Fed signaling. South Korea's Kospi fell 3.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.9% for two of the biggest global moves.^[6]

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a ballistic missile strike on a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea on Monday, igniting a fire on its main deck. The UK Maritime Trade Organization reported no casualties, and the Egyptian Navy responded to conduct a rescue operation. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said they targeted the tanker "Amzan" near the port of Yanbu. The group claims to have carried out 8 attacks on Saudi oil tankers since announcing a maritime shipping ban on Saudi Arabia on July 22, with 29 Saudi tankers forced to change routes or return to port. Separately, a congressional report from Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee found that Trump saw the value of his oil and gas stocks rise by as much as $15 million during the Iran war. The president owned between $12.5 million and $45.6 million in oil and gas company stocks in 2025; the portfolio is now worth between $17.2 and $61.1 million. Two stocks Trump holds — Valero and Marathon — have more than doubled since the start of 2026. The committee noted Americans have spent an additional $71.5 billion on gas since the war began.^[7]

New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon unveiled a proposed law banning children younger than 16 from using social media platforms, citing what he said Monday was "harm being done to a generation" of young people. The Online Safety Bill would require platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook to take "reasonable steps" to verify users are over 16, using methods such as existing account information, facial age estimation, digital ID services and formal identification. Tech firms could face fines of up to 10% of their global revenue for non-compliance. Excluded from the ban are messaging apps like WhatsApp, online gaming platforms like Roblox, and AI productivity tools including ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. However, the bill faces an uncertain path: two of the three parties in Luxon's coalition government — libertarian ACT and populist NZ First — plan to vote against it, and there isn't enough time for lawmakers to pass it before Parliament dissolves on Oct. 1 ahead of November's election. The proposal follows Australia's world-first social media ban for under-16s, which took effect in December 2025, after which platforms revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children. Canada, Brazil and Indonesia have since enacted similar bans.^[8]

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) strongly condemned an ambush on its patrol traveling to Pajut, Jonglei State, on Monday, which left two peacekeepers dead and seven others wounded. The wounded included three peacekeepers, two South Sudan National Police Service personnel and two civilian staff. The Mission deployed a Quick Reaction Force to secure the area and support the emergency response. "Such deadly violence targeting UNMISS personnel is unacceptable and must stop," a statement read. UNMISS called on all parties to respect the sanctity of UN personnel and facilities, noting that attacks on peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. The ambush highlights the fragile security situation in South Sudan, where intercommunal violence and political instability continue despite a 2018 peace deal. The UN Security Council was briefed on the incident, and investigations are underway to identify the perpetrators. This attack marks one of the deadliest incidents involving UN peacekeepers in South Sudan in recent months.^[9]

All eyes on Wall Street turn to Nvidia's quarterly earnings report on Wednesday — the most anticipated event of a pivotal week that also features Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech on Friday. Nvidia has become Wall Street's largest and most influential stock as the undisputed winner of the AI boom, but its valuation has drawn increasing scrutiny amid worries that the frenzy around AI sent prices too high and that huge demand for AI chips won't be sustainable if they don't produce enough profits. Nvidia slipped 0.7% on Monday and was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500, where the majority of stocks were rising. Micron Technology dropped 5.5% and Broadcom fell 1.5% as the broader semiconductor sector felt the pressure. The chip sector's massive summer swings have made Nvidia's earnings a referendum on the entire AI investment thesis: if the company's revenue growth and data-center demand show signs of deceleration, the AI-driven market rally could face a severe correction. Conversely, a blowout report could push the S&P 500 back toward its record high. South Korea's Kospi fell 3.1%, dragged down by Samsung and SK Hynix — two tech titans heavily exposed to the AI chip cycle.^[11]

The hashtag #StormShadow trended across X as British Prime Minister Andy Burnham's announcement that the U.K. would share classified SCALP missile technology with Ukraine dominated the conversation around Ukraine's Independence Day celebrations. Burnham's retort to Kremlin accusations that the U.K. was "fanning the flames" of war — "Who started the fire?" — became one of the most-shared quotes on the platform. Users debated the strategic implications: the SCALP/Storm Shadow missile has a range of over 250 km and is designed to hit hardened bunkers and key infrastructure. The U.K. becomes the first country to share classified long-range missile production technology with Ukraine, potentially enabling Kyiv to manufacture its own deep-strike weapons. Some analysts noted the timing — coming just days after Zelenskyy disclosed that Patriot missile deliveries have dropped 61% since 2023 — suggesting a pivot from defensive interceptors to offensive strike capabilities as Ukraine's air defense thins. "This is the UK saying: if America won't give you Patriots, we'll help you build something that hits back harder," one military analyst wrote. Others flagged the risk: Kremlin spokesman Peskov's accusation that the U.K. is "taking part in this war" suggests Moscow may treat British defense facilities as legitimate targets.^[13]

The hashtags #IranRialCollapse and #TrumpOilStocks trended simultaneously on X, creating a jarring juxtaposition: as Iran's currency crashed to 2.02 million rial per dollar — making rice 60% more expensive and beef 150% pricier for ordinary Iranians since the war began — a congressional report revealed that President Trump's personal oil and gas stocks surged by as much as $15 million during the same period. Trump owned between $12.5 million and $45.6 million in oil and gas company stocks in 2025; the portfolio is now worth between $17.2 and $61.1 million. Valero and Marathon — two stocks Trump holds — have more than doubled since January. The Democrats' analysis attributed the gains "largely to the surge in oil and gas stocks driven by Trump's war in Iran." Meanwhile, Americans have spent an additional $71.5 billion on gasoline since the war began. "The president launches a war that spikes oil prices, and his personal portfolio goes up $15 million while Americans pay $71 billion more at the pump," wrote one viral post. Trump posted "IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!" on social media, but analysts noted that economic collapse has not translated into political capitulation — Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz.^[14]

The hashtag #FordVsTrump exploded on X after Ontario Premier Doug Ford's AP interview went viral, in which he said the late President Ronald Reagan — whose portrait sits near Trump's Oval Office desk — would be "throwing up" over Trump's trade policies. Ford's threat to cut off electricity and critical minerals to the United States if the trade fight worsens — "I'll cut them off. You won't get a grain of sand out of Ontario" — became an instant meme. The quote resonated because Reagan, a Republican icon, was a vocal free-trade advocate whose legacy Trump has repeatedly claimed to uphold. Ford enraged Trump last year by using Reagan's anti-tariff words in a television ad. Users noted the irony: Trump, who styles himself as Reagan's heir, is being called a betrayal of Reagan's legacy by a conservative Canadian premier. Others highlighted the economic leverage: Ontario supplies electricity to millions of Americans in the Northeast and is a major source of critical minerals used in defense and tech manufacturing. "Ford isn't bluffing — Ontario powers New York and Michigan," one energy analyst wrote. Prime Minister Carney's "dollar for dollar" retaliation starting Sept. 8 was also widely discussed, with users noting the 50% auto tariffs could devastate Canada's auto manufacturing sector, which employs over 125,000 workers.^[15]