This morning’s food and drink headlines are dominated by the bombshell ruling by the US Court of International Trade on Wednesday, which ruled President Trump’s Tariff regime overstepped his authority – and the appeals court ruling handed down yesterday, which said they could remain in place, for now.
Reporting on that temporary reprieve for the tariffs that have upended global trade, the BBC said the 1977 law Trump invoked to impose many of his so-called Liberation Day levies – the International Emergency Economic Powers Act – “did not allow for such sweeping levies without input from Congress”. However, the appeals court decision will allow the tariffs to be used for now while the case is litigated. The next hearing is on 5 June.
The Trump administration filed for “emergency relief” from the ruling “to avoid the irreparable national-security and economic harms at stake”, reports The Guardian.
White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the judges had “brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump” in what she characterised as a pattern of judicial overreach. “Ultimately the supreme court must put an end to this,” she added.
Tariffs typically need to be approved by Congress but Trump has so far bypassed that requirement by claiming that the country’s trade deficits amount to a national emergency.
Staying on trade, The Guardian leads this morning on how the UK is on the brink of signing a £1.6bn trade agreement with Gulf states, amid “dismay” from rights groups that warn the deal makes no concrete provisions on human rights, modern slavery or the environment.
The prospective agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council – which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is within touching distance, making it a fourth trading agreement by Keir Starmer after pacts were struck with the US, India and the EU. It is likely to be particularly beneficial for the car industry and financial services, though there is likely to be “a backlash over a deal on chicken imports, where lower animal welfare standards could significantly undercut British farmers”.
Asda chairman Allan Leighton has admitted execs at the retailer have “Everest to climb” in turning around performance, after the supermarket revealed a fresh slump in sales, reports The Telegraph.
Like-for-like sales, adjusted to include the peak Easter trading period, declined by 3.1% in the four months to the end of April. This represented a 1.1% improvement compared with the prior quarter. Total revenue, however, excluding fuel, declined 5.9% to £5.8 billion.
The Times took a more positive view, citing quotes by Leighton that Asda had made “striking progress” on product availability, which had increased from 90% to 95% since January.
It comes as The Grocer reported yesterday that Aldi had overtaken Asda to be the UK’s third biggest supermarket by grocery market share during the last month. Aldi’s grocery market share was 9.8% in the four weeks to 18 May, compared with Asda’s 9.4%, according to Kantar data.
Read more on our Asda coverage here, and here, where Leighton says the supermarket will refuse to put through cost price increases even if there is a flood of requests from suppliers, promising it will act as the “gatekeeper” for low prices.
Elsewhere, The Guardian reports that baby formula prices are at “historic highs”, more than 18 months after the UK competition watchdog began an investigation into the market, with the government now a week late in responding to its proposed remedies.
The cost of infant formula fell only 50p on average last year, to £11.99 a tin, compared with £11.10 in 2021, with the most expensive priced at £18. The products are out of reach for those entitled to the government’s Healthy Start allowance designed to help poorer families, according to the First Steps Nutrition Trust campaign group. Most baby formula products have not changed price in the past year.
Drought has been declared across northwest England due to a drop in water supply, reports the BBC. The region went into drought status on 21 May after weeks of unusually dry weather leading to low water levels in reservoirs and rivers. It comes after rainfall between February and April was the third lowest on record in the north-west since 1871, while nationwide it is believed this spring is one of the driest on record.
“Despite the rain over the weekend, levels remain low and we are encouraging people to be aware of the impacts of drought as we enter the summer period,” an Environment Agency spokeswoman said.
The BBC and The Guardian both report on how sweet giant Haribo has recalled product in the Netherlands after some were found to contain traces of cannabis. Several people, including multiple members of one family, reported feeling unwell after eating from a 1kg pack of Haribo Happy Cola F!ZZ.
It is not clear whether the contaminated products are genuine Haribo bags or fake. Haribo said the safety of its consumers was its highest priority, adding that it was taking the incident “very seriously”. Other regions are so far unaffected.
The BBC also reports on the growing number of farms that have been forced to diversify due to the sector’s financial crisis. Three quarters of farmers now rely on non-farming enterprises to supplement their food production. From falconry and helicopter rides to spas and solar farms, farmers say these additional services now form a crucial part of the business.
Finally, The Guardian today interviews Gary Duschl, a Canadian man who is the Guinness world record holder for making the longest chain of chewing-gum wrappers in the world. “Wrigley’s gave me 5,000 to start me off. I’ve now used nearly 3 million,” Duschl says.
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