German chancellor calls for zero tariffs between EU, US

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday called on the European Union to pursue a "zero-to-zero" tariff agreement with the United States, following a phone call with U.S. President Trump the day before.

On his first visit to Brussels as chancellor, Merz expressed concerns over the ongoing transatlantic trade rift and urged the EU to take steps toward reducing existing tariffs, at least in the short term.

He also called for the complete abolition of tariffs during his call with President Trump on Thursday.

During his visit to Brussels, Merz met with EU and NATO leaders in Brussels, including EU Council President Antonio Costa, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

China aims to achieve secure and reliable supply of key core artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by 2027, with its industrial scale and empowerment level remaining among the world's forefront, according to a recent government action plan.

The plan, jointly issued by eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines an ambitious push to deeply integrate AI with the manufacturing sector, foster new quality productive forces and comprehensively empower new industrialization. By 2027, the plan targets the deep application of three to five general-purpose large AI models in manufacturing, the development of specialized, full-coverage industry-specific large models, the creation of 100 high-quality industrial datasets, and the promotion of 500 typical application scenarios.

It also aims to cultivate two to three globally influential ecosystem-leading enterprises, a batch of specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises, and a group of enabling service providers proficient in both AI technology and industry know-how.

Furthermore, China plans to build a world-leading open-source ecosystem, enhance security governance capabilities, and contribute Chinese solutions to global AI development.

The document outlines measures including promoting the coordinated development of AI chips' hardware and software, supporting innovations in model training and inference methods, fostering key industry-specific large models, and deeply embedding large model technology into core production processes.

The plan also emphasizes making breakthroughs in key technologies such as security protection for industrial model algorithms and training data protection.