BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe and the United States have more important things to do than waste time on tariff threats, French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday, after President Donald Trump announced higher duties on European vehicles.
Trump said on Friday that he would increase the tariffs charged on cars and trucks from the European Union this week to 25%, a move that could further harm the global economy as it reels from war in the Middle East.
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From left, the EU, Armenian and French flags flap in the wind outside the Presidential Palace during the EU-Armenia summit in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
“Especially in the geopolitical period we are experiencing, allies like the United States of America and the European Union have much better things to do than to stir up threats of destabilization,” Macron told reporters in Armenia.
“For our businesses, our households, our populations, we should rather send a message of stability and confidence,” Macron said. He added that he hoped “reason will prevail soon.”
EU and U.S. trade officials were due to meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss the issue.
Trump accused the EU of “not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal,” without elaborating.
The threat of tariffs comes as Trump fumes over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said the U.S. has been humiliated by Iran in talks to end the war. Germany is a major automobile manufacturer, and higher tariffs would damage its industry.
Trump has since threatened to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany.
Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to a trade deal in July 2025 that set a tariff ceiling of 15% on most goods, though the U.S. Supreme Court this year ruled against the legal authority that Trump had used to charge that tax.
Asked at the EU-Armenia summit in Yerevan on Tuesday about the threat of another tariff hike, von der Leyen said: “A deal is a deal, and we have a deal. And the essence of this deal is prosperity, common rules and reliability.”
The commission, the EU’s executive branch, negotiates trade on behalf of the 27 member countries. Von der Leyen said that “we are prepared for every scenario” if things go wrong.
Macron insisted that agreements must be respected. “If they were challenged again, it would reopen everything,” he said, and warned that “the European Union has instruments that would then need to be activated.”
Masha Macpherson in Paris contributed.
From left, the EU, Armenian and French flags flap in the wind outside the Presidential Palace during the EU-Armenia summit in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a media conference during the EU-Armenia summit at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Anthony Pizzoferrato)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has spent his campaign for Ohio governor focused on November's general election and finally gets the chance Tuesday to put the long primary season behind him, as the Trump-endorsed biotech entrepreneur positions for an expensive run against Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director.
Contests on the ballots also will set the stage for Ohio's third competitive U.S. Senate race in the last four years, as well as a handful of U.S. House races that are expected to be closely fought in the fall.
Every statewide executive office is open this year due to term limits, but the governor's race has captured the bulk of the attention so far.
Ramaswamy, a 2024 GOP primary presidential candidate, swept onto the state's political scene early last year as a mad shuffle was taking place. Then-Sen. JD Vance was ascending to the vice presidency and front-running gubernatorial candidate Jon Husted was being appointed to replace him in Washington.
That opened a window of opportunity at the top of Republicans' statewide ticket.
Though he is a newcomer in state politics, Ramaswamy's national profile, tech industry connections and proximity to Trump landed him the Ohio Republican Party's endorsement. With it, he cleared a prospective field that included the sitting state attorney general, state treasurer and lieutenant governor.
But Democrats also saw opportunity with the open governors seat, even as the state, a former bellwether, has tipped convincingly toward Republicans during the Trump era. The president’s lagging approval ratings on the economy and dissatisfaction over the war in Iran are contributing to a competitive contest.
Acton, a physician and public health expert, emerged as their choice. She became a household name across Ohio in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as she stood alongside Republican Gov. Mike DeWine during daily coronavirus broadcasts. Her comforting presence during the crisis made her a beloved figure with many Ohioans.
But the administration's aggressive actions — including shuttering businesses, closing schools and canceling an election — also earned Acton plenty of enemies and made her the occasional target of people upset about pandemic policies, with some armed protesters showing up outside her home.
Ramaswamy's campaign has sought to capitalize on the lingering anger over pandemic restrictions with attacks on Acton's role early in the crisis. Ramaswamy was advising the lieutenant governor at the time — Husted — on virus-related economic issues and he founded a company that profited off its role developing vaccines.
Acton is unopposed in the Democratic primary, while Ramaswamy faces a long-shot challenge from Casey Putsch. The engineer and car designer is a YouTube provocateur who has trolled Ramaswamy incessantly over his Indian heritage and Hindu faith and painted him as an out-of-touch billionaire “tech bro.”
Husted is unopposed in the GOP primary for Senate, a special election to fill the remainder of the six-year Senate term Vance won in 2022. Husted's likely opponent will be Democrat Sherrod Brown, a former three-term senator who lost a reelection bid against Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024, a contest where spending hit $500 million. Brown faces a minor primary challenge from first-time candidate Ron Kincaid.
Early voting began April 7 under some new election laws, including citizenship checks and elimination of the four-day grace period for receiving mailed ballots. There have been no reports so far of any widespread problems for voters related to the changes.
In the wake of a new round of redistricting that slightly favored Republicans, the state also has numerous partisan congressional primaries.
The most heated GOP primary is in the Toledo area’s 9th District for the chance to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in Congress.
The five-way contest includes former state Rep. Derek Merrin, whom Kaptur defeated by less than a percentage point in 2024, as well as an Air National Guard veteran, a healthcare industry worker, a sitting state representative and the former deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Madison Sheahan.
In Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman's Cincinnati-area district, which his party considers a “must-hold,” the three-way Republican primary includes Eric Conroy, a CIA and Air Force veteran who has been endorsed by Trump, Vance and Moreno.
Landsman also faces a primary challenge from Damon Lynch IV, the grandson of a prominent civil rights leader. Lynch has criticized Landsman for his initial vote against a war powers resolution on the war in Iran, which Landsman later followed up with a favorable vote.
In the Akron area's 13th District, five Republicans including business owner Neil Patel, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate, are vying for the opportunity to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes.
As a Trump-backed national effort to remake congressional maps in Republicans' favor was underway, Ohio Democrats took a could-have-been-worse approach and passed the map they were given unanimously.
Now party candidates are crowding congressional primaries across the state for the chance to take on sitting Republican representatives, who hold 10 of Ohio's 15 seats.
The newly redrawn 7th District in the Cleveland area has attracted eight Democrats hoping to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller, a former senior Trump adviser, in November. Among them is former Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014.
In northeast Ohio's 14th District, former state Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill is among three Democrats seeking to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce. Joyce also has two primary challengers.
Meanwhile six Democrats are on the ballot in the Dayton-area 10th District of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner. There are seven in GOP U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli's 6th District along the Ohio River and five in the 5th District of Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Latta.
Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown speaks during a campaign event ahead of primary elections at the Paladin Brewery in Austintown, Ohio, Thursday, April, 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
FILE - Amy Acton, Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio, gestures as she speaks with a reporter in Columbus, Ohio April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to supporters before the Warren County Republicans Lincoln Day Dinner at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
