Egypt: Red Sea Attacks Did not Significantly Affect the Suez Canal

A container ship passes through the Suez Canal in front of small boats waiting on the dock. (from the Suez Canal website)
A container ship passes through the Suez Canal in front of small boats waiting on the dock. (from the Suez Canal website)
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Egypt: Red Sea Attacks Did not Significantly Affect the Suez Canal

A container ship passes through the Suez Canal in front of small boats waiting on the dock. (from the Suez Canal website)
A container ship passes through the Suez Canal in front of small boats waiting on the dock. (from the Suez Canal website)

Amr Al-Samadouni, Secretary-General of the International Transport and Logistics Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said on Tuesday that tensions in the Red Sea region caused by the Houthi group did not significantly affect navigation in the Suez Canal.
In press statements, he added that maritime and international transport operations “are proceeding regularly, especially after Maersk announced the resumption of shipping through the Red Sea.
A schedule of shipping by the Danish company Maersk, issued late Monday evening, showed that the company maintained plans to pass more than 30 container ships through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the coming period, despite an attack over the weekend on one of its tankers in the region.
But Maersk also suspended plans for some ships to pass through the Red Sea route amid the continued risk of attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen, saying that it would announce the itinerary for each ship at a later time.
The Red Sea is the only route to the Suez Canal, connecting some of the world’s largest consumers of tradable goods in Europe with major suppliers in Asia.
The Suez Canal accounts for about 12 percent of global trade, which represents 30 percent of the total global container traffic, and more than a trillion dollars in goods annually.
Importers in Egypt warned against the rise in prices of imported goods, stressing that the crisis should not be exploited by some parties.
Al-Samadouni explained that Maersk’s suspension of traffic through the Suez Canal “only lasted few days,” noting that 76 ships have actually diverted their course to cross the Cape of Good Hope route during that period, which is a small percentage compared to the 2,128 ships crossing the Suez Canal during this same period.



European Trade Ministers Meet to Forge Strategy after Surprise 30% Tariffs from Trump

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)
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European Trade Ministers Meet to Forge Strategy after Surprise 30% Tariffs from Trump

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)

European trade ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday, following US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of 30% tariffs on the European Union.

The EU is America’s biggest business partner and the world’s largest trading bloc. The US decision will have repercussions for governments, companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, the Associated Press said.

“We shouldn’t impose countermeasures at this stage, but we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools in the toolbox,” said Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told reporters ahead of the meeting. “So we want a deal, but there’s an old saying: ’If you want peace, you have to prepare for war.'”

The tariffs, also imposed on Mexico, are set to start on Aug. 1 and could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US, and destabilize economies from Portugal to Norway.

Meanwhile, Brussels decided to suspend retaliatory tariffs on US goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month.

The “countermeasures” by the EU, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries, will be delayed until Aug. 1.

Trump’s letter shows “that we have until the first of August” to negotiate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday.

The letters to the EU and Mexico come in the midst of an on-and-off Trump threat to impose tariffs on countries and right an imbalance in trade.

Trump in April imposed tariffs on dozens of countries, before pausing them for 90 days to negotiate individual deals. As the three-month grace period ended this week, he began sending tariff letters to leaders but again has pushed back the implementation day for what he says will be just a few more weeks.

If he moves forward with the tariffs, it could have ramifications for nearly every aspect of the global economy.

In the wake of the new tariffs, European leaders largely closed ranks, calling for unity but also a steady hand to not provoke further acrimony.

Just last week, Europe was cautiously optimistic.

Officials told reporters on Friday they weren't expecting a letter like the one sent Saturday and that a trade deal was to be inked in “the coming days." For months, the EU has broadcast that it has strong retaliatory measures ready if talks fail.

Reeling from successive rebukes from Washington, the EU is now diversifying its economic, political and defense networks, mostly in Asia.

The EU top brass will visit Beijing for a summit later this month while courting other Pacific nations like South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, whose prime minister visited Brussels over the weekend to sign a new economic partnership with the EU. It also has mega-deals in the works with Mexico and a trading bloc of South American nations known as Mercosur.

While meeting with Indonesia's prime minister on Sunday, Von der Leyen said that “when economic uncertainty meets geopolitical volatility, partners like us must come closer together.”