FRANKFURT, Germany — Top officials at the European Union’s executive commission says they’re pushing hard for a trade deal with the Trump administration to avoid a 50% tariff on imported goods. Trump had threatened to impose the tariffs on June 1, but has pushed back the deadline to July 9, repeating an oft-used tactic in his trade war.

European negotiators are contending with Trump’s everchanging and unpredictable tariff threats, but “still, they have to come up with something to hopefully pacify him,” said Bruce Stokes, visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Stokes also sees more at play than just a disagreement over trade deficits. Trump’s threats “are rooted in frustration with the EU that has little to do with trade,’’ Stokes said. “He doesn’t like the EU. He doesn’t like Germany.”

What exactly does Trump want? What can Europe offer? Here are the key areas where the two side are squaring off.

Buy our stuff

Over and over, Trump has bemoaned the fact that Europe sells more things to Americans than it buys from Americans. The difference, or the trade deficit in goods, last year was 157 billion euros ($178 billion). But Europe says that when it comes to services — particularly digital services like online advertising and cloud computing — the U.S. sells more than it buys and that lowers the overall trade deficit to 48 billion euros, which is only about 3% of total trade. The European Commission says that means trade is “balanced.”

One way to shift the trade in goods would be for Europe to buy more liquefied natural gas by ship from the U.S. To do so, the EU could cut off the remaining imports of Russian pipeline gas and LNG. The commission is preparing legislation to force an end to those purchases — last year, some 19% of imports — by the end of 2027.

That would push European private companies to look for other sources of gas such as the U.S. However the shift away from Russia is already in motion and that “has obviously not been enough to satisfy,” said Laurent Ruseckas, a natural gas markets expert at S&P Global Commodities Insights Research.

The commission doesn’t buy gas itself but can use “moral suasion” to convince companies to turn to U.S. suppliers in coming years but “this is no silver bullet and nothing that can yield immediate results,” said Simone Tagliapietra, an energy analyst at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.

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Europe could buy more from U.S. defense contractors as part of its effort to deter further aggression from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, says Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro at ING bank. If European countries did increase their overall defense spending — another of Trump’s demands — their voters are likely to insist that the purchases go to defense contractors in Europe, not America, said Stokes of the German Marshall Fund. One way around that political obstacle would be for U.S. defense companies to build factories in Europe, but “that would take time,” he said.

The EU could also reduce its 10% tax on foreign cars— one of Trump’s longstanding grievances against Europe. “The United States is not going to export that many cars to Europe anyway … The Germans would be most resistant, but I don’t think they’re terribly worried about competition from America,” said Edward Alden, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. ”That would be a symbolic victory for the president.”

A beef over beef

The U.S. has long complained about European regulations on food and agricultural products that keep out hormone-raised beef and chickens disinfected with chlorine. But experts aren’t expecting EU trade negotiators to offer any concessions at the bargaining table.

“The EU is unwilling to capitulate,” said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “The EU has repeatedly said it will not change its sanitary rules, its rules on (genetically modified) crops, its rules on chlorinated chickens, things that have been longtime irritants for the U.S.’’

Backing down on those issues, she said, would mean that “the U.S. gets to set food safety (standards) for Europe.’’

Value-added tax

One of Trump’s pet peeves has been the value-added taxes used by European governments, a tax he says is a burden on US companies.

Economists say this kind of tax, used by some 170 countries, is trade-neutral because it applies equally to imports and exports. A value-added tax, or VAT, is paid by the end purchaser at the cash register but differs from sales taxes in that it is calculated at each stage of the production process. In both cases, VAT and sales tax, imports and exports get the same treatment. The U.S. is an outlier in that it doesn’t use VAT.

There’s little chance countries will change their tax systems for Trump and the EU has ruled it out.

Negotiating strategy

Trump’s approach to negotiations has involved threats of astronomical tariffs – up to 145% in the case of China – before striking a deal for far lower levels. In any case, however, the White House has taken the stance that it won’t go below a 10% baseline. The threat of 50% for the EU is so high it means “an effective trade embargo,” said Brzeski, since it would impose costs that would make it unprofitable to import goods or mean charging consumers prices so high the goods would be uncompetitive.

Because the knottiest issues dividing the EU and U.S. — food safety standards, the VAT, regulation of tech companies — are so difficult “it is impossible to imagine them being resolved by the deadline,” Alden said. ”Possibly what you could have — and Trump has shown he is willing to do this — is a very small deal” like the one he announced May 8 with the United Kingdom.

Economists Oliver Rakau and Nicola Nobile of Oxford Economics wrote in a commentary Monday that if imposed, the 50% tariffs would reduce the collective economy of the 20 countries that use the euro currency by up to 1% next year and slash business investment by more than 6%.

The EU has offered the US a “zero for zero” outcome in which tariffs would be removed on both sides industrial goods including autos. Trump has dismissed that but EU officials have said it’s still on the table.

Lovely of the Peterson Institute sees the threats and bluster as Trump’s way of negotiating. “In the short run, I don’t think 50% is going to be our reality.’’

But she says Trump’s strategy adds to the uncertainty around U.S. policy that is paralyzing business. “It suggests that the U.S. is an unreliable trading partner, that it operates on whim and not on rule of law,’’ Lovely said. “Friend or foe, you’re not going to be treated well by this administration.’’

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Wiseman contributed to this report from Washington.

By Vinod Sreeharsha, Miami Herald

Cruise ships are trying to navigate murky waters.

Do travelers want more and faster waterslides? Or the number of decks to reach the 30s? Do they still want to hike on all seven continents? Or just stay on the ship and sip fruity cocktails?

Growth in cruise ship travel is starting to slow compared to the post-pandemic boom. That trend has cruise lines looking at several ways to keep people coming on board.

Some are creating new private resorts. Others are doubling down on super high-end luxury trips. Still others are offering river cruises.

How all this unfolds affects South Florida and the Sunshine State, home to the three largest passenger cruise ports in the United States: PortMiami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. The industry fills about 130,000 jobs in Florida.

Private islands

In December, Royal Caribbean will debut its third all-inclusive resort, the Royal Beach Club Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The company is promising the resort will include the “world’s largest swim-up bar.” It spans 17 acres of land with seven beach bars and “pools for every vibe.” The project is a partnership with the Bahamian government.

This will be Royal Caribbean’s third private island, following Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas and Labadee in Haiti, where the company has suspended travel.

Interior view of the new MSC Cruises’ Terminal AA, designed by Miami’ s Architecture Studio Arquitectonica, that includes an art piece by artist Lauren Shapiro, at PortMiami, which is the world’s largest cruise terminal, capable of accommodating three ships simultaneously and processing up to 36,000 guests daily, on April 5, 2025. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS)

MSC Cruises remodeled its private island, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, in the Bahamas in 2024, adding a private yacht club and solar farm. Now, the cruise line will be creating a second private island near the original thanks to a dredging project at Ocean Cay.

Ryan Rea, a 37-year-old frequent cruiser from Miami, is drawn to that idea.

“I prefer the private island because I’ve been to the ports so many times,” Rea said.

“They’re comfortable, safe and relaxing,” he said. “You know you won’t get bothered.”

Luxury trips

Several cruise lines are creating more high-end luxury cruises, in part because that’s where the money is. And MSC Cruises, which opened a modern new terminal in April at PortMiami, is betting on it.

Explora Journeys, the luxury company it owns, will have its two ships, Explora I and Explora II, sail from Miami starting in November through the winter season. Each offers over 20 trips that are either 8 or 16 nights. Many sail to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere in the Caribbean. That includes Greater and Lesser Antilles, St. John’s and the lagoons of Tortola.

MSC Cruises officially named its highly anticipated new flagship, MSC World America, at the line’ s new state-of-the-art MSC Miami Cruise Terminal on April 9, 2025, at the PortMiami. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS)

The Explora III, a new vessel that will start sailing during the summer of 2026, will have 13 trips from PortMiami starting in November 2026, mostly to San Juan and the Caribbean but also, for the first time, La Romana in the Dominican Republic.

The publication Cruise Critic has noted that all cabins on Explora I are suites, and each has an outdoor terrace. “Suites mirror public spaces, designed to feel like a boutique hotel or room at a luxury resort, rather than a cruise ship,” one reviewer wrote. “The line has achieved this not just in the décor — modern and neutral — but in scale.”

Of course, these journeys aren’t for everyone — eight-night trips start at about $3,000 per person.

One catalyst for MSC pushing more into high end is how costly things are on land.

Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman for MSC Group’s cruise division, recounted in April to an audience in Miami Beach at the yearly Seatrade Cruise Global conference how expensive he found things on land when he visited.

“When I see the prices … it’s incredible,” he said. “The dinner alone cost the same as a day on a luxury ship.”

That helped convince him that MSC was on the right track.

“How can we be wrong?” Vago asked.

Euphoria ending for the cruise ship industry?

The cruise industry experienced massive growth as the COVID-19 pandemic faded and millions decided to jump into their bucket lists.

In 2024, 35 million people took an ocean cruise worldwide, up 9% from 2023, according to a new report from the trade group Cruise Lines International Association. That’s nearly twice the NFL’s total attendance for the 2024 regular season.

Yet the growth rate is slowing. The report forecasts 3% growth in 2027 and 2% in 2028.

The 310 ocean vessels operating in 2025 is just a 2% increase from the year before. That’s the smallest annual growth since at least 2018, excluding the pandemic year 2021.

And there are other challenges.

Cities throughout the world are imposing restrictions on large ships docking at their ports.

In January, the mayor of Nice, on the French Riviera, issued a decree barring cruise ships with 900 or more passengers from docking at its ports. Last year, Juneau, Alaska, had a ballot measure that would ban ships from docking on Saturdays. While voters rejected it, that has given life to other ways to limit cruise tourism. In November, voters in Bar Harbour, Maine, chose to maintain their limit of 1,000 passengers per day.

Cities making it tougher for big cruise ships to dock is one concern. But even busy ports have finite space, industry analysts say, and will soon have to cope with congestion.

PortMiami, for example, will be able to handle 12 ships simultaneously once it finishes all three berths at MSC’s new terminal inaugurated in April. Earlier this year it set a record when 10 ships arrived one morning.

A view of Cunard’s Queen Anne while it is docked at PortMiami on Jan. 21, 2025, in Miami. (Photo by Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS)

“They may have room to build one or two more docks,” said Stewart Chiron, a cruise expert. “But then what?”

The author of The Cruise Guy, who takes at least 10 cruises a year, wonders: “You can build new ships but where are you going to put them?”

PortMiami’s Florida neighbors to the north have already had to face that question. Last year, Port Canaveral suspended an effort to expand its port after state departments of commerce and transportation objected, saying it would bother the Space Coast. The port in Tampa has height restrictions.

This may be leading to one of the biggest trends in cruising: visiting private islands held or built by the cruise companies.

The first one, Great Stirrup Cay, launched by Norwegian Cruise Line, dates back to 1977. Those were early days for cruise companies. That was also the year “The Love Boat” debuted on ABC television. But they are now in vogue like never before.

“The cruise lines are limited” in where they can dock, Chiron, the Cruise Guy, said. “That’s why they have to create these destinations.”

New places and faces on a cruise

Next year, Royal Caribbean will open another private port, Royal Beach Club Cozumel, in Mexico. Guests can snorkel, kayak and enjoy tequila tastings and cooking classes. The resort will include swim-up bars, street markets and private cabanas. In 2027, it’ll launch what it dubs Perfect Day Mexico. Each allows for “new adventures in the western Caribbean,” the company said.

Notably, the islands in Mexico will be closer to Galveston, Texas, than other destinations. That could create a test of whether Galveston can compete with South Florida’s main ports. Galveston is about 50 miles from Houston, which is home to about 2 million people.

Doral-based Carnival told the Miami Herald it expects to have ready Celebration Key, its own private development in the Bahamas, for sailing trips starting in July. On the southern side of Grand Bahama island and about 17 miles northeast of Freeport, the resort will have its own pier with two berths where Carnival’s largest ships can dock.

MSC Cruises officially named its highly anticipated new flagship, MSC World America, in a dazzling ceremony at the line’ s new state-of-the-art MSC Miami Cruise Terminal on April 9, 2025, at PortMiami. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS)

In 2026, the pier at Celebration Key will add two more berths so a total of four Carnival ships can dock at the same time. Costing $600 million, the area will feature water slides for kids, scuba diving and other sports, and excursions. And there will be more than 30 restaurants and bars that passengers can reach by walking or swimming.

Carnival is so keen on Celebration Key that 20 of its 27 ships plan to sail there, including all five ships that call PortMiami home: Carnival Celebration, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Conquest and Carnival Magic. Ships sailing from Baltimore, New Orleans and Galveston will also head there this year.

In addition to giving the ships additional and alternative places to dock, the private resorts give travelers more beach time, expand group activities and bring in more money to the cruise lines.

The business justification was expressed by Josh Weinstein, president, chief executive officer, and chief climate officer of Carnival Corp. He said in April at the cruise conference in Miami Beach that the private island or resort “gets a broader audience, it gets more customers, and it will ultimately result in more demand.”

Cruise companies are hoping that’s also true for luxury travelers.

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Royal Caribbean is also making a play in that space, all the way in Antarctica.

It expects to have an “Antarctica Bridge fly-cruise program” ready by the end of 2025 that allows travelers to fly directly from Santiago, Chile, to Puerto Williams before getting on a cruise. But before that, guests can stay at a 150-room hotel, The Cormorant at 55 South in Puerto Williams, which is in the Beagle Channel and near Ushuaia.

The site, self-proclaimed as the “southernmost hotel on Earth,” is planning to open by the end of this year. It overlooks the channel and is surrounded by forest and water and the snow-capped Patagonian mountains. Amenities include a fitness center, gift shop, lounge and a large restaurant.

The hotel and the expedition cruise ships are being organized by Silversea Cruises, an ultra-luxury and expedition cruising company Royal Caribbean acquired in 2018. Silversea has three expedition ships.

Then there are river cruises.

In 2027, Royal Caribbean will start offering trips along European rivers on its subsidiary company Celebrity River Cruises. It has already ordered 10 ships and will go up against better-known river carriers like Viking.

Whether these trends will fend off the uncertainty is another question.

Trump tariffs

President Donald Trump has used executive power to raise tariffs against China to 145%. He’s put a 10% tax in place against all imports from most countries including close allies and those who hold trade deficits against the U.S. He later suspended some of them for 90 days. Still, businesses are reporting slowdowns.

At the Seatrade cruise conference in April and in subsequent earnings calls, cruise executives have acknowledged they aren’t immune to the policies.

“The uncertainty, and the ripple effects absolutely have an impact on the industry,” Carnival’s Weinstein said.

Still, he noted that “we had more bookings in the first quarter than we have ever had.”

Meanwhile, on a conference call on April 29 to discuss first-quarter results, Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty said the company is over 86% fully booked for the year and “we see really no impact, no change in cancellation rates and no real change in how our consumers are acting.” The company reported serving 2.2 million guests in the first quarter, up 9% from the same period in 2024, and said travelers’ spending on board was higher than a year ago.

That may be due in part to travelers like Ryan Rea. The Miami resident has averaged taking four to five cruises in past years.

“This year will remain the same,” he said.

He already has one trip booked on Virgin Voyages in October to the Dominican Republic.

Rea said he still finds cruising the most economical way to vacation and he regularly receives promotions because he’s a regular and he gambles while on board.

But he also believes cruise companies can stave off tariffs because of their influence with government leaders.

“The cruise lines,” he said, “are pretty powerful.”

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By JESSICA DAMIANO

OYSTER BAY, N.Y. (AP) — Some places seem to communicate with you when you visit. Not audibly, of course, but they somehow impart the echo of a life lived long ago. That’s the feeling I get at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park.

The 409-acre remnant of Long Island’s grand Gold Coast is one of the region’s last surviving estates with its original acreage intact, which is remarkable when you consider how many of its cohorts have been divided up into housing developments or golf courses.

But it isn’t frozen in time. Recently, the site has been undergoing a multi-million dollar revitalization with a focus on biodiversity and native plantings rather than adherence to the plant palette selected for the property more than a century ago.

It’s a shift in emphasis that’s gaining traction in many historic gardens.

The new focus on sustainability was also evident when the arboretum recently replaced its storied half-mile-long double allée of European beech trees with native oaks. And meadows throughout the property, which have historically been mowed regularly, are now cut back just once or twice a year to allow a natural habitat to thrive.

A new book looks at a layered history

A new book, “Planting Fields: A Place on Long Island,” offers fresh perspective into the now-public arboretum. Full of color photography, both vintage and current (by David Almeida); sketches and plans by the famed Olmsted Brothers, who designed the landscape; and essays by architect Witold Rybczynski, landscape historian John Dixon Hunt and others, it’s an homage to the home and property.

This image provided by Phaidon/Monacelli shows the book cover of “Planting Fields: A Place on Long Island,” edited by Gina J. Wouters and Jerome E. Singerman, out May 21, 2025. (Phaidon/Monicelli)

At Planting Fields, the rolling lawns, gardens and woodland paths still command attention, anchored by Coe Hall, a sprawling Tudor Revival mansion.

The estate started taking shape in 1913, when English immigrant William Robertson Coe, chairman of the marine insurance company Johnson and Higgins, and his wife, Mai Rogers Coe, an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune, bought the land, which had once been a working farm. The couple used it as a country retreat.

Coe Hall was something of a 20th-century fantasy, deliberately built to look centuries old.

“The Coes were new money, but they didn’t want it to look like new money,” said Gina J. Wouters, president and CEO of Planting Fields Foundation and co-editor of the book, with Jerome E. Singerman. “They wanted it to look like they had generations of wealth.”

So, they brought in the best craftspeople of their time. There’s ironwork by Samuel Yellin, murals by Everett Shinn and Robert Winthrop Chanler and interiors by Elsie de Wolfe, who imparted a whimsical flair to the home.

The landscape, originally drafted by Boston landscape architect Andrew Sargent and his partner Guy Lowell, became a full-fledged Olmsted Brothers vision after Sargent died in 1918. There’s a formal Italian Garden, circular pool garden and greenhouses, including one that holds the largest camellia collection in the Northeast.

“Without a doubt, our claim to fame is that Planting Fields is the largest, still-existing Olmsted Brothers residential commission,” Wouters said. “Other properties have been sold off, turned into wedding venues, etc., but Planting Fields is the original 409 acres. Even on a national scale, that’s extraordinary.”

A continued emphasis on craftsmanship

The Coes themselves were hands-on, taking interest in breeding animals, collecting and hybridizing plants, patronizing contemporary artists and interior decorating.

In keeping with the couple’s penchant for hiring first-rate contemporary experts, Planting Fields has recently invited renowned Dutch garden and landscape designer Piet Oudolf to create a 1-acre garden for the property. The plan, Wouters said, is to use Oudolf’s four-season approach and include perennial gardens and year-round beauty in keeping with the historic design of the property.

Wouters hopes the book imparts “an understanding of the incredibly layered history of Planting Fields and the stewardship model that is guiding us today and ushering us into the future.”

She hopes readers will also feel compelled to visit.

“W.R. Coe gifted the property to the people of the state of New York – not the state of New York – the people,” she said. “That’s important.”

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

By MOHAMMED JAHJOUH and SAMY MAGDY

MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — Chaos erupted on the second day of aid operations by a new U.S.-backed group in Gaza as desperate Palestinians overwhelmed a center distributing food on Tuesday, breaking through fences. Nearby Israeli troops fired warning shots, sending people fleeing in panic.

An AP journalist heard Israeli tank and gunfire and saw a military helicopter firing flares. The Israeli military said its troops fired the warning shots in the area outside the center and that “control over the situation was established.”

At least three injured Palestinians were seen by the Associated Press being brought from the scene, one of them bleeding from his leg.

The distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah had been opened the day before by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations. The U.N. and other humanitarian organizations have rejected the new system, saying it won’t be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. They have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.

Palestinians have become desperate for food after nearly three months of Israeli blockade pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.

Palestinians at the scene told AP that small numbers of people made their way to the GHF center Tuesday morning and received food boxes. As word spread, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children walked for several miles from the sprawling tent camps along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. To reach the hub, they had to pass through nearby Israeli military positions.

At the center, they waited in long, slow lines in fenced-in corridors. Two people said each person was searched and had their faces scanned for identification before being allowed to receive the boxes. Crowds swelled and turmoil erupted, with people tearing down fences and grabbing boxes. The staff at the site were forced to flee, they said.

The AP journalist positioned some distance away heard gunfire and rounds of tank fire. Smoke could be seen rising from where one round impacted. He saw a military helicopter overhead firing flares.

“There was no order, the people rushed to take, there was shooting, and we fled,” said Hosni Abu Amra, who had been waiting to receive aid. “We fled without taking anything that would help us get through this hunger.”

“It was chaos,” said Ahmed Abu Taha, who said he heard gunfire and saw Israeli military aircraft overhead. “People were panicked.”

Crowds were seen running from the site. A few managed to secure aid boxes — containing basic items like sugar, flour, pasta and tehini — but the vast majority left empty-handed.

In a statement, GHF said that because of the large number of Palestinians seeking aid, staff at the hub followed the group’s safety protocols and “fell back” to allow them to dissipate, then later resumed operations.

A spokesperson for the group told the AP that no shots were fired from GHF. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the group’s rules, the spokesperson said the protocols aim at “avoiding loss of life, which is exactly what happened.”

GHF uses armed private contractors to guard the hubs and the transportation of supplies. The hub is also close to Israeli military positions in the Morag Corridor, a band of territory across the breadth of Gaza that divides Rafah from the rest of the territory.

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GHF has set up four hubs around Gaza to distribute food, two of which began operating on Monday — both of them in the Rafah area.

The U.N. and other humanitarian groups have refused to participate in GHF’s system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation – a violation of international law. They have also opposed the use of facial recognition to vet recipients.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday commented on the turmoil at the Rafah center, saying, “There was some loss of control momentarily … happily we brought it under control.”

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He repeated that Israel plans to move Gaza’s entire population to a “sterile zone” at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israel has said the new system is necessary because it claims Hamas has been siphoning off supplies that reach Gaza. The U.N. has denied that any significant diversion takes place.

Throughout the war, the U.N. and other aid groups have conducted a massive operation distributing food, medicine and other supplies to wherever Palestinians are located. Israel says GHF will replace that network, but the past week has allowed a trickle of aid to enter Gaza for the U.N. to distribute.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of coordinating aid, said on Tuesday that 400 trucks of supplies, mainly food, was waiting on the Gaza side of the main crossing from Israel, but that the U.N. had not collected them. It said Israel has extended the times for collection and expanded the routes that the U.N. can use inside Gaza.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office OCHA, told reporters in Geneva that agencies struggle to pick up the supplies “because of the insecure routes that are being assigned to us by the Israeli authorities to use.” He said the amount of aid allowed the past week was “vastly insufficient.”

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press correspondents Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv and Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report.