Every year on May 15, Palestinians around the world mark the Nakba, or catastrophe, referring to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948.
Having secured the support of the British government for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, on May 14, 1948, as soon as the British Mandate expired, Zionist forces declared the establishment of the State of Israel, triggering the first Arab-Israeli war.
Zionist military forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands and captured 78 percent of historic Palestine. The remaining 22 percent was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.
The fighting continued until January 1949 when an armistice agreement between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria was forged. The 1949 Armistice Line is also known as the Green Line and is the generally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank. The Green Line is also referred to as the (pre-) 1967 borders, before Israel occupied the rest of Palestine during the 1967 war.
Israel’s military occupation of Palestine remains at the core of this decades-long conflict that continues to shape every part of Palestinians’ lives.
Mapping the Palestinian villages Israel destroyed
Between 1947 and 1949, Zionist military forces attacked major Palestinian cities and destroyed some 530 villages. About 15,000 Palestinians were killed in a series of mass atrocities, including dozens of massacres.
On April 9, 1948, Zionist forces committed one of the most infamous massacres of the war in the village of Deir Yassin on the western outskirts of Jerusalem. More than 110 men, women and children were killed by members of the pre-Israeli state Irgun and Stern Gang Zionist paramilitary organisations.
Some six million registered Palestinian refugees live in at least 58 camps located throughout Palestine and neighbouring countries.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provides assistance and operates hundreds of schools and health facilities for at least 2.3 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, 1.5 million refugees in Gaza, 870,000 refugees in the occupied West Bank, 570,000 refugees in Syria and 480,000 refugees in Lebanon.
The largest camps in each are Baqa’a in Jordan, Jabalia in Gaza, Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Yarmouk in Syria, and Ein el-Hilweh in Lebanon.
More than 70 percent of Gaza’s residents are refugees. About 1.5 million refugees live in eight refugee camps around the Gaza Strip.
There’s a new interactive exhibit opening on Thursday at the California Science Center across the street from the Coliseum that will provide Disneyland-like sports entertainment for all ages, and it’s free.
Using censors, cameras and 21st century technology, “Game On!” takes up 17,000 square feet formally occupied by the Space Shuttle Endeavor exhibit. It allows visitors to learn about science, sports and movement. You get to actively participate by hitting a softball against pitcher Rachel Garcia, take batting practice instructions from Freddie Freeman and kick a soccer ball into a goal while learning from Alyssa and Gisele Thompson. All are mentors.
Yet there’s so much more. You get to try swimming strokes, skateboarding, snowboarding, cycling. There’s climbing, yoga, dancing and challenging your senses during an exhibit that tests your quickness trying to block a hockey puck. There’s a basketball exhibit where you shoot a ball toward the basket and learn if your form is good or not.
One of the murals at the new interactive sports exhibition at California Science Center.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
“There’s something for everybody,” said Renata Simril, president and CEO of the LA84 Foundation that helped provide funding along with the Dodgers Foundation and Walter Family Foundation.
She’s not embellishing. Parents, children, adults, teenagers — they’re all going to be smiling. Don’t be surprised if nearby USC students discover a new place to enjoy an hour break for fun and laughter from studying by walking over to the exhibition hall when it opens at 10 a.m.
The California Science Center new interactive sports exhibit — “Game On!” — opens on Thursday. It’s free.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
It’s supposed to be open through the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but don’t be surprised if popularity creates momentum to keep it around longer.
“It’s really cool,” said Garcia, a former UCLA All-American softball pitcher who appears on a screen showing off her 60 mph pitch as a participant swings a real bat trying to hit an imaginary ball as a light trail moves down a rail toward the batter. “I think it’s phenomenal. It’s going to get a lot of kids engaged.”
New interactive sports exhibit opens Thursday at California Science Center. It’s incredible. And it’s free. Kids, adults will love it. Thanks to Jeff Rudolph for the tour. Climbing, baseball, softball, soccer, swimming, yoga, dancing. Open through 2028 Olympic Games. pic.twitter.com/ARhmNFkmQW
Garcia even tried to hit against herself. “I missed the first time,” she said.
The batting cage where Freeman is providing hitting advice has a real soft ball and bat. It will be popular for all ages.
The rock climbing exhibit still has not been completed, but participants will wear a harness as they climb toward the ceiling.
While kids will be the most enthusiastic, a dinner recently held at the facility that had adults dressed in tuxedos and dresses resulted in them trying out the exhibits and acting like teenagers again.
Using science to teach lessons could provide inspiration for non-sports visitors. There’s sound effects throughout and most important, pushing a button doesn’t just mean you watch and listen. It means you get to participate, whether hitting a baseball or softball, trying to make a free throw, trying to swim or skateboard.
Don’t be surprised when word gets out how fun this exhibition creates. There will be lines. The only question will it be kids lining up or adults?
United States President Donald Trump has started his Middle East tour, arriving in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just after 10am, where he was greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
During his three-day trip, he will also travel to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a focus on securing economic agreements with three of the world’s wealthiest nations.
The trip will involve discussions on investment opportunities, and some experts say Trump may urge the Gulf countries to lower oil prices.
When will Trump be visiting each country?
Trump arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday just before 10am local time (07:00 GMT), where he was greeted by MBS. The same day, he is scheduled to attend a Saudi-US investment forum featuring leading companies such as BlackRock, Citigroup, Palantir, Qualcomm, and Alphabet.
On Wednesday, he is scheduled to take part in a Gulf summit in Riyadh, before travelling to Qatar later that day. He will conclude his trip in the UAE on Thursday, May 15.
Trump’s first visit as president was to Saudi Arabia
During his first term, 2017 to 2021, Trump became the first US president to make the Middle East his first international destination, breaking with the longstanding tradition of visiting neighbouring North American countries first.
His trip to Saudi Arabia from May 20 to 22, 2017 – during which he attended the Riyadh Summit – was a calculated move to bolster defence ties and secure substantial arms deals.
During that trip, Trump also visited Israel and Palestine.
While Trump did not go to Qatar or the UAE during his first term, he met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the Riyadh Summit.
During the summit, Trump and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud signed a $110bn arms deal, including missile defence systems, tanks, combat ships and cybersecurity technology, with the intent of buying $350bn worth of arms over 10 years.
A memorable moment from that 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia was during the inauguration of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh. In a surreal photo op that quickly went viral, Trump stood alongside King Salman and President el-Sisi with their hands on a glowing orb.
Left to right, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi King Salman, US First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump, at the new Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology, in Riyadh on May 21, 2017 [Saudi Press Agency via AP]
What is the value of US-Gulf investments?
Sami al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, told Al Jazeera that Trump has been very vocal about his objective in visiting the three Gulf states: investments.
Trump’s administration has reportedly discussed the possibility of expediting investments by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE before his trip to the region.
“He’s trying to get trillions of dollars out of these countries,” al-Arian told Al Jazeera.
“He’s already said that he’s hoping to get $1 trillion from Saudi Arabia in terms of arms sales and commercial deals,” he said.
US-Saudi investments
According to the latest data from the US Department of Commerce, the total stock of US foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia reached $11.3bn in 2023.
Conversely, Saudi Arabia’s FDI stock in the US stood at $9.6bn, mostly in transport, real estate, plastics, automotive, financial services and communications, according to the Commerce Department.
These figures are only FDI, not other investments, like portfolio investments or short-term financial flows.
US-Qatar investments
In 2023, the total stock of US FDI in Qatar was estimated at $2.5bn.
According to the US-Qatar Business Council, US companies that have facilitated FDIs in Qatar focused on the fields of energy, petrochemicals, construction, engineering, and communications technology.
Conversely, Qatari FDI stock in the US reached $3.3bn in 2023, with investments concentrated in financial services, energy and real estate.
US-UAE investments
In 2023, the total stock of US FDI in the UAE reached $16.1bn.
According to the Reuters news agency, in 2023, the main FDI drivers were manufacturing, finance and insurance, construction and wholesale and retail trade sectors.
Meanwhile, UAE FDI stock in the US totalled $35bn in 2023 – in financial services, transport, food and beverages, aerospace, and business services, according to the Commerce Department.
In March, UAE National Security Adviser Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Trump and committed $1.4 trillion in investments to the US over 10 years in sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing.
Weapons trade between the nations
The US is the biggest exporter of arms globally and a top supplier to Gulf countries.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia each accounted for 6.8 percent of the world’s total arms imports for 2020-24, making them the third and fourth largest importers globally.
The UAE is the 11th largest importer of arms, accounting for 2.6 percent of global imports for the same period.
Saudi Arabia is the main recipient of US arms, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Between 2020 and 2024, Saudi Arabia received 12 percent of the US’s total arms exports.
About 74 percent of Saudi arms imports come from the US.
Trump is poised to offer Saudi Arabia an arms package worth more than $100bn during his trip, according to Reuters.
In the 2020-24 period, the US was the top supplier of arms to Qatar, accounting for 48 percent of its imports.
In March, the US Department of State approved a large weapons package to Qatar worth $2bn, which includes long-range maritime surveillance drones and hundreds of missiles and bombs.
In the same period, the US was also the top supplier of weapons to the UAE, accounting for 42 percent of the country’s arms imports.
On Wednesday morning, India carried out multiple missile attacks on parts of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, in which at least 26 people were killed, including a three-year-old child.
India has claimed its Operation Sindoor targeted nine sites with “terrorist infrastructure”.
In response, Pakistan has claimed it has brought down five Indian planes – but India has not commented on this claim. At least 10 civilians have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir due to Pakistani fire since Wednesday morning, according to local officials.
Al Jazeera visualises what has happened so far and the military capabilities of both countries.
Why did India attack Pakistan?
On Wednesday morning, Pakistan’s armed forces said Indian missiles struck six locations, including four places in Punjab province – the first time that India has hit Pakistan’s most populous state since the 1971 war between the neighbours.
The remaining two places targeted were Muzaffarabad and Kotli, both in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
India claims that it also struck a seventh location – Bhimber, also located in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The attacks are India’s response to a deadly attack on tourists on April 22, in which gunmen killed 25 tourists and a local pony rider in the scenic town of Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir. According to multiple witness accounts, the attackers separated the men from the women and tried to pick non-Muslims as their targets. The gunmen subsequently escaped, and Indian security forces are yet to find them 16 days later.
(Al Jazeera)
India and Pakistan tensions at a glance
In 1947, the British colonial rulers drew a line of partition, dividing the Indian subcontinent into Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. What followed was one of the largest – and, perhaps, bloodiest – migrations in human history.
Seventy-eight years on, the two nations remain bitter foes. But now they have nuclear arms.
The tension between India and Pakistan has escalated sharply once again after the Pahalgam attack.
The Muslim-majority Kashmir region, a former princely state, has been in dispute since the partition of India. India, Pakistan and China each control a part of Kashmir. India claims all of it, while Pakistan claims the part administered by India.
The two countries have gone to war four times, and there have been numerous cross-border skirmishes and escalations, including one in 2019 after at least 40 Indian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack claimed by the Pakistan-based armed group, Jaish-e-Muhammad.
In retaliation, India launched air strikes in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa later that month, claiming that its jets had struck “terrorist” bases, killing many fighters. Many independent analysts have questioned whether India actually struck bases of armed groups and whether it killed as many fighters as it claims it did.
What are the military capabilities of India and Pakistan?
According to Global Firepower’s 2025 military strength rankings, India is the fourth-strongest military power in the world, and Pakistan is ranked as the 12th strongest.
India is the fifth-largest spender in the world on military. In 2024, it spent $86bn on its military, or 2.3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading defence and armaments think tank.
In comparison, Pakistan spent $10.2bn, or 2.7 percent of its GDP, on the military in 2024.
India’s total military strength is 5,137,550 personnel, which is almost three times larger than Pakistan’s 1,704,000. Neither country has mandatory conscription.
India possesses 2,229 military aircraft, compared with Pakistan’s 1,399.
India has 3,151 combat tanks, compared with Pakistan’s 1,839.
Pakistan’s navy covers its 1,046 kilometre-long (650-mile) southern coastal borders in the Arabian Sea and possesses 121 naval assets, while India’s mainland coast covers nearly 6,100km (3,800 miles) with 293 naval assets.
India and Pakistan’s nuclear arms race
According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICANW), a global coalition to ban nuclear weapons, in 2023, countries spent an estimated $91.4bn on nuclear weapons, with India spending $2.7bn and Pakistan $1bn.
India carried out its first nuclear test in May 1974, and in May 1998, conducted another five tests, declaring itself a nuclear weapons state.
Pakistan carried out its first nuclear tests shortly after India’s in 1998, officially becoming a nuclear weapons state.
Since then, the two born together, star-crossed nations have been engaged in an arms race that has cost them billions of dollars.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Missile Defence Project, New Delhi nuclear deterrents are mainly aimed at rivals Pakistan and China. India has developed longer range missiles and mobile land-based missiles. In conjunction with Russia, it is in the developing stages for ship and submarine missiles.
The CSIS also states that Pakistan’s arsenal consists primarily of mobile short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, which have enough of a range to target India. China’s significant technical assistance on its nuclear and missile programmes has helped Pakistan in recent years.
Who supplies arms to India and Pakistan?
According to SIPRI, the cross-border tensions between the two nations fuel arms imports by both countries.
India was the second-largest arms importer from 2020-2024, after Ukraine, bearing an 8.3 percent share of global imports. The majority of India’s imports come from Russia, although it has been shifting its arms sourcing to France, Israel and the United States.
Across the border, Pakistan’s arms and weapons imports increased by 61 percent between 2015–19 and 2020–24 as it started to receive deliveries, including combat aircraft and warships. On a global scale, Pakistan is the fifth-largest arms importer with 4.6 percent imports in 2020–24.
Since 1990, Pakistan’s main supplier has been China. China supplied 81 percent of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2020–24; Russia supplied 36 percent of India’s arms during the same period.
Skype, once a leading video-calling platform, is set to shut down on May 5. How well do you know its history? Take our quiz.
After nearly 22 years of connecting people across the globe, Skype is shutting down on May 5, marking the end of an era for one of the pioneers of internet communication.
Launched in 2003, Skype quickly became a revolutionary tool for free voice and video calls over the internet, amassing more than 300 million monthly users at its peak in the mid-2010s.
The free platform changed how people communicated across borders, long before Zoom or FaceTime.
Why is Skype shutting down?
In 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5bn, aiming to make it a central part of its communications strategy. But as competitors like WhatsApp, Zoom, and eventually Microsoft’s own Teams gained traction, Skype’s popularity faded.
On February 28, Microsoft said it would retire Skype on May 5 to streamline its services and prioritise Teams for communication and collaboration.
The shutdown will impact both free and paid Skype users, but Skype for Business will continue temporarily.
What happens to the existing users and their data?
Microsoft has urged users to transition to Teams by visiting skype.com and utilising the “Start using Teams” feature. All Skype chats and contacts will remain accessible through Teams using the same login credentials.
Users have until January 2026 to download or migrate their data before permanent deletion.
Seamlessly continue where you left off with Microsoft Teams for free.
Teams for free offers:
✅ Seamless chat and calling experience 📸 Enhanced video meetings 🗂️ Secure file sharing and cloud storage
The Red Sea is a vital waterway for global trade, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Aden through the Suez Canal. Approximately 12 percent of global shipping traffic normally passes through the Red Sea, including key oil shipments and commercial goods.
The Red Sea attacks began on November 19, 2023, when Houthi forces seized Galaxy Leader, a British-owned, Japanese-operated vehicle carrier, off the coast of Hodeidah. The 25-person crew was detained, and the ship was held for more than a year.
The Houthis justified the seizure as an act of solidarity with Palestinians, stating they would continue their actions until Israel’s war on Gaza came to an end.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks, including missile, drone and boat raids, targeting Israel-linked commercial vessels as well as US and UK military ships in the Red Sea. The attacks have resulted in two ships being sunk and one seized.
The map below shows some of the locations of these attacks.
Yemen’s devastation over the past decade
The war in Yemen has left the country in severe poverty.
The country has been divided between the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, who control the west, including Sanaa, and the internationally recognised Yemeni government, which controls the south and east, with Aden as its capital.
Since 2015, the civil war in Yemen, with the intervention of a Saudi-led coalition on the government’s side, has devastated the country.
More than 4.5 million people have been displaced and 18.2 million need humanitarian aid. The risk of nationwide famine is at its highest, with nearly five million people facing acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.
United States President Donald Trump is marking his first 100 days back in office with a rally in Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit, a city renowned for its automotive industry.
In the space of just more than three months, he has signed more executive orders than any other president, sent markets spiralling with tariffs and for the most part stuck to his America First policy, except when it comes to Israel.
Al Jazeera looks at some of his biggest decisions in numbers:
How did he use his executive powers?
Trump has signed at least 142 executive orders so far, which, according to the American Presidency Project, is more than any other US president in their first 100 days in office.
An executive order is a directive issued by the president to federal agencies that has the force of law but does not require congressional approval.
On January 20, his first day in office, Trump signed 26 orders, which included pardoning more than 1,500 people convicted on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot charges; withdrawing from the World Health Organization; and renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The majority of Trump’s executive orders have focused on immigration and border security as well as energy and trade.
How many people were pardoned?
Since returning to office, Trump has pardoned more than 1,500 people, including his supporters convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot after he lost the 2020 presidential election. Other notable pardons include Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, who was serving a sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering.
DOGE cuts and layoffs
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was created by Trump through an executive order on January 20, in which he gave DOGE a mandate to slash government spending.
According to figures published on DOGE’s website, the organisation is estimating that it has cut $160bn from the federal budget, representing about 8 percent of the $2 trillion Musk had initially pledged to save.
DOGE said the biggest cuts have been made to the Department of Health and Human Services ($47.4bn), Agency for International Development ($45.2bn) and Department of State ($2.6bn). These figures have, however, been criticised for lacking sufficient evidence to back them up.
According to data collated by CNN, at least 121,000 workers have been fired from federal agencies with about 10,000 employees fired from the Agency for International Development (USAID), where 100 percent of the jobs were culled. USAID was the first agency Trump went after, and it has now been almost dissolved.
Tariffs and the economy
Trump’s administration has implemented a flurry of tariffs to, in his words, reduce the US trade deficit, remedy unfair trade policies against the US, bring manufacturing jobs back to the country and generate income for the US government.
Starting on February 1, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, including a 10 percent levy on Canadian energy, and hit Chinese goods with a 10 percent tariff.
In the weeks that followed, Trump targeted steel and aluminium as well as auto imports with tariffs of 25 percent. By April, Trump had placed a baseline 10 percent tariff on goods imported from the rest of the world.
China received the highest tariff rate at 145 percent. However, some exemptions have been applied to technology-related items, such as smartphones.
Canada and Mexico are facing tariffs of 25 percent on goods that are noncompliant with the trilateral USMCA trade deal they have with the US, affecting $63.8bn worth of trade, according to Bloomberg News.
The European Union is facing what is for now a suspended 20 percent tariff rate.
How have the markets reacted?
Since coming into office, Trump has sent shockwaves through the markets, largely due to his flip-flopping tariff announcements, which have caused uncertainty and volatility.
Since the November election, despite an initial spike, all major indices have fallen:
S&P 500 – down about 3.3 percent
Nasdaq – down about 4.5 percent
Dow Jones – down 5.3 percent
Since inauguration day, the markets have fallen even further:
S&P 500 – down about 7.9 percent
Nasdaq – down about 12.1 percent
Dow Jones – down 8.9 percent
Which world leaders have visited Trump?
In his first 100 days in office, Trump has hosted at least 11 world leaders.
Unsurprisingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first leader to arrive at the White House on February 4. It was during this visit that Trump said he would turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
(Al Jazeera)
World leaders who have visited Trump include:
Netanyahu on February 4
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on February 7
Jordanian King Abdullah II on February 11
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13
French President Emmanuel Macron on February 24
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on February 27
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 28. This meeting was notable for its war of words between Trump and US Vice President JD Vance on one side and Zelenskyy on the other, which led to the US withdrawing military aid from Ukraine
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on March 12
Netanyahu for the second time on April 7
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on April 17
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on April 24
Foreign policy: Stance on Ukraine, Gaza and Yemen
Since entering office, Trump has said he maintains an America First policy.
On Ukraine, Trump has criticised the scale of US spending under former President Joe Biden, arguing that European countries should shoulder a greater share of the burden. On March 3, Trump ceased all military aid to Ukraine, a move that drew sharp criticism from European allies. The Trump administration has held several meetings with Ukrainian and Russian officials to try to end the fighting.
In the Middle East, Trump has brandished proposals to take control of Gaza and redevelop it, an idea widely condemned for implying the ethnic cleansing of 2.3 million Palestinians. At the same time, his administration has continued sending US bombs to Israel, including 900kg (2,000lb) bombs, reinforcing unwavering US support for Israel.
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Israeli forces have killed at least 2,392 people in Gaza and 105 in the occupied West Bank. Additionally, about 3,000 people have either died from wounds sustained in Israeli attacks or were pulled dead from beneath the rubble.
(Al Jazeera)
Elsewhere in the Middle East, the US has significantly increased its military actions in Yemen with attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Operation Rough Rider began on March 15, whose stated aim is stemming Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.
From March 15 to April 18, at least 207 US attacks were recorded in Yemen, resulting in at least 209 deaths, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).
Has Trump kept his promises?
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump made at least 75 promises, which included everything from mass deportations to releasing the 2021 Capitol Hill rioters.
PolitiFact, an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute that fact-checks news statements, has been tracking Trump’s promises with its MAGA-Meter. According to its scorecard, Trump has kept six of his promises, broken one, stalled on four and is working on fulfilling 23. The remaining 41 promises have not yet been rated.
The United States buys $235.6bn more in goods than it sells to the 27 countries that make up the European Union (EU).
That $236bn gap, known as the trade deficit, is something US President Donald Trump wants to reduce.
In an effort to close the gap, on April 2 the US imposed a 20 percent tariff on goods imported from the EU, aimed at reducing European exports to the US and encouraging domestic production.
In addition, the EU faces a 25 percent US tariff on steel, aluminium and cars.
In response, the EU decided to impose retaliatory tariffs on $23.8bn worth of US goods, with EU officials describing the US tariffs as “unjustified and damaging”.
What does the US sell to the EU?
In 2024, trade between the US and EU reached nearly $1 trillion, making the EU the biggest trading partner bloc for the US.
The US mainly exports fuels, pharmaceutical products, machinery and aircraft to the EU, according to the US International Trade Commission.
(Al Jazeera)
In 2024, the US sold $370.2bn worth of goods to the EU. The main exports include:
Mineral fuels ($78.9bn) accounting for 21.3 percent of total exports.
Pharmaceutical products ($39.4bn) accounting for 10.6 percent of exports.
Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances ($36.6bn) accounting for 9.9 percent of exports.
Aircraft, spacecraft and parts ($35.1bn) accounting for 9.5 percent of exports.
Optical, photographic and cinematographic equipment ($30.8bn) accounting for 8.3 percent of total exports.
What does the US buy from the EU?
The US mainly buys pharmaceutical products from the EU, as well as mechanical appliances, cars and other non-railway vehicles.
(Al Jazeera)
In 2024, the US bought $605.8bn worth of goods from the EU. The main imports include:
Pharmaceutical products ($127.8bn) accounting for 21 percent of total imports.
Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances ($89.8bn) accounting for 14.8 percent of imports.
Cars and other non-railway vehicles ($60.3bn) accounting for 10 percent of imports.
Electrical equipment ($39.3bn) accounting for 6.5 percent of imports.
Optical, photographic and cinematographic equipment ($36.9bn) accounting for 6.1 percent of total imports.
Which US states import and export the most to the EU?
According to the US International Trade Administration, the midwestern state of Indiana buys the most of any other state from the EU. It bought $49.3bn worth of goods in 2024.
New Jersey imported the second-most goods from the EU, valued at $40.9bn, followed by North Carolina, which bought $39.6bn.
Texas leads the US in exports to the EU, selling $81.5bn worth of goods in 2024. California ranks second, with $28bn in sales, followed by Louisiana at $20.8bn.
Explore the table below to see which states import and export the most to and from the EU.
What does each US state sell most to the EU?
Aerospace products and parts are the top exports from the US to the EU, with 15 states reporting this category as their primary export. These states include Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Washington.
Aerospace products consist of complete aircraft and aircraft parts, with the US specifically exporting Boeing commercial aircraft and Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets to the EU.
What does each US state buy most from the EU?
Pharmaceuticals and medicines are the leading import for 11 US states, including Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Motor vehicles and vehicle parts rank second, being the top import for eight states: Alabama, California, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas.
According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), the US is the second-largest market for new EU vehicle exports after the UK, where the US accounted for 22 percent of the EU’s vehicle export market in 2024.
The Center for Automotive Research found that the Detroit Three automakers – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) – will see an average cost of the tariff per vehicle for imported vehicle parts of $4,911, higher than the overall industry’s average of $4,239 per vehicle.
