A major new bridge linking Canada and the U.S. at Detroit opened Monday to trucks, cars and other vehicles, the climax of a yearslong project that lately had been bruised a bit by international politics.

Descendants of Gordie Howe, the hockey legend whose name is on the bridge, were among the first to cross over the Detroit River, which separates the Motor City from Windsor, Ontario.

The span, which was built by Canada at a cost of $6.4 billion Canadian, now becomes a less-expensive alternative to the privately owned Ambassador Bridge, which had a monopoly on big trucks carrying goods worth billions between the two countries, especially in service to the auto industry.

“There are thousands of trucks that go over” daily, said Kevin Ketels, a business professor who teaches supply chain management at Wayne State University.

Freddie Garrett, 81, said he regularly watched construction “ever since they put the foundation in” back in 2018. So naturally he showed up at Delray Park in Detroit to see the first vehicles moving overhead.

“It was amazing to see how they did it,” Garrett said. “They put up one section at a time and then they met together in the middle. I’m sure it will be there longer than I’ll be around.”

Last week, Canada celebrated the Gordie Howe International Bridge with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Windsor. U.S. and Michigan representatives were uninvited after President Donald Trump suddenly announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods entering America.

More than 70% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S., making America its largest trade partner, and Detroit is the No. 1 port for truck traffic on the U.S.-Canada border, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The span is 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long and rises 151 feet (46 meters) above the river at its highest point. Pedestrians and bicyclists will be able to cross it for free, starting Aug. 5.

Howe is a Canadian icon known as “Mr. Hockey” who wore No. 9 while playing for the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. He died in 2016.

A recent agreement between Canada and the Trump administration says Canada will share some toll revenue with the U.S. government for 15 years. Michigan separately negotiated a share in 2012, but it won’t be paid until Canada’s costs are recovered, likely decades from now.

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Telemundo’s coverage of elite, global soccer won’t end after the World Cup final.

Telemundo has acquired the Spanish-language broadcast rights in the U.S. for all UEFA men’s club competitions for three seasons, beginning in 2027-28, the company announced Sunday.

The deal will bring live coverage of every match in the Champions League, the European tournament widely considered the world’s most prestigious club competition, across all of NBCUniversal’s broadcast, streaming and digital platforms, which include Peacock, Universo and Telemundo Deportes Ahora, its free, ad-supported television (FAST) channel.

The package will also include the Spanish-language rights to UEFA’s Europa League, Conference League and Super Cup competitions. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News and Telemundo.)

After the World Cup drew record audiences for Telemundo, the next question was how to continue building on such interest, said Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal News Group. The Champions League, which is played annually and features many of the stars who became household names in the U.S. during the World Cup, was a natural answer.

“The World Cup didn’t really create an American soccer audience; it revealed it,” Conde said. “Premium soccer is just one of those truly global experiences that’s leapt out in the media ecosystem, and it brings people together from different backgrounds, different cultures, and different languages, and for something to be able to transcend all of that is very powerful in this current media ecosystem.”

Luis Fernández, Chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, described Telemundo’s overarching strategy as being based on “live TV, live TV live TV,” and that within live television, soccer’s appeal is uniquely broad and compelling.

The company has invested heavily in the sport. On Thursday, Telemundo announced it will carry more than 100 matches per season from Germany’s Bundesliga. The company already carries the Spanish-language broadcasts for the Premier League, the Olympics, U.S. men’s and women’s national teams matches and Liga MX clubs Guadalajara, FC Juárez and Tigres UANL.

“This World Cup demonstrates that for our audience here in the states, (soccer) is very important,” Fernández said. “If you ask what is the most important franchise brand sports rights in football and soccer, there are only two names: World Cup for the national teams and Champions League for the most important clubs in the world.”

The deal comes at a time of surging viewership for soccer in the U.S.

Through the semifinals, Telemundo’s coverage averaged a total audience of 6 million, an increase of 147% on the 2022 World Cup at the same stage of the tournament, according to the company.

A record audience of 50 million watched the U.S. match in the round of 16 of the World Cup across all broadcasters, making it the most-watched non-NFL sporting event this century, according to U.S. Soccer. Yet viewership continued to set records even after the U.S. team’s run was over. A total audience of 11.4 million watched Argentina’s win over England on Telemundo and Peacock, making it the most-watched semifinal ever in Spanish-language media history, according to the company. Spain’s win over France was watched by an audience of 9.8 million.

Notably, Telemundo says it reaches 96% of U.S. Hispanic TV households, the audience for its World Cup broadcasts hasn’t been limited to Spanish speakers. Though about 20% of the U.S. population is Hispanic, Telemundo’s broadcasts drew more than half of some matches’ total audience, including the round of 16 thriller between England and Mexico, according to Variety.

“An interesting dynamic that we particularly saw during this World Cup is that fans increasingly aren’t choosing to consume premium soccer based only on language,” Conde said. “They’re choosing it based on authenticity and the experience that they want to get out of the events. And so that’s what I think has also been a great insight and reminder for everyone in the marketplace, that authenticity in coverage of a global sporting event like soccer can transcend language, demographics, and cultures.”

Aleksander Čeferin, the UEFA President and chair of the board of UC3, which sells UEFA’s media rights, said in a statement that the “agreement with Telemundo reflects both the strength of our competitions and the passion of Spanish-speaking fans in the United States.”

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LONDON — Scotland fans famously drank Boston dry.

But while the team’s exploits on the field could not match the success of its supporters, pubs in England — some of which are struggling financially — have been boosted by the boon in beer sales from the team’s run to the World Cup semifinals.

England plays archrival Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday, an 8 p.m. kickoff back home (3 p.m. ET) that will likely see fans flock to pubs across the country hoping to see their team make its first World Cup final in 60 years.

The profit made from the World Cup accounts for around 15% of the annual sales made by the Bread and Cheese pub in Thundersley, a small village around 40 miles east of London, owner Steve Haslam told NBC News in a telephone interview Tuesday.

He said he expected to make around 7,000 pounds to 9,000 pounds ($9,400 to $12,000) more than the average Wednesday, when England kicks off.

And his pub is not alone. Around 5.5 million extra pints had been sold during group stages alone, according to UKHospitality, a trade body that represents the country’s hospitality and leisure sector.

Emma McClarkin, the CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association, said in an email Tuesday that it expected “Wednesday to be the most successful night of the tournament, with more than 6 million extra pints potentially sold,” around a 75% increase on the 8 million pints typically sold on an average Wednesday in July.

However, figures compiled by her organization and published in May show that 161 pubs across Britain closed between January and March, the equivalent of almost two a day.

Overall “margins are getting squeezed because it is a tough time for pubs right now,” said Haslam, the owner of the Bread and Cheese who is also director of Aim Pubs, a family business that owns eight pubs across the United Kingdom.

Having initially refused, the government did eventually relent and relax licensing laws for England’s second-round match against Mexico, allowing pubs to stay open until 5 a.m. local time.

But both UKHospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association say lawmakers need to do more to protect the industry and blame high business rates and taxes as contributing factors to pub closures.

It’s a view shared by Ash Corbett-Collins, chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale or CAMRA.

The “government needs to fully recognize the contributions pubs make to the economy and social well-being of local communities,” he said. “We risk losing more and more pubs unless meaningful support is given.”

Fairer business rates and less tax on food and drink, including beer, would help out, he said. “The industry can’t rely on a sports tournament every four years to survive,” he added.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Treasury said the government was backing the hospitality industry by cutting taxes “on family attractions and kids meals this summer, reforming business rates, extending World Cup opening hours, and taking action on the cost of living to boost the sector.”

The British government also announced in January that pubs and live music venues would be given a 15% discount on their business rates from April and not see increases for two years.

The British Beer and Pub Association said that this was “vital, but temporary” but a longer-term plan was required to “save pubs, jobs, and hearts of communities.”

And Haslam also said that the cut was largely ineffective and that he believed the government should revise the business and other taxes to help out.

“The great British pub is the heart of the country. People go to pubs to make memories. They’re social hubs doing so much good for the community,” he said. “Pubs have changed my life.”

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The satirical news site The Onion isn’t waiting to take possession of Infowars to launch a parody of Alex Jones ’ conspiracy platform.

More than a year after first trying to buy Infowars, The Onion on Thursday will debut a send-up under its own website with plans to give some of the revenue to families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The families have still received no money from Jones since courts ordered him to pay more than $1 billion for falsely calling the 2012 shooting a hoax.

The Onion will start by sending the families $100,000 from merchandise sales that combine the conspiracy empire’s brand with the The Onion’s logo in rainbow colors, according to CEO Ben Collins, whose company is still in court trying to take control of Infowars.

“Don’t give comedy writers a grudge for 18 months,” Collins said.

The parody will include a series of shows and other content under Infowars branding that spoof Jones’ aggressive mashup of conspiracies linking major news events, dubious scientific claims, attacks on people suffering in tragedies and sales of supplements and survival gear.

Jones’ claims that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut is a hoax have no truth, but Jones continued to amplify them. His followers started to harass victims’ families, suggesting they were “crisis actors” and even making death threats.

Jones’ Infowars empire had 10 million visitors a month and generated more than $50 million in annual revenues at its peak, according to the company. But the $1.4 billion judgments in defamation cases in Connecticut and Texas, where Jones is based, forced him into bankruptcy and broke Infowars apart.

“All he’s been left with is an iPhone and a fancy microphone,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for nine of the Sandy Hook families.

Jones has moved his show to a different website. An email sent to an address to request interviews went unanswered.

The families knew they could never stop Jones from getting his message out, and he has managed to avoid paying the judgment so far. But they could expose what he said and assure he can never profit again, Mattei said.

“Every dime Alex Jones makes from here until the end of eternity is going to be claimed by the families,” Mattei said.

The Onion stepped in when Collins saw Infowars’ assets were going to be sold at auction.

Collins spoke to Sandy Hook families, who said they were briefly skeptical, but then saw how The Onion’s staff could use the Infowars style and branding to take the moral high ground and make fun of the people who not only caused them so much pain but they felt also poisoned society.

Collins didn’t want to give away too much of the new stuff before it goes live Thursday.

But the new Infowars will maintain The Onion’s sharp satire sprinkled with shock value. Collins said there will be a section selling a penis flattening device, a fake “pro oxygen” supplement pill that the host claims can replace breathing, as well as an extended debate on how many Bozo the Clowns there are.

“It’s old-fashioned Infowars — using the tricks that they use to get people addicted to outrage and, I would say, addicted to anticipation, trying to find the thing that’s around the corner that’s going to save your life,” Collins said.

The Onion will keep chasing Jones’ property. Collins thinks they will soon get control of the Austin, Texas, studio Infowars once used.

Some families can’t wait for that day. Collins said that Robbie Parker, whose daughter died at Sandy Hook, plans to read his book about fighting Jones while dealing with so much grief in the place Jones once sat.

The families at first wanted Infowars shut down forever and Jones never heard from again. But they are now looking forward to seeing what The Onion has planned, attorney Mattei said.

“The idea that it could be turned to some social good. I think it’s even better,” Mattei said. “So, yeah, I think the families are both pleased and amused with what they’ve been able to achieve here.”

Paramount Skydance has accused Netflix of spearheading a “scorched-earth campaign to try and poison regulators and other stakeholders” against its $110 billion purchase of rival Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Discovery.

In a fiery letter to the Justice Department obtained by NBC News, Paramount Skydance Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim excoriated Netflix for what he called a “panic-level response” to the merger that illustrates “just how seriously Netflix takes Paramount as a scaled competitor.”

Paramount’s letter was sent to the Justice Department on Friday and first reported by Politico.

In response to a request for comment, a Netflix spokesperson said that “these claims from Paramount Skydance are absurd.”

“We walked away from this deal months ago and remain focused on our own business, not theirs,” the spokesperson added. “Ultimately, it’s up to the regulators to approve this deal and determine if it is in the best interest of the industry and all concerned.”

In the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Skydance triumphed over Netflix in late February. WBD shareholders approved the tie-up in late April.

Trump administration regulators are still reviewing the merger, which would unite two historic Hollywood studios and popular streaming platforms under the same corporate roof, reshaping the American entertainment industry.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Delrahim’s letter came in direct response to a March report sent to the Justice Department by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union whose members, including drivers, work on film and television sets.

The Teamsters argued that Paramount’s acquisition of WBD “poses a direct threat” to workers. The union called on the Justice Department to block the deal unless “substantial and enforceable safeguards are put in place to increase domestic production and protect jobs.”

Delrahim’s letter flatly rejects that argument, with the legal executive writing that “organized labor will directly benefit from the new competitive energy and increased content investment that the combined firm will bring to the entertainment industry.”

The Teamsters did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Paramount’s letter accuses Netflix of launching a “broader proxy war” that includes trying to “persuade the Teamsters and other stakeholders that Disney’s acquisition of Fox had a negative impact on content production and labor opportunities.”

“Frankly,” Delrahim added, “Netflix’s ‘sky is falling’ narrative departs significantly from the ground-truth reality of what actually happened.”

The Walt Disney Co. took over 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets in a $71.3 billion deal that closed in 2019.

Delrahim forcefully pushed back on the Teamsters’ contention that Disney’s takeover of the Fox assets hurt workers, writing in part that the Mouse House “unequivocally increased its spending on producing content overall since acquiring Fox.”

“Respectfully,” Delrahim wrote, “we do not understand why Netflix and its proxies are still pushing the Disney-Fox merger as a cautionary tale for studio combinations.”

The Teamsters is not the only group that has raised concerns about the Paramount-Warner transaction. In recent months, hundreds of A-list Hollywood actors, producers and directors have advocated against the deal.

“This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it,” more than 1,000 entertainment professionals said in an open letter published in April.

The prospective merger is also facing scrutiny from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office is investigating the deal, and the United Kingdom’s antitrust authority, which formally announced a probe Tuesday.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has vowed to “honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company.” He has also publicly vowed to release at least 30 feature films a year in movie theaters.

Delrahim became Paramount Skydance’s chief legal officer last fall. He was previously the U.S. assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.

When the U.S. men’s national soccer team plays at home, its most loyal fans traditionally sit right behind a goal to cheer on the team or intimidate the opposition.

But when the Americans kick off a once-in-a-generation World Cup in Southern California next week, many of those die-hard supporters may be harder to hear because FIFA seated them in the “nose bleeds,” according to a major U.S. fan group.

“These are the worst tickets that I’ve ever seen out of the five World Cups I’ve been to,” American Outlaws President Brian Hexsel said in a phone interview.

FIFA’s World Cup ticketing rollout has faced withering criticism for months, particularly for its sky-high prices. There have also been allegations that some ticket buyers got worse seats than expected, sparking investigations in New York and New Jersey.

In the blowback, soccer’s global governing body announced a small allotment of $60 tickets for each of the tournament’s 104 matches.

FIFA didn’t immediately comment for this article.

Participating member associations, including U.S. Soccer, would manage “the selection and distribution process,” said FIFA, which emphasized it was asking the associations to “ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams.”

The American Outlaws are such fans. The organization says it has more than 200 chapters worldwide sharing one goal: cheering on U.S. Soccer’s teams. The group travels to matches with hand-painted banners, a giant American flag, drums and organized chants — all of it typically on display right behind the net.

But this summer, American Outlaws members with $60 tickets will be in upper decks at each of the team’s three group stage matches, Hexsel said. That seating arrangement means some of the most fervent fans will be physically farther from the pitch, potentially making it harder for players to hear their shouts.

Hexsel said U.S. Soccer told him Monday that the $60 seats will be in sections 302 through 310 for the team’s first match against Paraguay at Los Angeles County’s SoFi Stadium, sections 310 through 315 in Seattle’s Lumen Field for the second match against Australia and section 426 for the third match back at SoFi against Turkey — putting fans even higher than they’d be seated for the first match.

U.S. Soccer told NBC News the $60 tickets are in sections 306 through 310 for the Paraguay match, sections 302 through 304 for the Australia match and sections 426 through 431 against Turkey. It didn’t provide further comment.

When the tickets started landing in people’s accounts Monday night, “my phone just blew up,” Hexsel said. “Everybody was pissed.”

It’s not clear whether fan groups for the World Cup’s other competing countries have been affected in the same way.

Juan Felipe Garay, coordinator of Colombia’s biggest supporters’ group, Fiebre Amarilla, told NBC News the group doesn’t yet know where its $60 seats will be for Colombia’s matches.

But Hexsel said that without question, for the American die-hards, a World Cup in their own backyard now “does not feel like we are playing in the U.S.”

South Florida superfan Burak, who asked that his last name not be published for privacy, told NBC News on Monday night that a ticket in the “400s” showed up in his account for the third U.S. match.

Burak said he laughed with his wife about the situation and hadn’t expected better seats. He prefers being high up at a match when he’s trying to “read the play.” But, he said, watching is secondary to making an impact when you’re in the supporters’ section.

“If you’re up at nosebleed 400s, your reaction doesn’t even matter. No one’s going to hear, see or notice,” he wrote in a text message.

Another U.S. fan, Gabriel Miguel, said, “I thought it could be worse.”

Miguel scored $60 tickets to the opening U.S. match against Paraguay. He’ll be in section 308 and said he’s “mostly grateful” just to be in the building.

“I would love to have been down in the lower action, but I mean, 300s is perfectly fine, especially for that price.”

American supporter Logan Pedersen said, “We could have been higher up … not by far.”

Pedersen said in a phone interview that he got “the golden ticket,” getting to see the opening U.S. match at such a relatively low cost. He’s “just glad to be in the stadium,” but he also said FIFA’s ticketing “process has been a nightmare.”

“It’s still super disappointing from FIFA that they’re not at least designating a section for, you know, 500 fans from each team directly behind the goal. I think it’s a huge loss for the atmosphere that’s gonna go on in the stadium,” he said.

Hexsel said of the seating arrangements, “It just means we gotta bring more drums and more noise to show the team that … we still showed up.”

“FIFA could have just said: ‘Hey … it’s 300, it’s 200. Yeah, it’s a little bit more than what you paid in Qatar, but you guys have a block of seats where you’ve always had a block of seats,’ and people would have paid it.”

Burak said by text message: “I’m just glad I can at least go to some games with the supporter price. I accept my small guy status. If we had a strong community, I’d be all about boycotting the WC all together. But that’s not how people are, that will never happen. And Fifa is feeding off of that. They know someone will show up.”

Said Miguel: “I’m happy to be going, at least, and it’s more like memories than anything. Could it be better? Of course. But … they dropped the ball from the beginning with this. It’s … nothing surprising at this point.”

Growing up in South Florida, Jozy Altidore heard a lot of Spanish playing soccer with local kids and at home from his Dominican grandmother. As a teenager, he went to play for Villarreal, in the Castellón part of Spain, an area that isn’t that touristy. His coach and teammates mostly spoke Spanish. Along the way, Altidore picked up the language.

“A lot of people look at me like, ‘What? You speak Spanish?’” Altidore told NBC News.

It will come in handy this summer, when Altidore serves as a World Cup commentator for Telemundo, the games’ official Spanish-language network. Altidore has no experience in broadcasting, and he admits that his Spanish is just OK. But he saw the World Cup was coming to North America, and he didn’t want to be left on the sidelines.

“It’s the biggest, most historical World Cup we’ve had,” Altidore said. “For me, it was a good opportunity to stay involved, be a part of the World Cup.”

But what about his Spanish? “I can get by,” he said. “I thought, ‘What a cool challenge.’ I think you want to challenge yourself, in the things that you’re doing, always.”

Plus, he’ll get to see the Telemundo broadcast up close, the excitement of it, which is a stark contrast to the English-language telecasts, particularly the “goal” calls from the announcer Andrés Cantor. “I always wondered, how does he do that in one breath?” Altidore said. “This guy goes just the whole time. I can’t wait to see the legend in action.” (Telemundo and NBC News share a parent company, NBCUniversal.)

Altidore will be offering analysis and insight on Team USA’s games not far removed from his own time playing for the team. He is considered one of the best American players of the last two decades, a striker who scored 42 goals in 115 appearances. He helped the U.S. make it to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, though he got injured during the latter tournament. He played with a few members of the 2026 roster, including Christian Pulisic.

Altidore told NBC News he has a rose-colored view of the current team. “I’m optimistic,” he said. “I’m bullish. I think this team can win the World Cup. I really do. I think they have the talent. And I’m so excited for them to get their flowers.”

Altidore understands how that sounds: Team USA? Winning the World Cup? But he pointed to past examples of host countries making deep runs in the tournament: South Korea reaching the semifinals in 2002, and Germany doing the same in 2006. Colombia also reached the quarterfinals in 2014, when the World Cup was held in neighboring Brazil.

With this World Cup being held on home soil, maybe “we’re able to push our team to a bit of a better performance than we have historically,” Altidore said.

He didn’t just mean the players — he meant the fans, too. “Can we show up in numbers in a way that, from the players’ arrival, they feel the emotion, they feel the enthusiasm, they feel the camaraderie?” Altidore said. “And we can push them on to play a little bit above themselves, to play a little bit above what we’ve seen already.”

You can sense his excitement. As a media member, Altidore will have to now learn to balance his rooting interests with offering clear-eyed analysis. “For me, it’s really getting behind these guys, applauding them for how far they’ve now taken the flag and where they’ve brought it,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s not all rainbows. You’ve got to be critical of guys, and you have to obviously critique their performances.”

Altidore was first introduced to soccer in 1994, the last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup, when he was just a young boy. His father recorded games on VHS tapes. He imagines lots of families will do the same this summer, three decades later, albeit with updated technology.

“They’re going to get exposed to soccer in a wonderful way for the first time, and it’s going to birth soccer players, it’s going to birth soccer fans, soccer enthusiasts,” Altidore said.

He’ll be doing his part, by showing his enthusiasm on the Telemundo broadcasts. “It’s more than just X’s and O’s in my opinion,” Altidore said. “This is a very good opportunity to continue growing the game for another 30, 40 years to come.”

The Trump administration has proposed new tariffs of up to 12.5% on imports from 60 economies after determining they had failed to curb trade in goods ‌made with forced labor, an assertion that was rejected by its trading partners.

The proposal from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, issued late on Tuesday, comes from a Section 301 unfair trade practices investigation designed to help rebuild U.S. President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, struck down by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in February.

Despite laws banning them, the products of forced labor are deeply embedded in supply chains around the world. But European lawmakers in particular bristle at the ​accusation that the region is less effective than the U.S. at curbing the trade in such goods, with one describing the U.S. findings as “utterly absurd.”

The USTR proposed 10% additional ​duties on imports from Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Taiwan and Britain. The USTR said ⁠all had plans or partial schemes in place.

The trade agency said it would impose additional duties of 12.5% on the remaining 45 countries that it investigated. These include China, India, Nigeria, Japan, ​South Korea, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand.

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a ​statement. “This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.”

The USTR said it would accept public comments on the proposed tariffs and other remedies through July 6, with a public hearing scheduled for July 7.

The announcement comes ahead of the July 24 expiration of a 10% temporary tariff imposed by the Trump administration on Feb. 20, the day the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s ​tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The European Commission said the tariffs were unjustified and reiterated its commitment to the trade deal sealed with Washington last year.

Bernd Lange, the chair of the European ​Parliament’s trade committee, which voted on Tuesday to accept that trade deal, said the new tariffs were expected, but said the results of the U.S. investigation were still “utterly absurd” given a 2024 E.U. law to ban imports ‌of forced labor ⁠products.

“The impression is increasingly emerging that a tariff measure is sought first, and only then is a suitable legal justification found,” he said. However, he added that the key question would be whether the additional tariffs would exceed those agreed between both sides last July.

The U.S.’s largest trading partner, the European Union, agreed last July to accept tariffs of 15% on a broad range of its exports. In its report, the USTR said the E.U. measures came into force only in December 2027 and lacked key elements.

“We know there are ups and downs in what people say,” French Finance Minister Roland Lescure ​told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. “But the goal ​is to ratify the (trade) accord and stick ⁠to that.”

Britain said it was in regular talks with the United States and was taking action to tackle forced labor. It added that the preferential access to U.S. markets that it had negotiated for U.K. businesses remained in place.

Taiwan said it was “hopeful and confident” that the final results would reflect agreements ​already reached, securing relatively preferential treatment.

Beijing, facing 12.5% tariffs, said that it opposed all forms of unilateral tariffs and that there was no forced labor ​in China. India, confronted with ⁠the same rate, said it was engaged with Washington on the Section 301 proceedings, noting the proposed tariffs were not final.

On Monday, the USTR proposed a 25% duty on many Brazilian goods as a result of a Section 301 investigation into the country’s digital trade practices and preferential tariffs.

The trade agency is also expected to soon unveil the findings of another major Section 301 probe into the buildup of excess industrial capacity ⁠in 16 trading ​partners, including China and the European Union.

In the forced labor findings, the USTR said it would exempt from tariffs ​products including energy, rare earths and some other metals, beef, coffee, certain fruits and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals and aircraft parts.

It also said it was proposing a textile mechanism that would allow for a certain volume of apparel and textile imports ​to enter the U.S. at a reduced tariff rate, without giving details.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been invited to testify before Congress as the league faces increasing federal scrutiny about its broadcast deals and its recent practice of airing games on paywalled streaming services.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the commissioner Monday requesting his appearance at a hearing June 10 examining the league’s TV deals and their compliance with the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.

The 65-year-old law grants professional sports leagues limited antitrust immunity, allowing them to pool their media rights and negotiate as a single entity while protecting them from antitrust lawsuits.

The law applies only to broadcast networks. Courts have ruled in the past that it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming. There has been bipartisan sentiment in favor of updating the law, and President Donald Trump has been among the critics of the NFL’s embrace of streaming.

According to Jordan’s letter, the hearing next week will “examine the extent to which the antitrust exemption created by the SBA has been used by the professional sports leagues to harm consumers and whether potential legislative remedies may be needed to address that harm.”

An NFL spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

The move by Congress comes as the Justice Department is investigating the NFL for potential anticompetitive practices. Speaking in April when the probe was disclosed, a government official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name, said it was “about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”

In March, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote a letter to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission urging them to review whether the NFL’s distribution methods comply with the 1961 law. The FTC has sought comments from the public on the shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services.

The NFL has said 87% of its games are available on free television, and games aired exclusively on cable or streaming services remain available over the air in the home markets of the competing teams.

The league has broadcast or streaming deals with CBS/Paramount+, NBC/Peacock, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, Fox, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube TV. Thursday night games moved to Prime Video in 2022, and the league has since moved a wild-card playoff game, Christmas Day games and a Black Friday game to streamers.

This season, Netflix will stream an opening-week game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia, and a Green Bay Packers-Rams game the day before Thanksgiving.

Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell warned Sunday about the impact of a politicized Fed and made a broader call for the defense ‌of democratic institutions in his first public remarks since the end of his eight-year stint as head of the central bank.

“Democratic institutions take much time, effort, and patience to build but can be torn down all too quickly,” Powell said in remarks ​prepared for delivery as he accepted the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, given by ​the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

“It is essential that we preserve what is good about ⁠these institutions, even as we strive to improve them,” said Powell, who included the Fed along with the ​courts and universities as among the core institutions key to the country’s success and standing in the world.

“Like ​many other institutions, the Fed has been undergoing a stress test,” Powell said, which in the central bank’s case has included efforts by President Donald Trump to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, calls for Powell’s resignation and a criminal probe of Powell.

Powell’s ​term as chair formally ended on May 15. His successor, Kevin Warsh, was sworn in as Fed chair on ​May 22. Powell has decided to continue as a Fed governor in part because of what he regards as ongoing threats ‌to ⁠the Fed’s independence, a decision that effectively prevents Trump from appointing another member to the Fed board for now.

The Fed’s structure is meant to allow it to make monetary policy decisions free of political considerations, and “these protections have served the public well, and administrations from both parties have respected them,” Powell said. “If any administration finds a ​way to remove Fed officials ​over policy differences, then ⁠future administrations will do so as well. The public would lose faith that the central bank will make decisions based only on what’s best for all Americans.”

In ​announcing the award to Powell earlier this year, the foundation said he had “safeguarded one ​of the country’s ⁠most essential apolitical institutions and demonstrated extraordinary courage in the face of sustained personal and professional risk.”

The award this year was also given to the citizens of Minneapolis and St. Paul for the public response to the surge ⁠in immigration ​enforcement in the Twin Cities area, including protests and efforts to monitor ​government enforcement efforts.