Nothing less than expected. After nearly three days of talks, the United States and China have agreed to cut tariffs. The agreement, still pending approval by the American and Chinese presidents, was announced by Trump himself, who provided the first details: the United States will apply 55% tariffs on Chinese products; Beijing, for its part, will apply 10% on American products.

The time of the covid was also the time in which a new dictionary filled with words like was forged in the popular imagination pandemic, coronavirus, masks and even, chips and semiconductorsThe shortage of microelectronic components, such as these chips, suddenly became a global and local problem. Society then learned that these components were essential to keep the economy moving forward, and alarm bells started ringing. This is where the story of Openchip, commonly known as the Catalan Nvidia (and European), although its managers don't quite like this definition.

Technology company Intel will open a pioneering microchip design laboratory at Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). It will involve an initial investment, shared with the Spanish government, of €400m over a period of ten years, according to La Vanguardia. The new RISC-V processor laboratory will be built thanks to the agreement reached with Intel within the framework of the post-covid funds for microchips, approved yesterday by the executive and which has a total budget of €12,250m.

Yesterday the European Commission took an essential step forward to defend European rule of law within the borders of the Union. For the first time in its history it has blocked an amount from the EU budget for a country for failing to comply with a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and not having paid the fine it received. In this case it is a usual suspect, Poland, a country that had already been threatened many times and which has finally been deducted €14.5m for having refused to close a lignite mine in Turów, near the border with the Czech Republic, as ordered by the European authorities because of the environmental problems it was causing in the neighbouring country. This is a modest, almost symbolic figure, which corresponds to the fine of half a million euros a day imposed by the CJEU until Poland agreed to find an agreed solution with the Czech Republic regarding the mine. But, beyond the amount itself, the decision is a powerful message, a warning of what could happen, because Poland still has to pay a €69m fine, in this case for not wanting to back down over its judicial reform, and, above all, access to European funds is at stake.