China pledges to strengthen ties with neighbours, markets see more lows
Shipping containers are seen at a port in Nanjing, in China's Jiangsu province
US President Donald Trump has launched tariff wars with nearly all of America's trading partners. A number of sweeping new taxes on goods from other countries are already here, and more took effect on Wednesday.
New tariffs that took effect
Trump has declared that the US would now tax nearly all of America's trading partners at a minimum of 10 per cent, and impose steeper rates for countries that he says run trade surpluses with the US. This went into effect on Saturday.
US President Trump speaks during an executive order signing event in the East Room of the White House. Pic/AFP
The steeper levies run as high as 50 per cent, with that biggest rate landing on small economies that trade little with the US, including the African kingdom of Lesotho. Some other rates include a tax of 47 per cent on imports from Madagascar, 46 per cent on Vietnam, 32 per cent on Taiwan, 25 per cent on South Korea, 24 per cent on Japan and 20 per cent on the European Union.
China in focus
Trump last week announced a tariff of 34 per cent on China, on top of 20 per cent levies he imposed on the country earlier this year. He then added on another 50 per cent levy on Chinese goods in response to Beijing's retaliation. That took the combined tariff to 104 per cent. China said it will levy its own 34 per cent tariff on all US goods starting on Thursday, maintaining that it will “fight to the end” to protect itself.
Xi to boost local ties
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to strengthen strategic relationships with neighbouring countries by “appropriately” managing differences and enhancing supply chain ties. Xi called for building a community with a shared future and opening new ground for China's neighbourhood work.
Worries over Panama Canal
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, during a visit to Panama, stated that China's dominance over Panama Canal ports poses a risk to US security. The Panama Canal has emerged as a center of geopolitical conflict, as China's participation in its ports raises US apprehensions regarding control and dominance over this vital global trade channel. At a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new US-funded dock at the Vasco Nunez de Balboa Naval Base following discussions with Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino, Hegseth said the US will not permit China or any other nation to jeopardise the canal's operations.
Canada imposes auto tariffs
Canada is implementing retaliatory tariffs just after midnight on Wednesday, with a 25 per cent tariff on auto imports from the US that do not comply with the USMCA—the 2019 North American trade pact put into place during Trump's first term.
Share markets slip again
Asian shares slipped as Japan's Nikkei 225 initially lost nearly 4 per cent per cent and other markets in the region also declined. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.6 per cent after wiping out an early gain of 4.1 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite lost 2.1 per cent.
US eyeing Pak’s untapped minerals
US companies want to invest in Pakistan's minerals sector that boasts one of the world's largest copper and gold deposits. Eric Meyer of the US State Department Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, conveyed this directly to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.
‘Tehran does not seek nuclear bomb’
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said again that his nation is “not after a nuclear bomb” ahead of talks with the US, going as far as dangling the prospect of direct American investment in the Islamic Republic if the countries can reach a deal.
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