Canada has signed a bilateral free trade agreement with Indonesia, which aims to eliminate or reduce tariffs on over 95 percent of Ottawa’s exports to its largest market in Southeast Asia.Several experts told AFP the strategic agreement is being made in the context of global economic turmoil, exacerbated by the protectionist policies of the United States.”This is the right deal at the right time with the right partner,” Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said, adding Indonesia is “Canada’s largest export market in Southeast Asia.”Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto called it a “historic moment” during a visit to Ottawa, as the agreement is the first of its kind with an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member country. “I’m very lucky to be the Indonesian president who brings this back to Indonesia,” Prabowo said Wednesday. Canada’s exports include wheat, potash, timber and soybeans. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) allows Canada to strengthen its presence in the Pacific region, in line with the strategy that was unveiled by the previous administration under Justin Trudeau.The deal also provides for the elimination of more than 90 percent of tariffs on Indonesian imports, a boon to the export of garments and leather goods to the North American market.Simultaneously, a defense cooperation accord was signed aimed at strengthening collaboration in military training, maritime security, cyber defense and peacekeeping.The signing came just a few days after Jakarta and the European Union finalised a trade agreement after nearly a decade of talks.An analyst told AFP that signing two trade deals within a week would make Indonesia more resilient to volatility under tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.The agreements “signalled a partner diversification strategy to minimise the risk of global tariff volatility, but it doesn’t mean that Indonesia is abandoning the US market,” said Syafruddin Karimi, an economist from Andalas University.

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday punishing tariffs on pharmaceuticals, big-rig trucks, home renovation fixtures and furniture, reviving his global trade war.The late-evening announcement is the harshest trade policy by the president since last April’s shock unveiling of reciprocal tariffs on virtually every US trading partner across the globe.Starting October 1, “we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America,” the Republican wrote on his Truth Social platform.That move was criticised by American ally Australia, which exported pharmaceutical products worth an estimated $1.35 billion to the United States in 2024, according to the UN’s Comtrade Database.Australian health minister Mark Butler said Friday that the higher rates were “not in the American consumers’ interest… particularly given the degree to which their exporters to Australia benefit from that free trade as well.”In a separate post, Trump wrote of a 25 percent tariff on “all ‘Heavy (Big) Trucks’ made in other parts of the world” to support US manufacturers such as “Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks and others.”Foreign companies that compete with these manufacturers in the US market include Sweden’s Volvo and Germany’s Daimler, which includes the Freightliner and Western Star brands.Shares in both companies were sharply lower in after-hours trading in Europe.Trump said the truck tariffs were “for many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!”Earlier this year, the Trump administration launched a so-called Section 232 probe into imports of trucks to “determine the effects of national security,” setting the stage for Thursday’s announcement.Section 232 is a trade law provision that gives the president broad authority to impose tariffs or other restrictions on imports when they’re deemed a threat to national security.Trump has made extensive use of Section 232 to initiate investigations and impose tariffs on imported goods as part of his efforts to bolster US manufacturing and punish countries that he says are taking advantage of the US.The real-estate tycoon also targeted home renovation materials, writing “We will be imposing a 50% Tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities and associated products,” as of October 1.”Additionally, we will be charging a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture,” he added.According to the United States International Trade Commission, in 2022 imports, mainly from Asia, represented 60 percent of all furniture sold, including 86 percent of all wood furniture and 42 percent of all upholstered furniture.Shares in home furniture retailers Wayfair and Williams Sonoma, which depend on these imported goods, tumbled in after-hours trading following the announcement.- Protectionist policies -The tariff onslaught will rekindle fears over inflation in the US economy, the world’s biggest.Trump is on a mission to rebuild manufacturing through protectionist policies that mark a complete reversal of modern US policy to maintain an open and import-dependent economy.His administration has imposed a baseline 10 percent tariff on all countries, with higher individualized rates on nations where exports to the US far exceed imports.Trump has also used emergency powers to impose extra tariffs on trade deal partners Canada and Mexico, as well as on China, citing concerns over fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration.It was not yet clear how these new tariffs that kick in next week would factor into the existing measures.

Stencilled just above the stairs, the red mark in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum is tantamount to an eviction notice for residents like Bipinkumar Padaya.”I was born here, my father was born here, my grandfather was born here,” sighed the 58-year-old government employee.”But we don’t have any choice, we have to vacate.”Soon, bulldozers are expected to rumble into Asia’s largest slum, in the heart of the Indian megalopolis of Mumbai, flattening its labyrinth of filthy alleyways for a brand-new neighbourhood.The redevelopment scheme, led by Mumbai authorities and billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani, reflects modern India — excessive, ambitious, and brutal.If it goes ahead, many of Dharavi’s million residents and workers will be uprooted.”They told us they will give us houses and then they will develop this area,” Padaya said.”But now they are building their own planned areas and trying to push us out. They are cheating us.”On the fringes of Dharavi, Padaya’s one-storey home is crammed into a tangle of alleys so narrow that sunlight barely filters through.- Engine room and underbelly -Padaya says his ancestors settled in the fishing village of Dharavi in the 19th century, fleeing hunger and floods in Gujarat, 600 kilometres (370 miles) to the north.Waves of migrants have since swelled the district until it was absorbed into Mumbai, now home to 22 million people.Today, the sprawl covers 240 hectares and has one of the highest population densities in the world — nearly 350,000 people per square kilometre.Homes, workshops and small factories adjoin each other, crammed between two railway lines and a rubbish-choked river.Over the decades, Dharavi has become both the engine room and the underbelly of India’s financial capital.Potters, tanners and recyclers labour to fire clay, treat hides or dismantle scrap, informal industries that generate an estimated $1 billion annually.British director Danny Boyle set his 2008 Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” in Dharavi — a portrayal that residents call a caricature.For them, the district is unsanitary and poor — but full of life.”We live in a slum, but we’re very happy here. And we don’t want to leave,” said Padaya.- ‘City within a city’ -A five-minute walk from Padaya’s home, cranes tower above corrugated sheets shielding construction. The redevelopment of Dharavi is underway — and in his spacious city-centre office, SVR Srinivas insists the project will be exemplary.”This is the world’s largest urban renewal project,” said the chief executive of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP). “We are building a city within a city. It is not just a slum development project.” Brochures show new buildings, paved streets, green spaces, and shopping centres.”Each single family will get a house,” Srinivas promised. “The idea is to resettle hundreds of thousands of people, as far as possible, in situ inside Dharavi itself.”Businesses will also remain, he added — though under strict conditions.Families who lived in Dharavi before 2000 will receive free housing; those who arrived between 2000 and 2011 will be able to buy at a “low” rate.Newer arrivals will have to rent homes elsewhere.- ‘A house for a house’ -But there is another crucial condition: only ground-floor owners qualify.Half of Dharavi’s people live or work in illegally built upper floors.Manda Sunil Bhave meets all requirements and beams at the prospect of leaving her cramped two-room flat, where there is not even space to unfold a bed.”My house is small, if any guest comes, it is embarrassing for us,” said the 50-year-old, immaculate in a blue sari.”We have been told that we will get a house in Dharavi, with a toilet… it has been my dream for many years.”But many of her neighbours will be forced to leave.Ullesh Gajakosh, leading the “Save Dharavi” campaign, demands “a house for a house, a shop for a shop”. “We want to get out of the slums… But we do not want them to push us out of Dharavi in the name of development. This is our land.”Gajakosh counts on the support of local businesses, among them 78-year-old leatherworker Wahaj Khan.”We employ 30 to 40 people,” he said, glancing around his workshop. “We are ready for development. But if they do not give us space in Dharavi, our business will be finished.”- ‘A new Dharavi’ – Abbas Zakaria Galwani, 46, shares the same concern.He and the 4,000 other potters in Dharavi even refused to take part in the census of their properties.”If Adani doesn’t give us as much space, or moves us somewhere from here, we will lose,” Galwani said.More than local authorities, it is Adani — the billionaire tycoon behind the conglomerate — who has become the lightning rod for criticism.His fortune has soared since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. So it was little surprise when his group won the Dharavi contract, pledging to invest around $5 billion.Adani holds an 80 percent stake in the project, with the state government controlling the rest. He estimates the overall cost at $7–8 billion and hopes to complete it within seven years.He has publicly vowed his “good intent” and promised to create “a new Dharavi of dignity, safety and inclusiveness”.Sceptics suspect he’s after lucrative real estate.Dharavi sits on prime land next to the Bandra-Kurla business district — home to luxury hotels, limousine showrooms and high-tech firms.”This project has nothing to do with the betterment of people’s lives,” said Shweta Damle, of the Habitat and Livelihood Welfare Association.”It has only to do with the betterment of the business of a few people.”She believes that “at best” three-quarters of Dharavi residents will be forced to leave.”An entire ecosystem will disappear,” she warned. “It’s going to be a disaster.”