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US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order lifting water-pressure restrictions on showerheads, a move the White House said would “make America’s showers great again”.Trump has long complained about inadequate water pressure in American bathrooms which he blames on federal water-conservation regulations.”In my case I like to take a nice shower, to take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes till it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.”The order directs the Energy Department to roll back “radical green” regulations limiting the flow of showerheads to 2.5 gallons of water per minute.The White House said the order “frees Americans from excessive regulations that turned a basic household item into a bureaucratic nightmare” and ends the “Obama-Biden war on showers”.Trump has targeted water-pressure standards for showerheads, toilets, dishwashers and other household appliances, since his first term.”My hair, I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect, perfect,” he said outside the White House in 2020.”I take a shower, I want that beautiful head of hair to be just lathered,” Trump said in Detroit in June 2024.”I get this best stuff you can buy and I dump it all over. And then I turn on the water and the damn water drips out. I can’t get the stuff out of my hair. It’s a horrible thing.”But according to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, “shower head standards save consumers money on their water and energy bills and help the environment”. “Testing has repeatedly shown that today’s models can provide an excellent shower,” the NGO said in a 2024 report.

US President Donald Trump abruptly paused tariffs on most countries, sparking euphoria on global markets Thursday, but upped the ante on a brutal trade war with superpower rival China.After days of turmoil, stocks on Wall Street and across Asia saw huge surges in reaction to Trump’s announcement that he was halting a levy hike for almost all nations for 90 days.But Trump also said he was raising tariffs on China to 125 percent because of a “lack of respect.”Beijing hit back with retaliatory levies of 84 percent on US imports, which came into effect just after midday (0401 GMT) on Thursday, the latest salvo in an escalating standoff between the world’s two largest economies.Trump has denied that he backtracked on the tariffs, telling reporters that “you have to be flexible.””People were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, a little bit afraid,” Trump said. “Yippy” is a term in sports to describe a loss of nerves.He said he had been watching the “very tricky” state of the crucial US bonds market before his decision.”I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” he said, as US bond yields rose during the stocks sell-off — a major economic red light as American sovereign government debt is normally seen as a safe haven for investors in troubled times.Trump also predicted that trade deals will be made with all countries, including China, which has for now refused to roll back retaliatory tariffs on US goods.”A deal’s going to be made with China. A deal’s going to be made with every one of them,” Trump said, adding however that China’s leaders “don’t quite know how to go about it.”Trump also said that he “can’t imagine” increasing Chinese tariffs more than he has.As Beijing weighs the costs of further escalation, Bloomberg reported that its top leadership will meet Thursday to hash out plans for additional stimulus to boost its fragile economy — already ailing before the trade war. – China duel -Markets have been on a rollercoaster ride since Trump’s announcement of sweeping global tariffs one week ago on what he called “Liberation Day” before his dramatic pause on Wednesday.Trump had imposed 10 percent baseline tariffs on all countries which came into effect on Saturday, and higher rates on key trading partners such as China and the European Union that he accused of cheating the United States, which activated on Wednesday.But as markets swayed yet again, Trump said in a surprise announcement on his Truth Social network that “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE” on the higher tariffs, while the baseline 10 percent would remain.He said that he took the decision after more than 75 countries reached out to negotiate and did not retaliate.Japan — which had been slapped with 24 percent under the so-called reciprocal tariffs — said it welcomed the news but still “strongly” demanded that Washington reconsider other levies on its steel and auto exports.The European Union had earlier launched its own counterattack, announcing measures targeting some US products from next week in retaliation for American duties on global steel and aluminum exports.The 27-nation bloc will hit more than 20 billion euros’ worth of US products, including soybeans, motorcycles and beauty products.But the EU notably did not retaliate against the separate “Liberation Day” tariffs of 20 percent that came into effect on Wednesday.- ‘BE COOL!’ -Wall Street stocks rocketed on Trump’s pause announcement.The S&P 500 surged 9.5 percent to 5,456.90, snapping a brutal run of losses over the past week.Markets in Asia also rallied Thursday, with Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore sharply higher.Stocks in Chinese economic powerhouse Shanghai were also up, despite Trump’s decision to further hike tariffs.Before his pivot, Trump said world leaders were rushing to negotiate “tailored” deals with the United States, with Japan and South Korea among those sending delegations to Washington.”I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass,” Trump told a dinner with fellow Republicans on Tuesday night.Trump believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.The billionaire former property tycoon has particularly raged against China, accusing it of excess production and “dumping” inexpensive goods on other economies.With the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies showing little signs of abating, China told tourists on Wednesday to “fully assess the risks” before travelling to the United States.Separately, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned against Chinese “threats” as he visited Panama, whose canal is at the center of a row between Beijing and Washington.burs-oho/hmn

US President Donald Trump has ramped up his trade war against China, further raising import tariffs on Beijing to 125 percent despite pausing them for other countries.The move came hours after China announced reciprocal action against the United States in response to a previous levy hike.AFP looks at how the escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies is playing out — and what impact it might have:- What actions has Trump taken so far? -Trump said Wednesday that the US would raise tariffs on Chinese imports to a staggering 125 percent, citing a “lack of respect” from Beijing.The announcement came as the mercurial president announced a halt on tariffs for other nations for 90 days, following panic on global markets.The new levy on China marked the latest salvo in a brewing tit-for-tat trade war between the two global superpowers.A previous round of US tariffs had come into force earlier on Wednesday, jacking up duties on China to 104 percent.As well as the blanket levies, China is also under sector-specific tariffs on steel, aluminium and car imports.- How has China responded? -China has vowed to fight the measures “to the end” and so far has unveiled reciprocal tariffs each time Trump has upped the ante.Responding to the 104 percent duties on Wednesday, Beijing said it would raise its own tariffs on US imports from 34 percent to 84 percent, effective from Thursday.It also said it had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), citing “bullying” tactics by the Trump administration.China had not responded to the latest hike in tariffs to 125 percent levies as of Thursday morning.But its countermeasures have begun to step outside the economic sphere, with government departments warning citizens of the “risks” of travelling to the US or studying in parts of the country.And while Beijing has blasted the US with fiery rhetoric, it has continued to urge “equal dialogue” to resolve the trade spat.Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said China had sent a “clear signal” that it would not back down, adding that there was “(no) quick and easy way out” of the conflict.Haibin Zhu, chief China economist at J.P. Morgan, agreed, saying “the bar for a possible deal is high”.- Why is China so vulnerable to tariffs? – Trade between the world’s two largest economies is vast.Sales of Chinese goods to the US last year totalled more than $500 billion — 16.4 percent of the country’s exports, according to Beijing’s customs data.And China imported $143.5 billion in goods from the United States in 2024, according to the office of the US Trade Representative.That trade was dominated by agricultural products, primarily oilseeds and grains, according to the US-China Business Council. Oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors are also among major US exports to China.Beijing has long drawn Trump’s ire with a trade surplus with the United States that reached $295.4 billion last year, according to the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.Chinese leaders have been reluctant to disrupt the status quo, in part because the country’s export-driven economy is particularly sensitive to vicissitudes in international trade.US duties also threaten to harm China’s fragile post-Covid economic recovery as it struggles with a debt crisis in the property sector and persistently low consumption — a downturn Beijing had sought to slow with broad fiscal stimulus last year.But an intensified trade war will likely mean China cannot peg its hopes for strong economic growth this year on its exports, which reached record highs in 2024.- What impact will US tariffs have? -The head of the WTO said Wednesday that the US-China tariff war could cut trade in goods between the two countries by 80 percent.Given the two economic giants account for three percent of world trade, the conflict could “severely damage the global economic outlook”, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.Analysts expect the levies to take a significant chunk out of China’s GDP, which Beijing’s leadership hope will grow five percent this year.Likely to be hit hardest are China’s top exports to the United States — everything from electronics and machinery to textiles and clothing, according to the Peterson Institute of International Economics.And because of the crucial role Chinese goods play in supplying US firms, the tariffs may also hurt American manufacturers and consumers, analysts have warned.Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, said it was “difficult to see either side backing down in the next few days”. But, he added, “talks will eventually happen, although a full rollback of all the additional tariffs… appear unlikely”.

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill to limit federal judges’ power to oppose President Donald Trump’s policies with injunctions, after the White House blasted such hurdles.Largely backed by Republicans with 219 votes in favor and 213 against, the draft law has almost no chance of passing the Senate, where Republicans hold a majority with 53 members, but not the 60 votes needed to overcome a potential filibuster.Wednesday’s bill would prevent district court judges from issuing rulings with nationwide effects, instead restricting their orders to only the parties in the case at hand.”We are taking on activist rulings and restoring the balance of power,” said Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, who authored the bill.The White House had on Tuesday backed the text, saying that “activist federal courts are weaponizing” injunctions “in an attempt to undermine President Trump’s legitimate powers.”Many of Trump’s executive orders since he began his second term have been challenged in court, with federal judges often suspending them in the belief that the president has overstepped his bounds — including at the expense of Congress.On Wednesday, federal judges in Texas and New York temporarily blocked expulsions of foreigners under a wartime law dating back to the 18th century.The Trump administration has used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel alleged members of a Venezuelan gang without due process.In response to the rulings, the White House has stepped up attacks on the judiciary.Trump himself called in March for the impeachment of a federal judge who had ordered a halt to a deportation drive — drawing a rare rebuke from the Supreme Court’s chief justice John Roberts.

The US Congress failed Wednesday to pass a budget resolution to tee up US President Donald Trump’s sweeping proposed tax cuts, after Republican leaders were forced by a conservative rebellion to cancel a vote on the blueprint.The House of Representatives and Senate are both Republican-led but fiscal hawks in the House are furious over what they see as insufficient cuts in the plan passed Saturday by the Senate.The two sides need to adopt identical versions before they can move on Trump’s domestic agenda, led by a $5 trillion extension of his expiring 2017 tax cuts, beefed up border security and boosted energy production.Several members of Johnson’s razor-thin 220-213 majority made clear they would reject the text despite hours of fraught negotiations with their Senate counterparts to eke out more savings — forcing the postponement.”I don’t think we’re going to have a vote tonight… maybe we take a little more time,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol, according to Fox News.Johnson’s pledge to get the budget framework to Trump’s desk before Congress breaks for two weeks on Thursday now looks in jeopardy as the Republican leadership scrambles for a Plan B.The party could try to bring the budget resolution to the floor on Thursday, or appease the right wing with changes to the text and send it back to the Senate — meaning delays that would frustrate Trump.  The resolution sets targets for overall spending rather than funding specific programs or changing tax law.The House had produced its own plan in February, featuring $1.5 trillion in cuts and raising the national borrowing limit by $4 trillion to cover the cost of renewing Trump’s tax cuts through 2034. – Humiliation for Trump -Senators made big changes when they passed their version, directing their committees to find just $4 billion in reductions and envisioning a $5 trillion hike in the debt ceiling. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington — one of a number of senior Republicans in the lower chamber critical of the Senate’s tweaks — called the resolution “unserious and disappointing.” Its defeat marks a humiliation for Trump, who staked political capital on intervening personally on Tuesday, summoning around two dozen holdouts to the White House to bring them into line.US media, citing sources in the room, reported that the president committed to spending cuts that would go far beyond the Senate plans — whatever ends up on the statute books.Democrats say the budget is the opening salvo in long-held Republican plans — set out last year in the conservative Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” manifesto — to drastically rein in the federal bureaucracy. They insist that the framework would trigger a major downsizing of essential services, after weeks in which Trump’s tech billionaire advisor Elon Musk has courted controversy by slashing federal agencies.The efficiencies eyed by Republicans include $880 billion in spending cuts that would have to come mostly from the Medicaid health care program for low-income families. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted Republicans for what he called “the largest Medicaid cut in American history in order to pass massive tax breaks for your billionaire donors like Elon Musk.””House Republicans broke their promise to address the high cost of living and they lied about their intention to enact their extreme Project 2025 agenda,” he said in a letter to his members.”The harm being unleashed by Donald Trump and the (Republicans) is staggering.” 

It ended not with a bang, but with US President Donald Trump and two top aides writing a social media post.Trump’s decision to pause worldwide tariffs capped an extraordinary week of global panic since he announced the levies on what he called “Liberation Day.” After repeatedly denying that he was considering a halt, the first sign that something was up came as markets braced for another brutal session.”BE COOL!” Trump urged Americans on his Truth Social network at 9:33 am in Washington (1333 GMT) before adding that it was a “GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”Few seemed to take the 78-year-old Republican seriously, and turmoil started to spread to usually safe bond markets.But Trump later admitted that he had made the decision “early this morning” on Wednesday to pause the tariffs.The author of the “Art of the Deal” is rarely known for his humility, but he appeared to be in a reflective mood as he answered questions about the decision.”Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he signed a series of executive orders — including one titled “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads.”Trump said he then huddled early Wednesday with Scott Bessent, his bespectacled US Treasury Secretary, and Howard Lutnick, the brash Commerce Secretary and former trader. “It probably came together early this morning,” said Trump. “We didn’t have access to lawyers. We wrote it up from our hearts, right? It was written from the heart, and I think it was well written too.”What emerged was a lengthy post on his Truth Social network at 1:18 pm local time (1718 GMT) saying that Trump had “authorized a 90 day PAUSE” in tariffs, except on China, which he punished with even higher levies of 125 percent.Trump’s administration insisted it was all part of a grand strategy that had brought 75 countries to the negotiating table in his quest to reduce America’s trade deficit.”Many of you in the media clearly missed the art of the deal,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters afterward.Lutnick posted that he and Bessent “sat with the President while he wrote one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency.”- ‘Yippy’ -The White House posted a picture of Trump at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, flanked by Lutnick and Bessent, with his mobile phone in front of him.It also posted one of Trump’s own posts from 2014, reading: “Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully or write poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals.”As markets made a turbocharged rebound, Trump hosted a group of racing drivers with their brightly-colored cars at the White House.Trump said the markets had become “a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid — unlike these champions,” as he pointed to the drivers.”Liberation Week” turned out to be a frantic one in which the White House struggled to get its message straight about whether or not it was prepared to negotiate.Trump spent the weekend in Florida playing golf, but appeared touchy as he flew back to Washington, saying that “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something” in reference to the tariffs.Lutnick, who has become one of Trump’s top cheerleaders, repeatedly said there would be no negotiations, as did trade advisor Peter Navarro.But then Bessent was rolled out on Monday to deliver a softer message that, indeed, negotiations might be possible.What followed was the remarkable spectacle of Trump’s tariff-skeptical aide Elon Musk publicly branding Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks.”But by Wednesday evening it was over — for 90 days at least — and the White House was keen to turn attention towards the stock markets, where the Nasdaq had its biggest single day leap since 2001, while the Dow Jones had its best day since 2020 and the S&P 500 its best since 2008.Trump, who spent most of the week bashing allies and adversaries alike, struck a magnanimous tone about his announcement. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us,” he said.

US President Donald Trump ordered extraordinary Justice Department investigations on Wednesday into two members of his previous administration, including one he alleged may have committed “treason.”Trump also stripped the former officials — Miles Taylor, who worked in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Christopher Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — of their security clearances.Taylor, while serving in DHS during Trump’s first term, penned an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times in 2018 under the pseudonym “Anonymous” that excoriated Trump and caused a sensation at the time.”The root of the problem is the president’s amorality,” Taylor said, accusing the president of making “half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions.”Taylor went on to reveal his identity after leaving the first Trump administration and wrote another book titled “A Warning.”White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf accused Taylor during an Oval Office signing ceremony on Wednesday of leaking classified information while at DHS and making “outrageous claims both about (the Trump) administration and about others in it.”The presidential memorandum signed by Trump targeting Taylor is “going to order the Department of Justice to investigate his activities to see what else might come up in that context,” Scharf said.Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, accused Taylor of saying “all sorts of lies, bad things.””I think it’s like a traitor, it’s like spying,” he said. “We’re going to find out whether or not somebody is allowed to do that.”I think it’s a very important case and I think he’s guilty of treason if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “But we’ll find out.”Taylor, for his part, reacted to the news on X, writing: “Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path.”- ‘Big price to pay’ -Krebs was fired by Trump in November 2020 after he issued a report saying there was no credible evidence of fraud in the election won by Democrat Joe Biden and it was the “most secure in American history.”Scharf told Trump the presidential memorandum on Krebs “instructs your Department of Justice, other aspects of your government, to investigate some of the malign acts that he participated in.””This guy, Krebs, was saying, ‘Oh, the election was great. It was great,'” Trump said.”Well, it’s been proven that it was not only not great,” he said. “It was a very corrupt election.”So we’ll find out whether or not it was a safe election, and if it wasn’t, he’s got a big price to pay, and he’s a bad guy.”Since taking office in January, Trump has targeted a number of former officials he views as his political enemies, stripping them of their government security clearances or their personal security details.This is believed to be the first time, however, that he has directed the nominally independent Justice Department to open investigations into his political opponents — an exceptional move by a US president.Trump, the first convicted felon to serve in the White House, has also moved to settle scores with several large law firms that represented his political foes in the past or helped bring him to court on civil or criminal charges.

US President Donald Trump abruptly paused tariffs on most countries Wednesday after admitting they made the markets nervous, but doubled down on a brutal trade war with superpower rival China.Following days of market turmoil, Wall Street stocks saw historic surges in reaction to Trump’s announcement that he was halting a levy hike for almost all nations for 90 days.But Trump said he was raising tariffs on China to 125 percent because of a “lack of respect.”Trump denied that he had backtracked on the tariffs, telling reporters as he welcomed a group of motor racing champions at the White House that “you have to be flexible.””People were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, a little bit afraid,” Trump said. “Yippy” is a term in sports to describe a loss of nerves.He said he had been watching the “very tricky” state of the crucial US bonds market before his decision. “I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.”Trump however predicted that trade deals will be made with all countries, including China. “A deal’s going to be made with China. A deal’s going to be made with every one of them,” Trump said, adding however that China’s leaders “don’t quite know how to go about it.”Trump insisted that he “can’t imagine” increasing Chinese tariffs more then he has.- China duel -Markets have lost trillions of dollars in value since Trump’s announcement of sweeping global tariffs one week ago on what he called “Liberation Day.”Trump had imposed a 10 percent baseline tariffs on all countries which came into effect on Saturday, and higher rates on key trading partners like China and the European Union that he accused of cheating the United States, which activated on Wednesday.But as markets swayed yet again, Trump said in a surprise announcement on his Truth Social network that “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE” on the higher tariffs, while the baseline 10 percent would remain.He said that he took the decision after more than 75 countries reached out to negotiate and did not retaliate.At the same time, Trump ramped up his confrontation with China.Beijing had raised tariffs on US imports to 84 percent earlier Wednesday — in retaliation for Trump himself ramping up duties on Chinese goods to 104 percent.China’s finance minister said that “the United States simply piles mistakes on top of mistakes.”The European Union had earlier launched its own counterattack, announcing measures targeting some US products from Tuesday in retaliation for American duties on global steel and aluminum exports.The 27-nation bloc will hit more than 20 billion euros’ worth of US products, including soybeans, motorcycles and beauty products.But the EU notably did not retaliate against the separate “Liberation Day” tariffs of 20 percent that came into effect on Wednesday.- ‘BE COOL!’ -Wall Street stocks rocketed on Trump’s pause announcement.The S&P 500 surged 9.5 percent to 5,456.90, snapping a brutal run of losses over the past week.European and Asian stock markets had earlier tumbled along with oil and the dollar.US bond yields had also risen amid a sharp sell-off  — a major economic red light as American sovereign government debt is normally seen as a safe haven for investors in troubled times.Before his pivot, Trump said world leaders were rushing to negotiate “tailored” deals with the United States, with Japan and South Korea among those sending delegations to Washington.”I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass,” Trump told a dinner with fellow Republicans on Tuesday night.Trump believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.The billionaire former property tycoon has particularly raged against China, accusing it of excess production and “dumping” inexpensive goods on other economies.The tariffs have raised tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.China warned tourists on Wednesday to “fully assess the risks” before travelling to the United States.And US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth then warned against Chinese “threats” as he visited Panama, whose canal is at the center of a row between Beijing and Washington.burs-arp/jgc

Republican leaders raced Wednesday to pass a budget that will tee up Donald Trump’s sweeping proposed tax cuts, as a rank-and-file rebellion over spending threatened one of the US president’s signature policies.Both chambers of Congress are Republican-led but right-wing fiscal hawks in the House of Representatives are angry over what they see as insufficient cuts in the blueprint passed Saturday by the Senate.The two sides need to adopt identical versions of the budget before they can move on Trump’s domestic agenda, led by an extension of his expiring 2017 tax cuts.”Republicans, it is more important now, than ever, that we pass THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” Trump posted on social media, with House leadership eyeing an evening vote on the resolution’s final passage. “The USA will Soar like never before!!!”House Speaker Mike Johnson has pledged to get the budget framework to Trump’s desk before Congress breaks for two weeks on Thursday, putting Republicans on the clock. But several of his members have said they will reject the resolution, with many more undecided, a headache for Johnson as he bids to muscle it through his fractious, thin 220-213 majority.”Republicans have a historic, once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver relief to hard working families and set our country back on the path of prosperity,” he told reporters in an appeal for party unity.”The American people desperately need us to take this action, and we will.”- ‘Unserious and disappointing’ -The House produced its own budget plan in February, featuring $1.5 trillion in cuts and raising the national borrowing limit by $4 trillion to cover the cost of renewing Trump’s tax cuts through 2034. Senators made changes when they passed their version, requiring their committees to find as little as $4 billion in reductions and envisioning a $5 trillion hike in the debt ceiling. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington — one of a number of senior Republicans who have raised eyebrows by breaking with the leadership — called the Senate resolution “unserious and disappointing.” Trump intervened personally on Tuesday, summoning around two dozen holdouts to the White House to bring them into line.US media, citing sources in the room, reported that the president committed to spending cuts that would go far beyond the Senate plans — whatever ends up on the statute books.Johnson said the talks were making “great progress” and added that a lot of skeptical lawmakers had seen their concerns answered.To tee up chamber-wide votes on legislation, lawmakers must first pass what is known as “a rule” — a text governing how the action will play out on the House floor.Johnson scored a qualified victory when the budget passed this key test in the afternoon, although it crossed the line by the narrowest of margins — 216 votes to 215 — with three Republicans voting no.Support for the “rule” does not always translate into votes for final passage and at least two other Republicans have indicated they would toe the line on the preliminary vote but vote no when it counts.

Latin American leaders on Wednesday urged a united front to tackle US President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught and the economic uncertainty it has brought.The calls for unity of purpose were made in Honduras at a meeting of the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), also attended by China — seeking to replace the United States as the main political and economic influence in the region.Eleven CELAC heads of state attended the deliberations, including leftist leaders Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico — Latin America’s biggest economies — as well as Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and host Xiomara Castro. “We cannot continue walking separately when the world is reorganizing,” Castro said as the talks got underway in the capital Tegucigalpa.”The United States is redrawing its economic map without asking which peoples are left behind,” she said.Sheinbaum, for her part, said economies in the region must diversify their markets and focus more on “integration and helping each other.”Trump’s tariffs on imports of non-US products, some of them suspended and altered numerous times, threaten economic disruption for CELAC economies.Mexico is the United States’ biggest trading partner while Brazil is its second-biggest provider of steel.And while Washington is increasingly seen as a volatile associate, China has been making inroads in the region.Two-thirds of Latin American countries have joined President Xi Jinping’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure program, and China has surpassed the United States as the biggest trading partner of Brazil, Peru and Chile, among others.In Honduras, a Chinese delegation led by Qu Yuhui, Beijing’s number two for Latin American Affairs, has been holding bilateral meetings with CELAC delegates since Monday — including envoys from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba.Beijing also plans to host a China-CELAC ministerial conference on May 13, to be attended by Xi.”China is set to increase its influence in Latin America; it is a gift from the United States,” Peruvian international relations analyst Francisco Belaunde told AFP. “China wants to appear now as a reliable partner that is in favor of free trade, it wants to take advantage of the mess generated by Trump and the annoyance of all countries over these tariffs,” he added.