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China announced Wednesday massive retaliatory tariffs on US goods, sharply escalating a trade war started by President Donald Trump and fuelling fresh panic in global markets.Trump’s latest salvo of tariffs came into effect on dozens of trading partners earlier Wednesday, including punishing duties of 104 percent on imports of Chinese products.Beijing originally planned to respond with a 34 percent tariff on imports of US products from 1601 GMT Wednesday, but the finance ministry said it would now raise the toll to 84 percent after Trump dramatically hiked his own duties on imports from China.”The tariff escalation against China by the United States simply piles mistakes on top of mistakes (and) severely infringes on China’s legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry said.Washington’s moves “severely damage the multilateral rules-based trade system”, it added.In a separate statement, Beijing’s commerce ministry said it would blacklist six American artificial intelligence firms, including Shield AI and Sierra Nevada Corp.Trump did not immediately react to the Chinese counterattack but he called on companies to start relocating to the United States to avoid tariffs.”This is a GREAT time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America, like Apple, and so many others, in record numbers, are doing,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform. He urged: “DON’T WAIT, DO IT NOW!”Trump believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.But many business experts and economists question how quickly — if ever — this can take place and warn it could reignite inflation.- Recession fears -The escalating trade war has wiped off trillions of dollars in market value since last week as investors fear that the trade war will spark a recession.After some respite on Tuesday, stock markets were in panic mode again, with Tokyo’s Nikkei index closing almost four percent lower on Wednesday.Paris and Frankfurt sank four percent in afternoon trading while London was down 3.5 percent. US equities were expected to open with more losses.The Bank of England warned of risks to “UK financial stability” from increased geopolitical tensions, including the fallout from the US tariffs.Italy is preparing to cut its 2025 growth forecast in half, to 0.6 percent from 1.2, a government source said, while Spain is also set to downgrade its outlook.Central banks in India and New Zealand cut interest rates to boost their economies in the face of tariffs.Oil prices fell below $60 a barrel, their lowest level in four years.Government bond yields — essentially the interest countries pay to borrow money — rose in the United States, Japan and Britain, among other countries.- Drug makers next? -Trump has said his government was working on “tailored deals” with trading partners, with the White House saying it would prioritise allies such as Japan and South Korea, which were hit with tariffs of 24 percent and 25 percent, respectively.His top trade official, Jamieson Greer, told the Senate that Argentina, Vietnam and Israel were among those who had offered to reduce their tariffs. Vietnamese goods were hit with one of the highest tariffs, at 46 percent. Trump told a dinner with fellow Republicans on Tuesday night that countries were “dying” to make a deal.”I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass,” he said.The European Union, whose goods were hit with a 20 percent tariff, is working on response that could be presented next week.A Chinese government white paper released on Wednesday emphasised that the Beijing and Washington could still resolve their differences “through equal-footed dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation”.Trump on Tuesday said the United States was “taking in almost $2 billion a day” from global tariffs.He also said the United States would announce a major tariff on pharmaceuticals “very shortly”, prompting a sell-off in shares of pharmaceutical companies.Residents in Beijing expressed fears over the escalating trade war.”I hope that everyone can sit down and reconcile and talk, and then put things out step by step, rather than irrationally escalate them,” Yu Yan, a lawyer, told AFP.In the United States, consumers also voiced worries over rising prices.At a supermarket in New York, mother-of-two Anastasia Nevin told AFP she was “just trying to get by. It’s tough”, adding that she was in “survival mode”.burs-oho-lth/js

President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs on countries around the world, including a 104 percent increase in duties on China, bear the fingerprint of Peter Navarro, a Harvard-trained economist who has long warned against a rising Beijing.Saying Washington’s trade deficit was a sign of unfair competition, Trump announced blanket 10 percent tariffs on countries and territories around the world last week, including islands inhabited only by penguins.And nearly 60 economies face higher duties, including the over 100 percent tax on Chinese imports that took effect Wednesday after tit-for-tat tariffs between Beijing and Washington.Navarro has advised Trump since before the 2016 presidential election, when candidate Trump vowed to crack down on unfair trade practices he argued have destroyed American jobs and left once-mighty US cities a shadow of their former selves.The economist’s works include the documentary film, “Death by China: how America lost its manufacturing base,” connected to his 2011 book showing China as a serial trade cheater, subsidizing export-oriented industries and manipulating its currency. The consequences, including a harsh deindustrialization of the United States, demand a tough response to China, or the “Dragon,” Navarro argued. Navarro has since emerged as one of the president’s most loyal aides, a controversial figure who defended Trump’s campaign to deny the results of the 2020 presidential election that put Joe Biden in the White House.- Jail term -Navarro, who will be 76 in July, has faced censure and ridicule from his political opponents and fellow Republicans alike, as a backlash builds against Trump’s tariffs within his own party.The former university lecturer served a four-month sentence in prison last year for actions stemming from the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to appear for a deposition and refusing to supply documents to the committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump’s supporters.And in 2020, Navarro clashed with top health expert Anthony Fauci over the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Trump administration official defending the use of an anti-malarial drug against the coronavirus.Billionaire and major Trump backer Elon Musk called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks” on Tuesday after the trade advisor said the Tesla boss relies mostly on imported parts to make his electric cars.Musk also dubbed him “Peter Retarrdo” and said Navarro “should ask the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara” — referring to a fictional pundit Navarro quoted in a series of books and a policy memo, using an anagram of his own name.Earlier, Senator Ted Cruz — a staunch Trump loyalist — warned that the United States could be on its way to an economic “bloodbath” after markets crashed on the back of Trump’s tariff announcement.- ‘Visionary’ -Navarro was named to Trump’s team soon after the 2016 election and quickly labeled a “visionary” by the American president. But his appointment spurred immediate unease at Beijing and many observers have seen his standing within the Trump universe as a proxy for the administration’s stance on trade.Under Navarro’s guidance, Trump threatened to pull out of the landmark North American Free Trade Agreement during his first term and demanded renegotiation of the trade relationship.Canada and Mexico eventually agreed to the replacement “USMCA” deal with new wording to boost US jobs.That was after Trump signed an executive order formally ending US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership in one of his first official acts as president in January 2017.Long affiliated with the Democratic Party, which historically has been more protectionist of the two major US parties, Navarro received a doctorate in economics from Harvard.Born to a saxophonist father and secretary mother, he was raised by his mother after the two divorced in Bethesda, Maryland, an upscale suburb of the nation’s capital.

A US academic charged with breaking Thailand’s strict royal defamation laws was granted bail on Wednesday, his lawyers said, but remains in custody pending an appeal to immigration authorities who earlier revoked his visa.Paul Chambers, who has spent over a decade teaching Southeast Asian politics at a Thai university, was arrested on Tuesday after reporting to police to answer a charge of lese-majeste.His case is a rare instance of a foreigner falling foul of strict laws which shield King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family from any criticism and can lead to decades-long prison sentences.”The Appeal Court… issued an order granting bail for Paul,” said a post on X from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group (TLHR) representing Chambers.”Paul will remain in custody at Phitsanulok Provincial Prison until the result of the bail request from immigration police is known.”His lawyer Wannaphat Jenroumjit earlier told AFP that immigration authorities had visited Chambers in detention and informed him his visa had been revoked.Wannaphat said Chambers was “not confident but remains hopeful” in the Thai justice system.The Thai military filed a complaint against Chambers this year over an article linked to a think-tank website which focuses on Southeast Asian politics.He told AFP last week he felt “intimidated” by the situation, but was being supported by the US embassy and colleagues at his university.The US State Department said Tuesday it was “alarmed” by the arrest. Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, a researcher at Amnesty International who campaigns for the release of political prisoners, said the visa revocation was meant to “intimidate” Chambers.”They found his work threatening, so revoking his visa means he can no longer remain in Thailand and continue his work,” he told AFP.”The visa revocation is meant to send a message to foreign journalists and academics working in Thailand, that speaking about the monarchy could lead to consequences.”International watchdogs have expressed concern over the use of the laws — known as Article 112 — against academics, activists and even students.One man in northern Thailand was jailed for at least 50 years for lese-majeste last year, while a woman got 43 years in 2021.In 2023, a man was jailed for two years for selling satirical calendars featuring rubber ducks that a court said defamed the king.

US President Donald Trump reignited market turmoil on Wednesday as punishing tariffs on dozens of countries kicked in, with China set to retaliate after being hit with levies topping 100 percent.Following the sweeping 10 percent tariffs that took effect over the weekend, the tax US importers pay to buy goods from the likes of the European Union, Japan and Vietnam rose dramatically higher overnight.After some respite on Tuesday, stock markets were in panic mode again, with Tokyo’s Nikkei index closing almost four percent lower on Wednesday while Paris, Frankfurt and London were down around three percent in their midday trading.China — Washington’s top economic rival but also a major trading partner — has been the hardest hit, with tariffs imposed on its products since Trump returned to the White House now reaching a staggering 104 percent.In response, the Chinese foreign ministry promised to take “firm and forceful” steps to protect its interests, while its commerce ministry said the country had “abundant means” to fight a trade war.Trump has said his government was working on “tailored deals” with trading partners, with the White House saying it would prioritise allies such as Japan and South Korea, which were hit with tariffs of 24 percent and 25 percent, respectively.His top trade official, Jamieson Greer, told the Senate that Argentina, Vietnam and Israel were among those who had offered to reduce their tariffs. Vietnamese goods were hit with one of the highest tariffs at 46 percent. Trump told a dinner with fellow Republicans on Tuesday night that countries were “dying” to make a deal.”I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass,” he said.But Beijing was set to impose retaliatory tariffs of 34 percent on US goods from 12:01 am local time on Thursday (1601 GMT Wednesday).Trump had originally planned to impose an additional 34 percent tariff on Chinese goods, but he decided to add another 50 percent on top of that after Beijing decided to retaliate. Combined with previous levies, the tax on Chinese goods rose to 104 percent.Despite rising tensions, a Chinese government white paper released on Wednesday stressed that the two countries could still resolve their differences “through equal-footed dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation”.- Recession fears -The escalating trade war has wiped off trillions of dollars in market value since last week as investors fear that the tariffs will rekindle inflation and spark a recession.The Bank of England warned of risks to “UK financial stability” from increased geopolitical tensions, including the fallout from the US tariffs.Central banks in India and New Zealand cut interest rates to boost their economies in the face of tariffs.Italy is preparing to cut its 2025 growth forecast in half from 1.2 to 0.6 percent, a government source said, while Spain is also set to downgrade its outlook.Oil prices slumped, with the international benchmark contract, Brent, falling under $60 per barrel, its lowest level in four years.In foreign exchange, the South Korean won this week fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009.China’s offshore yuan also fell to an all-time low against the US dollar, as Beijing’s central bank moved to weaken the currency on Wednesday for what Bloomberg said was the fifth day in a row.”Letting the yuan grind lower at this measured pace won’t offset the blow from a full-blown tariff barrage,” analyst Stephen Innes from SPI Asset Management said. “The levies are simply too big.”Government bond yields — essentially the interest states pay to borrow money — rose in the United States, Japan and Britain, among other countries.Trump believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.But many business experts and economists question how quickly — if ever — this can take place.Trump on Tuesday said that the United States was “taking in almost $2 billion a day” from tariffs.He also said the United States would announce a major tariff on pharmaceuticals “very shortly”.- ‘Survival mode’ -Residents in Beijing expressed fears over the escalating trade war.”I hope that everyone can sit down and reconcile and talk, and then put things out step by step, rather than irrationally escalate them,” Yu Yan, a lawyer, told AFP.In the United States, consumers also voiced worries over rising prices.At a supermarket in New York, Anastasia Nevin told AFP she was in “survival mode”.”I have two kids so I’m just trying to get by. It’s tough,” she said, adding that she would likely need to cut back on spending if prices rise further. burs-oho-lth/bc

Indian authorities are readying for the extradition from the United States of a man that New Delhi accuses of helping plan the 2008 Mumbai siege that killed 166 people.Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, a Canadian citizen born in Pakistan, is due to be extradited “shortly” to face trial, Indian media said, reporting that New Delhi had sent a multi-agency team of security officials to collect him.India accuses him of being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation, and of aiding planning the attacks.US President Donald Trump announced in February that Washington would extradite Rana, whom he called “one of the very evil people in the world”.The US Supreme Court this month rejected his bid to remain in the United States, where he is serving a sentence for a planning role in another LeT-linked attack.New Delhi blames the LeT group — as well as intelligence officials from New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan — for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, when 10 Islamist gunmen carried out a multi-day slaughter in the country’s financial capital.India accuses Rana of helping his longterm friend, David Coleman Headley, who was sentenced by a US court in 2013 to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding LeT militants, including by scouting target locations in Mumbai.- ‘Long wait’ -Rana, a former military medic who served in Pakistan’s army, emigrated to Canada in 1997, before moving to the United States and setting up businesses in Chicago, including a law firm and a slaughterhouse.He was arrested by US police in 2009.A US court in 2013 acquitted Rana of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai attacks. But the same court convicted him of backing LeT to provide material support to a plot to commit murder in Denmark.Rana was sentenced to 14 years for his involvement in a conspiracy to attack the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which had published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that angered Muslims around the globe.But India maintains Rana is one of the key plotters of the Mumbai attacks along with the convicted Headley — and the authorities have welcomed his expected extradition.In February, Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state which includes the megacity Mumbai, said that “finally, the long wait is over and justice will be done”.Devika Rotawan, a survivor of the Mumbai attacks, said she believed the extradition of Rana would be a “big win for India”.”I will never be able to forget the attack,” she told broadcaster NDTV on Wednesday.- ‘Chilling effect’ -Counterterrorism experts however suggest Rana’s involvement was peripheral compared to Headley, a US citizen, who India also wants extradited. “They gave us a small fish but kept David Headley, so the essential outcome is going to be symbolic,” said Ajay Sahni, head of the Institute for Conflict Management, a New Delhi-based think tank.Rana knew Headley, 64, from their days together at boarding school in Pakistan.Headley, who testified as a government witness at Rana’s trial, said he had used his friend’s Chicago-based immigration services firm as a cover to scout targets in India, by opening a branch in Mumbai.Rana has said he visited Mumbai ahead of the attacks — and stayed at the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel that would become the epicentre of the bloody siege — but denied involvement in the conspiracy.Sahni said that more than 16 years after the attacks, Rana’s extradition is of “historical importance” rather than a source of any “live intelligence”. But he added that handing him over has “a chilling effect” on others abroad who India seeks to put on trial.

China is trying to tariff-proof its economy by boosting consumption and investing in key industries, but analysts say it remains critically vulnerable to the economic storm triggered by Donald Trump’s 104 percent levies on its goods.Beijing has vowed to “fight to the end” against Trump’s aggressive trade policy, with number two leader Li Qiang saying authorities were “fully confident” in the resilience of the Chinese economy.But even before the tariffs hit, weakness in the post-Covid domestic market, rising unemployment and a long-running property crisis had all dampened consumption.”The Chinese economy has been significantly weakened since Trump’s first term and can’t really withstand the impact of sustained high tariffs,” said Henry Gao, an expert on the Chinese economy and international trade law.Overseas shipments had represented a rare bright spot last year, with the United States the top single country buyer of Chinese goods. US figures put Chinese exports to the United States at around $440 billion in 2024, almost three times the $145 billion worth of imports. Machinery and electronics — as well as textiles, footwear, furniture and toys — make up a majority of the goods sent, and a supply glut could squeeze already crowded domestic consumer markets.Although China’s domestic market is stronger now than in Trump’s previous term, there would inevitably be pain ahead, said Tang Yao from Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management. “Certain products are specifically designed for American or European markets, so efforts to redirect them to domestic consumers will have only a limited effect,” he said.- ‘Strategic opportunity’ -However, a weekend editorial in the Communist Party-backed People’s Daily described the tariffs as a “strategic opportunity” for China to cement consumption as the main driver of economic growth.We must “turn pressure into motivation”, it read. Beijing has been seeking to “recast structural external pressure as a catalyst for long-intended reforms”, said Lizzi Lee from the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.Authorities are “projecting confidence”, she said.China’s quick and coordinated response to tariffs reflect lessons learned from Trump’s first term, she added.For example, in addition to readying reciprocal tariffs on US goods set to come into effect Thursday, Beijing’s commerce ministry the same day announced export controls on seven rare earth elements — including ones used in magnetic imaging and consumer electronics.Beijing’s response to any further escalation may no longer be confined to tit-for-tat levies, as China is “refining its retaliatory approach”, Lee said.Since Trump’s first term, China has diversified and fortified relationships with countries in Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, as well as South Korea and Japan. Beijing could also expand government support for the private sector as entrepreneurs fall back into President Xi Jinping’s good graces, added ANZ’s Raymond Yeung.China’s leaders have been trying to promote domestic self-reliance in technology for some time, offering explicit support and reinforcing supply chains in key areas like AI and chips. – ‘No real protection’ -While this time round Beijing has more experience with Trump, it “doesn’t mean the Chinese economy can easily shake off the effects of soaring tariffs”, said Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC.Authorities will be looking to quickly offset falling US demand for Chinese goods, he said.That could look like trade-in schemes or more consumer subsidies that make it easier for Chinese shoppers to buy common household items, from water purifiers to electric vehicles.”By creating demand and trade opportunities for China’s partners in Asia and Europe, the country could help shore up what’s left of the liberal global trading order,” Neumann said.But whether or not Beijing can do that is yet to be seen.The government has “been very reluctant to introduce real consumption stimulus, which is why there’s such low confidence in any so-called consumption-boosting measures”, Gao said. “I don’t think China has any real protection against a trade war,” he added.Success also goes beyond words, and ultimately hinges on Beijing’s ability to deliver the long-awaited consumption boost, HSBC’s Neumann warned.”This is China’s moment to seize economic leadership of the world,” he said. “But that leadership will only come about if domestic demand rebounds and fills the void left by an absent US.” 

American consumers braced for pain even ahead of President Donald Trump’s hefty tariffs on imported products, which came into effect overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.Some rushed out to buy the latest smartphones ahead of any price increases, while others said they had been watching their spending more closely than before. “I live in an apartment. You can’t stockpile,” a retired woman told AFP on Tuesday as she loaded her groceries into her car at a Costco store on the outskirts of the US capital.The woman, who requested anonymity, said she has begun cutting back on spending in recent weeks as a precaution.”Things are going to keep going up, and we need the money to buy more food next week or the week after,” she said. Despite pleas from top trading allies, the United States has now entered the next major phase in Trump’s tariff war, with huge and sweeping new import taxes targeting goods from many countries.The new levies will affect electronics made in China, which from Wednesday will face a cumulative tariff of 104 percent, while clothing made in Vietnam will also see a large increase in costs thanks to 46 percent tariffs.Vanilla from Madagascar (47 percent), Japanese tea (24 percent), Thai jasmine rice (36 percent) and European wine (20 percent) will also be affected. – ‘Bad’ -“Tariffs are bad,” said a man named Charles, who declined to give his last name, pausing behind his loaded shopping cart in Virginia. “I am a libertarian on tariffs, always have been,” he said Tuesday, adding he plans to pick up a new Apple iPhone on Wednesday in case prices rise. Keith Taylor, who also picked up a new iPhone a few days ago, told AFP he has no plans to buy any more electronic devices for the time being. “That’ll be the last thing I purchase until all this gets settled out,” the 62-year-old said. At a nearby clothing store belonging to the Japanese retailer Uniqlo, Elisabeth Bradley, 40, said she considered herself lucky as she bought clothes for a trip to Denmark.The chief executive and mother of two said she thinks she can cope with price rises, but has nevertheless changed her consumption habits ahead of the tariffs. “We did just buy a car because of the tariffs,” she said, adding that her new electric Volvo will likely cost more money with Trump’s tariffs in force. “We just expect car prices to go up,” she said. – ‘Trying to get by’ – At another supermarket in New York, about a five-hour drive north of Washington, Anastasia Nevin told AFP she is currently in “survival mode.””I have two kids so I’m just trying to get by. It’s tough,” she said Tuesday, adding she would likely need to cut back on spending if prices rise further. American households have already been squeezed by high post-Covid inflation. And prices haven’t come down in the years since; they’ve just gone up more slowly as inflation has cooled.Other consumers told AFP that they are less concerned about the prospect of a surge in the prices of everyday goods.”I don’t believe I’m going to see prices of groceries going up that much,” a man named Jean Brown told AFP. “Prices change over time. You just have to adjust your budget.”

US President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs on dozens of economies came into force Wednesday, including over 100 percent in levies against Chinese goods, sending markets into a tailspin again as the devastating global trade war intensified.Following the sweeping 10 percent tariffs that took effect over the weekend, rates on imports to the United States from exporters like the European Union or Japan rose further at 12.01 am (0401 GMT) Wednesday.China — Washington’s top economic rival but also a major trading partner — is the hardest hit, with tariffs imposed on its products since Trump returned to the White House now reaching a staggering 104 percent.Trump said Tuesday his government was working on “tailored deals” with trading partners, with the White House saying it would prioritize allies like Japan and South Korea.His top trade official Jamieson Greer also told the Senate that Argentina, Vietnam and Israel were among those who had offered to reduce their tariffs.Trump told a dinner with fellow Republicans on Tuesday night that countries were “dying” to make a deal.”I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass,” he said.But Beijing has shown no signs of standing down, vowing to fight a trade war “to the end” and promising countermeasures to defend its interests.China’s retaliatory tariffs of 34 percent on US goods are due to enter in force at 12:01 am local time on Thursday (1601 GMT Wednesday).The US president believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.But many business experts and economists question how quickly — if ever — this can take place, warning of higher inflation as the tariffs raise prices.Trump said Tuesday the United States was “taking in almost $2 billion a day” from tariffs.- China ‘wants to make a deal’ -He originally unveiled a 34 percent additional tariff on Chinese goods. But after China countered with its own tariff of the same amount on American products, Trump piled on another 50 percent duty.Counting existing levies imposed in February and March, that takes the cumulative tariff increase for Chinese goods during Trump’s second presidency to 104 percent.Trump has insisted the ball was in China’s court, saying Beijing “wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started.”Late Tuesday, Trump also said the United States would announce a major tariff on pharmaceuticals “very shortly”.Separately, Canada said that its tariffs on certain US auto imports will come into force Wednesday.- Meltdown -After trillions in equity value were wiped off global bourses in the last days, markets in Asia came under pressure again on Wednesday, with Hong Kong plunging more than three percent and Japan’s Nikkei sinking 2.7 percent.The markets accelerated their losses as the new tariffs came into effect, with Taiwan stocks closing down 5.8 percent in the afternoon.Ahead of European markets’ open, stock futures were also indicating steep drops ahead.Foreign exchange markets likewise witnessed ructions, with the South Korean won falling to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009 this week.China’s offshore yuan also fell to an all-time low against the US dollar, as Beijing’s central bank moved to weaken the yuan on Wednesday for what Bloomberg said was the fifth day in a row.Analyst Stephen Innes said however, that “letting the yuan grind lower at this measured pace won’t offset the blow from a full-blown tariff barrage”. “The levies are simply too big. China is trying to thread the needle, but the runway is short,” he warned.Oil prices slumped, with the West Texas Intermediate closing below $60 for the first time since April 2021.- Avoid ‘further escalation’ -The European Union has sought to cool tensions, with the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen warning against worsening the trade conflict in a call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.She stressed stability for the world’s economy, alongside “the need to avoid further escalation,” said an EU readout.The Chinese premier told von der Leyen that his country could weather the storm, saying it “is fully confident of maintaining sustained and healthy economic development.”The EU — which Trump has criticized bitterly over its tariff regime — may unveil its response next week to new 20 percent levies it faces.In retaliation against US steel and aluminum levies that took effect last month, the EU plans tariffs of up to 25 percent on American goods ranging from soybeans to motorcycles, according to a document seen by AFP.In one public sign of friction over tariffs, key Trump ally Elon Musk described senior White House trade advisor Peter Navarro as “dumber than a sack of bricks.”Musk, who has signaled his opposition to Trump’s trade policy, hit out after Navarro described his Tesla company as “a car assembler” that wants cheap foreign parts.burs-oho/hmn

A Canadian deep-sea mining pioneer, The Metals Company, is charting a new course to land the controversial extraction practice’s first commercial contract — by appealing to US President Donald Trump.It wants to collect so-called polymetallic nodules — mineral deposits made up of multiple metals — on the Pacific Ocean floor.TMC originally planned to apply for a contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) — the organization with jurisdiction over the seabed in international waters — in June.The company’s subsidiaries had spent years using contracts awarded by the ISA to explore parts of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a section of the Pacific Ocean rich with these nodules.The zone contains an estimated 21 billion tonnes (23.1 billion tons) of nodules containing minerals used in high-demand products like electric car batteries. The ISA has yet to award a contract for industrial extraction, however, as it has spent a decade developing a deep-sea mining code with member states. The extended wait has led the Canadian firm to seek opportunities through different means.Although the area TMC hopes to deep-sea mine is in international waters, a 1980 US law could be used to issue a commercial extraction permit — if the Trump administration allows it.”We are ready,” TMC CEO Gerard Barron said on a conference call last month. “What we need is a fair hearing and a regulator willing to engage.”Originally named DeepGreen Metals upon its creation in 2011, the company rebranded to The Metals Company after going public in 2021.The firm collects nodules more than four kilometers (2.5 miles) underwater, having tested a vehicle that gathers the raw materials from the ocean floor and transports them to a ship on the water’s surface using a giant pipe.The company’s change in strategy to bypass the ISA has angered member nations of the international body, as well as environmental NGOs concerned about the impact of deep-sea mining.Bobby-Jo Dobush, a legal officer with The Ocean Foundation, told AFP that deep-sea mining is “the worst, most environmentally destructive, most expensive way to get minerals.”- ‘Political appetite’ -The Metals Company is banking on Washington — which opted not to join the ISA — and Trump’s desire for minerals not imported from China or other rivals to outweigh the environmental concerns. TMC Chief Financial Officer Craig Shesky said during the March conference call that the legal precedent for the United States to authorize extraction “has always been there.” “What has been missing is the political appetite in the United States to take advantage of it. And that’s the main change that has come with this administration,” Shesky said.He estimated that allowing the company to collect a billion tonnes of nodules via deep-sea mining could provide the United States with “456 years of manganese, 165 years of cobalt, 81 years of nickel and four years of copper” based on current consumption patterns.Dmitry Silversteyn, an analyst with Water Tower Research, said TMC could begin production some time in 2026, especially “with the administration in the United States now being very focused on standing up a domestic critical metals and critical materials industry that’s independent of Chinese supply chain.”Dobush, of The Ocean Foundation, said the apparent rush to nail down a contract shows TMC is “really in dire financial straits.”But Silversteyn said TMC was progressing steadily enough for “getting into production commitment” by the end of 2026.Barron touted his company’s progress, saying last month: “We’ve shown that we can pick up nodules from the seafloor, we can lift them to the surface and process them onshore, all the way to the refined products, with minimal environmental impacts and limited capital expenditure.”

Learning to sew is what spared Guatemalan Francisca Lares the perilous migrant journey to the United States, crippling smuggler debt and likely deportation. Instead, she found the better life she was seeking right on her doorstep.The 30-year-old single mother is a beneficiary of a scholarship program of the government and the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) for young Guatemalans to learn a trade and make a living in their own country.More than half the Central American country’s 18 million residents live in poverty, according to official figures. The ratio is even higher in Indigenous villages such as Estanzuela in Joyabaj municipality, where Lares lives.It is a significant push factor, and some 3.2 million Guatemalans are believed to live in the United States — hundreds of thousands of them illegally.Lares had herself considered pursing the “American dream” at a time she was earning $75 a month producing handmade fabrics and barely getting by.Then she heard about a sewing course offered at the “Quedate” (Stay) training center.After completing the course she bought a sewing machine, and now makes traditional Mayan tunics known as huipiles that she sells from a small shop at her home. Lares also markets her wares on social media, and has already sent a few blouses all the way to the United States.She does not want to speak about how much she earns, but told AFP she can now easily cover her needs and those of her daughters aged five and nine.It was the training, she said, “that made me stay here and say: I can get ahead.”- ‘They are being caught’ -The project, which launched in 2021 at a municipal center in Joyabaj and has received donations from Japan, also trains young Guatemalans in hairdressing, baking, computer repair and other skills to help them find jobs or open their own businesses.Courses last from two weeks, like the one Lares took, to nine months.For many in a country where 70 percent of people work in the informal sector and almost one in six are illiterate, the only alternative is putting their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers.”They are being caught,” Lares told AFP of her countrymen and women being expelled from the United States in a deportation wave under President Donald Trump. “They are returning and one starts to think: what if I had left (Guatemala), what if I was just starting to pay off my debt and had to leave (the United States) — how would I have paid my debt?” she said.Smugglers, also known as “coyotes,” charge desperate clients as much as $20,000 to get them to the United States from Joyabaj.”Some die” on the journey, pointed out Lares, speaking to AFP at the training center she credits with offering her a new lease on life.”There is suffering there (in the United States) too… Let’s spare our families the suffering.”Many among Lares’s classmates are deportees.- ‘Better to stay’ -Fellow graduate Marleny Tino, 25, also considered emigrating. In the end, only her husband went.He now lives in Florida “afraid” of being deported, she told AFP.”It is better to stay here than risk your life going there and then being deported as soon as you arrive,” said the mother of two, who also makes huipiles and runs a small business from her home.Remittances sent home by migrants amounted to some $21 billion last year, almost a fifth of GDP.Last year, the United States deported 61,680 Guatemalans, according to the government of the Central American country.Pedro Miranda, the director of the training center, said the goal was to equip more than 600 young people with new skills in 2025.So far, 814 youngsters have learnt a trade at the center and two similar ones in Huehuetenango and Solola.