by Barnaby Chesterman Agence France Presse BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Group of 20 members pleaded on Sunday for increased dialogue to defuse escalating trade tensions that could hit global economic growth hard. Finance ministers and central bankers from 20 leading economies closed a two-day meeting in Buenos Aires warning that “heightened trade and geopolitical tensions” threaten the economic expansion. It comes at a time when US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies have provoked […]
Tag: diplomacy
Trump threatens tariffs on all $505bn of Chinese imports
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said in an interview released Friday he is willing to hit all Chinese goods imported to the United States with tariffs if necessary. “I’m ready to go 500,” the Republican leader told the US network CNBC, referring to the $505.5 billion in Chinese imports accepted into the United States in 2017. “I’m not doing this for politics, I’m doing this to do the right thing […]
Talks underway for Trump-Putin meet in Washington, says White House
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump has instructed his national security adviser to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Washington later this year, the White House said Thursday. “President Trump asked @AmbJohnBolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted, three days after the Finland summit between the US and Russian leaders. Earlier Thursday, Trump tweeted that he was […]
US troops’ remains to be repatriated soon from N. Korea: Pompeo
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The repatriation of remains of US troops killed during the Korean War should begin shortly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, starting a process agreed by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “I think in the next couple weeks we will have the first remains returned,” Pompeo said during a meeting at the White House. Repatriating remains of US soldiers who perished during the 1950-53 […]
Trump vows ‘extraordinary relationship’ with Putin as summit opens
by Dave Clark / Jitendra Joshi Agence France Presse HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin began an historic summit on Monday vowing their determination to forge a reset of troubled relations between the world’s greatest nuclear powers. Trump, bent on forging a personal bond with the Kremlin chief despite allegations of Russian meddling in US politics, went into the summit blaming “stupidity” by his predecessors for plunging ties to […]
EU urges big powers to avert trade ‘conflict and chaos’
by Ben Dooley Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — The European Union called Monday on the United States, China and Russia to work together to cool worsening global trade tensions, warning that they could spiral into violent “conflict and chaos.” The comments from EU Council President Donald Tusk comes as Washington and Beijing stand on the brink of an all-out trade war many fear could hammer the global economy, while the US has also picked […]
Indonesia invites Korean leaders Moon, Kim to Asian Games
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — The leaders of the two Koreas have been invited to next month’s Asian Games in Indonesia, Jakarta said Monday, after the neighbours agreed to field several joint teams at the event. Indonesian president Joko Widodo sent a formal invitation Friday to South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Widodo’s spokesman said, but it was not immediately clear if either has responded. “The invitation letters have been […]
Trump and Putin to meet in Helsinki on Monday
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — After months of anticipation, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet Monday to put to the test the US president’s ambition to forge a personal bond with the Kremlin chief. If Trump’s instinct is right and he finds common ground with Putin, then the pair’s Helsinki Summit may take the heat out of some of the world’s most dangerous conflicts. But the Washington-Moscow rivalry has a long history and there […]
Honduras identifies 313 children separated from families in US
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — A total of 313 Honduran children separated from their parents as a result of the United States’ “zero tolerance” immigration police have been identified by Honduran consular staff, an official said Thursday. Liza Medrano, Honduras’ director of migrant protection, told a news conference that the country’s consular officials in the United States visited shelters in search of children after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the reunification of separated families. “We […]
Trump blasts May’s Brexit strategy on UK visit
by Dario Thuburn / Jitendra Joshi Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Donald Trump issued scathing criticism of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy during his visit to Britain, as campaigners planned a mass protest against the US president on Friday. In a series of extraordinary broadsides, Trump told Friday’s edition of The Sun that May’s plan for post-Brexit ties with the EU would “probably kill” the prospects for a trade deal with the […]
Trump sending top team to Mexico to woo next president
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump is sending a team of top officials to meet Mexico’s president-elect on Friday to show the importance he places on the countries’ relationship, the US said, after months of deeply strained ties. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will lead a high-level delegation for meetings with anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who won a landslide victory in Mexico’s July 1 elections, opening a new chapter in what […]
Top US officials to meet Mexico president-elect in modest house
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday he will meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top US officials this week in his offices, located in a modest house with little security. The anti-establishment leftist, who won a landslide election victory on July 1, said he would meet in his transition team’s headquarters on Friday with Pompeo, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and top presidential […]





