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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Israel signed a free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, its first with an Arab country, building on their US-brokered normalisation of relations in 2020. Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek, tweeted “mabruk” — or congratulations in Arabic — alongside a photograph of Emirati and Israeli officials holding documents at a signing ceremony in Dubai. Israel has described as “historic” the deal abolishing customs duties […]
Sydney, AUSTRALIA (AFP) — Australia’s economy minister called on China Wednesday to drop punishing trade tariffs if it wants to thaw frozen relations, after Beijing sent a message signalling it is ready to improve ties. China — Australia’s biggest trading partner — imposed tariffs and disrupted more than a dozen key industries, including wine, barley and coal, as relations deteriorated sharply in the past two years. Canberra had irked Beijing by calling for an independent […]
https://youtu.be/9bx5onRYzx0 US President Joe Biden launched a new Asia-Pacific trade initiative Monday in Tokyo, with 13 countries including India and Japan signed up. Biden formally unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, or IPEF, on his second day in Japan, where he held talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of a regional Quad summit on Tuesday. Unlike traditional trade blocs, there is no plan for IPEF members to negotiate tariffs and ease market […]
by Sebastian Smith and Tomohiro Osaki Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — President Joe Biden vowed Monday that US forces would defend Taiwan militarily if China attempted to take control of the self-ruled island by force, warning Beijing was already “flirting with danger”. The remarks, made in Tokyo where he is meeting with Japan’s prime minister ahead of a regional summit Tuesday, were Biden’s strongest to date on the issue and come amid […]
by Shaun TANDON President Joe Biden on Thursday welcomed Southeast Asian leaders to Washington, promising support for clean energy and maritime security in the face of a rising China. The Biden administration made the pledge as it opened a two-day summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, part of a campaign to show that the United States still prioritizes Asia despite months of intense focus on repelling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The White House […]
by Shaun TANDON The United States is preparing a scaled-back version of a trade pact as Southeast Asian nations gather in Washington, where President Joe Biden is seeking to show solid commitment in the face of a rising China. Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet Biden for dinner Thursday at the start of a two-day summit, part of a renewed US focus on Asia after months of intense effort on Ukraine. […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Russia’s war in Ukraine could almost halve world trade growth this year and drag down global GDP growth too, the World Trade Organization projected Monday. The WTO said that the Russian invasion had not only created a humanitarian crisis of “immense proportions” but had also dealt a “severe blow” to the global economy. It also said that in the longer term, the conflict could […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – The Russian space agency said Wednesday it will insist its international partners pay it in rubles, after President Vladimir Putin said Russia will only accept ruble payments for gas deliveries to “unfriendly countries”. “We will also conclude all our external agreements in rubles,” the Roscosmos space agency head Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying by the official Tass news agency. Hours earlier Putin announced that only rubles will be accepted in […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday announced an agreement with Britain to end tariffs on steel and aluminum imports imposed by former president Donald Trump in 2018 on national security grounds. “By allowing for a flow of duty-free steel and aluminum from the UK, we further ease the gap between supply and demand for these products in the United States,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “And by removing […]
by Marc PRÉEL Agence France-Presse STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) – Europe saw the world’s biggest rise in arms imports in the past five years, a trend set to accelerate following recent rearmament commitments amid the threat posed by Russia, researchers said Monday. While arms exports declined globally by 4.6 percent in 2017-2021 compared to the preceding five years, Europe posted a 19-percent increase, according to a study published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). […]
by Joseph Boyle and Valentin Bontemps Agence France-Presse BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) – One of the technology industry’s biggest annual get-togethers is set to kick off in the Spanish city of Barcelona on Monday, under the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Mobile World Congress, where smartphone and telecoms companies show off their latest products and reveal their strategic visions, is expected to welcome more than 40,000 guests over its four-day run. Organisers hope to […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Washington has invoked the environmental provisions of the North American free trade pact to urge Mexico to do more to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, officials announced Thursday. The office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said it is requesting consultations with Mexico under the Environment Chapter of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. While Mexico last year put in place measures to protect the world’s most endangered […]
