Category: International

LONDON: British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves has warned that tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump could have a profound impact on the UK and global economy, as she called for stronger international cooperation on trade.

The British minister said this in a column for The Observer, due to be published on Sunday. She says she wants to achieve “an ambitious new relationship” with the European Union while still negotiating a trade deal with the United States.

In a separate article from Reeves’ column on Saturday, The Observer said the finance minister wrote that tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump will have a “profound” effect on Britain and world economies.

Reeves will say that she is “under no illusion about the difficulties that lie ahead,” according to The Observer.

“The Labour Party is an internationalist party. We understand the benefits of free and fair trade and collaboration. Now is not the time to turn our backs on the world.”

The finance minister plans to advocate for a “more balanced global economic and trading system” at the upcoming International Monetary Fund meeting later this month.

Britain’s economy returned to growth in February with its fastest expansion in 11 months, beating economists’ expectations and placing it on a slightly firmer footing as it braces for the impact of the tariffs.

Meanwhile, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, the director of the United Nations trade agency, said on Friday that tariffs and countermeasures could have a “catastrophic” impact on developing countries, hitting even harder than foreign aid cuts.

WASHINGTON/WEST PALM BEACH: President Donald Trump’s administration has granted exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs to smartphones, computers, and some other electronics imported largely from China, offering a major reprieve to tech companies like Apple that rely on overseas products.

In a notice to shippers, the US Customs and Border Protection agency published a list of tariff codes excluded from the import duties. The exclusions are retroactive to 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT) on 5 April.

The US CBP listed 20 product categories, including the broad 8471 code covering all computers, laptops, disc drives, and automatic data processing equipment. It also included semiconductor devices, equipment, memory chips, and flat panel displays.

The notice did not include a reason for the move, but the late-night exemption provides welcome relief to major technology firms such as Apple, Dell Technologies, and many other importers.

Trump’s move also exempts the specified electronics from his 10% “baseline” tariffs on goods from most countries outside China, reducing import costs for semiconductors from Taiwan and Apple iPhones assembled in India.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the announcement “the most bullish news we could have heard this weekend”.

“There is still clear uncertainty and volatility ahead with these China negotiations… Big Tech firms like Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and the wider tech industry can breathe a huge sigh of relief this weekend into Monday,” Ives wrote in an industry note.

Many tech company CEOs have embraced Trump as he begins his second term, attending his 20 January inauguration in Washington and celebrating with him afterwards. Apple CEO Tim Cook hosted a pre-inaugural ball and has visited Trump at his Florida residence.

For the Chinese imports, the exclusion only applies to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which rose to 125% this week, according to a White House official. His earlier 20% duties on all Chinese imports – which he linked to the US fentanyl crisis – remain in place.

However, the official said Trump is set to launch a new national security trade investigation into semiconductors, which could result in further tariffs.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump has made it clear the US cannot rely on China for the manufacture of critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops.

She added that, under Trump’s direction, major tech firms – including Apple and chipmakers Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor – “are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible”.

Tariff pain

The exemptions suggest growing awareness within the Trump administration of the hardship his tariffs could place on inflation-weary consumers.

Even at a reduced 54% tariff rate on Chinese imports, analysts predicted the price of a high-end Apple iPhone could jump to $2,300 from $1,599. At 125%, economists have warned US-China trade could come to a near standstill.

Smartphones were the top US import from China in 2024, totalling $41.7 billion, with Chinese-built laptops close behind at $33.1 billion, according to US Census Bureau data.

Apple recently chartered cargo flights to transport 600 tonnes of iPhones – as many as 1.5 million – from India to the US after boosting production there in a bid to circumvent Trump’s tariffs, Reuters reported on Friday.

Trump’s campaign to reclaim the White House last year centred largely on a pledge to cut consumer prices, which had been driven up by inflation and damaged the economic legacy of former President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies.

Nevertheless, Trump also vowed to impose tariffs central to his economic strategy, dismissing financial market turbulence and rising prices from the levies as a necessary disruption to rebalance the global trading order.

His so-called “reciprocal tariffs”, however, sparked recession fears and drew criticism from within his own Republican Party, with some wary of losing control of Congress in next year’s mid-term elections. Democrats have also fiercely criticised Trump’s approach.

Last week, Trump delayed increased tariff rates for 57 trade partners and the European Union, keeping most nations at a 10% rate as they continue trade negotiations with Washington.

The US president, spending the weekend at his Florida home, told reporters on Friday he was at ease with the high tariffs on China but maintained a good relationship with President Xi Jinping. He expressed optimism that something positive might emerge from their trade standoff.

Financial markets were rattled again on Friday after China matched Trump’s latest tariff hike on US goods, raising duties to 125%. The escalation has threatened to wreak havoc on global supply chains.

US stocks ended a volatile week higher, but gold surged to a record high during the session. Benchmark US 10-year government bond yields recorded their largest weekly rise since 2001, while the dollar fell sharply – a sign of waning investor confidence.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in China on Saturday as rare typhoon-like gales swept northern regions, forcing the closure of historic sites and disrupting travel while bringing late snowfalls and hailstone showers in some areas.

Windows shook and trees crashed onto footpaths and cars, rocked by gusts of wind driven by a cold vortex from neighbouring Mongolia that sent temperatures plunging.

The winds, which started on Friday, are set to continue over the weekend, packing gusts of up to 150 kph (90 mph), the official Xinhua news agency said. They brought late snowfalls in Inner Mongolia and hailstones in southern China.

Beijing issued its second-highest gale alert this weekend, for the first time in a decade, warning 22 million residents to avoid non-essential travel as winds could potentially break April records dating from 1951.

After earlier warnings, some residents said they were very nervous but still managed to get around.

“It wasn’t as severe as I had imagined – not to the point where it was impossible to go out – though it is having some impact on daily life,” said 30-year-old local resident, surnamed Li.

By 2pm (0600 GMT), winds had felled 703 trees in Beijing while 693 flights had been cancelled at Beijing’s two international airports – Beijing Capital and Beijing Daxing, state media reported.

The winds dominated social media chats, with many people expressing concern for food delivery workers braving the conditions.

“In weather like this, we can choose not to order delivery – it’s too hard for them,” one Weibo user wrote.

The winds forced the postponement of a half-marathon set for Sunday featuring humanoid robots competing with humans in a bid to showcase China’s technological advances.

Sandstorms raging over a stretch from Inner Mongolia to the Yangtze River region crippled road travel in eight provinces, Xinhua and state broadcaster CCTV said.

Sandstorms were expected to impact Shanghai from Saturday afternoon through to Sunday morning.

Strong winds bringing sand and dust from Mongolia are routine in spring, but climate change has made weather events more extreme.

BANGKOK: Earthquake-hit Myanmar saw rain in its areas over the weekend, which aid agencies said could complicate relief efforts and raise the risk of disease as the United Nations aid chief said more tents were needed to shelter those left homeless.

With 4,671 people injured and another 214 still missing, the death toll from the powerful quake that hit on March 28 rose to 3,471, state media reported.

Aid agencies have warned the combination of the unseasonable rains and extreme heat could cause outbreaks of disease, including cholera, among quake survivors who are camping in the open.

“Families sleeping outside the ruins of their homes while bodies of loved ones are pulled from rubble. Real fear of more quakes,” visiting UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said.

“We need to get tents and hope to survivors as they rebuild their shattered lives,” he said, adding strong, coordinated action was the key to saving as many lives as possible.

Myanmar’s neighbours, such as China, India and Southeast Asian nations, are among those that dispatched relief supplies and rescuers over the past week to aid the recovery effort in quake-hit areas that are home to about 28 million people.

The United States, which was until recently the world’s top humanitarian donor, has pledged at least $9 million to Myanmar to support earthquake-affected communities but current and former US officials say the dismantling of its foreign aid programme has affected its response.

Three US Agency for International Development workers who had travelled to Myanmar after the quake were told they were being let go, Marcia Wong, a former senior USAID official, told Reuters.

“This team is working incredibly hard, focused on getting humanitarian aid to those in need. To get news of your imminent termination — how can that not be demoralising?” Wong said.

In neighbouring Thailand, authorities said that country’s death toll from the quake had risen to 24. Of those, 17 died at the site of a skyscraper in the capital, Bangkok, that collapsed while under construction. A further 77 were still missing there.

Ceasefire breaches

Myanmar’s military has struggled to run the country since overthrowing the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, leaving the economy and basic services, including healthcare, in tatters, a situation exacerbated by the quake.

The civil war that followed has displaced more than 3 million people, with widespread food insecurity and more than a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, the UN says.

While a ceasefire was declared on Wednesday, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday the junta was restricting aid in areas that did not back its rule. It also said it was investigating reported attacks by the junta against opponents, including after the ceasefire.

A junta spokesperson did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Free Burma Rangers, a relief group, told Reuters on Saturday that the military had dropped bombs in Karenni and Shan states on Thursday and Friday despite the ceasefire announcement, killing at least five people.

The victims included civilians, according to the group’s founder, David Eubank, who said there had been at least seven such military attacks since the ceasefire.

SANTO DOMINGO: Authorities said late on Wednesday that a devastating roof collapse at a popular nightclub in the capital of the Dominican Republic has claimed at least 184 lives as the search for survivors turned increasingly grim.

On Tuesday, the nightclub collapsed and for two days families have gathered outside the wreckage of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo, anxious for information about their missing relatives and sharing photos with police.

“We are not going to abandon nobody,” Juan Manuel Mendez, head of the country’s emergency operations centre, said at a press conference.

Emergency crews will continue to work until the last body will be found, but hopes of finding more survivors under the rubble were diminishing while no one had been pulled out alive in more than 24 hours, Mendez added.

“In the coming hours there will be a transition from a search and rescue phase to the recovery of the bodies phase,” presidential spokesperson Homero Figueroa said in a statement.

Families continued to hold out hope. Along with dozens of others, Alex de Leon was looking for his ex-wife, mother of their two children, and a close mutual friend at the area surrounding the nightclub.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any information about where they are,” he said. “My 15-year-old son is devastated, and the little one who is 9 remains calm because we’ve told him that his mom is at work.”

Relatives and friends of people who are still missing held their photos and described the clothes they were wearing when the tragedy struck, hoping that it will help identify their loved ones if they were disfigured.

Earlier on Wednesday authorities reported that 155 people had been rescued from the rubble and transferred to hospitals. The exact number of people inside the club at the time of the collapse remained unclear.

From celebration to tragedy

The tragedy unfolded during a concert by popular Dominican singer Rubby Perez. The event, which had drawn politicians, athletes and other prominent figures, turned into a nightmare after midnight as the roof suddenly collapsed.

Perez was one of the victims and the Ministry of Culture announced it will hold a tribute on Thursday to honour his memory as “one of the great figures of the country’s art” and the merengue scene.

The families of the victims whose bodies have already been recovered have begun to hold their funerals.

President Luis Abinader attended the funeral ceremony on Wednesday of Nelsy Cruz, governor of the northern Monte Cristi province and sister of former MLB player Nelson Cruz, a seven-time All-Star.

“We are left to mourn her and the other victims,” Abinader said during the service.

Pitcher Octavio Dotel and slugger Tony Blanco, both former Major League Baseball players, were also killed.

The son of the public works and communications minister also died in the disaster.

Iran on Friday expressed its desire for a “real and fair” deal concerning its nuclear programme, as the United States signalled openness to flexibility in the upcoming critical negotiations, while maintaining its firm position that Tehran must not acquire nuclear weapons.

The longtime adversaries are set to meet today in Oman, weeks after a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by US President Donald Trump, who sought diplomacy but warned of possible military action if Iran refuses.

“Far from putting up a show and merely talking in front of the cameras, Tehran is seeking a real and fair agreement, important and implementable proposals are ready,” Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani posted on X.

He confirmed that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Oman “with full authority for indirect negotiations with America”, adding that if Washington showed goodwill, the path forward would be “smooth”.

Ahead of the talks, Trump reiterated his opposition to Iran gaining a nuclear weapon.

“I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, hours before his envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet Araghchi.

Witkoff, Trump’s friend who serves as his globe-trotting envoy, sounded a note of flexibility ahead of the talks.

Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal that “our position today” starts with demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear programme — a view of hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran would ever accept.

“That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” Witkoff told the newspaper.

“Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponisation of your nuclear capability,” Witkoff added.

Former US president Barack Obama negotiated a deal in 2015 that sought to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without insisting on full dismantlement of its contested programme.

Trump denounced the agreement as too weak and ripped it up after taking office the first time, instead imposing sweeping sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.

Tehran adhered to the deal for a year before rolling back its own commitments.

‘Hostile rhetoric’

Ahead of the talks, Trump reiterated that military action was “absolutely” possible if they failed.

Iran responded by saying Tehran could expel United Nations nuclear inspectors, prompting in turn a US warning that this would be an “escalation”.

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

On Friday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran was “giving diplomacy a genuine chance in good faith and full vigilance”.

“America should appreciate this decision, which was made despite their hostile rhetoric,” he said.

On Thursday, Washington imposed additional sanctions on Iran, targeting its oil network and nuclear programme.

Iran’s nuclear agency chief Mohammad Eslami downplayed their impact.

“They applied maximum pressure with various sanctions, but they were unable to prevent the country from progressing,” he said.

“They still think that they can stop this nation and country with threats and intimidation, psychological operations, or stupid actions.”

Ahead of the Oman talks, Witkoff — who has also been seeking to end the Ukraine war — visited Russia, which has close cooperation with Iran.

The European Union, which backed the Obama-era accord, said Friday that there was “no alternative to diplomacy” on the Iranian nuclear issue.

PATNA: In unusually intense thunderstorms, at least 69 people were killed this week across eastern India’s Bihar state and in neighbouring Nepal, officials said Saturday.

Scientists warn that rising global temperatures are unleashing a cascade of extreme weather events, while flash floods and lightning kill thousands of people each year.

Bihar disaster authorities said Saturday that at least 61 people had died in strong thunder and lightning storms on Thursday and Friday.

Eight more people were killed in neighbouring Nepal, disaster officials told AFP, blaming “lightning strikes” on Wednesday and Thursday.

Heavy rain is forecast to hit Bihar again on Saturday, according to the local India Meteorological Department office.

Last year, experts warned that climate change was fuelling an alarming increase in deadly lightning strikes in India, killing nearly 1,900 people a year in the world’s most populous country.

Lightning caused 101,309 deaths between 1967 and 2020, with a sharp increase between 2010 and 2020, a team of researchers led by Fakir Mohan University in the eastern state of Odisha said.

BUENOS AIRES: A $20 billion, 48-month Extended Fund Facility deal with the International Monetary Fund  was sealed by Argentina on Friday and, in a major policy move ahead of the deal, dismantled key parts of its years-long currency controls and loosened its grip on the peso.

By next Tuesday, the IMF will disburse $12 billion, while another $2 billion will become available by June.

The deal is expected to help Argentina “catalyse additional official multilateral and bilateral support, and a timely re-access to international capital markets,” the IMF said.

“Key pillars of the programme include maintaining a strong fiscal anchor, transitioning towards a more robust monetary and FX regime, with greater exchange rate flexibility,” it added in a statement.

Earlier, the South American nation’s central bank announced it would undo a fixed currency peg from Monday, letting the peso ARS= freely fluctuate within a moving band between 1,000 and 1,400 pesos per dollar, versus 1,074 at the close on Friday.

Argentina will eliminate major parts of the so-called “cepo” capital controls that have restricted access to foreign currency, the central bank said in a statement.

Companies, from this year, will also be able to repatriate profits out of the country, a key demand from businesses that could unlock more investment.

“As of Monday, we will be able to put an end to the foreign exchange restrictions which were imposed in 2019 and which limit the normal functioning of the economy,” Economy Ministry Luis Caputo said at a press conference.

Libertarian President Javier Milei addressed the nation in a televised speech on Friday night and stated that Argentina was “in a better position than ever to withstand external turbulences.”

However, an IMF staff report on the $20 billion deal warned that “downside risks remain elevated,” as programme implementation could be challenged by rising global trade tensions and, domestically, by the volatility added by the upcoming electoral cycle and fragile social conditions.

‘This is a devaluation’

The new exchange rate system could allow the peso to weaken almost a third if the currency were to hit the weaker edge of the band, although the central bank is likely to have some tools to intervene. The band will expand 1% each month, the bank said.

The policy move came ahead of the final IMF nod for what is the 23rd programme in a long and mottled history between the grains-producing nation and the Washington-based lender.

Funds from the IMF deal will be used to recapitalise Argentina’s central bank and the government expects they will help usher in a healthier currency, reduce inflation and allow for tax cuts, Caputo said.

Other multi-year disbursements were also announced, including $12 billion from the World Bank and $10 billion from the Inter-American Development Bank.

Argentina needs the financial firepower to bolster depleted foreign currency reserves that are in the red on a net basis and have been falling in recent weeks, amid sticky inflation and a country risk index that has started to rise again.

The funds are also key to unlocking the currency controls, which will likely prompt a period of local market volatility already stirred up by the international tariff war between the United States and its trade partners.

“This is a devaluation, which rather goes against what the government would have intended to calmly get to elections,” said economist Ricardo Delgado, referring to midterm legislative elections later in the year.

“It’s a bit surprising that at this time of global volatility, the controls are being lifted,” he added.

US President Donald Trump on Friday told Moscow to “get moving” on ending its “senseless war” with Ukraine, moments before his envoy Steve Witkoff began talks with Vladimir Putin in Russia on the conflict.

Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire since returning to the White House but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite repeated negotiations between Russian and US officials.

The US leader told NBC News last month that he was “pissed off” with his Russian counterpart, while top US diplomat Marco Rubio warned last week that Washington would not tolerate “endless negotiations” with Russia over the conflict.

“Russia has to get moving,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the conflict — which began more than three years ago when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine — was “senseless” and “should have never happened”.

Kyiv and several of its Western allies suspect Russia of stalling the talks on purpose.

And after accusing Moscow of dragging Beijing into its invasion, Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday that hundreds of Chinese nationals were fighting at the Ukraine frontline alongside Russia.

Shortly after Trump’s post, the Kremlin said talks between Putin and Witkoff had started. The meeting, taking place in Putin’s home city of Saint Petersburg, would touch on “various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“There is no need to expect any breakthroughs here, the process of normalising relations is ongoing,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state media.

When asked whether the two would discuss a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, Peskov was quoted as saying: “Maybe”.

Witkoff has held two previous meetings with Putin in Russia since Trump’s return in January.

After their last meeting, Witkoff, a long-time Trump ally who worked with the US president in real estate, said Putin was a “great leader” and “not a bad guy”.

The envoy’s praise of a president long seen by the United States as an autocratic adversary highlights the dramatic turn in Washington’s approach to dealings with the Kremlin since Trump took office for a second term.

‘Using Chinese lives’

Kyiv said this week that its forces had captured two Chinese nationals in the eastern Donetsk region fighting for Moscow.

The Kremlin denied the claim, while Beijing warned parties to the conflict against making “irresponsible remarks”.

“As of now, we have information that at least several hundred Chinese nationals are fighting as part of Russia´s occupation forces,” Zelensky told military chiefs from allied countries in Brussels.

“This means Russia is clearly trying to prolong the war — even by using Chinese lives.”

The Ukrainian leader also called out Russia for having refused a complete ceasefire proposed by the United States with Ukrainian approval a month ago.

Putin last month rejected a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.

‘Restore trust’

Trump has pushed for a broad rapprochement with Moscow, which has yielded some results.

On Thursday, Russia freed dual US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina from prison in exchange for suspected tech smuggler Arthur Petrov, the second exchange between Moscow and Washington in less than two months.

Karelina, arrested last January while visiting Russia to see family, was serving a 12-year sentence on “treason” charges after she donated the equivalent of around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.

The head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, said Friday that Russia would discuss more prisoner swaps in the future.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the swaps helped build confidence between the two sides, which deteriorated under former US President Joe Biden´s administration.

“It helps build trust, which is much needed, but it will take a long time to finally restore it,” he told reporters.

US and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on Thursday for talks about restoring the functioning of their embassies, which drastically scaled back staffing as relations between the two nuclear powers cooled off.

But despite a flurry of diplomacy, there has been little meaningful progress on Trump´s main aim of achieving a Ukraine ceasefire.

Separate talks in Saudi Arabia last month resulted in the White House saying both sides had agreed to halt aerial strikes on energy targets.

But no formal agreement was put in place and both sides have accused the other of continuing such attacks.

WASHINGTON: Thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians living in the US are set to lose their deportation protections in the coming months, after the Trump administration moved to end their temporary legal status as part of its wider immigration crackdown, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said on Friday, continuing Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration.

An estimated 14,600 Afghans eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will now lose it in May. Around 7,900 Cameroonians had access to the status but will lose it in June following the termination.

US President Donald Trump, a Republican, assumed office in January vowing to deport record numbers of migrants living in the US unlawfully. At the same time, he has swiftly moved to strip migrants of temporary legal protections, widening the net of potential deportees.

Trump has criticised high levels of illegal immigration under Democratic former President Joe Biden and argued that Biden’s programmes offering legal status exceeded lawful authority.

The TPS programme is available to individuals whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary events. The status, which lasts 6–18 months, can be renewed by the Homeland Security Secretary and offers deportation protection and access to work permits.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem determined that the conditions in Afghanistan and Cameroon no longer justified the protected status, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Trump attempted to end most TPS enrolment during his 2017–2021 presidency but was blocked by federal courts. A US district judge in late March halted his effort to terminate the status for Venezuelans, stating that officials’ portrayal of the migrants as criminals “smacks of racism”.

Parole revoked

The US evacuated more than 82,000 Afghans from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, including over 70,000 who entered the country with temporary “parole”, which allowed legal entry for two years.

Temporary Protected Status offered another avenue of protection. DHS said in 2023 that the designation was warranted due to armed conflict and insurgency in Afghanistan.

Advocates have said in recent days that migrants who entered the US via a Biden-era app known as CBP One, including Afghans, have received notices revoking their temporary parole and ordering them to leave the country within seven days.

McLaughlin confirmed this week that the department had revoked some migrants’ parole, stating that DHS was “exercising its discretionary authority.” She did not provide figures on the number of revocations.

“Affected individuals are urged to voluntarily self-deport using the CBP Home App,” she said in a statement.

The notices resemble messages mistakenly sent last week to Ukrainians.