Category Archives: US foreign policy

Panama opposition party accuses US of ‘camouflaged invasion’

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Discontent with government handling of diplomatic crisis rises as Pete Hegseth says US troops moved to country

Panamanian opposition politicians have accused the US of launching a “camouflaged invasion” of the country, amid simmering discontent over the government’s handling of the diplomatic crisis.

After a three-day visit by the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump appeared to confirm that US military personnel had been deployed to the Central American country on Thursday, telling reporters: “We’ve moved a lot of troops to Panama.”

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Iran and US to meet for nuclear talks but little obvious prospect of success

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Tehran’s nuclear program at stake in Oman after Trump’s surprise announcement – can a breakthrough be reached?

Historical metaphor refers to them as “Nixon in China” moments: diplomatic encounters where leaders representing political systems implacably opposed to each other overcome their mistrust to achieve unexpected breakthroughs.

Yet few meetings can have held less obvious prospect of the success achieved by President Richard Nixon’s historic 1972 visit to Beijing than that scheduled to take place in Oman on Saturday between representatives of the United States and Iran.

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US-China trade war intensifies as Beijing’s tariffs come into effect after Trump pause

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China’s 84% tariffs against US products comes into force amid market relief at Donald Trump’s move to pause steep reciprocal tariffs around the world

Donald Trump’s trade war with China entered a new phase on Thursday, as Beijing’s 84% retaliatory tariffs came into effect hours after the US president announced a pause of steep reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries except China.

Markets rebounded after Trump’s announcement of the sudden pause, after the most volatile episode in financial markets since the pandemic.

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China fires back after Pete Hegseth calls country a threat to Panama canal

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Chinese government asks: ‘Who represents the real threat?’ after US defense secretary vows to keep canal secure

US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the Panama canal faces ongoing threats from China but that together the United States and Panama will keep it secure.

Hegseth’s remarks triggered a fiery response from the Chinese government, which said: “Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgement.”

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Netanyahu discusses Gaza and tariffs with Trump at White House meeting

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President says the pair had a ‘great discussion’ while prime minister says Israel will eliminate trade deficit with US

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with Donald Trump on Monday for the second time since the US president’s return to office, marking the first effort by a foreign leader to negotiate a deal after Trump announced sweeping tariffs last week.

Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Netanyahu said Israel would eliminate the trade deficit with the US. “We intend to do it very quickly,” he told reporters, adding that he believed Israel could “serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same”.

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Trump says US ‘having direct talks’ with Iran over nuclear deal

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President, sitting in Oval Office with Benjamin Netanyahu, warns Tehran of ‘great danger’ if talks are not successful

Donald Trump has announced that the US is to hold direct talks with Iran in a bid to prevent the country from obtaining an atomic bomb, while also warning Tehran of dire consequences if they fail.

Sitting beside Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the Oval Office, Trump indicated that discussions would start this coming weekend, though he also implied communications had already begun.

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Trump threatens additional 50% tariffs on China over retaliatory levies

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President poised to further impose taxes after Beijing announced a 34% tariff on US imports as global markets fall

Donald Trump has threatened to impose an additional 50% tariff on imports from China on Wednesday unless the country rescinds its retaliatory tariffs on the United States by Tuesday.

The news comes on the third day of catastrophic market falls around the globe since Trump announced his trade war last Wednesday with tariffs on the US’s trading partners.

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Caribbean is friend of US, not an enemy, tariff-hit regional leaders tell Trump

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Barbados PM and Caricom chair calls on Washington to engage in talks to ‘keep prices down for all of our people’

The Caribbean is a friend, not an enemy, leaders in the region have told Donald Trump after the US president’s imposition of worldwide import tariffs.

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, invited Trump to talk with leaders in the region and “work together to keep prices down for all of our people”, adding: “I say simply to President Trump: our economies are not doing your economy any harm in any way. They are too small to have any negative or distorted impact on your country.”

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Labour: changes to EV rules will have ‘negligible’ impact on UK emissions

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Transport secretary says overhaul in response to Trump tariffs supports car firms and climate goals

Labour’s changes to electric vehicle (EV) rules in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs will have a negligible impact on emissions, the transport secretary has said.

Keir Starmer has confirmed plans to boost manufacturers, including reinstating the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

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‘There is no ceasefire. Attacks are ongoing’: how Putin’s envoy played US over Ukraine

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White House welcome for key member of Russian president’s inner circle raises fears over America’s commitment to peace

Kirill Dmitriev’s meetings with US officials in the White House last week went largely below the radar. And deliberately so.

The dapper investment envoy to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who also serves as a key negotiator for Moscow on Ukraine, posted an image of his flight plan on social media to make the point that a senior sanctioned Russian official was being welcomed by the Trump administration. Otherwise, details of what was discussed remain opaque.

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Netanyahu heads to Washington to talk tariffs and Gaza with Trump

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Tariff discussions would make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to travel to Washington in an attempt to negotiate a better deal

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to travel to Washington to meet with US president Donald Trump to discuss issues including tariffs, Gaza and the “Iranian threat”, his office has confirmed.

The meeting will take place on Monday, a White House official said on the condition of anonymity.

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Canada to counter ‘unjustified’ US tariffs with 25% taxes on US cars, says Carney

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Canadian prime minister says country will impose taxes on US vehicles not compliant with continental free trade deal

Canada will retaliate against “unjustified, unwarranted” tariffs imposed by the United States with a 25% tax on US vehicles, says Mark Carney.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced wide-ranging tariffs on dozens of countries, but did not add new trade levies to Canada or Mexico. Despite the reprieve, however, the US has placed 25% taxes on Canadian steel, aluminum and vehicles.

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Trump tariffs see stocks dive and investors scramble to bonds, gold and yen

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Nasdaq futures tumbled 3.3% and in after-hours trade as $760bn was wiped from the market value of ‘Magnificent Seven’ technology leaders

Stocks dived and investors scrambled to the safety of bonds, gold and the yen on Thursday as Donald Trump unveiled a bigger-than-expected wall of tariffs around the world’s largest economy, upending trade and supply chains.

The technology sector was pummelled as manufacturing hubs in China and Taiwan faced new tariffs above 30%. In total, China now faces an eye-watering 54% in tariffs on its exports to the US.

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War-torn and struggling countries among those facing steepest Trump reciprocal tariffs

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Myanmar, which is reeling from a huge earthquake and civil war, faces 44% rate amid suspicions that the underlying target is China

Developing nations in South-east Asia, including war-torn and earthquake-hit Myanmar, and several African nations are among the trading partners facing the highest tariffs set by US President Donald Trump.

Upending decades of US trade policy and threatening to unleash a global trade war, Trump on Wednesday announced a raft of tariffs he said were designed to stop the US economy from being “cheated”.

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Trump’s tariffs: how might Europe respond to unleashing of trade war?

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Bloc’s options include retaliating with tariffs on US goods and services and forming closer ties with other countries

Donald Trump is getting ready to impose sweeping and immediate tariffs on all foreign goods, thereby unleashing a trade war and upending the multilateral trading system that the US helped to build after the second world war.

Here is how Europe might respond:

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Donald Trump signs off UK’s handover of Chagos Islands to Mauritius

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No 10 says deal to cede UK’s last African colony now being finalised after months of doubt

Donald Trump has signed off the UK’s handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, Downing Street has indicated, paving the way for the UK to cede sovereignty over its last African colony after a six-month standoff.

Under the terms of the deal, the UK will give up control of the Chagos archipelago while paying to maintain control of a joint US-UK military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, under a 99-year lease.

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Russia says it cannot accept US peace plan for Ukraine ‘in its current form’

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Moscow’s refusal highlights the limited progress Donald Trump has made on his promise to end the war

Moscow has described the latest US peace proposals as unacceptable to the Kremlin, highlighting the limited progress Donald Trump has made on his promise to end the war in Ukraine since taking office in January.

Sergei Ryabkov, a foreign policy adviser to Vladimir Putin, said some of Russia’s key demands were not being addressed by the US proposals to end the war, in comments that marked a rare acknowledgment from the Russian side that talks with the US over Ukraine had stalled in recent weeks.

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Greenland’s new PM rejects Trump’s latest threat: ‘We do not belong to anyone else’

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Newly sworn in Jens-Frederik Nielsen says ‘Trump says that the United States is getting Greenland. Let me be clear: the United States won’t get that’

The US will not get Greenland, its new prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has said in response to Donald Trump’s latest statements that he wants to take control of the vast Arctic country.

“President Trump says that the United States is getting Greenland. Let me be clear: the United States won’t get that. We do not belong to anyone else. We determine our own future,” Nielsen said.

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Donald Trump says he is ‘very angry’ with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine

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US president says his Russian counterpart’s questioning of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s credibility could delay ceasefire

Donald Trump has said he is “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin over his approach to a ceasefire in Ukraine and threatened to levy tariffs on Moscow’s oil exports if the Russian leader does not agree to a truce within a month.

The US president indicated he would levy a 25% or 50% tariff that would affect countries buying Russian oil in a telephone interview with NBC News, during which he also threatened to bomb Iran and did not rule out using force in Greenland.

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JD Vance says US needs control of Greenland to fend off China and Russia

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Vice-president criticises Denmark’s treatment of Arctic island and says it should come under US ‘security umbrella’

JD Vance told troops in Greenland that the US has to gain control of the Arctic island to stop the threat of China and Russia as he doubled down on criticising Denmark, which he said has “not done a good job”.

Under increasingly strained relations between the White House and Greenland and Denmark, the US vice-president said during a visit to Pituffik space base on Friday: “Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass.”

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