The US secretary of state criticises China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, while backing Australia's push for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19. In a media address, Mike Pompeo attacks the Chinese Communist party, declaring it 'ideologically and politically hostile to free nations'. His comments come after China slapped 80% tariffs on Australian barley exports and continue similar rhetoric from the Trump administration that is increasingly critical of Beijing
Continue reading...Category Archives: International trade
Brexit: Gove confirms plans for checks on goods crossing Irish Sea
Minister says checks on animals and food products are needed to maintain island of Ireland’s ‘disease-free status’
The government has confirmed for the first time that there will be Brexit checks on animals and food goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK from next January.
The announcement, detailed in a 23-page document released by the government on Wednesday, comes months after Boris Johnson pledged there would be no checks on trade crossing the Irish Sea – telling businesses that if anyone asked them to fill in new paperwork, they could “throw it in the bin”.
Continue reading...Australian trade minister says ‘risk’ of trade with China may drive businesses to other markets
Australia reserves the right to take China to the WTO amid growing trade dispute, Simon Birmingham says
Simon Birmingham has warned China’s “unpredictable” trade interventions may force Australian producers to sell to other markets and diversification is to be encouraged given the “risk” of trade with China.
The trade minister told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that Australia reserves its right to take China to the World Trade Organisation, and revealed he is still yet to hear back from his Chinese counterpart about the growing trade dispute. He said his call “ought to be returned”.
Continue reading...Global report: Trump threat to cut trade ties over Covid-19 branded ‘lunacy’ by Chinese media
President says he doesn’t want to speak to counterpart Xi; Brazil passes 200,000 infections; Baltic travel ‘bubble’ begins
An escalation of rhetoric between Donald Trump and China over the coronavirus pandemic has sparked concerns that a trade deal between the nations is in peril, as Chinese state media dismissed as “lunacy” a suggestion by the US president that he could “cut off relations” with Beijing.
The US president said he was very disappointed with China’s failure to contain Covid-19 in an interview with Fox Business news. Trump said the pandemic had cast a pall over his January trade deal with Beijing and that he had no interest in speaking to President Xi Jinping at the moment.
Continue reading...IMF warns of further drop in global growth due to Covid-19
Monetary fund warns the US and China against continuing trade war, saying it could damage coronavirus recovery
The head of the International Monetary Fund has signalled a possible downward revision of global economic forecasts, and warned the United States and China against rekindling a trade war that could weaken a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, told an online event hosted by the European University Institute that recent economic data for many countries was coming in below the fund’s already pessimistic forecast for a 3% contraction in 2020.
Continue reading...UK government begins transatlantic trade talks with Washington
Increasing links with US will aid recovery after coronavirus crisis, says Liz Truss
Liz Truss has claimed bolstering transatlantic trade could help the economy bounce back from the Covid-19 crisis, as negotiations with Washington over a free trade deal begin by video link.
Despite the government’s negotiating objectives for the deal pointing to a modest economic gain of 0.16% of GDP over 15 years, the international trade secretary said she was keen to “make it even easier to do business with our friends across the pond”.
Continue reading...China and Australia: how a war of words over coronavirus turned to threats of a trade war
Canberra’s call for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19 sparked talk of boycotts from Beijing – but any such move could be harmful to both countries
“Downright despicable”, “petty tricks”, “menacing”, “irrational”.
The language of the diplomats and parliamentarians has been anything but diplomatic, and far from parliamentary. The robust conversations usually kept behind closed doors have tumbled into the public square, leaked to broadcasters and splashed in newsprint.
Continue reading...Global markets recoil as Trump threatens US-China trade war
US president escalates attack on Beijing’s handling of coronavirus pandemic
Donald Trump’s threats to reignite the US-China trade war over coronavirus has triggered another sell-off in global financial markets, as the economic costs of the pandemic continue to mount.
Against a backdrop of rising tension between the world’s two economic superpowers, share prices resumed a downward slide on Friday with the FTSE 100 falling by 144 points, or 2.5%, in London.
Continue reading...Blindsided: how coronavirus felled the global economy in 100 days
A singular event has economists asking the same questions as everyone else: how far is there to fall – and can we ever get back?
It is New Year’s Eve 2019 and around the world stock markets are closing for business on a high note. Shares in the US are up by almost 30% on the year, those in Japan by 18%. Even in Britain, where the mood has been dampened by months of Brexit uncertainty, the FTSE 100 has risen by 12%.
Overall, it had been the best year for stocks since 2009 and traders saw no real reason why the party should not continue into 2020. The US and China looked close to an armistice in their trade war, the US central bank was stimulating the world’s biggest economy, and Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in the general election had removed any lingering doubts about whether Britain would leave the European Union.
Continue reading...Will coronavirus trigger a global recession? | Jeffrey Frankel
World economy’s prospects look bleak owing to Covid-19 outbreak and Donald Trump’s trade policy
At the start of this year, things seemed to be looking up for the global economy. True, growth had slowed a bit in 2019: from 2.9% to 2.3% in the US and from 3.6% to 2.9% globally. Still, there had been no recession and as recently as January, the International Monetary Fund projected a global growth rebound in 2020. The new coronavirus, Covid-19, has changed all of that.
Early predictions about Covid-19’s economic impact were reassuring. Similar epidemics – such as the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), another China-born coronavirus – did little damage globally. At the country level, GDP growth took a hit but quickly bounced back, as consumers released pent-up demand and firms rushed to fill back orders and restock inventories.
Continue reading...Japan’s economy heading for recession, and Germany wobbles
International trade slump and coronavirus outbreak combine to weaken consumer demand
Japan’s economy is heading for a recession this year after figures showed the world’s third largest economy slumped by an annual rate of 6.3% during the last quarter of 2019.
Germany, the world’s fourth largest economy, is also expected to stumble as the coronavirus epidemic and a slump in trade with China combine with weak consumer demand to drag growth lower.
Continue reading...Brexit: Britain and EU ‘will rip each other apart’ in trade talks
French foreign minister says it will be hard for UK to strike deal by end of year given differences
Britain and the European Union are going to rip each other apart in talks over a future trade deal, the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has predicted, while also holding out hope that UK defence co-operation with Europe will continue.
Speaking at the Munich security forum, he added it would be tough for Britain to achieve its aim of a free trade deal by the end of the year given the differences between the two sides.
Continue reading...Trump signs China trade pact and boasts of ‘the biggest deal ever seen’
President signs first phase of new agreement with China, hours after Democrats named team that will prosecute him in Senate
Donald Trump has signed the first phase of a new trade agreement with China after two years of tension between the two superpowers that have rattled economies around the world.
Related: Trump vaunts his China trade pact – but some say it’s too little, too late
Continue reading...Easing trade tensions fuel pre-Christmas shares rally
Donald Trump promises that a US-China trade pact will be signed ‘very shortly’
A pre-Christmas rally fuelled by hopes of waning trade tensions have pushed share prices to a fresh high and on course for their biggest rise in a decade.
Donald Trump’s promise that a US-China trade pact would be signed “very shortly” sent the MSCI gauge of stock markets around the world to new record levels.
Continue reading...China confirms ‘phase one’ trade deal with US
- Beijing says deal includes rollback of tariffs in phases
- Trump hails ‘amazing deal for all’
China and the US have reached an initial deal to resolve a bruising trade war between the two countries, according to statements from both sides.
China’s vice-commerce minister Wang Shouwen said in a late night briefing on Friday that the US had agreed to cancel some of its existing tariffs on Chinese goods, while Donald Trump tweeted that the two countries had agreed to a “very large Phase One Deal”.
Continue reading...US reaches ‘deal in principle’ with China to end trade war
- White House expected to announce accord later on Thursday
- US offered to halt new tariffs and up to 50% cuts on existing ones
The White House has reached a “deal in principle” with Beijing to resolve the 17-month US-China trade war, according to a source briefed on the trade talks.
The White House was expected to make an announcement later on Thursday, the source said.
Continue reading...WTO faces crisis over settlement disputes unless Trump backs off
Ability to police global trade could be neutered by battle to safeguard US sovereignty
The World Trade Organization is set to plunge into the biggest crisis in its 25-year history later this week as the climax to a long-running and bitter dispute means the Geneva-based body will cease to be able to settle disputes between its member states.
Unless Donald Trump backs off at the last minute and agrees to a peace plan, Washington’s protracted battle to safeguard US sovereignty will lead to the neutering of the WTO’s ability to police global trade.
Continue reading...Trump denies interest in NHS even if it was handed to US ‘on a silver platter’ – video
Donald Trump has said he would not be interested in putting Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) on the table during trade talks with the UK even if it was ‘handed on a silver platter’.
Trump, who is in London for a Nato summit, said: ‘We have absolutely nothing to do with [the NHS], and we wouldn’t want to. If you handed it to us on a silver platter, we’d want nothing to do with it’
Continue reading...Paul Keating’s speech on Australia’s China policy – full text | Paul Keating
Australia can’t go on downplaying the largest economic shift in world history. Read the former PM’s speech in full
Taking some longer view of the strategic scenery, I have come to some key beliefs about the changes that are taking place globally.
The international system is fundamentally anarchic in structure. Two world wars in a century and Vietnam, Iraq, Syria gives the evidence of that. We should not confuse the relative peace of the last 30 years with the anarchy which lies latent.
Continue reading...World’s largest trade deal RCEP faces delay as India pushes back against China
Sixteen-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will cover half the planet’s people
The world’s largest trade deal is unlikely to be signed this year, with a draft statement from south-east Asian leaders suggesting it will be delayed until 2020, despite China’s desire to bring it into operation as soon as possible as a counterweight to its debilitating tariff war with the US.
The 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – known as the RCEP – would be the world’s largest when operational, spanning India to New Zealand, including 30% of global GDP and half of the world’s people.
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