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US starts collecting Trump’s new 10 percent tariff, smashing global trade norms

US starts collecting Trump’s new 10 percent tariff, smashing global trade norms
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US starts collecting Trump’s new 10 percent tariff, smashing global trade norms
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An aerial view of new cars waiting for shipment at a pier for ro-ro ships in Yantai city in eastern China's Shandong province on March 30, 2025. (Chinatopix Via AP)
US starts collecting Trump’s new 10 percent tariff, smashing global trade norms
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A general view shows ships docked at the Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Kandla in India's Gujarat state on April 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 06 April 2025

US starts collecting Trump’s new 10 percent tariff, smashing global trade norms

US starts collecting Trump’s new 10 percent tariff, smashing global trade norms
  • Trump’s tariffs impact global markets, causing $5 trillion loss in S&P 500 value
  • Exemptions include crude oil, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors

WASHINGTON/JUPITER, Florida: US customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump’s unilateral 10 percent tariff on all imports from many countries on Saturday, with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week.
The initial 10 percent “baseline” tariff paid by US importers took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT), ushering in Trump’s full rejection of the post-World War Two system of mutually agreed tariff rates.
“This is the single biggest trade action of our lifetime,” said Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser during Trump’s first term.
Shaw told a Brookings Institution event on Thursday that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries seek to negotiate lower rates. “This is a pretty seismic and significant shift in the way that we trade with every country on earth,” she added.






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Trump’s Wednesday tariff announcement shook global stock markets, wiping out $5 trillion in value for S&P 500 index companies by Friday’s close, a record two-day decline. Driven by recession fears, prices for oil and commodities plunged, while investors fled to the safety of government bonds.
Among the countries first hit with the 10 percent tariff were Australia, Britain, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Ƶ despite their having goods trade deficits with the US last year. White House officials have said many countries would run larger deficits with the US if their policies were fairer.
A US Customs and Border Protection bulletin provided a 51-day grace period for cargoes loaded or in transit to the US before 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday. These cargoes need to arrive by May 27 to avoid the 10 percent duty.
Trump’s higher “reciprocal” tariff rates of 11 percent to 50 percent are due to take effect on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. ET. European Union imports will face a 20 percent tariff, while Chinese goods will be hit with a 34 percent tariff, bringing Trump’s total new levies on China to 54 percent.
Beijing on Saturday said, “The market has spoken” in rejecting Trump’s tariffs. China applied a slew of countermeasures, including extra levies of 34 percent on all US goods and export curbs on some rare earth minerals.
“China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close,” Trump said on Saturday on social media. “THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”
Shortly after posting the comment, Trump was spotted arriving at his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, reading a New York Post article covering China’s retaliation to US tariffs and the stock market fall.

Israel, Taiwan, Vietnam
“A trade war is in no one’s interest. We must stand united and resolute to protect our citizens and our businesses,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in post on X.
Some world leaders hoped to strike a deal with Trump and avert economic fallout while others weighed countermeasures.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to visit the White House on Monday, sources said, to discuss the new 17 percent tariff on Israel. Media reported Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan, which faces a 24 percent levy, was seeking a telephone conversation with Trump.
Vietnam, which benefited from the shift of US supply chains away from China after Trump’s first-term trade war with Beijing, agreed on Friday to discuss a deal with the US after Trump announced a 46 percent tariff on Vietnamese imports.
The head of Taiwan’s National Security Council was in Washington for talks that were expected to include the tariffs, a source said. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te huddled with tech executives on Saturday to discuss how to respond to the 32 percent duty imposed on its products.
Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti warned on Saturday against imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States, saying at a business forum near Milan that doing so could cause damage.
US billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump adviser, told a political event in Italy by video on Saturday that he hoped to see complete freedom of trade between the United States and Europe, which he described as “a zero tariff situation.”
Canada and Mexico were exempt from Trump’s latest duties but still face a 25 percent tariff imposed recently on goods that do not comply with rules of origin under a North America trade accord.
While Trump’s order exempted 1,000 product categories from the new tariffs such pharmaceuticals, uranium and semiconductors, the administration is considering new duties on some of them.


French politicians bicker over Palestinian flags outside town halls

French politicians bicker over Palestinian flags outside town halls
Updated 39 sec ago

French politicians bicker over Palestinian flags outside town halls

French politicians bicker over Palestinian flags outside town halls
  • Eiffel Tower was to be lit up with a projection of both the Israeli and Palestinian flags, alongside a dove of peace, ahead of recognitizing Palestine

PARIS: French politicians bickered on Sunday over whether it is appropriate to hoist Palestinian flags outside town halls on the eve of the country’s planned recognition of the State of Palestine.
Ahead of the landmark move, set to be finalized at the United Nations General Assembly in New York starting Monday, the government told town halls not to fly the flag and take down any Palestinian banners that they had already put up.
Hard-line Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau argued that the hoisting of Palestinian flags “seriously undermines the principle of neutrality of public services.”
His office has urged local prefects to take the matter to the administrative courts — though they cannot order the police to take the flags down.
But Socialist leader Olivier Faure — whose party’s support France’s new government will likely need to survive — urged President Emmanuel Macron to allow mayors’ offices to fly the flag if they so wished.
“It would not only be a strong gesture toward all those committed to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but consistent with France’s position internationally,” he said.
Faure argued Retailleau was playing politics to undermine Macron’s push for recognition.
“It is not the flag he (Retailleau) is against... It is the head of state’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state,” Faure told BFMTV Sunday evening.

‘Cheap community politics’

Boris Vallaud, the Socialist Party’s top lawmaker in the National Assembly, the lower house of France’s parliament, also pushed back against what he called Retailleau’s “incorrect” interpretation of neutrality.
He pointed out that town halls had “rightfully raised the Israeli flag” after Hamas’s October, 7 2023 attack that began the war in Gaza, while “there are also Ukrainian flags” on some buildings in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
“A flag on the front of town hall has never killed anyone, while in Gaza the Israeli army kills each day,” Greens leader Marine Tondelier told a Sunday pro-Palestinian rally in Paris.
But Philippe Ballard, a lawmaker with the far-right National Rally party, accused municipalities of practicing “cheap community politics” with the hoists, while his colleague Jean-Philippe Tanguy called the initiative “illegal.”
Even town halls on the left are divided over the issue.
The Socialist mayor of Creteil, outside of Paris, said that he would refuse Faure’s call as he had a responsibility to “preserve social cohesion.”
In the capital proper, the Eiffel Tower was to be lit up with a projection of both the Israeli and Palestinian flags — alongside a dove of peace — ahead of the recognition move, the mayor of Paris said.


Who recognizes the State of Palestine, who doesn’t, and why does it matter?

Who recognizes the State of Palestine, who doesn’t, and why does it matter?
Updated 28 min 57 sec ago

Who recognizes the State of Palestine, who doesn’t, and why does it matter?

Who recognizes the State of Palestine, who doesn’t, and why does it matter?
  • At least 144 countries out of 193 UN members already recognize the State of Palestine
  • Algeria became the first country to officially recognize a Palestinian state on November 15, 1988

PARIS: Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday recognized a Palestinian state after nearly two years of war in the Gaza Strip, with France, Belgium and other countries poised to follow suit at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Here is an overview of diplomatic recognition of the state, which was unilaterally proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.
Of the territory claimed by the state, Israel currently occupies the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is largely in ruins.

Which countries recognize or will recognize the State of Palestine?

Answer: three-quarters of UN members.
According to an AFP tally, at least 144 countries out of 193 UN members already recognize the State of Palestine.
AFP has not yet obtained recent confirmation from three African countries.
The count includes Britain and Canada — the first G7 countries to do so — and Australia.
Portugal was expected to follow suit soon, and several other countries including France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta are expected to do the same during a summit on the future of the two-state solution chaired by France and Ƶ on Monday at UN headquarters.
Russia, alongside all Arab countries, almost all African and Latin American countries, and most Asian countries including India and China are already on the list.
Algeria became the first country to officially recognize a Palestinian state on November 15, 1988, minutes after late Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state.
Dozens of other countries followed suit in the following weeks and months, and another wave of recognitions came in late 2010 and early 2011.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, has already driven another 12 countries to recognize the state.

Who does not?

Answer: at least 46 countries, including Israel, the United States and their allies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government completely rejects the idea of a Palestinian state.
Japan, South Korea and Singapore are the Asian countries that do not recognize Palestine.
Neither does Cameroon in Africa, Panama in Latin America and most countries in Oceania.
Europe is the most divided continent on the issue, and is split almost 50-50 over Palestinian statehood.
Until the mid-2010s, the only countries recognizing the State of Palestine apart from Turkiye were those of the former Soviet bloc.
Now, some former Eastern-bloc countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic do not recognize a Palestinian state at a bilateral level.
Western and northern Europe were until now united in non-recognition, with the exception of Sweden, which extended recognition in 2014.
But the war in Gaza has upended things, with Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia following in Sweden’s footsteps to recognize the state in 2024, before the United Kingdom did so on Sunday.
Italy and Germany do not plan on recognizing a Palestinian state.

What does recognition mean?

Romain Le Boeuf, a professor in international law at the University of Aix-Marseille in southern France, described recognition of Palestinian statehood as “one of the most complicated questions” in international law, “a little like a halfway point between the political and juridical.”
He told AFP states were free to choose the timing and form of recognition, with great variations that are either explicit or implicit.
According to Le Boeuf, there is no office to register recognitions.
“The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank puts all they consider to be acts of recognition on its own list, but from a purely subjective point of view. In the same way, other states will say that they have or have not recognized, but without really having to justify themselves,” he said.
However, there is one point on which international law is quite clear: “Recognition does not mean that a state has been created, no more than the lack of recognition prevents the state from existing.”
While recognition carries largely symbolic and political weight, three-quarters of countries say “that Palestine meets all the necessary conditions to be a state,” he said.
“I know for many people this seems only symbolic, but actually in terms of symbolism, it is sort of a game changer,” lawyer and Franco-British law professor Philippe Sands wrote in the New York Times in mid-August 2025.
“Because once you recognize Palestinian statehood... you essentially put Palestine and Israel on level footing in terms of their treatment under international law.”


Ecuador to vote in November on whether to allow foreign military bases, says Electoral Council

Ecuador to vote in November on whether to allow foreign military bases, says Electoral Council
Updated 44 min 24 sec ago

Ecuador to vote in November on whether to allow foreign military bases, says Electoral Council

Ecuador to vote in November on whether to allow foreign military bases, says Electoral Council
  • The US has announced that it will maintain strong cooperation with the Ecuadorean government in its fight against criminal organizations
  • Ecuador hosted a US military base for a decade until 2009 in the coastal city of Manta of the Pacific Ocean

QUITO: On Sunday, Ecuador’s Electoral Council approved the holding of a referendum in November for citizens to decide whether to allow foreign military bases in the South American country, part of President Daniel Noboa’s plan to combat drug trafficking.
The referendum will be held November 16 and will include another initiative to eliminate a provision requiring a portion of state funds to be allocated to political parties.
“We approve the call, guidelines, operational plan, budget, risk and contingency matrix, and calendar for the 2025 Referendum,” Diana Atamaint, president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), posted on X.
Noboa has said that drug trafficking gangs operate through international networks, so it is necessary to act jointly with other countries to effectively combat them. The United States has announced that it will maintain strong cooperation with the Ecuadorean government in its fight against criminal organizations.
But Ecuador’s opposition groups say foreign military presence alone will not solve the country’s security problems and that the government needs a clear plan to combat crime.
The coastal city of Manta, on the Pacific Ocean, hosted the US military base for a decade until 2009. Since 2008, Ecuador’s Constitution has prohibited foreign military bases in the country, following a decision by leftist President Rafael Correa not to renew the permits.
Earlier this year, the former president said on his X account the move would be “an insult to our public forces and an assault to our sovereignty.”
“We do not need foreign soldiers. We need government,” he said.


Pope Leo decries ‘forced exile’ of Gaza civilians

Pope Leo XIV speaks as he appears to lead the weekly Angelus prayer, at the Vatican, September 21, 2025. (REUTERS)
Pope Leo XIV speaks as he appears to lead the weekly Angelus prayer, at the Vatican, September 21, 2025. (REUTERS)
Updated 21 September 2025

Pope Leo decries ‘forced exile’ of Gaza civilians

Pope Leo XIV speaks as he appears to lead the weekly Angelus prayer, at the Vatican, September 21, 2025. (REUTERS)
  • Leo's role in advocating for peace in Gaza has become starker since Israel struck the territory's only Catholic church in July

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo spoke out against the forced displacement of Gaza civilians on Sunday as Israel intensified its military demolition campaign in the Palestinian enclave's main city.
"Together with the pastors of the churches in the Holy Land, I repeat that there is no future based on violence, forced exile, and revenge," the Pope said during his weekly Angelus prayer.
The Holy Land encompasses parts of modern-day Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, and Egypt, which are sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Leo's role in advocating for peace in Gaza has become starker since Israel struck the territory's only Catholic church in July.
"The people need peace. Those who truly love them work for peace," the first pope from the US added.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in Gaza City and at a refugee camp killed more than 40 people, including 19 women and children.
Health officials at Shifa Hospital, where most of the bodies were brought, said the dead included 14 people killed in a strike late on Saturday, which hit a residential block in the southern side of the city. 
Health staff said a nurse who worked at the hospital was among the dead, along with his wife and three children.
Another strike that targeted a group of people in front of a clinic in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least eight Palestinians, according to the Al-Awda Hospital. 
The dead include four children and two women, the hospital said. Another 22 people were wounded, it said.

 


French towns fly Palestinian flag despite govt orders

French towns fly Palestinian flag despite govt orders
Updated 21 September 2025

French towns fly Palestinian flag despite govt orders

French towns fly Palestinian flag despite govt orders
  • The Palestinian flag has been flying at the town hall of Malakoff, a suburb of Paris, since Friday

PARIS: Some French mayors have defied government orders and flown Palestinian flags on town halls, with more expected to follow suit as France prepares to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly formally.
It’s unclear how many cities will join the initiative on Monday after Socialist leader Olivier Faure’s call to fly the flags despite warnings from the Interior Ministry against such displays in a country with both Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations.
But the call has been gaining momentum as Palestinian flags have been more and more visible in France over the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
Palestinian banners were on display during demonstrations this week, as part of a large-scale protest day across the country, which criticized several policies by French President Emmanuel Macron and his government.
France's planned recognition of a Palestinian state will not include the opening of an embassy until Hamas frees the hostages it is holding in Gaza, Macron said in an interview that aired on Sunday.
"It will be, for us, a requirement very clearly before opening, for instance, an embassy in Palestine," Macron told CBS News in an interview taped on Thursday.
The Palestinian flag has been flying at the town hall of Malakoff, a suburb of Paris, since Friday. 
The city mayor, Jacqueline Belhomme, told The Associated Press on Sunday she was ordered to take it down but refused to comply.
“We stand with the Palestinian people; it is something symbolically important, just as we did some time ago with the Ukrainian flag when we stood with the Ukrainian people who were under attack by Russia.”
In southwestern France, the communist mayor of Mauleon-Licharre, a town of 3,000 residents, raised a Palestinian flag on Friday but removed it the next day after the case was referred to an administrative court.
“The flag is now in my office. This is an attack on my freedom of thought,” Mayor Louis Labadot told local radio station Ici Pays Basque.
The war in Gaza and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict are expected to be at the top of the agenda of world leaders at their annual gathering at the UN General Assembly starting Monday.
Mathieu Hanotin, the mayor of Saint-Denis, the Paris suburb hosting the national soccer stadium, said he will fly the Palestinian flag in a solidarity gesture with the Palestinian people.
In western France, the city of Nantes also plans to raise the Palestinian flag on the city hall building, said Mayor Johanna Rolland, a Socialist.
“For municipalities that wish to join, through a symbolic gesture, France’s recognition of the state of Palestine, I believe it makes sense. I will do so without hesitation,” she said.
In a note sent to the state’s representatives in regions, France’s Interior Ministry instructed them to oppose the display of Palestinian flags on town halls and other public buildings, citing the risks of importing an ongoing international conflict onto national territory.
“The principle of neutrality in public service prohibits such displays,” the ministry said, adding that any decisions by mayors to fly the Palestinian flag should be referred to administrative courts.
“The front of a town hall is not a billboard. Only the tricolor flag — our colors, our values — has the right to be represented in what remains, for us, a common home,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Saturday.
Ian Brossat, a spokesman for the French Communist Party, accused Retailleau of contradicting France’s official position.
“The interior minister disagrees with French diplomacy. He does not support the recognition of a Palestinian state, unlike the president,” Brossat told BFM TV. 
“By asserting his personal beliefs instead of upholding the position of the French Republic, which is to recognize a Palestinian state, he is taking France and its diplomacy hostage.”
In June, Nice city mayor Christian Estrosi, who had put on display Israeli flags on the Riviera city’s town hall to show his support for hostages held by Hamas, was forced by a court decision to remove them.
The Socialist mayor of Paris suburb Saint-Ouen, Karim Bouamrane, said he would display both the Israeli and Palestinian flags on the facade of his town hall in a bid to carry a message of peace.
“We are one community, the republican community,” he told RMC radio. “The community I stand for is that of peace: I do not want to pit Muslims against Jews, nor activists against Hamas supporters and those against (Benjamin) Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.”