World Briefing: February 4, 2025
Beijing has said it will impose retaliatory tariffs on a raft of US products. The counter measures include a 15% tax on coal and liquefied natural gas imports from the US. Crude oil, agricultural machinery, pickup trucks and large-engine cars will face a 10% tariff. The announcement came shortly after Donald Trump's new 10% tariffs on China came into effect - BBC
China also said it had implemented restrictions on the export of certain critical minerals, many of which are used in the production of high-tech products. In addition, Chinese market regulators said they had launched an antimonopoly investigation into Google. Google is blocked from China’s internet, but the move may disrupt the company’s dealings with Chinese companies - NYT
Donald Trump dropped his plan to levy tariffs on Canada for at least 30 days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a series of commitments on Monday to improve border security. That means there's a ceasefire in a trade war that had the potential to inflict major economic pain on workers and businesses on both sides of the border. To get Trump to shelve his punishing tariffs, Trudeau told him Canada is pressing ahead with a previously announced $1.3-billion border security plan that includes reinforcing the 49th parallel with new choppers, technology and personnel and stepping up its co-ordination with American officials to crack down on Trump's stated priorities: illegal drugs and migrants. Trudeau said, all told, there will be 10,000 front-line personnel working along the border as part of a push to make it safer. The prime minister also made a series of new commitments to Trump, including a promise to appoint a new fentanyl "czar." And he promised to list Mexican cartels, the top purveyors of fentanyl and other drugs in Canada and the U.S., as terrorists under Canadian law. Trudeau said Canada is launching a "Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force," that will be tasked with combatting organized crime and money laundering — and he's kicking in $200 million in funding to get it off the ground - CBC
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that following a phone call with Donald Trump Monday morning, the U.S. has agreed to put planned tariffs on Mexico on hold for a month. The White House confirmed the move. In a post on X, she said: "The tariffs are on pause for one month from now." Sheinbaum said her government had agreed to send 10,000 national guard troops to the border to prevent drug trafficking, specifically fentanyl. And the U.S. will work to stop weapons trafficking to Mexico, she added. Posting on his Truth Social Platform, Trump said the two leaders had a "very friendly conversation," and reiterated the troop commitment to securing the border with the U.S. that Sheinbaum announced - NPR
Donald Trump said Monday he wants to strike a deal with Ukraine whereby Kyiv would supply the United States with rare earth minerals in exchange for American aid, offering the clearest sign yet of his transactional approach to supporting the war-torn nation. “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” Mr. Trump said from the Oval Office, where he was signing executive orders. “We want a guarantee.” Ukraine is rich in rare earth minerals such as lithium, uranium and titanium, which are crucial for manufacturing a broad range of modern products including electric car motors and wind turbines. Mr. Trump’s offer comes as his new government has halted foreign development aid worldwide, forcing many humanitarian organizations in Ukraine to suspend operations and leaving the Ukrainian government scrambling to secure alternative financing for critical programs, including support for its battered energy grid and war veterans. - NYT
Employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development were told overnight not to report to work on Monday because its Washington, D.C., headquarters would be closed, fueling fears that the already-hobbled agency would soon be shuttered for good. The unusual staffwide directive was emailed out around 12:45 a.m. Eastern time, shortly after Elon Musk said that he and President Trump had agreed that the U.S.A.I.D., the government’s lead humanitarian aid agency, should be dissolved. Employees said the main offices are rarely shut to them on weekdays. Mr. Musk’s announcement, during a live eventhe hosted on X, the social media platform he owns, exacerbated the panic that had already taken hold among agency employees. Many have been bracing for a shutdown since representatives of Mr. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an ad hoc task force housed on the White House grounds, entered agency headquarters last week. Two top security officials were put on administrative leave for attempting to refuse those representatives access to internal systems, including a secure space where classified materials were housed. By Monday, hundreds of U.S.A.I.D. employees were locked out of their email accounts, and contractors as well as regular staff discovered they could no longer access their official records, according to three employees with knowledge of the changes. In Washington, D.C., a throng of U.S.A.I.D. employees gathered outside the agency’s headquarters at the Ronald Reagan Building, a few blocks away from the White House. The email directing employees not to show up to the agency’s headquarters was from Gavin Kliger and sent from an agency server, although Mr. Kliger is said to be an engineer on Mr. Musk’s task force. Mr. Kliger did not response to requests for comment. Foreign assistance distributed by the agency, which supports health services, disaster relief, anti-poverty efforts and a range of other programs, makes up less than 1 percent of the federal budget - NYT
Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said he was now the acting administrator of USAID, said his frustration with the agency went back to his time in Congress. “It’s a completely unresponsive agency,” Rubio told reporters. “It’s supposed to respond to policy directives with the State Department, and it refuses to do so.” Rubio added that “there are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue” but “it has to be aligned with American foreign policy.” Speaking to reporters in El Salvador, Rubio said that many of USAID’s programs were worthwhile and would continue under the purview of the State Department. Rubio faulted USAID for obscuring details about its work, and said that its employees were not cooperating with reasonable questions from the Trump administration - NYT
A bomb exploded at a Moscow apartment complex, authorities said, killing and wounding several people, including the founder of a battalion fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. The February 3 incident was the latest in a string of unusual explosions and shootings, which have raised fears of a return to the gangland violence that plagued the Russian capital in the 1990s. Russian authorities were quoted by the state news agency TASS as saying that the device detonated around 9:45 a.m. local time, and may have been delivered to the Alye Parusa complex by courier. Among the casualties was Armen Sarkisian, the founder of an ethnic Armenian military unit that has been fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian troops. The Interfax and TASS news agencies quoted unnamed officials as saying he died after being hospitalized in critical condition - RFE/RL
The Chinese military has decried a US-Philippine air drill over South China Sea as tensions escalate. Earlier, Chinese naval vessels attracted Manila’s ire as they crossed Basilan Strait on the way to distant-sea training exercise. PLA spokesman Senior Colonel Li Jianjian said: “The Philippines colluded with extraterritorial countries to organise a so-called joint patrol, deliberately undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea region.” - SCMP
