Trump blocks California's ban on sales of new gasoline-powered cars
In 2022, California decided to ban the sale of gas-powered and hybrid cars entirely in the state by 2035. The administration of former President Joe Biden approved the bill in December last year.
But the Republican-led Congress passed the resolution in May, reversing the Biden administration's approval.
Trump signed the resolutions on Thursday, calling the California plan "a disaster."
In response, Newsom said, "We won't let this illegal action by Trump and Republicans in the pockets of polluters stand in the way of commonsense policy to clean our air, protect the health of our kids and compete on the global stage."
The governor has reportedly directed state officials to find new ways to promote electric and other clean-energy vehicles.
Trump and Newsom have also been at odds over a federal roundup of immigrants in Southern California.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
4 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Increased Imports of U.S. Rice Likely to Have Limited Impact in Japan; Aircraft Agreement, LNG Project May Cause Issues
The outline of the Japan-U.S. trade and investment agreement announced Wednesday by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump included key U.S. demands such as increased imports of U.S. rice and other agricultural products and the purchase of about 100 commercial aircraft. Questions have been raised about the feasibility of some elements of the deal, such as a proposed joint project on Alaskan liquefied natural gas. Imports of U.S. rice were a major focus during the bilateral negotiations. Japan annually imports 770,000 tons of rice tariff-free under a 'minimum access' framework. Tokyo and Washington have agreed the proportion of these imports allocated to U.S. rice will be expanded by 75%. 'The total rice import quota won't increase,' Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters Thursday. 'During the negotiations, we achieved our goal of keeping the quota at its current level.' Koizumi insisted the impact of the deal on domestic rice farmers would be imported 346,000 tons of U.S.-grown rice under the minimum access framework in fiscal 2024, accounting for 45% of the quota. Boosting the U.S. share by 75% would lift the volume of tariff-free U.S. rice imports to about 600,000 tons, or almost 80% of the total. If realized, imports of rice from Thailand, Australia, China and other nations would be reduced and the framework would be heavily tilted in favor of the United States. As things stand, 670,000 tons of the rice imported under the framework is used as animal feed or for processing. If the proportion of rice set aside for these two uses stays unchanged even after imports of U.S. tariff-free rice are increased, the impact on consumers is likely to be small. Japan will also purchase $8 billion (about ¥1.2 trillion) in U.S. agricultural products including corn, soybeans and fertilizer. Japan's imports from the United States in 2024 included about ¥459.3 billion worth of corn and about ¥187.6 billion worth of soybeans. It may be challenging to increase the imports from the current level. The imported corn is expected to be used for feed as well as fuels such as bioethanol, and some in the government view achieving the increase as not difficult. 'Increasing these imports won't present any problem,' a senior Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry official told The Yomiuri Shimbun. 100 aircraft The Trump administration also leaned on the Japanese government to purchase about 100 commercial aircraft manufactured by Boeing Co. Major Japanese airlines will be paying close attention. Airline companies have been increasing orders for aircraft as they boost international and domestic routes due to the growth in inbound tourism and other factors. In the past two years or so, three of Japan's major airlines have announced plans to purchase a total of about 100 aircraft. A large aircraft has a price tag of tens of billions of yen. Airlines must carefully consider aircraft purchases while taking into account the fact that some have a service life of about 20 years. If airlines are forced to order more aircraft than they need in the years ahead to uphold the Japan-U.S. agreement, there are concerns that profits could deteriorate. In some cases, an aircraft accident or fault can result in an airline grounding and being unable to use any of that model of aircraft while they are inspected. To mitigate this risk, airlines also possess planes made by Europe's Airbus SE and other manufacturers. However, this balance could be upset if orders become heavily skewed toward Boeing. Some observers have also pointed out that Boeing's production capacity might not be able to keep up with a surge in orders arising from the agreement. Alaska LNG project The Alaska LNG project will involve building a massive new pipeline stretching about 1,300 kilometers from the state's north down to its Pacific coast in the south. Once completed, this pipeline project is forecast to export 20 million tons of LNG per year, equivalent to 30% of Japan's annual demand. If the pipeline becomes a reality, LNG could be shipped from Alaska to Japan in about eight days, about half the time it takes LNG from the Middle East to reach Japan. This project also offers the advantage of diversifying Japan's LNG suppliers. 'The route doesn't pass through any areas with geopolitical risks,' said Yukio Kani, chair of JERA Co., Japan's largest power generation company. 'It's a fantastic concept.' The biggest challenge facing this project is the cost. The pipeline will need to navigate three mountain ranges and 800 rivers and streams, and development is projected to cost about $44 billion (about ¥6.4 trillion). One official at a major power generation company was apprehensive about the pipeline project. 'The project will need to gain the understanding of locals concerned about its impact on the environment. The risks are too high,' the official said.
Japan Times
7 hours ago
- Japan Times
Amid Epstein furor, Ghislaine Maxwell seeks relief from U.S. Supreme Court
Even as an uproar over files relating to Jeffrey Epstein engulfs President Donald Trump and Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court is due to wade into the controversy and decide whether to hear a bid by an associate of the late financier and convicted sex offender to overturn her criminal conviction. The justices, now on their summer recess, are expected in late September to consider whether to take up an appeal by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 by a jury in New York of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. Maxwell's lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates and should have barred her criminal prosecution in New York. Her lawyers have a Monday deadline for filing their final written brief in their appeal to the court. Some legal experts see merit in Maxwell's claim, noting that it touches on an unsettled matter of U.S. law that has divided some of the nation's regional federal appeals courts, known as circuit courts. Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said there is a chance that the Supreme Court takes up the case, and noted the disagreement among appeals courts. Such a split among circuit courts can be a factor when the nation's top judicial body considers whether or not to hear a case. "The question of whether a plea agreement from one U.S. Attorney's Office binds other federal prosecution as a whole is a serious issue that has split the circuits," Epner said. While uncommon, "there have been several cases presenting the issue over the years," Epner added. Trump's Justice Department appeared to acknowledge the circuit split in a brief filed to the justices this month, but urged them to reject the appeal. Any disparity among lower court rulings "is of limited importance," Solicitor-General D. John Sauer wrote in the brief, "because the scope of a plea or similar agreement is under the control of the parties to the agreement." If the Supreme Court opts to grant Maxwell's appeal, it would hear arguments during its new term that begins in October, with a ruling then expected by the end of next June. Trump and his administration have been facing mounting pressure from his supporters to release additional information about the Justice Department's investigation into Epstein, who hanged himself in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell, an autopsy concluded, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer to Trump, met with Maxwell in Florida on Thursday in what her lawyer called "a very productive day." The administration reversed course this month on its pledge to release more documents about Epstein, prompting fury among some of Trump's most loyal followers. The Epstein case has long been the subject of conspiracy theories, considering his rich and powerful friends and the circumstances of his death. The Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term in office. Whether the court would want to take on such a case that represents a political landmine is an open question. The justices hear relatively few cases — about 70 out of more than 4,000 appeals filed at the court each year — and have broad discretion to choose which ones will be on their docket. At least four of the justices must agree in order for the court to take up a case. Maxwell's appeal focuses on a deal Epstein struck in 2007 to avoid federal prosecution in part by pleading guilty to state criminal offenses in Florida of soliciting prostitution and soliciting minors to engage in prostitution. Epstein then served 13 months in a minimum-security state facility. In 2019, during Trump's first term as president, the U.S. Justice Department charged Epstein in Manhattan with sex trafficking of minors. Epstein pleaded not guilty, but died by suicide before the trial at age 66. Maxwell was arrested in 2020 and convicted the following year after being accused by federal prosecutors of recruiting and grooming girls to have sexual encounters with Epstein between 1994 and 2004. Maxwell failed to convince a trial judge and the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out her conviction based on the 2007 non-prosecution agreement, which stated that "the United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein." In the appeal to the Supreme Court, Maxwell's lawyer David Markus said that in its reference to co-conspirators, the Epstein agreement had no geographic limit on where the non-prosecution agreement could be enforced. "If the government can promise one thing and deliver another — and courts let it happen — that erodes the integrity of the justice system," Markus said. "This isn't just about Ghislaine Maxwell. It's about whether the government is held to its word," Markus said. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has urged the Supreme Court to hear Maxwell's appeal given the prevalence of plea agreements in the U.S. criminal justice system and to ensure that the government keeps its promises. The group represents thousands of private lawyers, public defenders, law professors and judges nationwide. It said in a filing to the justices that the lack of a geographic limitation means "no part of the Department of Justice may institute criminal charges against any co-conspirator in any district." Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman, an expert in criminal law, said it was unusual for the U.S. attorney in Florida to include protection for co-conspirators in the agreement to not prosecute Epstein. That peculiarity might be reason enough for the Supreme Court to avoid the matter, Richman said, as it renders the case a poor vehicle for resolving whether pleas in one court district bind actions in all other court districts. "There were many strange things about this deal," Richman said, which will cut against the Supreme Court's interest in taking up Maxwell's appeal. Richman said he hoped the political fallout would not play into the Supreme Court's decision on whether to hear Maxwell's appeal. If it does, Richman said, taking up the case could allow Maxwell to avoid cooperating with the government and dodge responsibility. "A decision that would allow Maxwell to protect herself probably would not be something they would be interested in," Richman said of the Supreme Court justices.
7 hours ago
BOJ Likely to Keep Interest Rates Unchanged
News from Japan Economy Jul 25, 2025 21:59 (JST) Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan is highly likely to keep interest rates unchanged at a monetary policy meeting next week because the economy's outlook remains uncertain. Many officials at the central bank think that it is still necessary to take a wait-and-see approach because economic uncertainty lingers even after Japan and the United States reached a trade agreement. BOJ policymakers, who meet on Wednesday and Thursday, are expected to hold their short-term policy rate steady at 0.5 pct, where it has been since January. The central bank may raise its inflation forecast for fiscal 2025 from 2.2 pct projected in May, in an economic and price outlook report because of rising food prices. The previous May report said that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are expected to put downward pressure on the Japanese economy. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
