UK-US deal for lower car and aerospace duties takes effect
LONDON: A trade deal cutting tariffs on British exports of automobiles and aerospace equipment to the United States takes effect Monday, as the two sides continue to negotiate over steel duties.
'From today, British car and aerospace manufacturers will benefit from major tariff reductions when exporting to the US, saving thousands of jobs,' the UK Department of Trade said in a statement Monday. London and Washington reached an agreement in May to cut US tariffs on cars from 27.5 percent to 10 percent, with a limit of 100,000 vehicles a year. It also fully eliminated a 10-percent tariff on goods such as engines and aircraft parts. 'Our historic trade deal with the United States delivers for British businesses and protects UK jobs,' Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in the same statement. 'From today, our world-class automotive and aerospace industries will see tariffs slashed, safeguarding key industries that are vital to our economy.'
In return, Britain agreed to further open its market to US ethanol and beef. That has raised concerns in the chemical industry and among British farmers, even though the meat would still have to meet UK food safety standards. London is still negotiating for lower tariffs for its steel and aluminum exports to the United States, which has raised its levies to 25 percent. 'We will continue go further and make progress towards zero percent tariffs on core steel products,' the trade department said in the statement.
Meanwhile, China will maintain duties on certain steel products from the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Indonesia, its commerce ministry said Monday, as overcapacity concerns drive global trade turbulence. The duties on stainless steel billets and hot-rolled plates, first levied by Beijing in 2019, range from 20.2 percent for Indonesian imports to 43 percent for those from the EU.
China's commerce ministry said that an internal investigation found the potential termination of the anti-dumping duties could still cause 'damage' to the domestic stainless steel industry.
Authorities will therefore continue to impose duties on products from the three countries and the European bloc 'for a period of five years starting from July 1', the ministry said in a statement. China, the world's largest steel producer, first took the measures in response to tariffs imposed on it by the United States during Donald Trump's first presidential term.
The US tariffs were motivated by fears in Washington and among its allies that unfair industrial policies in China had led to a global glut of cheap exports, threatening to undercut local producers. Since returning to office in January, Trump has sent the world economy into a tailspin with a tariff blitz that has hit Chinese exports particularly hard. Trade tensions between the world's top two economies remain high despite China and the United States reaching a temporary truce to the tariff war this month. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
13 hours ago
- Arab Times
Love At Home: More Kuwaitis Marrying Fellow Citizens
KUWAIT CITY, July 2: Kuwait has witnessed a noticeable shift in marriage trends during the first five months of 2025, with a significant decline in marriages between Kuwaiti men and non-Kuwaiti women, while unions between Kuwaiti citizens have seen a modest rise. According to official statistics, marriages between Kuwaiti men and expat women dropped by approximately 21% compared to the same period in 2024. A total of 236 such marriages were recorded this year, down from 297. In contrast, marriage contracts between Kuwaiti men and Kuwaiti women increased by 3%, rising to 2,101 from 2,046 during the same timeframe. The breakdown of cross-national marriages shows a decline across most categories. Marriages with Gulf women decreased to 75 cases from 96 last year. Marriages with women of unspecified nationality dropped to 33, down from 51. Kuwaiti marriages to Asian women halved, falling to 16 from 36, while those with European women dropped to six, down from ten. Only one marriage was recorded between a Kuwaiti man and an American woman in 2025, compared to four in 2024. However, not all international pairings declined. Marriages with Syrian, Iraqi, and Lebanese women saw increases. Kuwaiti-Syrian marriages rose to 25 from 17; those with Iraqi women increased to 18 from 16; and marriages to Lebanese women grew from 8 to 12. Meanwhile, marriage numbers remained steady for some nationalities. Kuwaiti men entered into 12 marriages with Jordanian women—the same as last year—and 9 with Egyptian women, unchanged from 2024. Summary of Marriage Statistics: January–May 2025 vs. 2024 Gulf women: 75 (↓ from 96) Unspecified nationality: 33 (↓ from 51) Asian women: 16 (↓ from 36) European women: 6 (↓ from 10) American women: 1 (↓ from 4) Syrian women: 25 (↑ from 17) Iraqi women: 18 (↑ from 16) Lebanese women: 12 (↑ from 8) Jordanian women: 12 (unchanged) Egyptian women: 9 (unchanged) The data highlights a growing preference for marriages within the local citizenry, alongside shifting dynamics in cross-border unions.
Kuwait Times
13 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
New day, new Gaza massacre
116 martyred in Zionist strikes • Lucrative business deals fueling Zionist genocide GAZA/GENEVA: Zionist planes and tanks struck heavily in north and south Gaza on Tuesday, destroying clusters of homes, ahead of a planned trip to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expected to discuss a possible ceasefire. Thousands of Gaza residents again took flight as the Zionist entity issued new orders to evacuate, while its tanks pushed into eastern areas of Gaza City in the north and into Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, residents said. Local health authorities said Zionist gunfire and military strikes across the enclave had killed at least 116 people and wounded more than 460 in the past 24 hours, with clusters of houses reported destroyed in Gaza City's Shujaiya and Zeitoun districts, east of Khan Yunis and in Rafah. US President Donald Trump said he is hopeful that a ceasefire-for-captives agreement can be achieved next week. 'We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward to it happening sometime next week,' he told reporters as he departed the White House for a day trip to Florida. 'We want to get the hostages out.' Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said pressure by Trump on the Zionist entity would be key to any breakthrough in stalled ceasefire efforts. 'We call upon the US administration to atone for its sin towards Gaza by declaring an end to the war,' he said. Hamas official Taher Al-Nunu told AFP the group is 'ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces'. 'So far, there has been no breakthrough.' Meanwhile, a UN expert has named over 60 companies, including major arms manufacturers and technology firms, in a report alleging their involvement in supporting Zionist settlements and military actions in Gaza, which she called a 'genocidal campaign'. Italian human rights lawyer Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, compiled the report based on over 200 submissions from states, human rights defenders, companies and academics. Ismail, a resident of the Sheikh Radwan suburb of Gaza City, told Reuters that newly displaced families were setting up tents in the road, after fleeing from areas north and east of the city and finding no other ground available. 'We don't sleep because of the sounds of explosions from tanks and planes. The occupation is destroying homes east of Gaza, in Jabalia and other places around us,' he said. Raafat Halles, 39, from Shujaiya, said 'air strikes and shelling have intensified over the past week', and tanks have been advancing. 'I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground,' he said. 'I don't know why.' Amer Daloul, a 44-year-old resident of Gaza City, also reported fiercer clashes between Zionist forces and fighters in recent days, telling AFP that he and his family were forced to flee the tent they were living in at dawn on Tuesday 'due to heavy and random gunfire and shelling'. In the southern city of Rafah, resident Mohammed Abdel Aal, 41, said 'tanks are present' in most parts of town. Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that eight people were killed near aid distribution sites in central and southern Gaza Tuesday, in the latest in a long-running spate of deadly attacks on those seeking food. One person was killed and 50 wounded when tanks and drones opened fire as crowds were waiting to collect aid near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the middle of the territory, Bassal said. The civil defense said another six people were killed nearby while trying to reach the same aid center. At least one more person was killed near another aid centre in Rafah, the civil defense said. A group of 169 aid organizations called Monday for an end to Gaza's 'deadly' new US- and Zionist-backed aid distribution scheme, which they said forced starving civilians to 'trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race' for food. They urged a return to the UN-led aid mechanism that existed until March, when the Zionist entity imposed a full blockade on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza during an impasse in truce talks with Hamas. The Zionist army said it had also opened a review into a strike on a seafront Gaza cafe on Monday that killed 24 people. Maher Al-Baqa, 40, the brother of the owner of the cafe, told AFP that several of his relatives including two nephews were killed in the strike. 'It's one of the most well-known cafes on the Gaza coast, frequented by educated youth, journalists, artists, doctors, engineers and hardworking people,' he said. 'They used to feel free and safe there — it was like a second home to them.' The report by Albanese, published late Monday, calls for companies to cease dealings with the Zionist entity and for legal accountability for executives implicated in alleged violations of international law. 'While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why (the Zionist entity's) genocide continues: Because it is lucrative for many,' Albanese wrote in the 27-page document. She accused corporate entities of being 'financially bound to (the Zionist entity's) apartheid and militarism.' The Zionist entity's mission in Geneva said the report was 'legally groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of her office'. The report groups the companies by sector, for example military or technology. It said around 15 companies responded directly to Albanese's office but did not publish their replies. It names arms firms such as Lockheed Martin and Leonardo, alleging their weaponry has been used in Gaza. It also lists heavy machinery suppliers Caterpillar Inc and HD Hyundai, claiming their equipment has contributed to property destruction in Palestinian territories. Technology giants Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM were named as 'central to (the Zionist entity's) surveillance apparatus and the ongoing Gaza destruction'. Palantir Technologies was also mentioned for providing AI tools to the Zionist military. The report expands on a previous UN database of firms linked to Zionist settlements, last updated in June 2023, adding new companies and detailing alleged ties to the ongoing Gaza conflict. – Agencies
Kuwait Times
13 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Trump tax-cut plan returns to US House; Republicans divided
House GOP leaders aim for July 4 deadline despite internal rifts WASHINGTON: The debate within President Donald Trump's Republican Party over a massive tax-cut and spending bill returns to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, as party leaders try to overcome internal divisions and meet a self-imposed July 4 deadline. The Senate passed the legislation, which nonpartisan analysts say will add $3.4 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade, by the narrowest possible margin on Tuesday after intense debate on the bill's hefty price tag and substantial cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program. Similar divides exist in the House, which Republicans control by a 220-212 margin and where a fractious caucus has regularly bucked its leadership in recent years - though members have so far not rejected major Trump priorities. 'The House will work quickly to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill that enacts President Trump's full America First agenda by the Fourth of July,' House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement on Tuesday, citing the bill's extension of Trump's 2017 individual tax cuts and increased funding for the military and immigration enforcement. House Republican leaders set an initial procedural vote on the bill for 9 a.m. ET (1300 GMT). The House Rules Committee advanced the Senate bill overnight by a 7-6 vote with two Republicans - hardliners Chip Roy and Ralph Norman - voting against it. Johnson can afford to lose no more than three votes if all members are present, though a series of storms Tuesday night complicated lawmakers' travel plans, prompting some to drive through the night toward the Capitol. The loudest Republican objections against the bill come from party hardliners angry it does not sufficiently cut spending and includes a $5 trillion increase in the nation's debt ceiling, which lawmakers must address in the coming months or risk a devastating default on the nation's $36.2 trillion debt. 'What the Senate did was unconscionable,' Norman, a South Carolina Republican, said on Tuesday. One of several fiscal hawks who spoke out against the Senate bill's higher price tag, he accused the Senate of handing out 'goodie bags' of spending to satisfy holdouts. Trump for weeks has pushed for passage ahead of Friday's Independence Day holiday and kept up the pressure on Wednesday. 'Republicans, don't let the Radical Left Democrats push you around. We've got all the cards, and we are going to use them,' Trump said in a social media post. Democrats are united in opposition to the bill, saying that its tax breaks disproportionately benefit the wealthy while cutting services that lower- and middle-income Americans rely on. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that almost 12 million people could lose health insurance as a result of the bill. 'This is the largest assault on American healthcare in history,' Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday, pledging that his party will use 'all procedural and legislative options' to try to stop - or delay - passage. The version of the bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday would add more to the debt than the version first passed by the House in May. The CBO on Tuesday raised its estimate for how much the Senate bill would increase the budget deficit through 2045 by $100 billion, to $3.4 trillion. The bill includes more than $900 million in cuts to the Medicaid program for low-income Americans. Those cuts also raised concerns among some House Republicans. 'I will not support a final bill that eliminates vital funding our hospitals rely on,' Republican Representative David Valadao of California said before Senate passage. But some House Republicans worried about social safety-net cuts could find solace in the Senate's last-minute decision to set aside more money for rural hospitals, funding Representative Nick Langworthy, a New York Republican, called 'a lifeline that will be very helpful to districts like mine.' Any changes made by the House would require another Senate vote, making it all but impossible to meet the July 4 deadline. Any Republican public opposition to the bill risks irking Trump, as was the case when the president slammed Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who announced his retirement after coming out in opposition to the bill.—Reuters
