Trump and Netanyahu meet amid ceasefire talks
US President Donald Trump has remained positive about Gaza ceasefire talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US correspondent Mitch McCann spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.
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RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Trump promised 200 deals by now. He's gotten 3, and 1 more is very close
By Phil Mattingly and David Goldman , CNN US President Donald Trump holds a chart titled 'Reciprocal Tariffs' during a press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, on 2 April 2025. Photo: AFP / Brendan Smialowski At the conclusion of his first 100 days in office in late April, President Donald Trump made a stunning statement about his progress on tariff negotiations: He had completed trade deals with 200 countries. More than two months later, Trump has announced just three of those agreements - with China , the United Kingdom and Vietnam. So what happened? Wednesday (US time) marks the day that Trump had set three months ago as a deadline for all countries to reach a deal or face higher "reciprocal" tariffs. Trump has since publicly acknowledged that pausing those "Liberation Day" tariffs until 9 July left insufficient time to negotiate with practically every country around the world. Trump had initially expected to complete more trade deals by Wednesday's deadline, but in recent weeks he's been convinced that landing those deals can't happen more swiftly, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. That's why his public rhetoric has shifted in recent weeks to saying he would send out letters that set higher tariffs on America's trading partners , effectively getting results on the board while talks continue. So Trump agreed to push the deadline back to 1 August to give countries that are close to a deal a little more time for talks - particularly the European Union, which is on the verge of announcing a trade deal with the United States. EU and US trade negotiators are nearing a framework agreement that would set in place 10 percent tariffs and lay out the parameters for extensive trade discussions in the future, according to three officials familiar with the matter. The progress in negotiations with the EU, in particular, was a key consideration in extending the deadline beyond 9 July. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed to the EU talks, as well as the view that several other key negotiations were in their final stages, as he advocated for more time, according to two people familiar with the matter. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Photo: AFP / AL DRAGO Trump still needs to sign off on any final agreement and talks between the two sides are ongoing, but the officials said the agreement would be announced before the end of the week. Olof Gill, trade spokesperson for the European Commission, confirmed in a press briefing on Wednesday that EU trade negotiators were in active discussions with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and that a deal was expected to be announced in the coming days. US businesses are under mounting pressure to import goods while President Donald Trump's higher tariffs are on pause, and they're simultaneously navigating increasingly complex filing rules when their cargo crosses the border. The progress marks a dramatic turn in Trump's long-standing, long-public disdain for the EU, a view that served as the backdrop to months of frustrating and intractable trade discussions this year. But Trump's tone - and behind the scenes, the tenor and tempo of the negotiations - shifted dramatically in the weeks since he threatened 50 percent tariffs on the EU in a morning social media post in late May. That unexpected and dramatic threat sparked an immediate response from the EU and set the stage for an urgent effort to reach some form of an agreement before Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs snapped into place. EU officials have been in the midst of briefing member countries about the framework and proposed negotiating process, one of the EU officials said, adding that despite the often-divergent equities of the bloc's nations, the deal has been presented as the best and likely only way to avoid a dramatic escalation in tariffs on 1 August. Trump's negotiators have maintained a hardline on the EU's push for exemptions to sectoral tariffs already in place or forthcoming, the officials said. For instance, a push to reduce Trump's 25 percent tariff on autos is a central late-stage focus of the discussions, as has an effort to cut the 50 percent levies on steel. US negotiators have indicated some willingness to consider key EU industries and products for possible rate reductions, including airplanes, alcoholic beverages and some agricultural products. But it would require Trump's final sign-off, the officials said. EU officials have also pledged to significantly increase purchases of US energy and defense sector goods. If a deal can't be reached, the EU has vowed to introduce countermeasures targeting billions of dollars' worth of US exports to the bloc. Those retaliatory steps have been due to come into force on 14 July. It is not yet clear if the EU will push back that date to account for Trump's extension of his "reciprocal" tariffs deadline to 1 August. "If no agreement is reached by the stated deadline, the EU is prepared to activate targeted and proportionate countermeasures in defence of its legitimate interest," Marie Bjerre, Denmark's minister of European affairs, reminded the European Parliament on Wednesday, noting that there were limits to the bloc's patience. Trump has been frustrated by a lack of progress on trade. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said his tariff threats have successfully brought trading partners to the table - but the deals other countries have offered the United States were unacceptable. "They say … 'We will give you total access, and you don't have to pay any tariffs, but please don't charge us tariffs,' and we don't like that deal," Trump said. "We're not hard-line, but it's about time the United States of America started collecting money from countries that were ripping us off - ripping us off - and laughing behind our back at how stupid we were." Trump this week has sent out several letters setting new tariffs, including 25 percent tariffs on Japan and South Korea. Other letters were expected to be publicised on Wednesday. Other deals have been harder to come by. India has long been viewed as the most likely major partner to sign onto a framework with the US. But Indian trade negotiators have hardened their positions in recent days, according to US officials. India is also a member of the BRICS group, so it's unclear what Trump's 10 percent tariff threat on BRICS countries on Sunday means for trade negotiations. South Korea had also been viewed for weeks as likely to reach an agreement, though Trump's auto tariffs remain a key sticking point in those talks, and Trump's letter on Monday may have thrown a wrench in those gears. Japan steadily moved further away from an outcome in recent weeks, and Trump cast significant doubt on talks that once seemed on a path to a certain agreement. Japanese trade negotiators, who just weeks ago were scrambling to lay the groundwork for an announcement by last month's Group of Seven summit, have delivered far more pessimistic messages in their public statements in recent days. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Tuesday that despite "earnest and sincere discussions," Japan has been unable to reach a deal, according to remarks translated by CNN. "We deeply regret that the US government has imposed additional tariffs and announced plans to raise tariff rates," Ishiba said. Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand have all delivered substantial offers to their US counterparts in the last two weeks in an effort to move to the front of the line for an agreement and were likely candidates for any near-term deal in the next few days, US officials said. Brazil has ramped up its efforts to secure an agreement, including bilateral talks at the end of last week designed to expand on an earlier offer to sharply reduce tariffs on certain US products, American administration officials said. The most prevalent point of contention among foreign trade teams has been a lack of clarity on what their US counterparts envision for any final agreement. But the biggest roadblock in the more expansive negotiations has been the existence - or promised imposition - of Trump's sectoral tariffs on autos, steel and pharmaceuticals, US officials said. CNN's Alayna Treene, James Frater and Anna Cooban contributed to this report. -CNN
Newsroom
18 hours ago
- Newsroom
Buy now, and get a free set of knives in the back
Analysis: All for only 25 percent, plus shipping and handling. Buy now, and get a free knifing in the back. The stream of leader-to-leader tariff letters being posted on US President Donald Trump's social media feed as I write (14 and counting) are rather reminiscent of those late-night TV infomercials of yesteryear. But Trump isn't selling miracle balance thigh and ab trainers made in China. He's selling 'more balanced, and fair, TRADE' – and the US as a manufacturing location. 'We will charge Kazakhstan a Tariff of only 25% on any and all Kazakh products sent into the United States, separate from all Sectoral Tariffs!', 'We will charge Thailand a tariff of only 36%', 'We will charge Laos a Tariff of only 40%'. These are form letters, with only the names and percentages changed. They all rely on the fictional and inimical trade deficits first concocted on 'Liberation Day', in April. 'This Deficit is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!' Trump concludes, on each. 'Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Some of the tariffs are slightly increased on April's announcement; most are slightly reduced. The pause on implementation, for all of them, has been extended from July 9 to August 1. Trump has also threatened new tariffs on any nation supporting the 'anti-American' policies of the Brics group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and others. New Zealand isn't directly affected; the tariff for this country is the White House's baseline 10% applied to countries that haven't specifically piqued Trump. That's painful to our exporters (and to US consumers) but is not expected to rise. Yet. Winston Peters' office says they and officials are monitoring the announcements closely. Immediate challenges for New Zealand include: 1) The impact on our trading partners. China and the US have cooled their initial tit-for-tat trade war, but nonetheless, most East Asian nations are being hit with the new tariffs. The trade war is expected to lead to slowing growth in the US and Asia, in particular. That means eight of New Zealand's 10 biggest export destinations are directly affected; only Singapore, Australia and perhaps the UK remain in the 10 percent 'other nations' category like New Zealand. The slowing of those economies will constrain their ability to pay the prices Kiwi exporters might hope for. I spoke with Felicity Roxburgh, the new executive director of the NZ International Business Forum. She was watching the announcements roll through yesterday morning. 'This kind of unilateral action threatens the rules-based trading system that small, export-dependent economies like New Zealand rely on,' she told me. 'They create uncertainty which negatively impacts New Zealand.' 2) Trump has made it clear he doesn't like national drug-buying schemes like those in Australia and New Zealand. Last month he promised that US trade duties on pharmaceutical products (exempted from the initial round of tariffs) were coming 'very soon'. As with other goods, he wants companies to manufacture their drugs in America. And he wants consumers and governments to pay the premium prices that the big US pharma companies believe are justified by the research and marketing they've put into their medicines. This is a problem for drug-buying agencies such as Pharmac, trying to get the best prices they can within inevitably constrained budgets, to make as many good and important medicines as possible available to New Zealanders, whether or not they can afford full-cover health insurance packages. And it's a problem for New Zealand; there's a degree of political consensus over the principles behind our drug-purchasing model, a delicate balance that will be upset if Trump tilts the scales. 3) The big question is how does the New Zealand Government react? Despite Peters' claim on Liberation Day to have won New Zealand the lowest tariffs in the world, the most we can really claim is to not have aggravated Trump into imposing higher tariffs. To that extent, a tactic of keeping our head below the parapets remains attractive – certainly, seeking direct negotiations with the White House would be dangerous. It's at such a point that Trump's advisers might alert him to the existence of Pharmac, or GST, or New Zealand's attempts to work within the OECD on a digital services taxation agreement. But at some point, New Zealand has to stand alongside its partners in the Asia-Pacific, who face great harm from these tariffs. It's low-wage workers in Asean countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia who have really been targeted by this morning's announcements. New Zealand has been one of the world's strongest champions of free or low-tariff trade within an international rules-based framework. Frameworks like the World Trade Organisation or more recently, the CPTPP, protect New Zealanders and protect those even less able to stand up to the might of the bickering superpowers. New Zealand must walk the fine line of protecting its own export interests, while not selling out the principles on which it has stood so strong, for so long.
NZ Herald
20 hours ago
- NZ Herald
US President is opening a new chapter in US foreign policy - and it's far from isolationist
US President Donald Trump is wielding power in different ways to his immediate predecessors. Photo / Getty Images Nearly six months into Donald Trump's presidency, a Trump Doctrine is coming into view. Contrary to the fears of his critics, and the hopes of some admirers, Trump is no isolationist. And contrary to those who claim Trump is simply a marvel of adhoc-ery and inconsistency, there
