Rubio to meet Lavrov while U.S. sends more weapons to Ukraine
Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering in Kuala Lumpur, the U.S. State Department said.
The meeting comes as Russia has been pounding Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with record numbers of drones and missiles, leading U.S. President Donald Trump to express his mounting frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for keeping up attacks.
At a Cabinet meeting this week, Trump said he's looking "very strongly' at a bill introduced in the Senate that would impose severe sanctions on Russia and on countries that purchase its oil, petroleum products, natural gas or uranium. He called it an "optional bill.'
The comments are among the clearest signs that Trump is running out of patience with the Russian leader after previously expressing admiration for him and saying he could end the conflict swiftly after his reelection.
The U.S. arms headed for Ukraine include air-defense missiles, artillery shells and other hardware, a decision that swept aside an earlier pause by the Pentagon, which reflected Trump's frustration over the billions of dollars in aid sent to Kyiv since the war started in 2022.
The Kremlin on Wednesday said it hoped dialogue with the Trump administration would continue despite the criticism and resumption of arms deliveries to Kyiv.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow expects "Trump and his team will continue their efforts to bring the Ukrainian settlement process to the political and diplomatic plane,' according to the Interfax news service.
In February, Rubio and Lavrov held talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first high-level meeting between the two countries in nearly three years.
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Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Rubio says no 'drama or division' in U.S. relations with Japan
Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrive for a meeting with South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoonjoo (not pictured) on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, On Friday. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday played down concerns about relations with key U.S. ally Japan, saying there is no "drama or division," despite the Japanese prime minister speaking of the need for Tokyo to wean itself off U.S. dependence. In remarks to reporters, Rubio also disputed reports of U.S. pressure on Japan to significantly increase its defense spending, saying that while Washington was "encouraging" Tokyo to invest in certain capabilities, this did not amount to a "demand." "It's less to do with the amount of money and more to do about certain things they can do," he said after attending a regional meeting in Malaysia. Japanese media reported last month that the Trump administration was demanding that Japan and other Asian allies boost defense spending to 5% of GDP in line with demands on NATO members. A Financial Times report last month said Japan canceled an annual defense and foreign ministers meeting with the U.S. after it called on Tokyo to boost defense spending beyond what it requested earlier. President Donald Trump further upset Japan this week by announcing a 25% tariff on Japanese imports starting August 1 as part of his global tariff strategy. On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Japan needed to wean itself from U.S. dependence in security, food, and energy. Asked about Ishiba's remarks, Rubio said the United States has "a very strong and very good relationship with Japan, and that's not going to change." "Anyone who's looking for, like, drama or division there ... shouldn't be doing it because the truth of the matter is our relationship with Japan is very solid." He said Ishiba's comment should not be viewed negatively. "The idea that Japan's military would become more capable is not something we would be offended by; it's something we would actually be encouraged by," he said. Christopher Johnstone, a former Biden White House official now with the Asia Group consultancy, said trade frictions, pressure on defense spending, and uncertainty about U.S. defense commitments meant U.S.-Japan tensions were probably at their worst in a generation, but reducing Tokyo's reliance on the U.S. was easier said than done. "If the two countries reach a trade agreement by August 1, it could fade," he said. "But Ishiba's comments reflect sentiment that is real and widespread." © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
As Trump sows tariff confusion, rules of global commerce give way to chaos
Six months into his new administration, U.S. President Donald Trump's assault on global trade has lost any semblance of organization or structure. He has changed deadlines suddenly. He has blown up negotiations at the eleventh hour, often raising unexpected issues. He has tied his tariffs to complaints that have nothing to do with trade, like Brazil's treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, or the flow of fentanyl from Canada. Talks with the United States were like "going through a labyrinth' and arriving "back to square one,' said Airlangga Hartarto, the Indonesian minister for economic affairs, who met with U.S. officials in Washington on Wednesday. The resulting uncertainty is preventing companies and countries from making plans as the rules of global commerce give way to a state of chaos. "We're still far away from making real deals,' said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macroeconomics at the bank ING in Germany. He called the uncertainty "poison' for the global economy. Gone is the idea that the White House would strike 90 deals in 90 days after a period of rapid-fire negotiation, as Trump pledged in April. Instead, Washington has signed bare-bone agreements with big trading partners including China, while sending many other countries blunt and mostly standardized letters announcing hefty tariffs to start Aug. 1. Policymakers in Indonesia, Japan and elsewhere learned about letters setting tariff rates only when Trump posted them on social media. Airlangga said he was "amazed and surprised' to find that his country would face a 32% tariff, unchanged from what was announced in April. Negotiations had been going well, he thought. Trading partners that have received such letters are now frantically pushing to reduce the country-specific rates, which range from 20% to 50%, though Trump has at some points suggested that room to negotiate may be limited. For those who have not yet received a letter — Trump suggested Thursday that the European Union's was coming imminently — the developments have underscored that any negotiations are precarious. Trade deals appear to hinge on one person, Trump, and even carefully constructed agreements can be upended on his whim. "People are dealing with it as a rolling damage-limitation exercise,' said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who worked until recently as an adviser at the EU's executive arm. Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said countries were continuing to eagerly offer concessions to maintain access to the U.S. economy. Trump had been clear that the United States, as the world's biggest and best consumer market, "holds the cards and leverage in negotiations,' he said. Yet even reaching a trade deal may not diminish uncertainty. Trump proclaimed on social media in July that he had made a trade agreement with Vietnam that would charge a 20% tariff on Vietnamese products, with a higher 40% tariff rate on some goods that have Chinese components in them. "In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade,' he said. But the countries never released a joint statement clarifying what they had agreed to. Three people familiar with the matter, who declined to be named to discuss sensitive conversations, said Vietnamese officials had not agreed to the tariffs that Trump announced, and that negotiations were ongoing. Two of the people said the countries had reached an understanding on trade, but when Trump spoke on the phone with Vietnamese General Secretary To Lam on July 2, he took it upon himself to renegotiate some of those terms, surprising officials on both sides. A White House official who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter said the Americans and Vietnamese had reached an agreement. But he declined to elaborate further. He said both sides were continuing to discuss details of the higher tariff rate for goods with Chinese components, and had agreed to negotiate them in more depth later. Trump's push to reorder the global trading system started in February, shortly after he took office. Since then, he has imposed tariffs on sectors including metals and cars, and on specific countries, including Canada and China. In early April, Trump announced across-the-board tariffs that applied in different amounts to different countries, calculated using a simple equation that relied in part on a nation's trade gap with the United States. After Trump unveiled the numbers on a poster in the Rose Garden of the White House, a rapid volley of negotiations kicked off. Trading partners began to flock to Washington to try to talk down their rates while securing carve-outs for sectors. Within a few days, Trump partially suspended the across-the-board tariffs until July 9 to allow for three frenzied months of deal-making. The United States announced a framework agreement with Britain in May, and a handshake with Vietnam last week that now appears to be in flux, but most countries have not made a deal yet. Trump sent out nearly two dozen letters this week telling trading partners they would be subjected to hefty tariff rates, though the date when they start to bite has been pushed back to Aug. 1. And even those who thought that they might be close to an agreement might watch those careful negotiations implode. Take the EU, which is by some measures the United States' single most important trading partner. The 27-nation bloc has been working toward an agreement that would likely include a 10% baseline tariff, with exemptions for key goods. In return, the bloc would pledge to buy more from and invest more in the United States. But EU officials have long been unwilling to say they think a deal is likely. Even before Trump announced in an interview with NBC on Thursday that the bloc would soon receive a letter of its own, European policymakers remained painfully aware that the situation could detonate. That's partly because of the cautionary tale of Canada. Negotiations there were disrupted for a dramatic 48 hours in late June over the country's digital-services tax, which would have applied to large U.S. tech companies. Trump said he wouldn't continue negotiating if the tax remained in effect, and Canada's government quickly dropped it. Canada had then been negotiating toward an agreement by a July 21 deadline when on Thursday, it, too, received a letter announcing a 35% tariff and a new deadline of Aug. 1. Nor has Canada been the only last-minute surprise. The United States lurched into a sudden trade war with Brazil on Wednesday after Trump announced in a letter to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil that 50% tariffs would take effect Aug. 1. "The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,' Trump wrote. A few hours later, Lula said Brazil would reciprocate against the tariffs. "Brazil is a sovereign country with independent institutions that will not accept being abused by anyone,' he said in a statement. Thai officials also received a letter from Trump, but they emphasized reasons for hope. Pichai Chunhavajira, the finance minister, said Tuesday that Trump must not yet have taken into account a revised proposal to increase bilateral trade when he sent a letter setting the tariff at 36%, unchanged from April. "It is a template, everyone gets the same letter and the same text applies for every country,' said Supavud Saicheua, who is an adviser to Pichai. Thai negotiators are still unclear about what Trump wants, Supavud added. The 36% tariff "was calculated by some math that we have never heard of before,' he said. Even countries that hope they are in a solid negotiating position face uncertainty. While Indian officials have been emphasizing Trump's warm relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United States has made tariff announcements over the past week that threaten to rock India's economy. Trump said at a meeting in the White House this week that, after a year, imports of all pharmaceutical products would be "tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200%.' That would be crushing for India, where pharmaceutical exports earned almost $30 billion last year, with the United States its biggest market by far. U.S. trading partners have seen that there are no guarantees, except that further trade whiplash probably lies ahead. "We understand that the decision is on the POTUS,' Airlangga said, using the acronym for the president of the United States. This article originally appeared in The New York Times © 2025 The New York Times Company
4 hours ago
Ishiba Remark on Reducing Dependence on U.S. Not Problem: Rubio
News from Japan Jul 12, 2025 13:17 (JST) Kuala Lumpur, July 12 (Jiji Press)--U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that he does not take issue with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's recent remark citing the need for his country to make efforts to reduce its dependence on the United States. "I don't think that that's a negative comment per se," Rubio told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. "We obviously have very strong commitments and an alliance with Japan," he said. "We continue to cooperate very closely with them." Rubio also said the idea that Japan would be able to develop its self-defense capabilities is "not something that we find offensive," adding, "It's something we'd be supportive of, obviously within the confines of their constitutional system." He said that Washington's call for Japan to increase its defense spending is not a "demand" but rather an encouragement to "invest in certain capabilities." The amount of money is not important, he indicated. "We have a very strong and very good relationship with Japan, and that's not going to change" even if there are differences in opinion, Rubio continued. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
