Japan Ruling Party to Discuss Prime Minister Ishiba's Fate Soon
Hiroshi Moriyama, the Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party, said Tuesday that a plenary meeting will be held in the near future, while he said it remains to be decided what exactly might be discussed at the meeting.
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Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New Tariffs Threaten American Battery Production
Trump-era clean energy policies are slamming the breaks on the United States' battery war with China. While lithium-ion batteries were invented in the United States, China has been outpacing the nation in terms of both battery manufacturing and technological innovations. But while U.S. companies have been scrambling to keep up, gutted clean energy incentives and tariffs on critical materials have made a U.S. victory all but impossible. The domestic battery industry had been gaining considerable ground under the Biden administration thanks to major incentives including the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act. Tax credits, in particular, 'helped close the price gap between U.S.-made batteries and those made in China, the world's main supplier of lithium-ion battery modules, cells, and materials,' according to Canary Media. Realizing that the Trump administration would bring a less encouraging policy environment for clean energy technologies, makers of lithium-ion batteries promised the federal government that they would collectively spend a cumulative $100 billion by 2030 to build up an independent and totally domestic grid battery industry. In exchange, they asked for continued political support. So far, that plea seems to be falling flat. Just this month, the Trump administration accused Chinese suppliers of dumping graphite into U.S. markets – meaning that they are selling graphite more cheaply abroad than in their own markets. As a result, the United States has imposed a formidable 93.5 percent tariff on Chinese graphite. This could have immediate and serious consequences for United States batterymakers, as almost all refined graphite in the world comes from China. In fact, this tariff alone could 'easily add $1,000 or more to the price of a battery' according to the New York Times. As a result, the nation's once-thriving 'battery belt' is faltering. 'Projects are being paused, cancelled, and closed at a rate 6 times more than during the same period in 2024,' reports 'The Big Green Machine,' a site affiliated with Wellesley College that tracks domestic clean energy investments. And this biggest projects are the ones suffering most. Politico reports that 'prospects dimmed for 34 projects that are worth more than $31 billion and were expected to create almost 28,000 jobs.' This includes projects that are either paused, canceled, delayed by at least six faced by a slash in funding, or scaled down. But the overall impact of recent political shifts are still unclear, and overall the domestic clean energy sector is still growing. Related: 'The policies Republicans have passed are so recent that they may not have worked their way through the economy,' reports Politico. 'In the last three months, Congress has passed and President Donald Trump has signed bills that removed key tax credits, taken the teeth out of fuel-economy rules and neutered California's ability to force automakers to sell EVs.' Taken together, all of these compounding policy measures create an uncertain policy and investment environment at minimum. More likely, it will cause an extreme contraction of the domestic battery sector at a time when Beijing was already pulling away. "Unquestionably, the Chinese are ahead in manufacturing technology," Bob Galyen, a retired executive who worked with both GM and the Chinese battery giant CATL, told NPR. He says that Chinese battery research and development is receiving major influxes of cash at a time when U.S. manufacturers are struggling for funding. "Clearly, the U.S. is lagging behind,' he finished. Ironically, these measures are hitting Republican districts the hardest. The so-called 'battery belt' is mostly comprised of red states. As a result, according to Politico, 'GOP districts saw 60 percent of the funding decline, while Democratic districts saw 39 percent.' By Haley Zaremba for More Top Reads From this article on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Malaysia King Will Make State Visit to Russia for Putin Meeting
Malaysia's king, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, will make the first state visit of a monarch from the country to Russia, in a trip at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin that runs from Aug. 5 to 10, the palace said Saturday. 'This visit also reflects the important role of the Malaysian monarchy in driving the nation's diplomacy,' according to the statement from the palace, The visit will strengthen ties and enhance cooperation in sectors including trade, education and technology, it said.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Old Trump speech falsely linked to South Korea trade deal
Social media posts have recirculated an old video of US President Donald Trump and falsely presented it as depicting him calling South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung a "bad negotiator" after their countries agreed a trade deal. The clip in fact shows Trump criticising then president Barack Obama as he launched his presidential campaign in June 2015. "Trump mocks Lee Jae Myung as a bad negotiator," reads a Korean-language post featuring the clip on Naver Band, a South Korean forum, on July 31, 2025. "[Trump] mocked Lee as soon as the tariff negotiations finished. [Lee] has become a total pushover," it continues. The video shows Trump saying, "The people negotiating don't have a clue. Our president doesn't have a clue. He's a bad negotiator." But its Korean subtitles mistranslate "our president" as "their president". The clip was also shared in similar posts on multiple right-wing South Korean circles on Facebook, as well as on YouTube. "The way that fool Lee acted as he did, no wonder he is being mocked," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "An international embarrassment to be used like that, then mocked by the US president." Under the trade deal, the United States will impose a 15 percent tariff on South Korean imports -- down from the previously threatened 25 percent -- in exchange for $350 billion in South Korean investments in US industries and $100 billion in energy purchases (archived link). A keyword search on Google found the clip corresponds to a part of a speech Trump gave on June 16, 2015, when he announced his bid for the presidency (archived link). At around the 18:50 mark of the speech posted in full by CSPAN, Trump makes the comment: "The people negotiating don't have a clue. Our president doesn't have a clue. He's a bad negotiator." This was part of a broader tirade against the Obama administration's trade and foreign policies. Trump then references a prisoner swap involving US soldier Bowe Bergdahl to illustrate his criticism of Obama's negotiating skills. Bergdahl was a US Army sergeant who was captured by the Taliban in 2009 after walking off his post in Afghanistan and was released in 2014 in exchange for five Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo Bay (archived link). "We get Bergdahl. We get a traitor. We get a no-good traitor, and they get the five people that they wanted for years, and those people are now back on the battlefield trying to kill us. That's the negotiator we have," Trump said. A full transcript of the speech published by Time magazine also shows Trump was referring to Obama (archived link). Nowhere in the video or transcript does Trump mention South Korea or Lee Jae Myung. AFP has previously debunked similar instances of Trump remarks and social media posts being misrepresented as references to South Korea.
