US condemns Hong Kong's arrest warrants targeting overseas activists
"We will not tolerate the Hong Kong government's attempts to apply its national security laws to silence or intimidate Americans or anyone on U.S. soil," U.S. Secretary of State Rubio said in a statement, adding that "the Hong Kong government continues to erode the autonomy that Beijing itself promised to the people of Hong Kong following the 1997 handover."
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
China promises to help companies slammed by tariffs, as talks with the US left in limbo
China's top leaders have pledged to help companies slammed by higher U.S. tariffs but held back on major moves after trade talks with the U.S. this week kept businesses and planners in limbo. At their summer economic planning meeting, the powerful Politburo of the ruling Communist Party pledged to stabilize foreign trade and investment. 'We must assist foreign trade enterprises that have been severely impacted, strengthen financing support, and promote the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade,' the official Xinhua News Agency said in reporting the closed door meeting. It mentioned export tax rebates and free trade pilot zones but gave no other specifics. The inconclusive outcome of two days of trade talks in Stockholm, Sweden, leaves open the question of higher tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said the two sides had agreed to work on extending a deadline for higher tariffs. The U.S. side said the extension was discussed, but not decided. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters after the talks that President Donald Trump would decide whether to extend the Aug. 12 deadline for reaching an agreement or to let tariffs that have been paused for 90 days to 'boomerang' back to a higher level. 'We haven't given the sign-off,' Bessent said, though he emphasized that the talks had been 'very constructive.' China remains one of the biggest challenges for the Trump administration after it has struck deals over elevated tariff rates with other key trading partners — including Britain, Japan and the European Union. Many analysts had expected that the Stockholm talks would result in an extension of current tariff levels, which currently stand at a U.S. tariff of 30% on Chinese goods and a Chinese tariff of 10% on U.S. products, far lower than the triple-digit percentage rates raised in April. The truce in the tariffs war to allow time for talks, agreed on in early May to allow time for negotiations, allowed exporters and other traders to ramp up shipments in hopes of beating any higher tariffs that might follow. The meeting headed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping mostly reiterated Beijing's priorities for the year, including a need to 'unleash domestic demand' which has lagged, leading to a surge of exports by industries unable to find growth at home. It also stressed the need to promote jobs and prevent a 'large scale relapse into poverty.' The economy 'has demonstrated strong vitality and resilience,' the Xinhua report said. But it acknowledged many risks and challenges. That includes reining in brutal competition that has led to damaging price wars among automakers and some other manufacturers and managing excess capacity in some industries, it said. China's economy expanded at a 5.2% annual pace in April-July, slowing slightly from the previous quarter. But analysts have said actual growth may have been significantly slower. Even with the hiatus in higher tariffs, companies are feeling a pinch. Industrial profits in China fell 1.8% in the first half of the year and 4.3% in June, according to data released earlier this week. It's unclear what level of tariffs might eventually be imposed on Chinese exports to the United States. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Thursday that Beijing hopes the U.S. side would follow through on the 'important consensus' reached between Trump and Xi in a phone call to promote stable relations between the world's two largest economies. But Guo reiterated China's stance on its U.S. objections to its purchases of oil and gas from Russia, which Bessent raised during the talks in Stockholm, threatening more tariffs. 'China will take reasonable measures to ensure energy security in accordance with its national interests,' Guo said. 'There are no winners in a tariff war. Coercion and pressure will not solve the problem. China will resolutely safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
White House set to unveil closely watched crypto policy report
July 30 (Reuters) - A cryptocurrency working group formed by President Donald Trump is set to release a report on Wednesday that is expected to outline the administration's stances on tokenization and market-defining crypto legislation, among other issues critically important to the digital asset industry. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump ordered the creation of a crypto working group tasked with proposing new regulations, making good on his campaign promise to overhaul U.S. crypto policy. Wednesday's report is a culmination of the task force's work so far and its first public findings. In line with Trump's January executive order, it will lay out what rules and laws should be enacted to advance the policy goals of the pro-crypto White House. Those include making sure that the Securities and Exchange Commission has a framework in place for firms to offer blockchain-based stocks and bonds, according to one person familiar with the discussions. The report is also expected to discuss the administration's wish list for legislation Congress is currently debating to create broad regulatory guidelines for cryptocurrency, according to a second person familiar with the report. The working group led by Trump official Bo Hines is composed of several administration officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought. The White House, Treasury Department and the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. "While there have been regulatory regimes in place that have maybe been piecemeal or have allowed the industry to grow in certain ways, the recommendations that we expect to see in the report will be a good roadmap for how to build out crypto as a continued important part of the economy going forward," said Rebecca Rettig, chief legal officer at crypto firm Jito Labs. On the campaign trail, Trump courted crypto cash by pledging to be a "crypto president" and promote the adoption of digital assets. That is in stark contrast to former President Joe Biden's regulators which, in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on the industry. The Biden administration sued exchanges Coinbase COIN.O, Binance and dozens more, alleging they were flouting U.S. laws. Trump's SEC has since dropped those cases. Industry participants will be looking closely at what the report says about tokenization, the process of turning financial assets - such as bank deposits, stocks, bonds, funds and even real estate - into crypto assets. Crypto firms and others have been increasingly discussing the prospect of tokenizing securities as a new way to facilitate trading. Coinbase recently told Reuters it was seeking a U.S. green light from the SEC to offer blockchain-based stocks. The SEC has yet to weigh in publicly on that request. Wednesday's report is expected to recognize the need for the SEC to develop a framework for tokenization, according to a source familiar with the discussions, but the details of the language were not immediately clear. The report will also lay out what the White House would like to see from market structure legislation working its way through Congress, according to a separate person with knowledge of the report. The House of Representatives passed a bill called the Clarity Act earlier this month that would create a formal regulatory regime for crypto, and the U.S. Senate is considering its own version of the measure. Earlier this month, Trump signed into law a bill to create federal rules for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar. That move was hailed as a major win for the digital asset industry, and the White House has said it wants Congress to pass market structure legislation next, which would have far wider repercussions for the industry. The crypto sector has for years argued that existing U.S. regulations are inappropriate for cryptocurrencies and has called for Congress and regulators to write new ones that clarify when a crypto token is a security, commodity or falls into another category, like stablecoins. The president's support for the crypto industry has sparked conflict-of-interest concerns, which at times have threatened to derail congressional crypto legislation. Trump's family has launched cryptocurrency meme coins, and the president also holds a stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform. The White House has denied that any conflicts of interest are present.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump's Brazil trade squeeze gives tariff challengers fresh legal ammunition
July 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Brazil with 50% tariffs this month, venting his anger over the country's prosecution of his political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, but the move may provide ammunition to plaintiffs aiming to bring down the centerpiece of the White House's tariff agenda. Trade law experts and plaintiffs in a federal court challenge to Trump's sweeping tariffs, which are backed by the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), say the president's outburst against Brazil is another prime example of him far exceeding any legal authority to levy tariffs. "It just shows that the president really thinks that he has unconstrained power to tariff. That's a big problem for our clients, but also it's a big problem for the rule of law," said Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel and interim director of litigation at the nonprofit Liberty Justice Center. Schwab is representing five small businesses that won the first round of a legal challenge to Trump's use of IEEPA to impose sweeping "reciprocal" and fentanyl-related tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners. Schwab said he expects the threatened U.S. tariffs on Brazil to come up during oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington on Thursday. The New York-based Court of International Trade found in May that Trump exceeded his legal authority by using IEEPA, but the appeals court has allowed the tariffs to remain in place while the case plays out - likely all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling, if it stands, could blow a hole in Trump's tariff blitz, which so far has extracted concessions from a number of major trading partners, including Japan, the European Union, Indonesia, Vietnam and Britain. South Korea, Canada and Mexico are racing to negotiate deals with Trump to avoid steep tariff hikes on August 1. The 50% tariff that would apply to Brazil on August 1 is the highest "reciprocal" rate announced by Trump, matched only by tiny Lesotho. Brazil is hoping to negotiate a deal to reduce the duties but has acknowledged that may not happen before the deadline as Trump focuses on larger trading partners. The stakes are high for Brazil because the U.S. is the country's second-largest trading partner after China. Trump announced the Brazilian tariffs after a week of public feuding with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leftist leader who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in a 2022 election. A week after Lula's inauguration, Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia in an alleged plot to reinstate the right-wing former military officer as president. Bolsonaro is currently on trial in connection with the alleged coup and has been forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet restraint. He has denied all the charges. In a July 9 letter to Lula announcing the tariffs, Trump said the trial was a "Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!" The U.S. president cited Brazil's "insidious attacks on Free Elections and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans" and "unlawful censorship orders" on U.S. social media platforms. The letter did not specify whether the tariffs would be imposed under the IEEPA national emergency that Trump declared over the large and growing global U.S. trade deficit. Trump has not issued a formal executive proclamation and a White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. But the letter contained some language identical to tariff letters issued to other countries, explaining that the import levies were necessary to correct "unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States." The U.S. has had consistent goods trade surpluses with Brazil since 2008, with a $6.8 billion surplus in 2024. Brazil was initially subjected to a 10% tariff as part of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in early April. "The bottom line for me is, yes, I believe the plaintiffs can and will use this Brazil nonsense as further evidence that these tariffs are being imposed at the absolute whim of the president," said Jennifer Hillman, a trade law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. The 50% Brazil duties "bear no relationship to a national emergency in the United States," Hillman said. "They have nothing to do with a trade deficit, even if you can define a trade deficit that we've been running consistently for 50 years as unusual and extraordinary." Daniel Esty, a professor at Yale Law School, said that even if an argument can be made for trade deficits as a national emergency under IEEPA, Trump's tariffs to punish Brazil for acting against a former president are not legal. "That is so clearly outside the bounds of the law as to be shocking," Esty added. Hillman served as counsel to a group of 191 Democratic lawmakers who filed an amicus brief, opens new tab in the appeals case, arguing among other things, that Congress never intended for IEEPA to delegate tariff authority to the president, as there were other laws in place to deal with it. The Court of International Trade followed this reasoning, and found that the fentanyl-related tariffs levied against China, Canada and Mexico failed to deal with an IEEPA national emergency that Trump declared over the deadly opioid. In his letter to Lula, Trump also ordered a Section 301 unfair trade practices investigation into Brazil's tariff and non-tariff barriers, including on digital trade. Brazil's Solicitor General Jorge Messias, the top judicial official for Lula's executive branch, said last week he believes Trump launched the probe because the case for IEEPA tariffs is weak. Daniel Cannistra, a partner with the law firm Crowell & Moring, said there was a growing consensus among Washington trade lawyers that the IEEPA-based tariffs are at significant risk of being struck down. But that process could take months, allowing the Trump administration time to use them to apply maximum pressure on trading partners. At the same time, the administration is pursuing tariffs under well-established trade laws, including under Section 301 and through sectoral tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum and copper under the Section 232 national security trade law. Other duties on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber are in the process of being applied. For some of the biggest U.S. trading partners including Japan, relief from these tariffs - especially the prohibitive 27.5% automotive tariff - may be a bigger motivator to make trade concessions that would continue regardless of the IEEPA rulings. "By threatening more legally sound tariffs, the administration can continue negotiating with little regard to the legality of the IEEPA tariffs," Cannistra said.
