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The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
US ‘close to 10 trade deals' after China rare earth agreement reached
Update: Date: 2025-06-27T06:38:15.000Z Title: Introduction: US 'close to 10 trade deals' after China agreement 'signed' Content: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. Hopes are building that the US may be close to announcing more trade deals, and avoid imposing punishing new tariffs that would disrupt the global economy. Overnight, Donald Trump announced that the two sides had signed a deal, without providing details, declaring: 'We just signed with China yesterday.' It later emerged that the agreement will expedite rare earth shipments to the US, building on the progress negotiators made in Switzerland last month. A White House official explained: 'The administration and China agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement……how we can implement expediting rare earths shipments to the US again.' The US, and its trading partners, have less than two weeks until Trump's 90-day trade war pause expires. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has claimed that progress is being made, and hinted that the White House has imminent plans to reach agreements with 10 major trading partners. Lutnick told Bloomberg Television: 'We're going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind.' Trump has previously indicated he could send letters to countries announcing their new tariff rates, if deals aren't agreed in time. Lutnick has indicated that countries will be sorted into 'proper buckets' on 9 July, although there might be flexibility for further negotiations…. He says: 'Those who have deals will have deals, and everybody else that is negotiating with us, they'll get a response from us and then they'll go into that package. If people want to come back and negotiate further, they're entitled to, but that tariff rate will be set and off we'll go.' 10am BST: EU consumer and business confidence stats 1.30pm BST: US PCE inflation report for May 3pm BST: University of Michigan's US consumer confidence index
RNZ News
19-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
China could be major beneficiary of New Zealand's move on Cook Islands
The Cook Islands did not think it needed to consult with New Zealand on the China agreement. Photo: LIU BIN The decision by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters to suspend payment of aid to the Cook Islands could backfire on the New Zealand government. Peters has withheld more than $18.2 million over the Cooks' failure to adequately inform his government about a partnership agreement signed with Beijing earlier this year. The foreign minister's office says the Cook Islands didn't consult with New Zealand to ensure shared interests weren't put at risk. Massey University associate professor in defence and security studies Anna Powles told Pacific Waves that the move could strengthen China's hand in the Pacific. Dr Powles spoke with RNZ Pacific. (This script has been edited for brevity and clarity.) Anna Powles: As a diplomatic strategy it is unclear what Wellington is trying to achieve by pausing funding to Cook Islands as a consequence of Cook Islands signing the deal with China this year. Don Wiseman: Yes, well, Winston Peters is using the aid as a bribe, really, isn't he? The diplomatic row between the Cook Islands and New Zealand has come to a head. Photo: RNZ Pacific AP: Well, he is certainly seeking to leverage it, and that, given past tactics of effectively trying to punish partners over their decision-making, and sovereign decision-making, is arguably quite short sighted, actually, particularly in the current context where Pacific countries have options, they have alternatives. DW: Well, the thing with the Cook Islands, of course, is it doesn't have sovereignty, does it? It's still part of the realm of New Zealand. Brown, the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, has indicated he would perhaps like that to change because of his requests, more than once, for the Cook Islands to have Cook Islands citizenship. Do you think maybe his cuddling up to China in this manner was all part of the same strategy. AP: Prime Minister Brown has certainly made it clear over the years that he sees, firstly, independence from New Zealand as critical under his leadership. But also the means for doing so, which clearly relates to deep sea mining and the economic benefits of deep sea mining as a vehicle for independence for Cook Islands. The independence conversation has been conflated with this. We know that under the previous New Zealand Labour government, with former foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta, there had been progress in supporting Cook Island aspirations towards independence. It's unfortunate that the geopolitics playing out in the region and Cook Islands independence aspirations have been conflated in this way. DW: So where do we go from here? Because Brown, effectively, has been summoned to Wellington for some sort of explanation, but we've sort of been down this road before, and clearly Peters wasn't satisfied with that. So it's all a bit messy, isn't it? AP: It is. It is pretty messy. And again, this is unfortunate that this could cast a distinct shadow over the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in September, but also, importantly, with respect to the relationship between New Zealand and Cook Islands. Aid should not be a bargaining chip. The relationship between the two countries surely should be deeper and robust enough to be able to work through these issues, but it fundamentally seems to come down to different perspectives on the spirit of the 2001 Joint Declaration between the two countries, which calls for that consultation by Cook Islands when it's entering into other foreign policy arrangements with other countries. So that spirit of that of the declaration, is really in question here, and the negotiation between the two countries, between New Zealand and Cook Islands, needs to take aid as a bargaining chip off the table for it to be able to continue, for it to be successful. DW: What impact do you think something like this would have at the talks that Christopher luxon is having in China this very day? AP: The fact of the matter is that we can't separate the China equation from what's taken place. Obviously concerns held by New Zealand about the nature of some of those agreements between Cook Islands and China, and there are concerns that some of those agreements, some of those MOUs, potentially may cut across Cook Islands national security interests, and, by extension, New Zealand national security interests. So obviously, China is very much part of this equation. The degree to which this plays into Prime Minister Luxon's talks in China is unclear. But what it does do is it actually opens the door for increased Chinese engagement with the Cook Islands and with other countries in the Pacific, by being able to point to this type of behaviour of New Zealand, using aid as a development assistance as a bargaining chip, and by Beijing being able to tell its partners in the region, we would never do that, and certainly we would never seek to leverage our relationships in this way. This could be a very good news story for China, and it certainly puts New Zealand in a weaker position, as a consequence.
Free Malaysia Today
19-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
New Zealand halts aid to Cook Islands over China deals
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown survived a no-confidence vote in February over the deal with China. (EPA Images pic) WELLINGTON : New Zealand's government halted aid to close partner the Cook Islands today because of a row over agreements the Pacific island nation struck with China. New Zealand 'paused' the payments and would not resume them until the Cook Islands took 'concrete steps' to restore trust, a spokesman for foreign minister Winston Peters said in a statement. The self-governing Cook Islands, a country of 17,000 people, has a 'free association' relationship with its former colonial ruler New Zealand, which provides budgetary assistance as well as help on foreign affairs and defence. Cook Islands caught New Zealand off guard in February when it signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with China covering deep-sea mining, regional cooperation and economic issues. Peters' spokesman pointed to the 'lack of consultation' surrounding the 'agreements signed by the Cook Islands and China' as a reason for the aid pause. 'Trust and meaningful engagement are fundamental to free association,' he said. New Zealand provided US$116 million (NZ$194 million) to the Cook Islands over the past three years, according to government figures. It has paused a planned US$11 million development assistance payment for the next financial year. 'New Zealand will also not consider significant new funding until the Cook Islands government takes concrete steps to repair the relationship and restore trust,' Peters' spokesman said. 'New Zealand hopes that steps will be taken swiftly to address New Zealand's concerns so that this support can be resumed as soon as possible.' The pause in funding comes as New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing tomorrow. Speaking to reporters this morning, Peters said the funding pause was not timed to coincide with Luxon's trip to China. Peters said he discussed New Zealand's concerns about the Cook Islands agreement during a meeting with China's foreign minister Wang Yi earlier this year. Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Brown survived a no-confidence vote in February over the deal with China, blaming 'misinformation' from New Zealand for destabilising his country. 'It becomes very clear this is not about consultation. This is about control,' he said at the time. Former Australian diplomat Mihai Sora said Cook Islands was being 'a bit cute'. 'And it's not surprising that New Zealand has reacted in such a way,' the Lowy Institute analyst told AFP. 'New Zealand obviously wants to repair its relationship with Cook Islands. It wants to block China from gaining increased strategic access to the Cook Islands, but also essentially to its immediate neighbourhood. 'But if Cook Islands pushes closer to China in a way that threatens New Zealand's national security, it's really not possible to have such intimate ties.' New Zealand also announced this year it would review aid to climate-threatened Pacific nation Kiribati, one of China's closest friends in the region. The review came after Kiribati's president brushed off a planned meeting with Peters at the last minute. 'This was especially disappointing because the visit was to be the first in over five years by a New Zealand minister to Kiribati,' Peters' office said at the time. 'For this reason, we are reviewing our development programme in Kiribati.' New Zealand had given around US$57 million in aid to Kiribati since 2021, according to official figures, including money for 'economic development and climate resilience'.
