Latest news with #impose
Civil.ge
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Civil.ge
Failure to Pay Protest Fines to Lead to Detention for Repeat Acts
Individuals who fail to pay fines for four administrative offenses — petty hooliganism, disobeying police, insulting public officials, and violating protest rules such as blocking roads or wearing face coverings — will be sent to detention if they repeat the offenses. These offenses are among the most commonly cited against demonstrators participating in anti–Georgian Dream protests. The rule changes are part of amendments to Georgia's Code of Administrative Offenses, passed by the Georgian Dream parliament on July 2, following two days of accelerated deliberations during extraordinary sessions. Fines for these offenses vary and increase with repeated violations, but generally range around GEL 5,000 (about USD 1,800). If an individual fails to pay a previous fine and is found guilty of the same offense again, the court will no longer have the option to impose another fine and will be required to order detention. The maximum administrative detention period in Georgia is 60 days, extended from 15 days in February. The amendments also change the appeals process for fines. Instead of appealing to the Interior Ministry, individuals must now appeal directly to the courts. Some say the change will ease the ministry's workload — particularly the large number of appeals over road blockage fines — but will add pressure on the judiciary. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was given authority to impose fines for administrative offenses in February. Since then, citizens have been appealing these fines directly to the ministry. 'If the accounting and backlog of fines was the MIA's job before, now the review of administrative offenses will fall to seven judges,' lawyer Saba Brachveli wrote on Facebook, suggesting the state system is shifting the burden onto the courts to handle a growing caseload. 'Those of you who have appealed to the Interior Ministry and have not yet received a response, this new rule will apply to your cases as well,' lawyer Nika Simonishvili said in a Facebook post. He added, 'The Interior Ministry will no longer review your appeal, and all these cases will be sent to the court 10 days after the law comes into force.' Although the exact number is unknown, media estimates suggest hundreds have been fined for blocking roads since protests began on November 28, 2024, after the Georgian Dream government announced it was abandoning the country's EU accession process. The ongoing resistance has since blocked Tbilisi's main Rustaveli Avenue in front of the parliament building daily for more than seven months now. The fine for road blockage was GEL 500 before December, until the Georgian Dream parliament increased it tenfold to GEL 5,000 (about USD 1,800), more than twice the average monthly income in Georgia. In mid-March, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, a human rights group, said road blockage fines since November 28 stood at GEL 2 million (about USD 715,000). Watchdog groups have widely criticized the hefty fines as a repressive tool used by the government to suppress protests. Also Read: This post is also available in: ქართული
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Gatchalian seeks stricter regulation of online gambling
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday proposed a measure that would impose strict regulations for online gambling in the country as part of efforts to address the growing gambling addiction especially among the youth. Gatchalian, however, said the bill which he listed as one of his 10 priority measures in the 20th Congress, would not push for the total ban of online gambling to prevent providers from going underground. 'Ang salient points nito, pagbabawalan na gumamit ng GCash sa online gambling, tataasan ang age from 18 to 21, tapos ang minimum bet is P10,000, ang top up is P5,000,' he said. (Among its salient points are that the use of GCash for online gambling will be prohibited, the age will be increased from 18 to 21, then the minimum bet is P10,000, the top up is P5,000.) 'Naglagay rin kami ng penal provision, kapag hindi ginawa ng mga regulatory agencies ang trabaho nila, pwede silang kasuhan at matanggal sa trabaho at pwede rin silang makulong,' he added. (We also put in place a penal provision, if regulatory agencies do not do their job, they can be sued and fired and they can also be imprisoned.) The unnumbered bill also bans gambling sponsorships of public events and campaign donations, and mandates regulators to allocate a portion of collected regulatory fees for the establishment of gambling addiction rehabilitation centers. Last month, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said the government has shut down 7,000 unauthorized online gaming websites. Also included in Gatchalian's priority bills in the 20th Congress is the Three-Year College Education Act, which aims to capacitate the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in allowing flexibility for degree programs to be completed in not more than three academic years. The proposed measure provides that all general education courses shall be integrated and completed at the senior high school level, and seeks to ensure students' readiness to go to college and provide them more time for internship and advanced specialization. — BAP, GMA Integrated News
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Threat of more tariffs hangs over countries negotiating trade deals
WASHINGTON: Governments around the world are racing to negotiate trade deals with the United States in order to forestall President Donald Trump 's punishing tariffs, which could kick in July 9. But the discussions have been slowed because Trump has threatened to impose more tariffs even if those deals are in place. Trump announced what he refers to as "reciprocal tariffs" on April 8, which he said were in response to other countries' unfair trading practices. But he agreed to pause those levies for 90 days to give countries time to reach trade deals with the United States. Some administration officials recently suggested that the deadline could be extended but Trump has signalled that he is ready to slap tariffs on countries he views as uncooperative. "We have countries that are negotiating in good faith, but they should be aware that if we can't get across the line because they are being recalcitrant, then we could spring back to the April 2 levels," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday. India, Vietnam, Japan, the European Union, Malaysia and other governments have been working toward deals that could smooth relations with the United States and avoid double-digit tariffs. But the Trump administration has been moving forward with plans to impose another set of tariffs on certain industries that it views as essential to national security, a threat that has foreign leaders worried there could be more pain ahead. These tariffs are dependent on the outcomes of trade investigations into lumber and timber, copper and critical minerals by the Commerce Department, which are expected to be finalised soon and submitted to the White House, according to people familiar with the matter. A determination that imports pose a national security threat would allow the president to issue tariffs on those products in the coming weeks. Investigations on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and electronic devices are also proceeding and could be finalised in time for tariffs as early as next month, the people said. Live Events Bessent added that tariffs on imports of items such as lumber were being implemented on a different track than the reciprocal tariffs that were announced in April and are not part of the current round of trade negotiations. Those tariffs on certain critical sectors, which would be issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, aim to build up domestic capacity for important products and ensure that the country isn't reliant on foreign factories in times of war or shortages. But these sectors -- along with automobiles and steel, on which the Trump administration has already applied national security tariffs -- are also vital industries for America's largest trading partners, like Japan, the European Union and India. These governments have been hesitant to strike a deal with the Trump administration, worried that they only will be hit by more levies down the road. For some foreign governments, these national security tariffs are potentially more concerning than the reciprocal tariffs Trump is threatening to apply to all their U.S. exports. For the EU, tariffs on medicines, the bloc's No. 1 export to America, could be enormously painful. It is unclear whether a trade deal that the United States and the European Union have been drafting will address that issue. Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, has suggested that negotiations should focus on a few key sectors including medical drugs. "We now need rapid joint decisions for four of the five major industries: automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering," Merz said last week, adding that "we don't want the best of the best; we want the most important of the necessary." Pharmaceutical tariffs are also a major threat for India, which the Trump team has consistently been optimistic about striking a deal with. Last year, India exported almost $13 billion worth of drugs, and the United States is its biggest market. For Japan and South Korea, as well as Europe, exports of cars and steel to the United States have been a particular concern. Along with disputes over opening Japan's market to U.S. agriculture, U.S. tariffs on Japanese cars appear to be a thorny obstacle in what U.S. officials presumed would be a relatively smooth negotiation. Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Indonesia could be hit by tariffs on semiconductors and other electronics, including phones and computers. Vietnam and Malaysia could also be hurt by tariffs on lumber and timber, which could cover products like kitchen cabinets. Several foreign governments have tried to negotiate provisions exempting them from other future tariff increases, but it's not clear how lenient the Trump administration will be on national security tariffs. NYT News Service A steel plant in Zelzate, Belgium, in March 2021. The Trump administration has sent some mixed messages about how much it might be willing to lower them; some officials insist they are not up for negotiation. Trump officials have criticised exemptions from global steel tariffs granted to various countries by the Biden administration, saying that they undermined their effectiveness. Trade experts said that giving tariff exemptions would also risk angering labor unions that support them, and undercut the Trump administration's argument that the tariffs must be in place to protect national security. Nick Iacovella, the executive vice president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a trade group that supports tariffs, said that if the administration was "giving away" exemptions on tariffs on critical industries, it was "signalling to everyone that these really aren't national security issues." Privately, Trump officials have said there may be some wiggle room. Notably, the framework agreement that the United States announced with Britain in May included some concessions on national security tariffs on cars and steel. Britain secured an exemption from car tariffs for a volume of exports set at historical levels. That deal, as well as lower levies on aerospace exports such as Rolls-Royce jet engines, came into effect Monday, more than seven weeks after the framework agreement was announced. For most of that time, companies were unsure when lower tariffs would be implemented. However, the agreement to eliminate steel tariffs hasn't been implemented as the two sides negotiate requirements for British steel companies. This arrangement has encouraged Japan, the European Union and others to seek a "U.K.-style deal" to also exempt them from national security tariffs. But some Trump officials say that because the volume of their exports is so large, exemptions would be a major threat to U.S. industry. British exports of cars and steel to the United States were viewed as too limited to be much of a threat. But such exports from Japan, Korea and Europe are substantial. Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, has said privately that the British provisions were not a precedent or framework for other countries, according a person familiar with the remarks. Peter Harrell, a former Biden administration official who is a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the United Kingdom exports about 100,000 cars to the United States each year. But Japan, the European Union and South Korea together exported approximately 3.5 million cars in 2024, a much larger share of the U.S. market. If the president exempted large quantities of these cars, "then it doesn't look like you have a 25% auto tariff anymore," Harrell said. "He'd face political blowback." The Commerce Department and the Office of the United States Trade Representative declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. For now, foreign governments appear wary of making substantial commitments on trade, only to see U.S. tariffs rise or potentially fall. The Trump administration is awaiting the outcome of a significant court case on whether the reciprocal tariffs are lawful. That decision could come this fall. Jake Colvin, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a trade organisation that advocates open trade, said other countries were "looking for certainty" in deals with the Trump administration. But uncertainty continues because investigations under the 232 national security provision are still underway. "Countries do want to make deals with us, but they are not going to agree to anything final until they know the status of the 232 investigations," he said. Part of the confusion is because trade negotiations are being handled by various departments. Greer and his office focus on negotiating tariffs and other trade irritants. But the 232 tariffs fall under the authority of the Commerce Department, which is juggling multiple investigations and other priorities. Some foreign officials have said they have little clarity from the Commerce Department about the likelihood of exceptions. Philip Luck, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said foreign governments were experiencing "a lot of frustration and confusion," in part because countries have been negotiating with multiple officials. They have been hearing different things from different principles, and also been told that all their agreements were contingent on Trump. "There doesn't seem to be anybody in charge," Luck said.
Bangkok Post
2 days ago
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Minister bullish on tariff negotiations
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira is optimistic that the trade negotiations with the US will result in a mutually beneficial agreement. Mr Pichai was scheduled to travel to the US Monday night to negotiate trade-related reciprocal tariff measures with US officials, which are set to take place over the next two days. He acknowledged that this issue is a concern for everyone, especially as the reciprocal tariff measures are approaching a critical stage, with the deadline anticipated to be around July 8. However, Mr Pichai emphasised that negotiations did not just begin recently, noting that discussions have been ongoing for some time, both formally and informally. Several proposals have already been submitted, and this trip is intended to finalise the remaining issues, he said. According to Mr Pichai, Thailand's approach in these negotiations is to prioritise national interests while also taking into account the constraints faced by the US, with the aim of achieving a win-win outcome that aligns with the needs of both sides. In addition to tariff-related matters, the discussions will also address non-tariff barriers, such as regulations, rules and trade-related inconveniences. This presents a good opportunity for Thailand to review and improve its regulations to facilitate smoother import and export operations, he added. According to Mr Pichai, the US Trade Representative (USTR) has held talks with many countries. However, it remains unclear how far those negotiations have progressed, and no country has yet reached a final agreement easily, despite a number of rumours. Therefore, it is believed that in the end, there may be a postponement of the implementation of the new tariff rates, he noted. Regarding Thailand, which is subject to a 36% tariff rate, it has been speculated that the actual rate may be reduced to 18%. Mr Pichai explained that this is merely an academic projection used to assess potential impacts on economic growth, and the actual rate that the US will impose on Thai goods is still unknown, pointing out that the rate could very well be lower than 18%. According to Mr Pichai, Thailand's negotiating position is that, regardless of the rate imposed by the US, the only request is that Thailand not be taxed higher than other countries in order to preserve its competitiveness. He believes that other countries likely share the same sentiment. "If Thailand cannot maintain its competitiveness, it will lead to endless problems. Forming an Asean bloc to negotiate jointly is prohibited, and currently no country has been able to easily conclude negotiations, as detailed discussions often bring new data and additional conditions," he said. A source from the Finance Ministry who requested an anonymity said Mr Pichai was to lead the Team Thailand delegation, comprising representatives from various government agencies, including the Finance Ministry, the Fiscal Policy Office, the Commerce Ministry, the Trade Negotiations Department and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, to Washington last night for the first official negotiations on tax measures between Thailand and the US. During the visit, there will be 2-3 scheduled meetings with US counterparts. One key meeting will be the Thai-US trade negotiation with USTR Jamieson Greer, scheduled for July 3 at 9pm (Thailand time). The main goal is to persuade the US to reduce the retaliatory tariff rate on Thailand from 36% to the lowest possible level.
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Threat of more tariffs hangs over countries negotiating trade deals with the US
Newly manufactured cars of the automobile maker Subaru awaiting export are parked at a port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan. PHOTO: REUTERS Threat of more tariffs hangs over countries negotiating trade deals with the US WASHINGTON – Governments around the world are racing to negotiate trade deals with the United States in order to forestall President Donald Trump's punishing tariffs, which could kick in July 9. But the discussions have been slowed because Mr Trump has threatened to impose more tariffs even if those deals are in place. Mr Trump announced what he refers to as 'reciprocal tariffs' on April 8, which he said were in response to other countries' unfair trading practices. But he agreed to pause those levies for 90 days to give countries time to reach trade deals with the United States. Some administration officials recently suggested that the deadline could be extended but Mr Trump has signalled that he is ready to slap tariffs on countries he views as uncooperative. 'We have countries that are negotiating in good faith, but they should be aware that if we can't get across the line because they are being recalcitrant, then we could spring back to the April 2 levels,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on June 30. India, Vietnam, Japan, the European Union, Malaysia and other governments have been working toward deals that could smooth relations with the United States and avoid double-digit tariffs. But the Trump administration has been moving forward with plans to impose another set of tariffs on certain industries that it views as essential to national security, a threat that has foreign leaders worried there could be more pain ahead. These tariffs are dependent on the outcomes of trade investigations into lumber and timber, copper and critical minerals by the Commerce Department, which are expected to be finalised soon and submitted to the White House, according to people familiar with the matter. A determination that imports pose a national security threat would allow the president to issue tariffs on those products in the coming weeks. Investigations on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and electronic devices are also proceeding and could be finalised in time for tariffs as early as July, the people said. Mr Bessent added that tariffs on imports of items such as lumber were being implemented on a different track than the reciprocal tariffs that were announced in April and are not part of the current round of trade negotiations. Those tariffs on certain critical sectors, which would be issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, aim to build up domestic capacity for important products and ensure that the country isn't reliant on foreign factories in times of war or shortages. But these sectors – along with automobiles and steel, on which the Trump administration has already applied national security tariffs – are also vital industries for America's largest trading partners, like Japan, the European Union and India. These governments have been hesitant to strike a deal with the Trump administration, worried that they only will be hit by more levies down the road. For some foreign governments, these national security tariffs are potentially more concerning than the reciprocal tariffs Mr Trump is threatening to apply to all their US exports. For the EU, tariffs on medicines, the bloc's No. 1 export to America, could be enormously painful. It is unclear whether a trade deal that the United States and the European Union have been drafting will address that issue. Mr Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, has suggested that negotiations should focus on a few key sectors including medical drugs. 'We now need rapid joint decisions for four of the five major industries: automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering,' Mr Merz said last week, adding that 'we don't want the best of the best; we want the most important of the necessary.' Pharmaceutical tariffs are also a major threat for India, which the Trump team has consistently been optimistic about striking a deal with. Last year, India exported almost US$13 billion (S$17 billion) worth of drugs, and the United States is its biggest market. For Japan and South Korea, as well as Europe, exports of cars and steel to the United States have been a particular concern. Along with disputes over opening Japan's market to US agriculture, US tariffs on Japanese cars appear to be a thorny obstacle in what US officials presumed would be a relatively smooth negotiation. Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Indonesia could be hit by tariffs on semiconductors and other electronics, including phones and computers. Vietnam and Malaysia could also be hurt by tariffs on lumber and timber, which could cover products like kitchen cabinets. Several foreign governments have tried to negotiate provisions exempting them from other future tariff increases, but it's not clear how lenient the Trump administration will be on national security tariffs. The Trump administration has sent some mixed messages about how much it might be willing to lower them; some officials insist they are not up for negotiation. Trump officials have criticiSed exemptions from global steel tariffs granted to various countries by the Biden administration, saying that they undermined their effectiveness. Trade experts said that giving tariff exemptions would also risk angering labour unions that support them, and undercut the Trump administration's argument that the tariffs must be in place to protect national security. Mr Nick Iacovella, the executive vice-president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a trade group that supports tariffs, said that if the administration was 'giving away' exemptions on tariffs on critical industries, it was 'signaling to everyone that these really aren't national security issues.' Privately, Trump officials have said there may be some wiggle room. Notably, the framework agreement that the United States announced with Britain in May included some concessions on national security tariffs on cars and steel. Britain secured an exemption from car tariffs for a volume of exports set at historical levels. That deal, as well as lower levies on aerospace exports such as Rolls-Royce jet engines, came into effect on June 30, more than seven weeks after the framework agreement was announced. For most of that time, companies were unsure when lower tariffs would be implemented. However, the agreement to eliminate steel tariffs hasn't been implemented as the two sides negotiate requirements for British steel companies. This arrangement has encouraged Japan, the European Union and others to seek a 'UK-style deal' to also exempt them from national security tariffs. But some Trump officials say that because the volume of their exports is so large, exemptions would be a major threat to US industry. British exports of cars and steel to the United States were viewed as too limited to be much of a threat. But such exports from Japan, Korea and Europe are substantial. Mr Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, has said privately that the British provisions were not a precedent or framework for other countries, according a person familiar with the remarks. Mr Peter Harrell, a former Biden administration official who is a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the United Kingdom exports about 100,000 cars to the United States each year. But Japan, the European Union and South Korea together exported approximately 3.5 million cars in 2024, a much larger share of the US market. If the president exempted large quantities of these cars, 'then it doesn't look like you have a 25 per cent auto tariff anymore,' Mr Harrell said. 'He'd face political blowback.' The Commerce Department and the Office of the United States Trade Representative declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. For now, foreign governments appear wary of making substantial commitments on trade, only to see US tariffs rise or potentially fall. The Trump administration is awaiting the outcome of a significant court case on whether the reciprocal tariffs are lawful. That decision could come this fall. Mr Jake Colvin, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a trade organisation that advocates open trade, said other countries were 'looking for certainty' in deals with the Trump administration. But uncertainty continues because investigations under the 232 national security provision are still underway. 'Countries do want to make deals with us, but they are not going to agree to anything final until they know the status of the 232 investigations,' he said. Part of the confusion is because trade negotiations are being handled by various departments. Mr Greer and his office focus on negotiating tariffs and other trade irritants. But the 232 tariffs fall under the authority of the Commerce Department, which is juggling multiple investigations and other priorities. Some foreign officials have said they have little clarity from the Commerce Department about the likelihood of exceptions. Dr Philip Luck, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said foreign governments were experiencing 'a lot of frustration and confusion,' in part because countries have been negotiating with multiple officials. They have been hearing different things from different principles, and also been told that all their agreements were contingent on Mr Trump. 'There doesn't seem to be anybody in charge,' Dr Luck said. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
