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Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
World leaders use flattery, patience to handle Trump's erratic diplomacy
If world leaders were teaching a course on how to deal with US President Donald Trump early in his second term, their lesson plan might go like this: Pile on the flattery. Don't chase the policy rabbits he sends running across the world stage. Wait out the threats to see what, specifically, he wants, and when possible, find a way to deliver it. With every Oval Office meeting and summit, the leaders of other countries are settling on tactics and strategy in their pursuit of a working relationship with the emboldened American leader who presides over the world's largest economy and commands its most powerful military. The results were there to see at Nato, where leaders heaped praise on Trump, shortened meetings and removed contentious subjects from the agenda. Given that Trump dominates geopolitics, foreign leaders are learning from each other's experiences dating to Trump's first term, when he reportedly threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance. Among the learnable Trumpisms: He disdains traditional diplomacy. With him, it's "America first," it's superlative and "it's not even close." He goes with his gut, and the world goes along for the ride. They're finding, for example, that the sheer pace of Trump's orders, threats and social posts can send him pinging from the priority of one moment to another. He describes himself as "flexible" in negotiations, such as those in which he threatened big tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China only to back down during talks. And while Trump claimed credit for the ceasefire in the Iran-Israel war, he also has yet to negotiate ending the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza as promised. Trump's threat this week to levy retaliatory tariffs on Spain, for example, "is a mystery to everyone," Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told reporters Thursday during a summit in Brussels. If the tariffs never happen, he said, "It won't be the first time that things don't turn out as bad as they seem at first glance. Or that he changes his mind. I'm not the kind of leader who jumps every time Mr Trump says something." Trump management 101: Discipline vs daddy diplomacy Two summits this month, an ocean apart the Group of Seven in Canada and Nato in The Netherlands illustrate contrasting approaches to the American president on the brink of his sixth month back in office. Meeting in mid-June in Alberta, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed Trump at a press conference by wishing him a happy birthday and adding a smidgen of flattery: "The G7 is nothing without US leadership and your personal leadership of the United States." But when Trump turned partisan, Carney cut off the event, saying: "We actually have to start the meeting." Trump appeared to nod in agreement. But later, on Monday, June 16, he abruptly departed the summit a day early as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensified. Trump ordered US pilots to drop 30,000-pound bombs early Sunday on two key underground uranium enrichment plants in Iran, and by Wednesday announced on social media "a Complete and Total ceasefire." What followed was a 48-hour whirlwind during which Trump veered from elated to indignant to triumphant as his fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement came together, teetered toward collapse and ultimately coalesced. Trump publicly harangued the Israelis and Iranians with a level of pique and profanity that was notable even for him. Chiding the two countries for attacking each other beyond a deadline, he dropped the f-word. Not finished, he then cast doubt on his support for Nato's mutual defence guarantee. Such was the president's mood as he winged toward a meeting of the trans-Atlantic alliance he had disparaged for years. Nato was ready for Trump with a summit set to please him Nato is essentially American, anyway. The Europeans and Canadians cannot function without American heavy lift, air refuelling, logistics and more. Most of all, they rely on the United States for its range of nuclear weapons for deterrence. The June 25 summit was whittled down to a few hours, and one Trump-driven subject: Raising the amount of money the member nations spent on defence to lighten the load carried by the United States. Emphatically not on the agenda: Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine. Trump did, however, meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has climbed his own learning curve on Trump management since Trump berated him in the Oval Office in February. The Ukrainian leader has deployed a conciliatory approach and mirrored Trump's transactional style. The goal, widely reported, was to avoid doing anything that might cause Trump to blow up the event or leave. Trump was invited to stay at the royal palace in The Hague and dine with the royal family. It was expected that most members would endorse the plan to raise their spending targets for their one-for-all defence against Russia. The other Nato ambassadors had told Secretary-General Mark Rutte to deploy his Trump-whispering skills. He sent the president a private, pre-summit text predicting Trump would achieve "BIG" success there, which Trump posted on his own socials for all to see. At the summit, Rutte likened Trump's role quieting the Iran-Israel war to a "daddy" interdicting a schoolyard brawl. "He likes me," Trump explained. Backlash was stiff. Lithuania's former foreign minister called Rutte's approach "the gushings of weakness and meekness.
The Star
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
Japan executes ‘Twitter killer'
The country executed a man dubbed the 'Twitter killer', who murdered and dismembered nine people he met online, in the nation's first enactment of the death penalty since 2022. Takahiro Shiraishi (pic), 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women, after contacting them on the social media platform now called X. He had targeted users who posted about taking their own life, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them. Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Shiraishi's crimes, carried out in 2017, included 'robbery, rape, murder ... destruction of a corpse and abandonment of a corpse'. 'Nine victims were beaten and strangled, killed, robbed and then mutilated with parts of their bodies concealed in boxes, and parts discarded in a garbage dump,' Suzuki told reporters in Tokyo. Shiraishi acted to satisfy 'his own sexual and financial desires' and the murders 'caused great shock and anxiety to society', Suzuki said. Japan and the United States are the only two G7 countries to still use capital punishment, and there is strong support for the practice among the Japanese public, surveys show. Shiraishi was sentenced to death in 2020 for the murders of his nine victims, aged between 15 and 26. After luring them to his small home near the capital, he stashed parts of their bodies around the apartment in coolers and toolboxes sprinkled with cat litter in a bid to hide the evidence. His lawyers had argued that Shiraishi should receive a prison sentence rather than be executed because his victims had expressed suicidal thoughts and so had consented to die. But a judge dismissed that argument, calling Shiraishi's crimes 'cunning and cruel', reports said. 'The dignity of the victims was trampled upon,' the judge had said, adding that Shiraishi had preyed upon people who were 'mentally fragile'. The grisly murders were discovered in autumn 2017 by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had reportedly tweeted about wanting to kill herself. Her brother gained access to her Twitter account and eventually led police to Shiraishi's residence, where investigators found dismembered body parts. Executions are always done by hanging in Japan, where around 100 death row prisoners are waiting for their sentences to be carried out. Nearly half are seeking a retrial, Suzuki said yesterday. Japanese law stipulates that executions must be carried out within six months of a verdict after appeals are exhausted. In reality, however, most inmates are left on tenterhooks in solitary confinement for years, and sometimes decades. There is widespread criticism of the system and the government's lack of transparency over the practice. In 2022, Tomohiro Kato was hanged for an attack that killed seven people in 2008, when he rammed a rented two-tonne truck into a crowd in Tokyo and went on a stabbing spree. The high-profile executions of the guru Shoko Asahara and 12 former members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult took place in 2018. Aum Shinrikyo orchestrated the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo's subway system, killing 14 people and sickening thousands more. — AFP
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump wants Canada's digital services tax gone before trade talks resume
U.S. President Donald Trump says he's ending all trade discussions with Canada to hit back at Ottawa for slapping a tax on web giants — and he wants it removed before negotiations can begin again. Canada and the U.S. have been locked in talks to get Trump to lift his punishing tariffs on Canadian goods, levies that have already led to major economic dislocations, job losses and a drop in southbound exports. Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed at the G7 last week to reach some agreement on the trade dispute within 30 days. Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon, Trump said the U.S. has "such power over Canada," and that he's upset the country is following a taxation strategy similar to Europe's. "It's not going to work out well for Canada. They were foolish to do it," he said of imposing the DST, which was passed into law last year with a delayed application."We're going to stop all negotiations with Canada right now until they straighten out their act," he said. Asked if there's anything Canada can do to appease him, Trump said Ottawa could remove the tax. "They will," he said. "They do most of their business with us. When you have that circumstance, you treat people better." Earlier Friday, Trump posted on social media he may impose some sort of blanket tariff on Canadian goods as retribution for the DST, which will primarily hit U.S. firms since it targets only the biggest earners. Speaking briefly to reporters before Trump's Oval Office comments, Carney said he hadn't talked with Trump that day. "We'll continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interest of Canadians," Carney said. He did not address a reporter's question about whether his government is prepared to drop the DST — something the Business Council of Canada is calling on Ottawa to do in exchange for U.S. tariff relief. Set to take effect on June 30, the DST would have U.S. companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb pay a three per cent levy on revenue from Canadian users. The policy will apply retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2-billion US bill due at the end of the month. These global digital firms are often able to skirt paying taxes in the countries where they operate, and the last Liberal government pitched the DST as a way to bring the tax code up to date and capture revenues earned in Canada by firms located abroad. U.S. long opposed DST It's been a bone of contention between Canada and the U.S. for years, with former president Joe Biden's ambassador to Canada warning during his tenure that, if a DST was enacted, the U.S. would hit back. While Canada and other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries had been discussing some sort of global DST, the Trudeau government decided to move ahead with its own tax rather than wait for co-ordinated action. Carney's finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said last week Ottawa planned to enact the tax even while negotiations with Trump are ongoing. That's what's prompted the president's ire. "We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country," Trump said. WATCH | Foreign Affairs minister on the trade war: As he has done in the past, Trump mischaracterized Canada's tariff regime on U.S. dairy products. The high tariff rates Trump frequently cites are only applied if U.S. exports exceed a set "tariff-rate quota," something that has never happened. Trump's own Department of Agriculture noted earlier this year that almost all agricultural products traded between the United States and Canada are free of tariffs. In an interview with CBC's Power & Politics, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said supply management, which places limits on certain products, including dairy, to ensure stable prices, is a "cornerstone" Canadian economic policy that is "extremely important." Anand said that despite Trump's threats, Canada will push ahead with trying to broker a deal that's in the best interest of workers and businesses, "while at the same time ensuring we diversify our supply chains so we are never again dependent on one economy." She touted the New EU-Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future that Carney brokered with the European Union earlier this week. Trump's abrupt decision to call off negotiations may have caught Canadian officials off guard. Speaking to CBC Radio's The House hours before Trump's post, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada's negotiators "continue to be optimistic about the constructive tone" between the two countries. Still, Candace Laing, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said there have been signs the "tone and tenor of talks has improved in recent months." Trump and Carney have had two friendly meetings in that time, and she hopes to see "progress continue" despite Trump's apparent attempt to derail the talks. "Negotiations go through peaks and valleys. With deadlines approaching, some last-minute surprises should be expected," Laing said.
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Trump Says He's Ending Trade Talks with Canada over Its ‘Egregious' Tax on Technology Firms
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he's suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called 'a direct and blatant attack on our country.' Trump, in a post on his social media network, said Canada had just informed the U.S. that it was sticking to its plan to impose the digital services tax, which applies to Canadian and foreign businesses that engage with online users in Canada. The tax is set to go into effect Monday. 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period,' Trump said in his post. Trump's announcement was the latest swerve in the trade war he's launched since taking office for a second term in January. Progress with Canada has been a roller coaster, starting with the U.S. president poking at the nation's northern neighbor and repeatedly suggesting it would be absorbed as a U.S. state. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday that his country would 'continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interests of Canadians. It's a negotiation.' Trump later said he expects that Canada will remove the tax. 'Economically we have such power over Canada. We'd rather not use it,' Trump said in the Oval Office. 'It's not going to work out well for Canada. They were foolish to do it.' When asked if Canada could do anything to restart talks, he suggested Canada could remove the tax, predicted it will but said, 'It doesn't matter to me.' Carney visited Trump in May at the White House, where he was polite but firm. Trump last week traveled to Canada for the G7 summit in Alberta, where Carney said that Canada and the U.S. had set a 30-day deadline for trade talks. The digital services tax will hit companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb with a 3% levy on revenue from Canadian users. It will apply retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2 billion U.S. bill due at the end of the month. 'We appreciate the Administration's decisive response to Canada's discriminatory tax on U.S. digital exports,' Matt Schruers, chief executive of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a statement. Canada and the U.S. have been discussing easing a series of steep tariffs Trump imposed on goods from America's neighbor. The Republican president earlier told reporters that the U.S. was soon preparing to send letters to different countries, informing them of the new tariff rate his administration would impose on them. Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as 25% tariffs on autos. He is also charging a 10% tax on imports from most countries, though he could raise rates on July 9, after the 90-day negotiating period he set would expire. Canada and Mexico face separate tariffs of as much as 25% that Trump put into place under the auspices of stopping fentanyl smuggling, though some products are still protected under the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement signed during Trump's first term. Addressing reporters after a private meeting with Republican senators Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to comment on news that Trump had ended trade talks with Canada. 'I was in the meeting,' Bessent said before moving on to the next question. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager to obtain. About 80% of Canada's exports go to the U.S. Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said it is a domestic tax issue, but it has been a source of tensions between Canada and the United States for a while because it targets U.S. tech giants. 'The Digital Services Tax Act was signed into law a year ago so the advent of this new tax has been known for a long time,' Beland said. 'Yet, President Trump waited just before its implementation to create drama over it in the context of ongoing and highly uncertain trade negotiations between the two countries.'
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
‘Continue to conduct negotiations': Canada vows calm after Trump's shock exit from trade talks
US President Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada on June 27, calling its digital services tax a 'blatant attack' on US tech giants. Trump threatened new tariffs on Canadian goods within a week, reigniting trade tensions after recent G7 cooperation. Canadian PM Mark Carney vowed to continue negotiations, stressing they're in the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses. Canada is the US's second-largest trading partner, with deep economic ties. Show more Show less
