Category: Media Library

Japan confronts the increased price of US friendship

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world There were several moments during Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa’s celebratory joint video statement last week where you wondered if Japan’s chief trade negotiator was speaking of his own free will. “You . . . think about what was good for Japan. I really felt so . . . You are a very nice guy for me and also for the Japanese people and Japan,” said Akazawa, praising the successful conclusion of trade talks and beaming…

Mexico to slap 50% tariff on Chinese cars under US pressure

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world Mexico is slapping a 50 per cent tariff on Chinese cars, in a blow to Beijing as its biggest auto buyer tries to preserve a free trade deal with the United States. Washington has put heavy pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to stamp out Beijing’s growing influence in the country’s economy, which has recorded a years-long climb in Chinese imports and investment. The measure is buried in…

Dramatic footage shows 67 cargo cases toppling off ship into California port

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Dramatic footage has captured the moment that more than 60 containers toppled off a cargo ship on Tuesday morning in the Port of Long Beach, one of the busiest ports in the US. The shipping containers fell off a vessel named the Mississippi shortly before 9am at the port, located about 20 miles (32km) south of Los Angeles. Video on social media showed a huge stack of containers tumbling overboard and into the waters below. No injuries have been reported, according to a Port of Long Beach spokesperson, Art Marroquin.…

The axis of upheaval: inside the 12 September Guardian Weekly

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Xi Jinping had been waiting for the right moment to serve notice of China’s growing might and influence to the rest of the world, and the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war provided the Mao-suited Chinese leader with the perfect opportunity. Last week’s bombastic (or should that be bomb-tastic?) military parade in Beijing – in the presence of Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un and a host of other global strongmen – was intended as a show of force and stability to contrast sharply with the chaotic unpredictability…

Youthful anger at political ‘nepo babies’ drives Nepal protests

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. When Nepali youth took to the streets this week in protests sparked by a government ban on leading social media platforms, among the biggest targets of their ire were the allegedly wealthy children of the nation’s political elite. For weeks before the ban, videos were circulating on social media purporting to show the expensive cars, handbags and vacations enjoyed by politicians’ offspring with hashtags such as #NepoKid and #NepoBabies. The…

Hong Kong legislature rejects bill on same-sex partnerships

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Lawmakers in Hong Kong on Wednesday roundly rejected a bill that would have granted limited recognition to same-sex partnerships in the city, disappointing backers in the LGBTQ+ community. Opposition was staunch: of the lawmakers present, 71 voted against the measure, 14 supported it and one abstained. The legislation, unveiled by the government in July, would have created a registration system that would allow same-sex couples with unions that are legal in overseas jurisdictions access to rights such as hospital visitation. The measure followed a 2023 ruling in Hong Kong’s top…

Singapore’s next strategic bet: green finance

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This article is an on-site version of our Moral Money newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered twice a week. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters. Visit our Moral Money hub for all the latest ESG news, opinion and analysis from around the FT Welcome back. A new Rhodium Group analysis on the US energy outlook has just dropped, estimating that the Trump administration’s policies could cut the pace of national decarbonisation by as much as half over the…

Trump reportedly asks EU to impose 100% tariffs on India and China to put pressure on Russia

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Donald Trump has asked the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China as part of an effort to force the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to end the war in Ukraine, according to reports. The US president made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia on Tuesday, according to the Financial Times, BBC and Bloomberg, who cited multiple sources familiar with the discussions. One US official reportedly said that the Trump administration was “ready to…

Hyundai: the carmaker caught in the storm over US immigration raids

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Two weeks before a high-profile immigration raid on its facilities in Georgia, Hyundai Motor’s chair was in Washington with a host of South Korean business magnates and US executives to trumpet their countries’ “manufacturing renaissance partnership”. “Just as US support helped Korea rise from the ruins of war to become a manufacturing powerhouse, it is now our turn to contribute to America’s industrial revival,” South Korea’s leftwing President Lee Jae Myung told a reception held to celebrate Korean companies’ pledge of $150bn in new investment in the US. Now the…

China slips back into deflation as economy shows signs of cooling

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s consumer prices slipped into deflation in August, adding to signs that the world’s second-largest economy is losing momentum after exports grew more slowly last month. The official consumer price index contracted 0.4 per cent year on year last month, official data showed on Wednesday, a sharper fall than the 0.2 per cent decline forecast in a Bloomberg poll of analysts. CPI was flat in July. China’s producer prices index,…