Donald Trump has embarked on a tour of Asia where he is expected to take part in high-stakes trade talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping – telling reporters that he was also open to a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Trump, who left Washington on Friday night, is set for a five-day trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his first to the region since taking office in January. Trump is set to meet Xi on the last day of his trip to seal a deal to end…
Tag: US foreign policy
In the depths of the ocean, a new contest between the US and China emerges
Deep below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the seafloor is dotted with clusters of brown and black rocks, each containing valuable metals. The rocks, known as polymetallic nodules, hold reserves of critical minerals that could be used to power clean energy and fuel a new industrial future. In the Cook Islands, a nation halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, exploration vessels are mapping the mineral-rich seabeds. Here, the US and China are both exploring the resource potential – setting up a new strategic battle between the world’s two most…
Trump in Asia: five key questions as US president prepares for diplomatic tour
Donald Trump is about to embark on a tour of Asia that many hope will ease trade tensions with countries in the region and repair damaged ties with China. Trump will begin his trip on Sunday at a meeting of south-east Asian nations in Malaysia, before flying to Japan to meet its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, early next week. But the most important stop on his itinerary will come at the end of the month, when he is expected to discuss trade, and possibly Taiwan, with Chinese leader Xi…
What are rare earths and critical minerals – explained in 30 seconds
Critical minerals are vital for the global economy and include nickel, manganese and cobalt. Rare earths are a specific, highly useful category of critical minerals that are used to make magnets essential for the auto, electronic and defence industries, as well as in renewable energy. Securing reserves and production of rare earths has become a flashpoint in global diplomacy and trade. Rare earths are a group of 17 heavy metals that are abundant throughout the Earth’s crust. The United States Geological Survey estimated in 2024 there were 110m tonnes of…
US may take strategic stakes in rare earths companies to tackle China ‘power grab’
The Trump administration has criticised China’s increased restrictions on rare earth exports as a threat to global supply chains, and said it would seek to tighten control over strategic sectors by taking more stakes in key companies to counter Beijing. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told an event on Wednesday that China’s dramatic new restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets demonstrated the need for the US to be self-sufficient in critical materials or rely more on trusted allies. He later characterised Beijing’s rare earth export curbs as “China versus the…
US farmers caught in Trump-China trade war – who’ll buy the soybeans?
At the Purfeerst farm in southern Minnesota, the soybean harvest just wrapped up for the season. The silver grain bins are full of about 100,000 bushels of soybeans, which grab about $10 a piece. This year, though, the fate of the soybeans, and the people whose livelihoods depend on selling them, is up in the air: America’s soybean farmers are stuck in the middle of a trade war between the US and China, the biggest purchaser of soybean exports, used to feed China’s pigs. “We are gonna have to find…
Trump ‘ready’ to impose sanctions on Russia if Nato nations stop buying its oil
In Truth Social post, US president also suggests members consider imposing tariffs of 50% to 100% on China Donald Trump has said he is ready to impose sanctions on Moscow, but on the condition that all Nato allies agree to completely halt purchases of Russian oil and implement their own sanctions. He also suggested members of the transatlantic alliance consider imposing tariffs of 50% to 100% on China for its purchases of Russian petroleum as a way to help end the war. Continue reading… The Guardian
The axis of upheaval: inside the 12 September Guardian Weekly
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…
Taiwan has ‘right to remain free’, US senator says in visit criticised by China
A visit to Taiwan by two US senators has drawn criticism from China, which claims the island as its own and objects to any contact between officials of the two sides. The chair of the Senate armed services committee, Roger Wicker, and the Nebraska senator Deb Fischer arrived in Taipei on Friday for a series of high-level meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders. They plan to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security and trade and investment, according to the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de facto embassy in lieu of formal diplomatic…
India’s Modi to meet Xi and Putin on first China trip in seven years as US tariffs bite
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will land in China this weekend for his first visit in seven years – a trip that puts him in the company of Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin just as India’s ties with Washington have soured. Modi’s visit to Tianjin for a regional security summit comes days after the US doubled tariffs on Indian exports to 50%, citing New Delhi’s refusal to stop buying Russian oil. The row has upended years of deepening cooperation between India and the US, built on…