Threats of new duties on China. Trump said yesterday that he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports beginning Tuesday, citing the country’s role in the global fentanyl trade. A duty of that same amount already took effect on Chinese goods earlier this month, which prompted limited Chinese retaliation. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said there were “no winners” in a U.S.-China trade war. Trump’s threat came the same day that Microsoft warned current U.S. export controls on AI chips would lead more countries to turn to China for the technology they need.
Mexico’s mega-prisoner transfer. The Mexican government yesterday sent twenty-nine prisoners to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking and other violations. Several are senior crime bosses, including a man behind the 1985 killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Mexico’s foreign minister was in Washington yesterday trying to head off 25 percent tariffs, which Trump said would go forward for both Canada and Mexico on Tuesday. Trump linked the tariffs to drug trafficking concerns; Canada yesterday launched a new push to intercept drugs entering and leaving the country.
Kurdish leader’s call to disarm. Jailed militant leader Abdullah Öcalan of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) called on his followers yesterday to lay down their weapons. Doing so could mean an end to a more than four-decade-long conflict with Turkey that has killed an estimated forty thousand people. Talks with Turkish politicians preceded Öcalan’s announcement, but it was not clear what Kurdish fighters would get in exchange for disarmament. The commander of the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces celebrated Öcalan’s declaration but said “it has no connection to our forces.”
USAID cuts hit projects worldwide. Health and humanitarian projects around the world received notices yesterday that their U.S. funding was being terminated as part of a Trump administration review of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). More than 90 percent of the agency’s global contracts are being cut. That includes some projects that were initially covered by a waiver for life-saving humanitarian aid, such as work addressing HIV/AIDS. The notices said that top administration officials determined the programs were “not in the national interest,” Reuters reported.
India, EU eye trade deal. In New Delhi, India and the European Union (EU) directed their negotiators to finalize a free trade agreement by the end of this year. It would be “the largest deal of this kind anywhere in the world,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the India-EU strategic partnership is “natural” and has “trust and shared belief in democratic values” at its core.
Thailand deports Uyghurs to China. The UN refugee agency called yesterday’s deportation of forty Uyghur asylum seekers—an action China had requested—a “clear violation” of international law. The men had fled China in 2014 in hopes of reaching Turkey. International outcry over China’s treatment of Uyghurs initially prompted the Thai government to say it would not send them back; human rights groups have warned they could face imprisonment or torture in China. The Thai foreign ministry did not comment on the matter, while a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said that forty Chinese nationals had been legally repatriated.
Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan territory swap. The countries will exchange territory as part of a deal to end a border dispute dating back to the fall of the Soviet Union, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s secret service said. The dispute led to sporadic military clashes over the years. Its resolution comes amid a general improvement in relations between five former Soviet Central Asian countries which also include Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Global biodiversity funding deal. Envoys at UN biodiversity negotiations in Rome signed off on a roadmap for directing $200 billion per year to reverse nature loss by 2030. They agreed to work toward increasing funding from both public and private sources. But the participating countries pushed into the future a decision about whether to keep channeling money through an existing global fund that some poorer countries criticized as overly bureaucratic.
