Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the White House’s latest trade deals, China’s anger over U.S. and Japanese support for Taiwan, and a massive Russian assault on Kyiv.
Lowering Tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump this week secured five new trade deal frameworks to reduce U.S. costs of living, foster greater foreign investment, and address Washington’s trade deficits with other nations. Whether these deals will be enough to reduce high U.S. grocery prices and counter Chinese competition on critical minerals, though, is still to be seen.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the White House’s latest trade deals, China’s anger over U.S. and Japanese support for Taiwan, and a massive Russian assault on Kyiv.
Lowering Tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump this week secured five new trade deal frameworks to reduce U.S. costs of living, foster greater foreign investment, and address Washington’s trade deficits with other nations. Whether these deals will be enough to reduce high U.S. grocery prices and counter Chinese competition on critical minerals, though, is still to be seen.
On Friday, the United States reached a dual trade deal with Switzerland and Liechtenstein that will lower tariffs from 39 and 37 percent, respectively, to 15 percent. The new rate, set to take effect within the next few weeks, is expected to offer much-needed relief to Bern, which received one of the highest U.S. duties in the world; Switzerland’s initial 39 percent levy was more than double the rate that Washington imposed on the European Union.
Trump justified his particularly high tariffs on Switzerland by pointing to the nation’s nearly $40 billion goods trade surplus with the United States in 2024. To address this, Bern committed on Friday to invest $200 billion during Trump’s second term in key U.S. industries such as pharmaceuticals and gold smelting. Of that, $70 billion is set to be invested next year. Switzerland also vowed to reduce import duties on U.S. industrial products, seafood, and agricultural goods “that Switzerland considers non-sensitive,” and it pledged to buy more Boeing commercial aircrafts.
That deal came one day after Washington struck similar frameworks with four Latin American nations: Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, and El Salvador. These deals will keep overall U.S. tariffs of 10 percent on Argentina, Guatemala, and El Salvador and 15 percent on Ecuador, but they will remove U.S. duties on some select goods.
“You will see, for Ecuador for example, bananas is something they want to ship to us, so we expect tariffs will come off bananas,” a senior Trump administration official told the Financial Times, adding that levies could also be reduced on Latin American-exported coffee. Tariffs on textile and apparel products from Guatemala and El Salvador will also be lowered.
U.S. imports of Argentine beef, which originally faced a 10 percent tariff, are expected to now be exempted, though the United States likely won’t change its quota to expand the amount of Argentine beef entering the country. The beef exception highlights Trump’s friendly relationship with far-right Argentine President Javier Milei, whose country Trump gave a $40 billion bailout to despite anger from his fellow Republicans.
As part of the U.S. deals, all four Latin American countries also promised to refrain from imposing digital service taxes, which seek to regulate tech competition in a manner similar to the EU’s Digital Markets Act. They also committed to addressing intellectual property disputes and raising food, health, and safety standards. According to one administration official, the frameworks also included provisions related to critical minerals, which Trump is hoping to secure U.S. dominance over in an effort to curb China’s influence in the region.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Support for Taiwan. The U.S. Defense Department approved a $330 million sale of parts for fighter jets and other aircraft to Taiwan on Thursday to “improve the recipient’s capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of the recipient’s fleet.”
The sale, which is due to take effect next month, is the first U.S. arms sale to Taiwan in Trump’s second term. Beijing was quick to condemn the purchase, calling issues concerning Taiwan “the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations.” Beijing does not recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty and has repeatedly lambasted foreign powers that maintain relations with the island. Although Washington has formal ties with Beijing and only maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan, the United States is the island’s most important arms supplier.
In a similar vein, China warned Japan on Friday that Tokyo would suffer a “crushing defeat” if it were to use its forces to intervene over Taiwan. The threat comes after newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament last week that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could be a “survival-threatening situation” that triggers a military response from Tokyo. The comments sparked a diplomatic row, with China’s consul general in Osaka posting (and then deleting) a statement on X warning that “the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off” and both countries summoning each other’s ambassadors.
Deadly assault on Kyiv. Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine on Friday, killing at least six people and injuring around 35 others. The assault, which focused mostly on Kyiv but also hit the Odesa and Kharkiv regions, saw about 430 drones and 18 missiles target civilian and energy infrastructure, including high-rise apartment buildings. This was a “specially calculated attack to cause as much harm as possible to people and civilians,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Despite Ukraine successfully using U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to intercept 14 of the missiles, heavy damage was still reported, with Friday’s operation being Russia’s biggest one on Kyiv in almost three weeks. The attack sparked fierce condemnation from Ukraine’s Western allies. Notably, though, Azerbaijan also denounced the assault after a Russian Iskander missile damaged the country’s diplomatic compound in Kyiv.
Moscow maintains that its forces do not target civilians, with the Russian Defense Ministry describing Friday’s attack as having been on “military-industrial and energy facilities.” Russia has repeatedly carried out assaults on Ukrainian oil and energy infrastructure ahead of what is expected to be another brutal winter, and a recent Ukrainian corruption investigation has found that alleged graft among Kyiv’s elite may have hindered the country’s ability to defend itself against these attacks.
Threats to maritime shipping. Iranian authorities seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. According to a U.S. official, the vessel—named Talara and carrying high-sulfur gasoil—was en route from the United Arab Emirates to Singapore when it was intercepted. This was Tehran’s first such interdiction in the narrow, strategic waterway in months; 20 percent of all global oil transports travel through the strait, which feeds into the Persian Gulf.
Iran has in the past threatened to close off the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for or to deter actions by its adversaries, though it has never followed through on the threat. “The Iranian government may be many things, but it’s not so stupid as to harm shipping at its doorstep—at least, not before it has exhausted every other option,” FP columnist Elisabeth Braw argued in June.
What in the World?
The African Union on Sunday called for international intervention in Mali over an ongoing blockade of what resource by an al Qaeda-linked group?
A. Medicine
B. Fuel
C. Food
D. Water
Odds and Ends
As Chileans gear up for the first round of the country’s presidential election on Sunday, candidates are doing everything in their power to shore up last-minute support. Leftist Jeannette Jara and right-wing José Antonio Kast are neck-and-neck in the polls, but center-right candidate Evelyn Matthei is trying to appeal to younger voters by releasing a cringy yet catchy trap music video. The popular hip-hop subgenre usually features heavy bass drums and bopping hi-hats—and, in this case, scathing critiques of Matthei’s political opponents.
And the Answer Is…
B. Fuel
The blockade in the capital, Bamako, has also led to the temporary closure of schools and businesses, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi writes in Africa Brief.
To take the rest of FP’s weekly international news quiz, click here, or sign up to be alerted when a new one is published.
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