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Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
Chile will ask U.S. to include copper within U.S.-Chile trade deal
SANTIAGO, July 28 (Reuters) - Chile expects U.S. copper tariffs to be discussed within broader U.S. trade talks in Washington this week, Finance Minister Mario Marcel said on Monday in an interview with local radio program Duna. Marcel added that Chile would ask for any tariffs to be included within a broader trade agreement with the United States. President Trump's administration has said it will impose 50% tariffs on copper imports as of August 1. Chile is the world's top supplier of the red metal and is also the biggest provider of refined copper to the U.S., although it sends much higher volumes to China. Monday marks the start of a third round of talks between Chilean officials and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. "What we hope is that these conversations we're starting today in Washington will also cover the issue of copper," Marcel said. "Because it wouldn't be very useful for us to have a trade agreement that excludes more than half of our exports to the U.S., such as copper and wood." When asked if Chile would seek an exemption to the U.S. copper tariffs imposed by Trump, the minister said they would seek for any tariffs to be included in a broader trade pact. "We want it to be part of the agreement, within the broader commercial discussions with Chile — not something handled separately — because it's a very central issue," the minister said. Marcel noted that other countries have included exemptions and carve-outs in their trade agreements.
Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
A secret foreign army is already here. Bombshell national security reports reveal insidious plan to tear America apart
A secret foreign army is already here. Bombshell national security reports reveal insidious plan to tear America apart Atlanta's main airport grinds to a halt when drones are seen buzzing in the sky. Hours later, Chicago goes dark after a power substation mysteriously catches fire. San Diego officials were already struggling to control an oil spill on the Coronado. Faucets have run dry in Denver due to a contaminated reservoir. Then, a racist TikTok meme inspires a mass shooting in Minnesota, a cyberattack briefly shutters the Nasdaq exchange, and armed immigrants storm the Eagle Pass border post in Texas. No, this isn't the opening sequence to a Hollywood movie — these are the nightmare scenarios in two bombshell reports from America's top national security think tanks. Sandor Fabian, at the Modern War Institute, and RAND Corporation's Ian Mitch, paint a terrifying picture of the growing web of Chinese agents, often passing for students and businesspeople, deployed on US soil. They've been in the US for years, silencing dissidents among the Chinese diaspora. But this 'secret army' can be redirected to acts of sabotage if US-China relations turn nasty, the scholars warn. 'The ways available for China to inflict serious physical and psychological damage on the US homeland and population in case of war are only limited by Beijing's imagination,' says Fabian, a former commando. Another caravan of immigrants heads to the US border, only in this scary scenario, it's armed and directed by a foreign adversary The US federal government faces a 'significant challenge' because our society is already a tinder box of racial and political differences ready to be lit by foreign psy ops, he adds. The reports are a clarion call for tighter security at power plants, airports, data centers and other potential targets, and more intelligence officers to counter the growing menace. China's embassy in Washington DC in a statement told the Daily Mail that the reports were 'groundless and malicious smear attacks', asserting that Beijing is committed to 'peaceful development' and does not interfere in other countries' affairs. Fabian and Mitch do not envisage an all-out war involving nuclear weapons between the US and China. Instead, they imagine a conflict playing out between the two superpowers 6,000 miles away in the Indo-Pacific. In that scenario, China could launch non-conventional attacks from within the US that it could plausibly deny, so as not to escalate into a nuclear war. The reports come amid deepening tensions between the two economic powerhouses, and credible reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered his forces to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. The US has defense ties with the self-governing Island, which Beijing views as a wayward province. A Chinese assault or naval blockade of Taiwan could quickly spiral into a conflict between the US and China, experts say. Still, a US-China war is by no means a certainty, and both countries conduct wide-ranging talks on everything from trade disputes to developing norms on artificial intelligence and combating terrorism. Fears about clandestine operations on US soil came to a head in June, when a Chinese researcher in Michigan and her boyfriend were charged with smuggling a biological pathogen that ravages crops into the US. Even small drones flying close to an airport have forced closures that cause millions of dollars of damage Yunqing Jian, 33, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan and member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), allegedly smuggled a pathogen into the US The fungus, Fusarium graminearum, is classified in scientific literature as an agroterrorism weapon Chinese-American academic Wang Shuju posed as a pro-democracy activist while feeding information to Beijing China-aligned groups launched coordinated raids on anti-Beijing protesters during President Xi Jinping's 2023 visit to California An oil spill, like this one in southern California, is among the unconventional attacks that could be deployed Yunqing Jian, 33, a University of Michigan postdoctoral fellow and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member, and her partner, were caught at an airport with a dangerous fungus known as Fusarium graminearum. They were charged with smuggling and lying to investigators. FBI Director Kash Patel called it a 'sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions.' Jian's arrest raised troubling questions about the roughly 280,000 Chinese students enrolled at US universities, and spotlights a series of shockers on US soil that can be traced back to Beijing. Chinese-American scholar Shujun Wang was in 2024 convicted of posing as a pro-democracy activist, but in reality gathering information on dissidents and feeding their details to Beijing. He famously burned down an artwork depicting Xi's head as a coronavirus molecule at a sculpture park in the Mojave Desert in July 2021. Chinese operatives have meanwhile been caught running alleged political smear campaigns and monitoring dissidents in the US with spying gear and GPS trackers. New Yorker Chen Jinping faces jail for running a bootleg police station for the Chinese government in Manhattan, to which he pleaded guilty in December 2024. During Xi's visit to San Francisco in 2023, China-aligned groups launched coordinated raids on anti-Beijing protesters, attacking them with flagpoles and chemical sprays, and tossing sand in their eyes. Chen Jinping and and others were arrested for allegedly operating a Chinese 'secret police station' in Manhattan's Chinatown The surreptitious 'police station' in lower Manhattan was used to monitor and harass US-based dissidents US authorities meanwhile have tracked dozens of incidents in which Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, attempted to access military bases and other sensitive sites — perhaps probing security and laying plans for future attacks. House Republicans took action this week, introducing a bill to end the CCP's grip on American farmland. Chinese entities have in recent years bought up 265,000 acres of American agricultural land, official figures show. Some of it is near sensitive military sites, stoking fears that the purchases could be used to stage military operations in the future. US officials have already quietly busted dozens of espionage rings in recent years. But experts say that's just the tip of the iceberg. Mitch, a former Department of Homeland Security intelligence officer, says China has built up a 'deep bench' of spies, sources, and contacts in the US chiefly aimed at silencing and harassing critics of its government. All the while, he adds, they are 'developing the skills to physically sabotage critical infrastructure during a conflict.' Fabian says the US homeland is far more vulnerable than most people — and policymakers — want to believe. From drone attacks and cyber sabotage to manipulated mass protests and chaos at the border, he says the nightmare scenarios are endless. He outlines a disturbing future: one where Chinese operatives exploit deep divisions in US society, weaponize immigration flows, crash critical infrastructure, and use social media to turn Americans against each other. Overseas Chinese got out their flags to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping during his 2023 visit to California Homeland security agents prepare for drone strikes on LAX and other major airports He points to real-world examples — fishing boats cutting undersea cables, drones grounding commercial planes, and malware shutting down gas pipelines — as proof of how low-tech or deniable attacks can cause massive disruption with minimal effort. Among his most alarming predictions: Cyberattacks on healthcare systems, financial networks, and power grids — causing mass panic and long-term service outages. Drone incursions over military bases and airports, with the potential for sabotage, surveillance, or deadly strikes. Proxies and manipulated protests inflaming racial and political tensions — potentially sparking riots and civil unrest. Weaponized immigration, using mass migration flows to overwhelm federal agencies, spark political outrage, and ignite violence. Social media manipulation, including deepfakes, fake news, and foreign-controlled algorithms aimed at dividing Americans and paralyzing national unity. Both researchers warn that America's intelligence teams are overstretched. The FBI in 2020 revealed that about half of its caseload of 5,000 counterintelligence probes related to China. That has likely increased in the past five years, even as agents have been transferred to the immigration enforcement beat. For Fabian, Washington must not only bolster security at soft targets and expand intelligence operations — but also wake up the American public to the chilling threats their enemies may already be plotting. 'It is time to begin developing a total defense approach to preparing American society, not just the military, for the realities of a future war,' he said. A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington strongly rejected the claims in the reports. 'The articles are groundless and malicious smear attacks against China. We firmly oppose it,' the spokesperson said in a statement. 'China is committed to the path of peaceful development. We never pose a threat to any country, nor do we interfere in other countries' internal affairs.' Instead, added the spokesperson, China and the US have a 'shared responsibility for safeguarding peace and cooperation, and no reason for conflict and confrontation.'
The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
US justice department sued over release of legal memo regarding Trump's luxury jet gift from Qatar
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is facing a federal lawsuit for refusing to release a legal memorandum that reportedly cleared the way for Donald Trump's acceptance of a $400m luxury aircraft from Qatar's government. The Freedom of the Press Foundation, represented by watchdog group American Oversight, filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in Washington DC's federal district court after the justice department failed to produce the document despite granting expedited processing more than two months ago. The president's 'deal to take a $400m luxury jet from a foreign government deserves full public scrutiny – not a stiff-arm from the Department of Justice', American Oversight's executive director, Chioma Chukwu, said in a press release. 'This is precisely the kind of corrupt arrangement that public records laws are designed to expose.' The case revisits Trump's decision to accept the extravagant foreign gift: a luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner dubbed a 'palace in the sky'. Before the president's frustrated base would start to call for the release of all Jeffrey Epstein files, followed by renewed scrutiny of the convicted sex offender's friendship with Trump, what came to be known as 'Qatar-gate' was one of the first symbols of the new administration that even stalwart Trump allies shook their heads at when the deal first emerged in May. At the time, the US senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, warned the aircraft 'poses significant espionage and surveillance problems'. The senator Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said she would 'be checking for bugs'. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, also a Republican, called accepting foreign gifts 'never a good practice' that 'threatens intelligence and national security'. Democratic US House member Ritchie Torres called it a 'flying grift' that violates the constitution's emoluments clause prohibiting federal officials from accepting valuable foreign presents without congressional approval. The memo at the center of the lawsuit was reportedly signed by the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, in May, concluding that accepting the aircraft was 'legally permissible', and the White House accepted the jet just days after it was completed. Bondi previously worked at Ballard Partners as a lobbyist for Qatar, a Gulf country that the Biden administration labeled a 'major non-Nato ally' in 2022. The aircraft is set to be retrofitted as a replacement Air Force One at significant taxpayer expense before ultimately being transferred to Trump's private presidential library foundation when he leaves office. Aviation experts told NBC News at the time that converting the 13-year-old commercial jet into a functional Air Force One would cost well over $1bn and might only be completed after Trump's presidency ends. The timing has raised additional concerns, coming shortly after the Trump Organization secured a deal with Qatar for a luxury resort and golf course development outside Doha, the country's capital. Questions persist about whether Qatar initiated the aircraft offer or responded to approaches from Trump's team. The Freedom of the Press Foundation submitted its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on 15 May. But the press release says the justice department estimated it would take more than 600 days to fulfill despite granting expedited processing. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion No documents have been released and no updated timeline has been provided. 'It shouldn't take 620 days to release a single, time-sensitive document,' said Lauren Harper, Freedom of the Press Foundation's chair on government secrecy. 'The government's inability to administer FOIA makes it too easy for agencies to keep secrets.' The Department of Justice did not respond to the Guardian's request for comment.
