What's behind escalating US air attacks in Yemen?
The Trump administration has escalated US air attacks in Yemen against the Houthis. According to Yemen's Health Ministry, these near-daily raids have killed dozens, including civilians in residential areas. While the Biden administration had already carried out a series of attacks, the Trump administration is significantly ramping up its military response.
The Houthis had launched multiple attacks on shipping in the Red Sea since November 23, 2023. They claim their actions are a way to express solidarity with the Palestinians and condemn Israel's war on Gaza.
Humanitarian conditions in Yemen had already deteriorated due to its 10-year civil war between the Iran-allied Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition. This conflict has reached an impasse in recent years.
So could Trump's escalating attacks enflame regional tensions?
This week on UpFront, Redi Tlhabi speaks with senior policy analyst at the Washington Center for Yemeni Studies, Fatima Abo Alasrar, and political analyst Hussain al-Bukhaiti.
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Qatar Tribune
2 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
US-China trade talks ‘going well' on 2nd day: Howard Lutnick
Agencies Trade talks with China were going well, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday as the two sides met for a second day in London, seeking a breakthrough on export controls that have threatened a new rupture in fragile ties between the superpowers. Having agreed to step back from a full-blown trade embargo at a first round of talks in Geneva in May, the two sides are now seeking agreement after they accused each other of trying to throttle supply chains with a raft of export controls. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday that the U.S. could lift recently imposed export controls on goods such as semiconductors if China sped up the delivery of rare earths and magnets that are crucial to its economy. The blow-up over rare earths, which has sparked alarm in boardrooms and factory floors around the world, came after last month's preliminary deal in Geneva to cut tariffs, which eased investor fears that a trade war would lead to a global slowdown. '(Talks went on) all day yesterday, and I expect them all day today,' Lutnick told reporters. 'They're going well, and we're spending lots of time together.'Trump's shifting tariff policies have roiled global markets, sparked congestion and confusion in major ports, and cost companies tens of billions of dollars in lost sales and higher costs. But markets have made up much of the losses they endured after Trump unveiled his sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April, aided by the reset in Geneva between the world's two biggest economies. The second round of U.S.-China talks, which followed a rare phone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, comes at a crucial time for both economies. Customs data published on Monday showed that China's exports to the U.S. plunged 34.5% in May, the sharpest drop since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impact on U.S. inflation and the jobs market has so far been muted, tariffs have hammered U.S. business and household confidence and the dollar remains under pressure. The two sides, led at the talks by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, with the Chinese contingent helmed by Vice Premier He Lifeng, are meeting at the ornate Lancaster House in the British capital. The talks ran for almost seven hours on Monday and resumed just before 10 a.m. GMT on Tuesday, with both sides expected to issue updates later in the day. The inclusion of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the U.S., is one indication of how central rare earths have become. He did not attend the Geneva talks, when the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other. China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a crucial component in electric vehicle motors, and its decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended global supply chains. In May, the U.S. responded by halting shipments of semiconductor design software, chemicals and aviation equipment, revoking export licences that had been previously issued. Hassett said he expected any export controls from the U.S. to be eased and rare earths released in volume once the two sides had shaken hands in London. But he said any easing would not include the 'very, very high-end Nvidia stuff,' referring to Nvidia's most advanced artificial intelligence chips that have been blocked from going to China over concerns about potential military applications. 'I'm talking about possible export controls on other semiconductors which are also very important to them,' he said.
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
What do we know about the US-China trade deal?
The White House has said a trade deal with China is done and is awaiting the signatures of United States President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. The White House said on Wednesday that the president is currently reviewing the details. Trump announced the deal after days of trade talks between US and Chinese delegations in London, which followed an earlier round of negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland. 'We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,' US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters during the announcement. The deal includes a provision in which China will supply the US with rare earth elements vital to major US companies, particularly in the auto, semiconductor, and smartphone manufacturing sectors. Trump said that minerals would be supplied upfront, but it is unclear what that entails. China has disproportionate control over the rare earth market. It produces 60 percent of the world's rare earth minerals and processes nearly 90 percent of them. That has been a longstanding concern of the US, including during the administration of former President Joe Biden. In February 2024, then US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the US was 'very concerned' about the nation's reliance on China for its supply of critical minerals in an interview with CNBC. Those concerns have been amplified in Trump's second term, especially after he imposed sweeping tariffs – including a 145 percent tariff on China – and added on export control measures for China's chip industry. In April, China's Ministry of Commerce retaliated by imposing export restrictions on these minerals. Under the latest agreement, the US will impose 55 percent tariffs across the board on Chinese goods, down from 145 percent. In return, Beijing will impose a 10 percent tariff on goods it imports from the US, down from 125 percent. The 55 percent US tariff includes a 10 percent baseline tariff – which is currently in legal limbo after a trade court ruled it illegal, a decision that a higher court has temporarily blocked – as well as 25 percent from tariffs dating to Trump's first term and 20 percent related to alleged fentanyl trafficking. The White House has framed the deal as a win, and the tariffs remain higher than when Trump first took office. Experts continue to argue that tariffs act as a tax on US businesses and consumers will ultimately bear the cost, not China. Retailers, including Walmart, have already said they will need to raise prices because of the tariffs. In an earnings call last month, CEO Doug McMillon said, 'Given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.' Walmart sources about 60 percent of its merchandise from China. It's not clear if it will change any of its sourcing plans in the light of the latest deal. The new deal hasn't assuaged the concerns among the small business community. 'For many small businesses that mostly source their parts or products from China, this is a death sentence and will destroy their American dream,' the Main Street Alliance, an advocacy group representing small business interests, said in a publicly released statement in response to the trade deal. Small business owners have also had to implement hiring freezes and pause development due to tariffs on China. Wild Rye, an outdoor apparel brand that previously spoke with Al Jazeera, said this hasn't changed anything. 'It is devastating, 55 percent tariffs are still insane,' Cassie Abel, founder of Wild Rye, told Al Jazeera. She added that because of the previously announced tariffs, anticipatory spending and orders to cater to, it was very challenging for small businesses like hers to find shipping containers to get her existing orders to the US. 'It's really hard to find a container. The chances of getting our product out of China within the 90-day window is basically zero,' Abel said. The deal for a 90 day pause on most tariffs was announced in April and expires July 8. Because the specifics of the trade deal have yet to be made public, it is not clear when the new tariffs will kick in for China. The White House did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for clarification. The deal also includes a concession allowing Chinese students to continue attending US universities, a matter that had not been contested until Trump raised it a few weeks ago. The sudden shift in the US stance on that had left thousands of Chinese students – and the universities they were set to attend or are currently enrolled in – in limbo. Lutnick said that US tariffs on China will not change again and will go into effect as soon as next week, although analysts believe that may be a negotiating tactic. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, believes that despite Lutnick's claims, this will not be the end of tariff negotiations with China. He expects further industry-specific exemptions in the months ahead, similar to the exception for semiconductor chips. 'The tariffs are high, but I believe this is … a starting point. The framework's established, and I'd expect more deals going forward,' Ives said. Adam S Hersch, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, agrees it will lead to more negotiations. 'It seems like the two sides have agreed to postpone facing their deeper disagreements,' Hersch said. Global markets generally responded positively to the news. In London, the FTSE closed up 0.1 percent. The Nikkei in Tokyo closed up 0.6 percent, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 0.8 percent, and Shanghai markets ended the day up 0.5 percent. In the US, markets remained largely flat, balancing optimism from the trade news with the release of new inflation data. Consumer prices increased by just 0.1 percent, which was lower than expected. Analysts say the figure reflects both subdued inflation and consumers scaling back spending, partly due to the uncertainty surrounding trade policy. The S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged after falling by 1 point yesterday. The tech heavy Nasdaq fell by 0.5 percent.
Al Jazeera
9 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Iran threatens to strike US bases if conflict erupts over nuclear programme
Iran's defence minister has said his country would target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out with the United States, as President Donald Trump said he was losing confidence that a nuclear deal would be agreed. Washington and Tehran have held five rounds of talks since April as Trump seeks an agreement that would place constraints on Iran's uranium enrichment. He has threatened to attack Iran if no deal can be agreed. Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Wednesday that Iran would target US military bases in the region if the US attacked it first. 'Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don't come to fruition. If a conflict is imposed on us … all US bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries,' Nasirzadeh told reporters, the Reuters news agency reported. The sixth round of talks is expected later this week, with Trump saying they will take place on Thursday, and Tehran saying they will be held on Sunday in Oman. Trump said that he was growing less confident that a nuclear deal would be reached, in comments in a podcast released on Wednesday. 'I don't know,' the US leader told the podcast Pod Force One on Monday, when asked whether he thought he could strike a deal with Iran. 'I'm less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,' he said. Trump repeated the US position that Iran would be stopped from developing a nuclear bomb, regardless of whether a deal was reached. 'But it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying, it's so much nicer to do it,' he told the podcast. 'But I don't think I see the same level of enthusiasm for them to make a deal.' Iran insists that its nuclear programme is purely for civilian purposes, but Western powers have long expressed fear that Tehran intends to develop a nuclear weapon. In the next round of talks, Iran is expected to deliver its counter to a previous US offer that was rejected by Tehran. The global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is currently meeting in Vienna, where it is poised to vote on a resolution to censure Iran over accusations it has failed to comply with nuclear non-proliferation obligations. Iran has promised a 'proportionate' response to any action against it by the watchdog or Western powers. Russia has also called for greater efforts to find a resolution to the nuclear issue. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees arms control and US relations, said on Wednesday that Moscow could provide practical help to strike a solution, offering that Russia could remove nuclear material from Iran to be converted into civilian reactor fuel. 'We are ready to provide assistance to both Washington and Tehran, not only politically, not only in the form of ideas that could be of use in the negotiation process, but also practically,' Ryabkov told reporters, according to Reuters. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also weighed in on the impending talks, stressing that Iran did not wish to develop nuclear weapons, and calling for the continuation of its enrichment programme under the supervision of the IAEA. 'President Trump entered office saying that Iran should not have nuclear weapons. That is actually in line with our own doctrine and could become the main foundation for a deal,' Araghchi wrote on X. 'As we resume talks on Sunday, it is clear that an agreement that can ensure the continued peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program is within reach — and could be achieved rapidly,' he wrote. 'That mutually beneficial outcome relies on the continuation of Iran's enrichment program, under the full supervision of the IAEA, and the effective termination of sanctions.' President Trump entered office saying that Iran should not have nuclear weapons. That is actually in line with our own doctrine and could become the main foundation for a deal. As we resume talks on Sunday, it is clear that an agreement that can ensure the continued peaceful… — Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 11, 2025Another major sticking point in the talks has been Iran's missile programme, which would be used in the delivery of any nuclear weapon. Nasirzadeh also said on Wednesday that Iran had successfully tested a missile carrying a 2,000kg (4,410lb) warhead last week. He did not specify whether this was a variant of the Khorramshahr ballistic missile – Iran's longest-range projectile that can travel over 2,000km (1,240 miles) – or a new model, or provide further details about the missile. During his first White House term from 2017-2021, Trump pulled the US out of a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed limits on Tehran's uranium enrichment drive in exchange for relief from sanctions.
