South Korea's presidential election set to reshape key policies
South Korean liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung is projected to win next week's snap presidential election, a result that could reorient a major U.S. ally on policies ranging from China to nuclear weapons and North Korea. Gabe Singer reports.
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The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
China accuses US of ‘seriously violating' trade war truce
Update: Date: 2025-06-02T06:36:56.000Z Title: Introduction: China accuses US of 'seriously violating' trade truce Content: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. Trade war tensions are on the rise again, as relations between China and the US deteriorate. Beijing has hit back this morning against Washington, accusing the US of 'seriously violating' the trade truce which the two powers agreed in Zurich last month. China's commerce ministry also promised to take forceful measures to safeguard its interests, rejecting a claim from Donald Trump last week that China has 'totally violated' its trade agreement with the US. In a statement, the ministry said: 'The U.S. government has unilaterally and repeatedly provoked new economic and trade frictions, exacerbating uncertainty and instability in bilateral economic and trade relations.' Beijing accused the US of unilaterally introducing new discriminatory restrictions, including new guidelines on AI chip export controls, curbs on chip design software sales to China and the revocation of Chinese student visas, Bloomberg reports. Stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region have dropped today, as investors fret that the détente between the two sides is fraying. Last Friday, the US president – perhaps stung by jibes that Trump Always Chickens Out – declared that China 'HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.', raising fears that the trade war will continue to rattle the global economy. This latest uncertainty is hurting the US dollar. It has slipped against a basket of currencies, with the pound up almost half a cent at $1.35, and the euro gaining a third of a cent to $1.138. The legality of Trump's trade war was also thown into doubt last week, when a US federal court ruled that his 'liberation day' tariff plan is illegal, only for a federal appeals court to temporarily reinstate the tariffs while the case progresses. 9am BST: Eurozone manufacturing PMI for May 9.30am BST: UK manufacturing PMI for May 9.30am BST: Bank of England mortgage approvals and credit conditions data 3pm BST: US manufacturing PMI for May
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Albanese again pushes back on US demand for Australia to increase defence spending to 3.5% of GDP
Anthony Albanese has again sidestepped US calls for Australia to drastically increase its defence budget, now by about $40bn more each year, amid warnings from the Trump administration over China's plans. The US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, met with Australia's defence minister, Richard Marles over the weekend in Singapore as part of the Shangri-la Dialogue. In a readout of the meeting released Monday morning Australian time, Hegseth conveyed that Australia should increase its defence spending to 3.5% of its GDP 'as soon as possible'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Australia is on track to lift defence spending from about $53bn a year, or around 2% of GDP – to an estimated $100bn, or 2.4% of GDP, by 2033-34. An additional annual spend of around $40bn would be required by 2033-34 to reach 3.5% of GDP. Hegseth on Saturday urged countries in Asia to 'share the burden' and lift defence spending to 5% of GDP, warning 'Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific' in a speech at the conference. It followed months after Pentagon undersecretary Elbridge Colby told a US Senate hearing that the US wanted Australia to reach a 3% defence spending threshold. Albanese was asked on Monday to respond to the US's calls for Australia to pour billions more into its defence budget, to meet a higher spending target. The prime minister asked: 'Which one?' 'There's been a range of [spending targets] going forward. What you should do in defence is decide what you need, your capability, and then provide for it. That's what my government is doing,' he said. 'What we need is things that defend us in real terms, and that's what we'll provide.' The prime minister had stood firm on Sunday, saying in response to a similar question about Hegseth's Saturday comments: 'We'll determine our defence policy.' Also speaking on Sunday, Marles said the issue of defence spending was a conversation he was 'totally up for'. 'The Americans have been very clear about wanting to see more from their friends and allies around the world. It's a sentiment that we understand,' Marles said at a press conference in Singapore. 'We have already engaged in the last couple of years in the single biggest peacetime increase in defence expenditure in Australia's history. So we are beginning this journey. We've got runs on the board. 'And indeed, if we look at Aukus, I mean, Aukus is something which is seeing our defence expenditure increase – as it should – and so we actually are taking steps down this path.' In February, Australia paid $US500m ($AUD790m) to the US as part of the first instalment in a total of $US3bn pledged in order to support America's shipbuilding industry. At the time, Marles said Aukus was 'a powerful symbol of our two countries working together in the Indo-Pacific'. Albanese is expected to meet Trump in person for the first time since both leaders were re-elected, on the sidelines of the G7 leaders' summit in Canada this month. The two leaders are expected to discuss defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, as well as the US's doubling of tariffs to 50% on steel and aluminium imports, including from Australia, beginning this week.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Free trade talks between India, Eurasian countries to start this year, Russian official says
NEW DELHI, June 2 (Reuters) - Discussions on a free trade agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Union countries are expected to start this year, Russian Trade Commissioner in India, Andrey Sobolev, said on Monday.
