Africa reacts to Ramaphosa and Trump meeting
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - The recent meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa has raised questions across Africa.
As observers debate its impact on US-Africa relations, economic and political considerations are in focus.
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TimesLIVE
23 minutes ago
- TimesLIVE
Russia and Ukraine to talk about peace but remain far apart
Russian and Ukrainian officials are due to sit down on Monday in the Turkish city of Istanbul for their second round of direct peace talks since 2022, but the two sides continue to be far apart on how to end the war as the fighting steps up. US President Donald Trump has demanded Russia and Ukraine make peace, but so far they have not and the White House has repeatedly warned the US will 'walk away' from the war if the two sides are too stubborn to reach a peace deal. The first round of talks on May 16 yielded the biggest prisoner swap of the war but no sign of peace, or even a ceasefire as the two sides merely set out their opening negotiating positions. After keeping the world guessing on whether Ukraine would turn up for the second round, President Volodymyr Zelensky said defence minister Rustem Umerov would meet Russian officials in Istanbul. The Russian delegation will be headed by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who after the first round invoked French general and statesman Napoleon Bonaparte to assert war and negotiations should always be conducted at the same time. On Sunday, Ukraine launched one of its most ambitious attacks of the war, targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and other military bases, while the Kremlin launched 472 drones at Ukraine, Ukraine's air force said, the highest nightly total of the war.
Daily Maverick
an hour ago
- Daily Maverick
Asia shares, dollar slip as tariff tensions darken mood
Nikkei slips, S&P futures weighed by risk-off mood Dollar down before jobs data, steel levies deadline ECB seen cutting rates, BoC on hold Oil bounces on relief OPEC did not raise output even further By Wayne Cole SYDNEY, June 2 (Reuters) – Asian share markets and the dollar made a soft start on Monday as US-China trade tensions continued to simmer, while investors turned defensive ahead of key US jobs data and a widely expected cut in European interest rates. There was little obvious reaction to President Donald Trump's threat late Friday to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminium to 50%, beginning on June 4, a sudden twist that drew the ire of European Union negotiators. Speaking on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump would soon speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping to iron out a dispute over critical minerals. Beijing then forcefully rejected Trump's trade criticism, suggesting a call might be some time coming. White House officials also continued to play down a court ruling that Trump had overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from U.S. trading partners. 'The court ruling will complicate the path ahead on trade policy, but there remains an ample set of provisions available to the administration to deliver its desired results,' said Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan. 'There is a commitment to maintaining a minimum US tariff rate of at least 10% and imposing further sector tariff increases,' he added. 'An increase in ASEAN to discourage transhipment looks likely, and the bias for higher tariffs on US-EU trade persists.' Markets will be particularly interested to see if Trump goes ahead with the 50% tariff on Wednesday, or backs off as he has done so often before. In the meantime, caution reigned and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan went flat. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.4%, while Hong Kong dropped 2.5%. South Korean stocks edged up 0.2% on hopes a snap presidential election on Tuesday would deliver a clear winner. EUROSTOXX 50 futures dipped 0.2%, while FTSE futures and DAX futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures eased 0.4% and Nasdaq futures lost 0.5%. The S&P had climbed 6.2% in May, while the Nasdaq rallied 9.6% on hopes final import levies will be far lower than the initial sky-high levels. Front-running the tariffs has already caused wild swings in the economy, with a contraction in the first quarter likely turning into a jump this quarter as imports fall back. The Atlanta Fed GDPNow estimate is running at an annualised 3.8% for April-June, though analysts assume this will slow sharply in the second half of the year. Data this week on US manufacturing and jobs will offer a timely reading on the pulse of activity, with payrolls seen rising 130,000 in May while unemployment stays at 4.2%. EYEING UNEMPLOYMENT A rise in unemployment is one of the few developments that could get the Federal Reserve to start thinking of easing policy again, with investors having largely given up on a cut this month or next. A move in September is seen at around a 75% chance, though Fed officials have stopped well short of endorsing such pricing. There are at least 11 Fed speakers on the diary for this week, led by Fed Chair Jerome Powell later on Monday. Fed Governor Christopher Waller did say on Monday that cuts remain possible later this year as he saw downside risks to economic activity and employment and upside risks to inflation from the tariffs. A softer jobs report would be a relief for the Treasury market, where 30-year yields continue to flirt with the 5% barrier as investors demand a higher premium to offset the ever-expanding supply of debt. The Senate this week will start considering a tax-and-spending bill that will add an estimated $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt. Across the Atlantic, the European Central Bank is considered almost certain to cut its rates by a quarter point to 2.0% on Thursday, while markets will be sensitive to guidance on the chance of another move as early as July. The Bank of Canada meets Wednesday and markets imply a 76% chance it will hold rates at 2.75%, while sounding dovish on the future given the tariff-fuelled risk of recession there. Widening rate spreads have so far offered only limited support to the US dollar. 'The greenback remains near the lower end of its post-2022 range and considerably weaker than interest rate differentials would imply,' noted Jonas Goltermann, deputy chief markets economist at Capital Economics. 'Sentiment around the greenback remains negative and it continues to look vulnerable to further bad news on the fiscal and trade policy fronts.' On Monday, the dollar slipped 0.3% on the yen to 143.55, while the euro edged up 0.2% to $1.1370. The greenback even fell 0.2% on the Canadian dollar to 1.3727, getting no tailwind from Trump's threat of 50% tariffs on Canadian steel exports. In commodity markets, gold firmed 0.6% to $3,310 an ounce, having lost 1.9% last week. Oil prices bounced after OPEC+ decided to increase output in July by the same amount as it did in each of the prior two months, a relief to some who had feared an even bigger increase. Brent rose $1.60 to $64.38 a barrel, while US crude gained $1.74 to $62.53 per barrel.
The Citizen
an hour ago
- The Citizen
The poverty that haunts the country
We need to get our economy to grow and create more jobs to close the poverty gap. While we attack each other on social media and in the letters columns of newspapers – over everything from Donald Trump to racism and B-BBEE – the reality is that we are, by our very access to these media, a privileged part of South African society regardless of our colour. But, we don't go to bed hungry every night, like a shocking one in four of our compatriots do. Statistics for last year show that 22.2% of households considered their access to food inadequate or severely inadequate, with the worst food access problems in the Northern Cape (34.3%), the Eastern Cape (31.3%), Mpumalanga (30.4%), and KwaZulu-Natal (23.9%). ALSO READ: Poverty, child labour and violence push boys out of school, says Unesco Those figures – along with the proportion of individuals receiving social grants – are a stark illustration of the poverty that haunts South Africa and of the huge gulf between the haves and the have-nots. The proportion of the population relying on government handouts increased from 12.8% in 2003 to 30.9% in 2019 and surged to 40.1% last year, due to the introduction of the special Covid social relief of distress grant. Many of the poorest households are headed by women, a group in our country likely to be less educated and employable, not to mention being disproportionately high numbers of crime victims. It would be easy for the heartless capitalists to say 'get a job!', when this is simply not possible for many. So that is why it is essential that the government continue to operate this social safety net. Those same capitalists should know that hungry people are angry people and that when they have nothing to lose, violence will mean nothing to them. ALSO READ: World Bank: 2% growth won't ease SA's poverty, unemployment We need to get our economy to grow and create more jobs to close the poverty gap. But we need to stop taxpayers' money, which could save lives, from being looted.
