Brazil police raid former president Jair Bolsonaro's home, headquarters
Police in a statement on Friday said they had issued search warrants ordered by the country's Supreme Court, but did not name Bolsonaro, who governed Latin America's largest country from 2019 to 2022.
Bolsonaro is currently on trial before Brazil's Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023.
The search comes as US President Donald Trump, whose supporters also sought to overturn his election loss in January 2021, has threatened Brazil with 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian goods if Bolsonaro was not granted legal reprieve.
More to come…
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Al Jazeera
33 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
In South Korea, Trump's tariff threats place US love affair under strain
Seoul, South Korea – When Sideny Sim had a chance to visit the United States on business several years ago, it was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. Like many South Koreans, Sim had long admired the US as a cultural juggernaut and positive force in the world. These days, Sim, a 38-year-old engineer living near Seoul, feels no such love towards the country. As US President Donald Trump threatens to impose a 25 percent tariff on South Korea from August 1, Sim cannot help but feel betrayed. 'If they used to be a country that was known to be a leader in culture, the economy and the perception of being 'good,' I feel like the US is now a threat to geopolitical balance,' Sim told Al Jazeera. South Korea and the US share deep and enduring ties. South Korea is one of Washington's closest allies in Asia, hosting about 28,000 US troops as a bulwark against North Korea. The US is home to a larger South Korean diaspora than any other country. But with the return of Trump's 'America First' agenda to Washington, DC, those ties are coming under strain. In a Pew Research Center survey released earlier this month, 61 percent of South Koreans expressed a favourable view of the US, down from 77 percent in 2024. Like dozens of other US trading partners, South Korea is facing severe economic disruption if it cannot reach a trade deal with the Trump administration by the August deadline. The Asian country, which is a major producer of electronics, ships and cars, generates more than 40 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from exports. In addition to sending a letter to South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung outlining his tariff threats, Trump earlier this month also claimed that Seoul pays 'very little' to support the presence of US Forces Korea (USFK). Trump's comments reinforced speculation that he could demand that the South Korean government increase its national defence spending or contributions to the costs of the USFK. After Trump last week told reporters that South Korea 'wants to make a deal right now,' Seoul's top trade envoy said that an 'in-principle' agreement was possible by the deadline. With the clock ticking on a deal, the uncertainty created by Trump's trade policies has stirred resentment among many South Koreans. Kim Hyunju, a customer service agent working in Seoul, said that although her company would not be directly affected by the tariffs, Trump's trade salvoes did not seem fair. 'It would only be fair if they are OK with us raising our tariffs to the same level as well,' Kim told Al Jazeera, adding that the Trump administration's actions had caused her to feel animosity towards the US. 'I can't help but see the US as a powerful nation which fulfils its interests with money and sheer power plays,' Kim said. 'I've always thought of the US as a friendly ally that is special to us, especially in terms of national defence. I know it is good for us to maintain this friendly status, but I sort of lost faith when Trump also demanded a larger amount of money for the US military presence in our country.' Kim Chang-chul, an investment strategist in Seoul, expressed a more sanguine view of Trump's trade policies, even while acknowledging the harm they could do to South Korean businesses. 'The US tariff policy is a burden for our government and businesses, but the move really shows the depth of US decision-making and strategy,' Kim told Al Jazeera. 'Trump wants South Korea to be more involved in the US's energy ambitions in Alaska. It's part of the US pushing for geopolitical realignment and economic rebalancing.' Earlier this year, the US held talks with South Korean officials about boosting US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to South Korea, a major LNG importer. Keum Hye-yoon, a researcher at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), said it has been difficult for a US ally like South Korea to make sense of Trump's comments and actions. 'When Trump cites 'fairness' in his tariff policy, it's based on unilateral expectations of improving the US trade balance or restoring economic strength to certain industries,' Keum told Al Jazeera. 'As allies like South Korea share supply chains with the US and work closely with its companies, disregarding these structures and imposing high taxes will likely create burdens on US businesses and consumers as well.' While Trump's most severe tariffs have yet to come into effect, South Korean manufacturers have already reported some disruption. South Korea's exports dropped 2.2 percent in the first 20 days of July compared with a year earlier, according to preliminary data released by Korea Customs Service on Monday. Kim Sung-hyeok, the head of research at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Labour Institute, said exporters in the auto, steel, semiconductor and pharmaceutical sectors had been especially affected. 'As exports in these fields decreased considerably since the tariff announcements, production orders in domestic factories have declined,' Kim told Al Jazeera. 'Some automotive and steel production lines have closed temporarily, while other manufacturing sites have closed altogether. Voluntary resignations and redeployments have become rampant in some of these workplaces.' Kim said small companies may face the brunt of the tariffs as they are not capable of 'moving their manufacturing plants to the US', or 'diversifying their trade avenues outside of the US'. 'And as major companies face a general decline in exports, these small companies will consequently face a shortage in product delivery volume that will cause employment disputes,' he said. The Korea Development Institute estimated in May that the number of employed South Koreans would increase by just 90,000 this year, in part due to the economic uncertainties, compared with a rise of 160,000 last year. Even before Trump's arrival on the political scene, US-South Korea relations had gone through difficult periods in the past. In 2002, two South Korean middle-school girls were killed when they were struck by a US Army armoured vehicle. After the American soldiers involved in the incident were found not guilty of negligent homicide by a US military court, the country saw an explosion in anti-US sentiment and nationwide protests. In 2008, nationwide protests took place after the South Korean government decided to continue importing US beef despite concerns about the risk of Mad Cow Disease. More recently, President Lee, who was elected in June, has emphasised the importance of maintaining positive relations with China, Washington's biggest strategic rival and competitor. The KIEP's Keum said the US-South Korea relationship has evolved into a partnership where the US has become a 'conditional ally', where 'economic interests take precedence over traditional alliance'. 'The US is increasingly demanding South Korea to cooperate in its containment strategy of China among its other socioeconomic policies,' she said. Keum said that South Korea will need to seek out alternative markets and diversify its exports to mitigate the fallout of Trump's agenda. 'South Korea also doesn't need to act alone. The country can seek joint action with countries such as EU members, Japan and Canada to come up with joint responses to the current predicament,' she said.
Al Jazeera
6 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Southeast Asia's foreign assistance to fall more than $2bn next year
Development financing to Southeast Asia is expected to fall by more than $2bn in 2026 due to recent cutbacks by Western governments, according to a major Australian think tank. The Sydney-based Lowy Institute predicted in a new report on Sunday that development assistance to Southeast Asia will drop to $26.5bn next year from $29bn in 2023. The figures are billions of dollars below the pre-pandemic average of $33bn. Bilateral funding is also expected to fall by 20 percent from about $11bn in 2023 to $9bn in 2026, the report said. The cuts will hit poorer countries in the regions hardest, and 'social sector priorities such as health, education, and civil society support that rely on bilateral aid funding are likely to lose out the most', the report said. Fewer alternatives Cuts by Europe and the United Kingdom have been made to redirect funds as NATO members plan to raise defence spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the shadow of Russia's war on Ukraine. The European Union and seven European governments will cut foreign aid by $17.2bn between 2025 and 2029, while this year, the UK announced it will cut foreign aid spending by $7.6bn annually, the report said. The greatest upset has come from the United States, where earlier this year, President Donald Trump shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and slashed nearly $60bn in foreign assistance. More recently, the US Senate took steps to claw back another $8bn in spending. The Lowy Institute said governments closer to home, like China, will play an increasingly important role in the development landscape. 'The centre of gravity in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing but also Tokyo and Seoul,' the report said. 'Combined with potentially weakening trade ties with the United States, Southeast Asian countries risk finding themselves with fewer alternatives to support their development.' After experiencing a sharp decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese overseas development assistance has started to bounce back, reaching $4.9bn in 2023, according to the report. Its spending, however, focuses more on infrastructure projects, like railways and ports, rather than social sector issues, the report said. Beijing's preference for non-concessional loans given at commercial rates benefits Southeast Asia's middle- and high-income countries, but is less helpful for its poorest, like Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and East Timor. As China and institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank play a more prominent role in Southeast Asia, less clear is how Japan and South Korea can fill in the blanks, according to experts. Japan, South Korea Grace Stanhope, a Lowy Institute research associate and one of the report's authors, told Al Jazeera that both countries have expanded their development assistance to include civil society projects. '[While] Japanese and Korean development support is often less overtly 'values-based' than traditional Western aid, we've been seeing Japan especially move into the governance and civil society sectors, with projects in 2023 that are explicitly focused on democracy and protection of vulnerable migrants, for example,' she said. 'The same is true of [South] Korea, which has recently supported projects for improving the transparency of Vietnamese courts and protection of women from gender-based violence, so the approach of the Japanese and Korean development programmes is evolving beyond just infrastructure.' Tokyo and Seoul, however, are facing similar pressures as Europe from the Trump administration to increase their defence budgets, cutting into their development assistance. Shiga Hiroaki, a professor at the Graduate School of International Social Sciences at Yokohama National University, said he was more 'pessimistic' that Japan could step in to fill the gaps left by the West. He said cuts could even be made as Tokyo ramps up defence spending to a historic high, and a 'Japanese-first' right-wing party pressures the government to redirect funds back home. 'Considering Japan's huge fiscal deficit and public opposition to tax increases, it is highly likely that the aid budget will be sacrificed to fund defence spending,' he said.
Qatar Tribune
8 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Trump's tariff pressure pushes Asia towards American LNG
Agencies Asian countries are offering to buy more U.S. liquefied natural gas in negotiations with the Trump administration as a way to alleviate tensions over U.S. trade deficits and forestall higher tariffs. Analysts warn that strategy could undermine those countries' long-term climate ambitions and energy security. Buying more U.S. LNG has topped the list of concessions Asian countries have offered in talks with Washington over President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on foreign goods. Vietnam's Prime Minister underlined the need to buy more of the super-chilled fuel in a government meeting, and the government signed a deal in May with an American company to develop a gas import hub. JERA, Japan's largest power generator, signed new 20-year contracts last month to purchase up to 5.5 million metric tons of U.S. gas annually starting around 2030. U.S. efforts to sell more LNG to Asia predate the Trump administration, but they've gained momentum with his intense push to win trade deals. Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas cooled to a liquid form for easy storage and transport that is used as a fuel for transport, residential cooking and heating and industrial processes. Trump discussed cooperation on a $44 billion Alaska LNG project with South Korea, prompting a visit by officials to the site in June. The U.S. president has promoted the project as a way to supply gas from Alaska's vast North Slope to a liquefication plant at Nikiski in south-central Alaska, with an eye largely on exports to Asian countries while bypassing the Panama Canal Thailand has offered to commit to a long-term deal for American fuel and shown interest in the same Alaska project to build a nearly 810-mile (1,300-kilometer) pipeline that would funnel gas from The Philippines is also considering importing gas from Alaska while India is mulling a plan to scrap import taxes on U.S. energy shipments to help narrow its trade surplus with Washington. 'Trump has put pressure on a seeming plethora of Asian trading partners to buy more U.S. LNG,' said Tim Daiss, at the APAC Energy Consultancy, pointing out that Japan had agreed to buy more despite being so 'awash in the fuel' that it was being forced to cancel projects and contracts to offload the excess to Asia's growing economies. 'Not good for Southeast Asia's sustainability goals,' he said. Experts say LNG purchasing agreements can slow adoption of renewable energy in Asia. Locking into long-term deals could leave countries with outdated infrastructure as the world shifts rapidly toward cleaner energy sources like solar or wind that offer faster, more affordable ways to meet growing power demand, said Indra Overland, head of the Center for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Building pipelines, terminals, and even household gas stoves creates systems that are expensive and difficult to replace—making it harder to switch to renewables later. 'And you're more likely then to get stuck for longer,' he said. Energy companies that profit from gas or coal are powerful vested interests, swaying policy to favor their business models, he said. LNG burns cleaner than coal, but it's still a fossil fuel that emits greenhouse gases and contributes to climate change. Many LNG contracts include 'take-or-pay' clauses, obliging governments to pay even if they don't use the fuel. Christopher Doleman of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis warns that if renewable energy grows fast, reducing the need for LNG, countries may still have to pay for gas they no longer need. Pakistan is an example. Soaring LNG costs drove up electricity prices, pushing consumers to install rooftop solar panels. As demand for power drops and gas supply surges, the country is deferring LNG shipments and trying to resell excess fuel. Experts said that although countries are signaling a willingness to import more U.S. LNG, they're unlikely to import enough to have a meaningful impact on U.S. trade deficits. South Korea would need to import 121 million metric tons of LNG in a year — 50% more than the total amount of LNG the U.S. exported globally last year and triple what South Korea imported, said Doleman. Vietnam — with a trade surplus with the U.S. twice the size of Korea's — would need to import 181 million metric tons annually, more than double what the U.S. exported last year. Other obstacles stand in the way. The Alaska LNG project is widely considered uneconomic. Both coal and renewable energy in Asia are so much cheaper that U.S. gas would need to cost less than half its current price to compete. Tariffs on Chinese steel could make building building gas pipelines and LNG terminals more expensive, while longstanding delays to build new gas turbines mean new gas power projects may not come online until 2032. Meanwhile, a global glut in LNG will likely drive prices lower, making it even harder for countries to justify locking into long-term deals with the United States at current higher prices. Committing to long-term U.S. LNG contracts could impact regional energy security at a time of growing geopolitical and market uncertainties, analysts said. A core concern is over the longterm stability of the U.S. as a trading partner, said Overland.
