Philippine president meets US defence chief, secretary of state ahead of talks with Trump
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Straits Times
12 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump says Russia faces tariffs in 10 days if no progress on ending Ukraine war
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia "10 days from today" if Moscow showed no progress toward ending its more than three-year-long war in Ukraine. Trump first announced on Monday that he was shortening the initial 50-day deadline he set a month ago for action from Moscow, and mentioned a new deadline of 10 to 12 days. On Tuesday, he told reporters he had not heard a response from Russia. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said he was not worried about the potential impact of Russian sanctions on the oil market or prices, vowing to boost domestic oil production to offset any impact. "I don't know if it's going to affect Russia, because (Russian President Vladimir Putin) wants to, obviously, probably keep the war going," Trump said. "But we're going to put on tariffs and the various things that you put on." The U.S. president, who has in the past spoken about having a good relationship with Putin, has grown increasingly frustrated with Moscow's refusal to agree to a ceasefire. The fresh deadline suggests Trump is prepared to move forward on his threat of sanctions, after previously hesitating on doing so. Speaking in Scotland on Monday, he threatened sanctions on both Russia and buyers of its exports - also known as secondary sanctions - unless progress is made. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that he raised the issue of secondary sanctions with Chinese officials during two days of bilateral talks this week. He said he told Chinese officials that Beijing could face high tariffs if it continued its Russian oil purchases. In a post on X, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of Putin, said Trump was playing "a game of ultimatums" that could lead to a war involving the United States. Trump, who is also struggling to achieve a peace deal in Gaza, has touted his role in ending conflicts between India and Pakistan as well as Rwanda and Congo. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump campaigned on a promise to end Russia's conflict with Ukraine in a day. REUTERS
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Displaced Cambodians return home after Thailand truce
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox KOUK KHPOS, Cambodia - As Cambodia and Thailand's ceasefire held on July 29, Lat Laem hared back home – one of the first evacuees to return to the frontier since deadly cross-border clashes sent more than 300,000 people fleeing. The territorial conflict, which ignited into open combat on July 24, stems from an obscure cartographical dispute dating back decades, and the truce was sealed after interventions from world leaders including US President Donald Trump. Back in his Cambodian village of Kouk Khpos – about 10 kilometres from the Thai border – 30-year-old farmer Lat Laem is grateful for his homecoming, and more quotidian concerns. 'I feel happy to be back to my newly built home so I can clean the floor,' he told AFP, after a two-hour trip trailing his family home on a tractor through shuttered villages and empty streets. Lat Laem said he was working in his rice field when the first blasts broke out, heralding the start of fighting that was waged with artillery, rockets, jets and ground troops. At least 43 people have been killed on both sides in the deadliest clashes in years over a scattering of ancient contested temples on Thailand and Cambodia's 800-kilometre border. The truce came into effect at midnight on July 28, and while Thailand accused Cambodia of violating the pact with skirmishes, peace has generally prevailed. Hope intact When the strikes started raining down around his home, Lat Laem says he took refuge in his brother's bunker – built because border residents are accustomed to sporadic strife. He was initially reluctant to abandon his simple white home, so recently constructed that he has yet to hold a house-warming. When the drumbeat of blasts became too much to bear, he fled – joining around 140,000 others in Cambodia, and 180,000 more in Thailand who were forced to quit their homes. He left with his wife and daughter, his sister-in-law and her children on a tractor-drawn wagon known locally as an 'iron cow' – piled with a few scant belongings including cooking gear and a fan – and headed to a shelter 50 kilometres away. While they were gone the border was scarred by destruction, as both sides traded fire and allegations about the use of cluster bombs, the targeting of civilian homes and even of hospitals. Evacuated far from his prized property, Lat Laem was consumed by anxiety it would be claimed by the conflict. 'I was worried that my house that I spent all that money to build might be damaged – that would upset me,' said Lat Laem. 'I could not sleep.' But pacing the perimeter of his own patch of land back near the contested frontier he confirms it is free of shrapnel scars – totally undamaged by the turmoil. 'It was not hit, it is intact,' he marvelled. 'Now I am happy that it is all good.' AFP
Straits Times
4 hours ago
- Straits Times
IMF lifts 2025 growth forecast on 'fragile' easing in trade tensions
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The IMF expects the world economy to expand 3.1 per cent in 2026 from the 3 per cent it earlier predicted. WASHINGTON – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its global growth forecast on July 29 as efforts to circumvent US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs sparked a bigger-than-expected surge in trade, while Mr Trump stepped back from some of his harshest threats. The IMF still sees growth slowing in 2025, however, even as it lifted its 2025 projection to 3 per cent – up from 2.8 per cent in April – in its World Economic Outlook update. In 2024, global growth came in at 3.3 per cent. Looking ahead, the IMF expects the world economy to expand 3.1 per cent in 2026, an improvement from the 3 per cent it earlier predicted. Despite the upward revisions, 'there are reasons to be very cautious', IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said. 'Businesses were trying to frontload, move stuff around, before the tariffs were imposed, and so that's supporting economic activity,' he said. 'There is going to be payback for that. If you stock the shelves now, you don't need to stock them later in the year or into the next year,' he added. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Grace Fu apologises for Tanjong Katong sinkhole, says road may stay closed for a few more days Singapore Terrorism threat in Singapore remains high, driven by events like Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ISD Singapore Liquidators score victory to recoup over $900 million from alleged scammer Ng Yu Zhi's associates Singapore Man on trial for raping woman who hired him to repair lights in her flat Sport IOC president Kirsty Coventry a 'huge supporter' of Singapore Singapore Child and firefighter among 7 taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Toa Payoh flat Singapore S'pore can and must meaningfully apply tech like AI in a way that creates jobs for locals: PM Wong Singapore Doctor who forged certificates for aesthetic procedures gets 4 months' jail This means a likelihood of reduced trade activity in the second half of 2025 and into 2026. 'The global economy has continued to hold steady, but the composition of activity points to distortions from tariffs, rather than underlying robustness,' the IMF's report said. For now, a 'modest decline in trade tensions, however fragile, has contributed to the resilience of the global economy', Mr Gourinchas told reporters on July 29. Mr Trump imposed a 10 per cent levy on almost all trading partners early in 2025, alongside steeper duties on autos, steel and aluminium. He paused higher tariffs on dozens of economies until Aug 1, a significant delay from April when they were first unveiled. Washington and Beijing also agreed to lower for 90 days triple-digit duties on each other's goods, in a halt expiring on Aug 12. Talks that could lead to a further extension of the truce are ongoing. Mr Trump's actions have brought the US effective tariff rate to 17.3 per cent, significantly above the 3.5 per cent level for the rest of the world, the IMF said. If deals unravel or tariffs rebound to higher levels, global output would be 0.3 per cent down in 2026, Mr Gourinchas said. US inflation hit US growth for 2025 was revised 0.1 percentage point up to 1.9 per cent, with tariffs anticipated to settle at lower levels than initially announced in April. The country is also set to see a near-term boost from Mr Trump's flagship tax and spending Bill . Euro area growth was adjusted 0.2 percentage point higher to 1 per cent, partly reflecting a jump in Irish pharmaceutical exports to the United States to avoid fresh duties. Among European economies, Germany is still expected to avoid contraction while forecasts for France and Spain remained unchanged at 0.6 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively. While the IMF anticipates global inflation to keep declining, with headline inflation cooling to 4.2 per cent in 2025, it warned that US price increases will remain above target. 'The tariffs, acting as a supply shock, are expected to pass through to US consumer prices gradually and hit inflation in the second half of 2025,' the IMF report said. Elsewhere, Mr Trump's duties 'constitute a negative demand shock, lowering inflationary pressures', the report added. China challenges Growth in the world's No. 2 economy China, however, was revised 0.8 percentage point upwards to 4.8 per cent. This reflects stronger-than-expected activity in the first half of 2025, alongside 'the significant reduction in US-China tariffs', the IMF said. Mr Gourinchas warned that China is still experiencing headwinds, with 'fairly weak' domestic demand. 'There is relatively little consumer confidence, the property sector is still a black spot in the Chinese economy, it's not been completely addressed,' he added. 'That is resulting in a drag on economic activity going forward.' Russia's growth was revised 0.6 percentage point down, to 0.9 per cent, partially due to Russian policies but also oil prices, which are set to remain relatively subdued compared with 2024 levels, Mr Gourinchas said. AFP
