Latest news with #Rupert
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Global order has been upset': World Affairs Council gauges tariff war impact on Western Mass
SPRINGFIELD — Empty container ships in China might mean empty shelves in American stores for back-to-school shopping, Halloween and, here's the big one, Christmas. 'The ordering for that is five months or more out,' said business consultant Kristen Rupert, who gave a talk, 'Global Trade Turmoil — Challenges, Implications & Opportunities,' Wednesday afternoon for the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts. 'Things could change. But can you restart that process?' The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts was founded in 1927, just after the turmoil of World War I, as part of nationwide effort to combat xenophobia and isolationism among the American electorate. The lunchtime talk drew about 30 people. The instability and unpredictability of world trade and international relations in the second Donald Trump administration is already having an impact here in Massachusetts. And unpredictability is the key word. Rupert, who once was the executive director of associated Industries of Massachusetts International Business Council, began her talk Wednesday by asking her audience to keep their phones on and scan for news alerts. 'It's happening that fast,' Rupert said. 'The global order has been upset. And it is going to take a long time to find a new order. If ever.' But the good news, she said, is that companies are resilient and adaptable. It will just take time. The tariffs on goods from China were to have been 245%, then a still-high 30%. A 50% tariff on European goods was pushed back until July 9. 'Small businesses are the ones that are really struggling and are going to struggle,' Rupert said. 'If you're Walmart and Target, you can absorb it.' She talks with owners and CEOs, including one high-end dressmaker who had to cut back on the textiles she can order from France, China and Italy. Another manufacturer near Boston told her it pre-ordered materials ahead of the tariff in order to save money, but still had to lay off six workers. She spoke of business worried that they would have to pay high import taxes on goods in transit. It was similar to stories told by V-One Vodka founder Paul Kozub of Western Massachusetts and others. She also warned of the economic impact from lost tourism — Canadians are a big tourism market for New England, and the loss of international students. At many colleges and universities, foreign students make up 5% to 25% of the student body. The University of Massachusetts Amherst says in its website that it had 1,600 overseas students last year. Across the state, there were about 79,000 international students at Massachusetts colleges and universities in the 2022-23 academic year. 'And they pay full tuition,' Rupert said. 'And it is not just them. It is their families who come to visit.' She did have some advice. She wants business to make their case in the public and political spheres CEOs should measure the impact in terms of jobs and reach out to elected officials and use suppliers and customers in other states to get attention in Republican-leaning red and 'purple' congressional districts. Massachusetts can be at a disadvantage as a heavily Democratic state with less clout in a polarized Washington. MGM Springfield updates employment numbers Gaming Commission grants Western Mass $3.2 million in casino mitigation funds Muffin thief or target of retaliation because of her disability? MGM cocktail server sues after firing Read the original article on MassLive.
The Citizen
4 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
Ramaphosa played the long game with Trump
The benefit for South Africa will be that during Trump's four years in office the country will not lose the US as a trading partner, however unfair that partner is. The moment that the whole of South Africa waited for with bated breath eventually arrived in the Oval Office of the White House last week. So much can be said about whether US President Donald Trump's ambush of President Cyril Ramaphosa worked or not. It certainly created the dramatic moment that he wanted, but did not really play out to be the equivalent of the embarrassing dressing down that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky received on his visit a short while ago. With all that said and done, what did the moment mean for South Africa going forward? It meant that the country has been given another chance to redefine itself and position itself for economic growth. In the praise and backslapping that followed Johann Rupert's speech in front of Trump, it could have just easily been forgotten that the makeshift group that the diplomat in Ramaphosa cobbled together to appear before Trump had one job and one job only: prevent South Africa from becoming Trump's latest example to the world of how irrational he can be by unfairly punishing the country for being independent and operating according to its own laws. ALSO READ: Ramaphosa and Trump meeting reveals global scrutiny And Rupert helped in going some way towards achieving this, without even being aware he was doing so. Rupert, the South African billionaire, appealed to Trump's ego and placated Elon Musk when he said: 'We need your help, sir. We need Starlink in every police station to help fight crime.' In his unwitting sales pitch for Musk's Starlink, Rupert distilled the purpose of the visit to one reality: reducing the crime rate in the country. That is what South Africa needs to turn itself around. That not only made the meeting worthwhile for South Africa, it removed the audience from focusing on the sideshow around the 59 well-fed refugees and brought their attention back to making life comfortable for the 60 million plus patriots who have no get-out-of-jail refugee status card to turn to. That moment of clarity by Rupert interrupted a carefully orchestrated smear campaign against South Africa that took advantage of the country's soaring crime levels, especially the murder rate by announcing an imaginary murder rate to the world. ALSO READ: WATCH: Starlink not debated with Trump, Ramaphosa says The campaign was clear: twist the murder rate statistics and invent a genocide, offer refugee status to a handful of Afrikaners, isolate the country economically and make it hard for its people to trade with the US, take away the country's agency and make it hard for it to side with the US' enemies and finally, when the time is right, offer to make everything right only if SA accepts trade terms that compromise the black empowerment laws. In the four years that Trump is in the White House, Starlink will probably railroad its way into South Africa and concessions will be made around broad-based black economic empowerment laws, despite the shrieking objections of Julius Malema and a lot of other people. The benefit for South Africa will be in that four years the country will not lose the United States as a trading partner, however unfair that trading partner is. The little economic growth and stability that come from that will allow a focused Ramaphosa to fight this insane crime rate which is allowing this genocide conspiracy to play out in the first place. So, Rupert's sales pitch will have worked for both Musk and the country. Only ideologues will see Ramaphosa as a weakling because he chose the pragmatism of appeasing an unpredictable and temperamental leader so this country can survive these four years. NOW READ: 'There is doubt in Trump's head about genocide in SA,' Ramaphosa says [VIDEO]
The Citizen
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
SA's own goal in US: Crime narrative backfires
A's delegation to the US painted a high-crime image, deterring potential investors despite their good intentions. Ramaphosa and Trump met at the White House in Washington on Wednesday morning. Picture: Screengrab. South Africa's detractors have often described our country as the crime capital of the world. And, in their mission to reset frosty bilateral ties with Washington, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his team took time, one after the other, painting a picture of a crime-riddled society that is simply too much of a high risk to invest in. Team SA was attempting to debunk the AfriForum-led lie of genocide against the Afrikaner community, especially farmers. But in that turbocharged performance, the president and his team unfortunately ended up shooting themselves in the foot, drawing a picture of pervasive crime for which they asked their host, US President Donald Trump, for technological assistance to curb it. Violence and crime against the Afrikaner community was always going to be high on the agenda during Ramaphosa's meeting with his unpredictable US counterpart. Ramaphosa was armed with credible players in his team to dispel the Afrikaner genocide myth. However, in the sudden accentuation of SA's crime epidemic in general, in attempting to counter the false narrative of Afrikaner farmer genocide, our president revealed that SA's crime was not discriminatory. ALSO READ: Why Cyril Ramaphosa failed in the US We all have endured a fair share of it, he and his team argued, without coercion. Afrikaner billionaire Johann Rupert, a member of the Ramaphosa delegation and a close friend of Trump, added two very crucial, but equally self-harming details about crime in SA. The Cape Flats in the Western Cape, which is under the governance of Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen's DA party, experiences the bulk of their crime from gang warfare. Second, according to the highly esteemed Rupert, the wine farmlands experience most of the crime from marauding illegal foreigners. Now, what this means is that the illegal foreigners are untraceable. Unless caught in the act, there is no way to investigate their whereabouts. They have no fingerprints in the home affairs database, no source revealing who they are, their age, gender, how long they've been in the country and what else they do for a living other than steal, kill and maim. ALSO READ: 'WhatsApp about Gauteng and American Embassy shutdown fake and misleading', police say In front of the president and a few of his Cabinet ministers, Rupert was telling the White House and international community at large that SA's borders are porous and immigration systems accordingly in shambles. The border patrol authorities are not winning against illegal fence-jumpers – others go under the fence, or simply through it – and the picture Rupert painted was of a chaotic free-for-all. Trump recently sent packing dozens of Venezuelan gang members, declaring them undesirable aliens in the US. Rupert painted a picture of the Western Cape that is infested with gang wars that constantly claim innocent lives and have turned life into hell for the multitudes. Ramaphosa was determined to strike a trade deal that involved all sorts of assistance, including crime fighting technology. But even the most ordinary US police officer listening to the SA Team's presentation would shake in their boots and resign from the force rather than being deployed to SA. And yet, that was not the end of the story. ALSO READ: WATCH: Malema not 'intimidated' by Trump's call for his arrest One of the professional golfers in Ramaphosa's team, Retief Goosen, told Trump and his people about the hellish life his family endures in Polokwane, Limpopo. His elderly mother lives in constant fear of being attacked and raped. His brother struggles with the safe-guarding of the family business that involves parttime farming. 'My family lives behind high electric fences,' the man affectionately known in the golfing circles as 'The Goose' told Trump. For a moment, I wondered which team Goosen was playing for – Trump or Ramaphosa? Ernie Els, the former world No 1 golfer and the two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen, who are both good friends of Trump, formed part of Ramaphosa's delegation to the White House. ALSO READ: WATCH: Issues raised by Trump will be 'duly addressed properly' Ramaphosa says Then the 'Big Easy', Ernie Els, also painted a picture of a SA riddled by an indiscriminate wave of crime. All these performances, mark you, come in an effort to dispel the false narrative that the Afrikaner farmers are exclusively targeted in a reign of terror, or genocide, as the White House believes. We are trying to build a country together, but there are some who are working against transformation. The objectives for an inclusive society are noble, but crime is a nightmare, to paraphrase Els. Even Congress of South African Trade Unions president Zingiswa Losi added her own labour spice to the over-arching, albeit unintended, theme of crime to the exchanges between Washington and Pretoria. SA needs US companies to invest, but the US needs to assist SA in the efforts to push back against the runaway crime, otherwise the environment would not be conducive for US investment, she reasoned. ALSO READ: Sudan denies using chemical weapons after US imposes sanctions This unfortunate message of a South Africa under the throes of criminality went out globally from the horse's mouth. Every foreign investor into our economy must be evaluating their options. As for potential investors, they must have thought coming from the lips of the country's head of state, his ministers, SA's wealthiest man in Rupert and a couple of professional golfers who are not into politics, SA must sure be a hell of an unsafe destination to do business in.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
World Affairs Council hosts expert on global trade
SPRINGFIELD — Consultant Kristen Rupert will speak at a lunchtime talk on 'Global Trade Turmoil — Challenges, Implications and Opportunities." The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts program will take place on Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. at 1350 Main St., 9th floor gallery, in the downtown. Rupert served nearly 20 years as senior vice president and executive director of Associated Industries of Massachusetts' International Business Council. Since 2024, she has been providing strategy consulting to nonprofit organizations. She has helped Massachusetts companies navigate international business challenges including supply chain issues, tariffs and new regulations. She also assisted employers in their efforts to identify and enter new overseas markets. Rupert traveled with Massachusetts Govs. Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker on global trade missions, advocating for the state. Read the original article on MassLive.
IOL News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Johann Rupert's remarks on gang violence ignite debate on race and crime in South Africa
South African billionaire Johann Rupert at the White House, where he highlighted the gang violence on the Cape Flats. Image: ARP Billionaire businessman Johann Rupert's comments in the Oval Office this week on gang violence on the Cape Flats have sparked a fierce debate over prioritising crimes based on race. Rupert was part of the high-powered delegation accompanying President Cyril Ramaphosa in his bilateral meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump. 'We have too many deaths, and it's across the board; it's not only white farmers,' he told Trump. Rupert then turned to DA leader John Steenhuisen and said: 'Mr Steenhuisen won't admit to it, but he runs the Western Cape where I live. The biggest murder rate is in the Cape Flats. Gangs. We've got gang warfare.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ The discussion between the two presidents and their entourages had been dominated by false claims that Afrikaner farmers were targeted due to their race for mass killing, which has been described as 'white genocide' by Trump and senior members of his administration. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the most powerful way to fix the issue of crime is to devolve criminal investigation powers down to metro police and law enforcement. 'Mr Rupert knows fully well that the entire criminal justice chain from policing, investigation, prosecution to incarceration in the prison system is entirely in the hands of the national government from beginning to end,' he said. Hill-Lewis continued: 'We are supposed to, constitutionally, do traffic and by-law enforcement. Over the years, we have greatly expanded beyond traffic and by-law enforcement to try and stand in the gap, and to fill the huge gap between the policing that South Africa needs and the policing that South Africa has.' He said if Rupert wanted to be helpful, he should support the call for the devolution of criminal investigative powers down to the metro police and law enforcement. Cape Muslim Congress leader and City of Cape Town councillor Yagyah Adams was hopeful that now, after Trump belittled Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen, they might listen, as they had not done so for many years while murders increased. He added: 'Why do we pay so much in taxes and rates, yet ordinary citizens have no sense of security in South Africa?' Adams said every year, thousands of people are murdered, and those in authority keep talking. 'Nothing changes, and murder increases. Everyone is angry, whites, blacks, brown, Muslims, and Christians. Why must innocent people be killed? Does it matter if they are white farmers or black accountants?' he asked. According to Adams, the colour, culture, ethnicity, and religion of criminals are irrelevant. 'Their crime is the problem,' he insisted. Adams claimed that crime is pervasive due to the ANC's failures in South Africa. 'The ANC destroyed every opportunity they had for nation-building because they were too busy with petty and selfish issues.
