Latest news with #TradeRepresentative
South China Morning Post
25-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Truth in the truce: Wendy Cutler mulls if US-China trade can find lasting peace
Wendy Cutler comes from a three-decade career in shaping US trade policy. She worked in the Office of the US Trade Representative from 1988 to 2015 before moving into the think tank space. Today, she is vice-president of the Asia Society Policy Institute. Advertisement Cutler uses this accumulated experience to offer a view on the fractious US-China trade relationship at a time when trade ties remain tense despite landmark talks between the two powers, followed by a sharp reduction in tariffs, earlier this month. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here With China and the US agreeing to a truce, what steps do you expect the two sides to take next so they can lock in a tariff-free deal within 90 days? What will top the two sides' agendas, and how likely are they to reach a lasting agreement? The US-China tariff truce, announced earlier this month, exceeded expectations with each side lowering its tariff rates by 115 per cent for a 90-day period. The tariffs were taking a serious toll on both economies and ultimately led both sides to the negotiating table. But 90 days is an extremely short window to find landing zones on outstanding issues of concern. Advertisement Accordingly, we should expect more ups and downs in bilateral relations in the coming months. It appears that progress is already being made to address US concerns on fentanyl. However, with respect to other matters of concern to the US, like excess capacity, subsidies and transshipments, negotiators will face enormous challenges finding common ground, particularly in a three-month period.
Russia Today
25-05-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Trump's tariff threat could cost Germany €200 billion
The German economy could lose up to €200 billion by the end of 2028 if tariffs of 50% remain in place until the end of US President Donald Trump's term in office, according to a German Economic Institute (IW) report published on Friday. The US is Germany's main trading partner, with total goods exchange valued at €253 billion ($287 billion) in 2024, according to official data. At €17.7 billion, Germany's export surplus in the trade of goods with the US was the highest among all of its trading partners in the first quarter of 2025. The Federal Statistical Office also reported that exports to the US exceeded imports by almost 75%. From 2025 to 2028, German economic output would on average be 1.1% lower than without the increased tariffs, the IW report said. If the EU retaliates with similar countermeasures, the total damage could increase to €250 billion by 2028. In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump claimed that the EU was originally formed 'for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the US on trade.' He went on to say that the bloc is 'very difficult to deal with.' He accused the EU of imposing harmful economic policies, taxes, and regulations, as well as launching 'unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies,' which he said have contributed to a 'totally unacceptable' trade deficit. According to the US Trade Representative's office, the deficit currently stands at around $240 billion per year. Trump went on to announce that, due to stalled negotiations, he is recommending a 50% tariff on all goods from the EU, effective June 1, 2025. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed the criticism later that day on Fox News, saying he believes the president views the EU's proposals as falling short of the standards set by other major trading partners. 'I'm not going to negotiate on TV, but I hope this serves as a wake-up call for the EU,' he said. The EU is committed to securing a trade agreement with the US based on mutual respect rather than threats, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic wrote on X on Friday. He added that 'EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect,' but that the bloc is ready to defend its interests.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Spike Lee says ‘people are hurting' in jab at Trump's foreign-made film tariffs
Spike Lee not-so-subtly shaded Donald Trump while speaking at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival ahead of the world premiere of his new film, Highest 2 Lowest. During Monday's press conference, the acclaimed Do the Right Thing director, 68, was asked if social media has negatively impacted American morals. In a clip of the moment shared to social media, Lee replied with an impish grin: 'Well, I don't know how much we can talk about American values considering who is the president.' 'My wife said, 'Spike, be very careful what you say!'' he laughed, per Variety. 'But here's the thing, I don't think we can condemn social media. People say the same thing about film or whatever. So I'm not going to demonize the form.' Lee was later asked more directly about Trump's plan to impose 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made films. While Lee admitted that he 'doesn't have the answer for that,' he noted that 'people are definitely hurting.' 'No one's working,' the BlacKkKlansman director said. 'The guy just said he wanted to put a tariff on every film that shot… I don't know how that's going to work.' Trump's push for tariffs on foreign-made films began earlier this month with a Truth Social post, in which he claimed other countries were "offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States' which was, in turn, 'devastating' Hollywood. The president then authorized the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative "to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands." Shortly after that initial Truth Social post, White House officials clarified that 'no final decisions' had been made and that all options were being explored. Trump then spoke out again, stating: "I'm not looking to hurt the industry; I'm looking to help.' It remains unclear if or when said tariffs would take effect. Spike Lee shades Donald Trump in #Cannes: "I don't know how much we can talk about American values considering who is President... My wife said, 'Spike, be very careful what you say!'" — Variety (@Variety) May 20, 2025 But Lee wasn't the only director to have spoken out against the president's proposed tariffs at this year's film festival. Over the weekend, director Richard Linklater, who was there with his new movie, Nouvelle Vague, defiantly addressed Trump's plans, saying: 'The tariff thing, that's not gonna happen right? That guy changes his mind like 50 times in one day. 'It's the one export industry in the U.S., it would be kind of dumb to… Whatever, we don't have to talk about that.' Wes Anderson also mocked Trump's threats, saying Monday that he'd 'never heard of a 100 percent tariff before.' 'I'm not an expert in that area of economics, but I feel that means he's saying he's going to take all the money. And then what do we get? So it's complicated to me,' he said, quipping: 'Does that mean you can hold up the movie in customs? I feel it doesn't ship that way. I'm not sure I want to know the details so I'll hold off on my official answer.' Meanwhile, Lee's new movie, Highest 2 Lowest, starring his longtime collaborator Denzel Washington and rapper A$AP Rocky, premiered on Monday. The movie, which follows a music mogul who faces a life-and-death moral dilemma when he gets involved in a ransom plot, has already divided critics. The Independent's Geoffrey Macnab called it 'generic,' arguing that it is 'short on emotional depth' in a three-star review. Meanwhile, Roger Ebert's Robert Daniels hailed it as 'an exceptional piece of personal filmmaking that might be Lee's most energetic film since Inside Man.'
Globe and Mail
12-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Trump wants U.S. drug prices down, global prices up
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order that he says will make drug prices go down in the United States, and up elsewhere in the world – including possibly Canada. The U.S. has by far the highest drug prices in the world, with average list prices about three times that of the next most-expensive countries. Mr. Trump has vowed to made medication more affordable and has signed multiple orders he says will lead to lower prices, including one that sought to make it easier to import drugs from Canada, while also threatening tariffs if drugmakers don't move more production to the U.S. On Monday, his latest order took the international price differential head-on by accusing other countries of 'freeloading' on U.S. drug spending. Among the measures is a direction to the U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Commerce to investigate whether other countries were engaged in practices that were 'suppressing the price of pharmaceutical products below fair market value.' It also instructed officials to communicate price targets to pharmaceutical companies and 'take other aggressive measures' if prices weren't lowered. Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that other countries were 'extorting' drug manufacturers by threatening to not list their products unless they were offered 'low-dollar' prices. 'We're going to tell those countries, like those represented by the European Union, that that game is up. Sorry,' he said. The U.S. is unusual among developed countries in not having some form of price controls on pharmaceuticals. For example, Canada has a federal regulator – the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board – that can intervene when a drug is brought to market with an 'excessive' price, as determined by a comparison with a group of other countries that does not include the U.S. Doug Clark, the former long-time executive director of the PMPRB, said the U.S. is playing catch-up by starting to benchmark prices against other countries. 'It's something every other country does,' he said. He said one of former president Joe Biden's signature achievements was directing Medicare to negotiate lower prices on some products with drugmakers, the first time the U.S. government had used negotiation as a tool. Canada's public insurance plans also seek to control costs by having a single body – the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance – represent all federal and provincial plans in negotiations with drug manufacturers when a new product is brought to Canada. The pCPA says it saves plans a total of $4.6-billion each year in drug spending through these deals. Mauro Chies, chief executive officer of the pCPA, said he expects pharmaceutical companies to honour the pricing terms on existing agreements. But if the policies in the executive order go through, drugmakers may seek higher prices when bringing new drugs to market. 'If future brand-name drugs become more costly, should there be efforts by some drug companies to offset losses, it will strain our already stretched healthcare system,' he said in a statement. He said he did not expect the prices of generic drugs – which make up about 70 per cent of prescriptions in Canada – to be affected as those medications are already priced very low in the U.S. Canada spent an estimated $372-billion on health care in 2024, of which 13.7 per cent was spent on drugs, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. A dramatic drop in how much the U.S. spends on drugs – in the order of how much Mr. Trump has said he would like to see – could be devastating to the pharmaceutical industry, said Carl Hansen, CEO of Canada-based biotech company AbCellera Biologics Inc. 'If this order was to result in a 30- to 80-per-cent reduction in the U.S. side of sales, the industry is over,' Dr. Hansen said. 'Unless other countries were to pick up the slack.' He said while prices for new drugs can seem high, they need to be to account for the time and expense involved in bringing a new life-changing product to market, as well as the many drugs that fail clinical trials. 'The only way this industry works is if, when there are winners, they are rewarded appropriately to account for all the failures,' he said. The order also said the administration will develop a mechanism for patients to order drugs directly from manufacturers, 'bypassing middlemen.' Industry middlemen, such as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), have drawn heat from state and federal lawmakers for their roles in pharmaceutical pricing. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued a group of PBMs last year for allegedly inflating drug costs so they could take large kickbacks. For example, the FTC alleges those companies inflated the price of an insulin drug by 1,200 per cent. Mr. Clark said this measure was novel and could be meaningful. 'The implementation of direct-to-consumer purchasing programs for prescription drugs has never been proposed or tried before and does have the potential to reduce prescription drug prices by eliminating intermediary costs,' he said. With a report from Sean Silcoff
USA Today
12-05-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Trump to sign drug price executive order. What will it say?
Trump to sign drug price executive order. What will it say? Show Caption Hide Caption Trump to sign order to cut prices of medicines Donald Trump said he would sign an order to cut prescription prices to the levels paid by other nations. An executive order to be signed by President Donald Trump on Monday, May 12, will direct his government to take actions against "discriminatory" policies in foreign countries that suppress drug prices abroad, a White House official said. The order is expected to tell the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to adopt the policy, which would set prescription drug prices to match those of comparable countries. 'DRUG PRICES TO BE CUT BY 59%,' he said in a Truth Social post on May 12, reviving a plan from his first term. The day before, in another post, he'd said the prices would 'be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.' The United States Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce will be directed to take action against "unreasonable and discriminatory policies in foreign countries that suppress drug prices abroad," a White House official said in background call with reporters. What will Trump drug price executive order say? The Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will set targets for price reductions across all markets in the U.S. within 30 days, the official said. If adequate progress is not made toward the price reduction targets, the health secretary will impose most favored nation pricing via rulemaking, according to the official. During his first term, Trump in 2020 pushed a "most favored nation" rule that would have applied to Medicare payments but was later rescinded by the Biden administration. Critics of the "most favored nation" concept argue that drug companies could game the system by securing deals with foreign governments for rebates to maintain current drug pricing in the U.S. Others say it could stifle innovation in medicine if the pharmaceutical industry loses profits. How do U.S. drug prices compare to other countries? Drug prices in the U.S. are nearly three times higher than 33 comparison countries, according to a 2024 report from the Health and Human Services department. About 67 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare. Tying Medicare drug prices to international prices is a sharply different approach than how the Biden administration attempted to lower Medicare drug prices. Under Biden's 2022 climate and health legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare was empowered to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies on a limited number of medications. The Biden administration already negotiated lower prices on 10 widely prescribed drugs such as Xarelto or Eliquis, which will take effect in 2026. In January, Medicare announced another batch of 15 drugs subject to negotiation this year. Those drugs included blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, a cost-saving move that would take effect in 2027. Asked how Trump's plan affects Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and drug price negotiations, the White House official said that after the first round of drug price negotiations, prices still ended up "in many cases, over 200% higher than what many foreign countries get," adding that they viewed that as inadequate and that the Trump administration is taking action to go beyond what was achieved under the Inflation Reduction Act. Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY; Reuters
