Latest news with #TradeWar
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Thanks Trump': Aussie beef exports explode amid trade war
Australian beef has been replacing US products on the shelves in Chinese supermarkets as the two economic superpowers continue their trade war. Beijing and Washington in recent days accused each other of violating a truce in the tit-for-tat tariff regime sparked by Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' announcement in April. Now a video posted to X has shown how trade tensions have changed things on the ground in China, where American beef stocks have virtually disappeared. In the video, a local speaking in English shows a shelf stocked full of Australian beef where US products used to be found. 'I guess I'm having Australian beef for dinner tonight,' she said. 'Instead of American beef. 'And honestly because of the food quality, I probably trust Australian beef better. 'And this box of beef right here is 50 RMB which is about $7 USD (AU$10.82). 'So to answer the question, China ain't hurting. And if anything I think we're probably doing even better because now that we have better beef that tastes better and at a better price. 'So thank you Trump for that.' Data from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has tracked a significant increase in grain-fed beef exports into China so far this year. There were 21,885 tonnes shipped in February and March — up nearly 40 per cent on the same period last year – and in April China bought a third of the record 37,000 tonnes exported in a single month. MLA's global supply analyst Tim Jackson has said Australia's export volumes were high because of record supply levels. He was more hesitant, however, to attribute the huge intake from China to the ongoing trade war. 'It's difficult to say at the moment, these are fairly early figures and we'd need to wait for more information to come out and get a better understanding of that trade dynamic,' he told the ABC. But there have been reports that the US$1.6 billion trade (AU$2.5 billion) of American beef to China has been effectively halted by the reciprocal tariffs, which until last month sat at 145 per cent and 125 per cent respectively. The US Meat Federation said in April that 'the majority of US beef production is now ineligible for China' due to trade restrictions. 'This impasse definitely hit our March beef shipments harder and the severe impact will continue until China lives up to its commitments under the Phase One Economic and Trade Agreement.' At the time, global meat analyst Brett Stuart told the ABC that Australia was 'now the lone supplier of high-quality white fat marbled beef into China'. '(US beef) sales to China have fallen to zero … and not only is the market now closed based on the March 16 production date, but the combined retaliation tariffs by China now take the tariff on US beef to 116 per cent, a level that will quickly halt trade.' The US remains a huge market for Australian beef and imported more of the product (37,213 tonnes) than China (21,572 tonnes) in the month of April. A 90-day trade war truce was struck between the US and China on May 12, with tariffs reduced to 30 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. However, both nations have recently accused the other of undermining the agreement. US President Mr Trump on Friday claimed Beijing had 'totally violated its agreement with us', before China hit back this week, saying Washington had 'seriously undermined' the deal. Trump, Xi will 'likely' talk this week Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will likely hold a long-awaited call later this week, the White House said on Monday, as trade tensions between the world's two largest economies escalate. Trump reignited strains with China last week when he accused the world's second-largest economy of violating a deal that had led both countries to reduce massive tit-for-tat tariffs temporarily. 'The two leaders will likely talk this week,' Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the West Wing when asked whether Mr Trump and Mr Xi would speak. Mr Trump and Xi have yet to have any confirmed contact more than five months since the Republican returned to power, despite frequent claims by the US president that a call is imminent. Trump even said in a Time Magazine interview in April that Xi had called him - but Beijing insisted that there had been no call recently. Stock markets around the world mostly declined on Monday as tensions between the US and China resurfaced.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
No ‘Gray' Area in New York Times' AI Deal with Amazon
Spoiler alert: The answer to today's Wordle is B-E-Z-O-S. In a first-of-its-kind deal for the historic paper of record, The New York Times last week inked a deal to license its vast editorial library for use in Amazon's various AI platforms. The agreement comes as the Gray Lady sues OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged copyright infringement, one of the major legal battles in the AI-spawned era of copyright war. READ ALSO: Luxury Brands Sweat Consumer Discounting After Price Hikes and Can US Tourism Bounce Back Amid Trade War? Under the licensing deal (financial terms still undisclosed), Jeff Bezos' e-commerce/cloud computing/digital media giant can showcase NYT news articles, recipes, and other material across its consumer-facing AI programs — Alexa will now tell you all about Alison Roman's chickpea coconut stew. It's a first for the NYT but hardly for the rest of the industry. Condé Nast, The Atlantic, Axel Springer, the Associated Press, and the Bezos-owned Washington Post have all struck similar licensing agreements with OpenAI. In a situation similar to the NYT's, with one of the same players, News Corp is concurrently suing Perplexity AI over copyright-infringement claims and licensing its content to OpenAI. Translation: If you want your chatbots to train on and feature these companies' content, pay up. But just how much is news content worth to the AI industry? Depends on whom you ask: According to The Information, OpenAI offers publishers as little as $1 million to $5 million annually to license their content. In late 2023, the NYT reported that Apple was offering $50 million multiyear deals to license news content for AI model training. That's small potatoes compared with the 'billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages' the NYT is claiming in its suit against OpenAI. In that case, the NYT is essentially claiming that OpenAI and Microsoft unlawfully used copyrighted material to train its chatbots, which sometimes appeared to respond with content copy-pasted right from the NYT, siphoning away valuable clicks and subscriptions from the NYT itself while helping OpenAI grow into one of the most valuable private companies in the world. Fair Use It or Lose It: AI firms tend to argue that their models are trained on publicly available data — 'fair use' under copyright law. Whether the law agrees or not is still being sorted out, though it seems clear the AI industry sees its existence hinging on courts agreeing with its interpretation. In the UK, a coterie of high-profile performing artists, including Elton John, Dua Lipa, and Ian McKellan, are pushing for a law that would require artists to opt-in to their works being used to train AI models. Last week, former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Meta executive Nick Clegg told British outlet The Times that passing such a law in the UK, while other countries do not, 'would basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Why US exceptionalism and the export of crassness are finally losing their shallow appeal
In early May, as Roman Catholic cardinals convened for their conclave , US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as the pope . Shortly afterwards, he declared that he would like to become a pontiff. Reactions from around the globe were swift, though not everyone was shocked. After all, this was American crassness at its finest – a spectacle the world has grown accustomed to. Trump is neither the first nor the only US figure to inure the world to such behaviour; there is a long list. When Trump announced sweeping tariffs on global trading partners in April , with China bearing the brunt, financial markets plunged into their worst turmoil since the early days of the pandemic. Ignorance, arrogance, exceptionalism, and fear of 'the other' converged in a display of American crassness on steroids. Trillions of dollars evaporated from stock valuations. Only when the fallout became too severe did Trump pause tariffs for most countries, eventually negotiating with China in mid-May. Yet much of the American public missed the larger picture: these tariffs weren't about sparking a trade war or addressing claims of the world 'ripping off' America. They were a desperate gambit to prop up the American brand – a brand that was sustained for decades by economic hegemony and the 'exorbitant privilege' of the dollar, but is now facing its moment of decline. Donald Trump holds a chart outlining 'reciprocal' tariffs at the White House on April 2. Photo: AFP Desperate to project strength, Trump boasted that world leaders were queuing up to make deals and even 'kiss his a**'. To call such behaviour crass would be an understatement, but the world barely blinked. This crude bravado has long been central to the American way, manifesting in entertainment, politics, media, finance and even sports. To much of the world, it reflects the immature culture of a brash young settler nation. Wealth accumulated through the colonisation of Native American lands bred an unfettered arrogance that normalised such behaviour. The world once playfully dubbed this the 'Ugly American', but that playful tolerance only emboldened the American psyche. Today, this has culminated in a rogue state run by supremacists, supported by a large majority. The US trade deficit, often cited as justification for protectionist tariffs, is merely a symptom of a deeper malaise. The real issue is that American goods – and the culture that sells them – are losing their appeal. Nations like China South Korea , and before them Japan , now produce superior goods. Meanwhile America, high on its own rhetoric about globalisation, shifted its economy towards services dominated by the financial sector, hollowing out its manufacturing base. Yet Americans continued to borrow and consume at unparalleled levels, encouraged by the state. Living beyond their means, they amassed crippling debt. All the while, they were led to believe that their consumerism was the engine of global growth, a myth perpetuated by American business media like Bloomberg and CNBC. For decades, this propaganda painted American life as the global standard. What was once irresistible now feels unsustainable, replaceable and, to the rest of the world, deeply crass. The world has finally woken up to the unsustainable mechanisms of the US-led 'rules-based order' and the hollowness of the so-called American dream. So why did it take so long for the world to realise that this dream is, in truth, a paper tiger? The myth of American superiority
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Asian Markets Face Soft Start as US Rally Fades: Markets Wrap
Asian markets were set to decline in early trading Friday as curbed market optimism was driven by a slowing US economy and legal uncertainties around President Donald Trump's trade war. US equity futures slipped after the S&P 500 Index pared most of an advance that earlier approached 1%. Contracts for Australia, Japan and Hong Kong pointed to a loss when cash markets reopen Friday. The dollar was mixed in early trading against major currencies.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Brent at $50, LNG at $7, 4 mt aluminium demand lost—Tariff tensions could reshape energy and metal markets
New Delhi: Global trade tensions could significantly impact energy markets with oil demand varying by up to 6.9 million barrels per day (b/d) by 2030, depending on the severity of tariffs and geopolitical conditions, Wood Mackenzie said in a report. The energy consultancy outlined three scenarios—Trade Truce, Trade Tensions and Trade War—in its latest report titled Trading cases: Tariff scenarios for taxing times. These scenarios examine the potential outcomes for global GDP, oil and gas prices, metals demand and power sector investments. 'In the Trade Truce scenario, oil demand reaches 108 million b/d by 2030, with Brent averaging US$74/bbl,' the report said. Under the Trade War scenario , oil demand declines after 2026 and Brent crude drops to US$50/bbl. Alan Gelder, Senior Vice President, Refining, Chemicals and Oil Markets at Wood Mackenzie, said, 'Falling oil demand results in the global composite gross refining margin collapsing to break-even levels, creating pressure for the rationalisation of weaker sites, particularly in Europe.' In the global LNG market, the Trade War scenario could intensify the projected oversupply. LNG prices are projected to fall from US$11.2/mmbtu in 2024 to US$7.2/mmbtu by 2030 in the Trade Truce case. Prices may fall further under a Trade War due to reduced Chinese demand and tariffs diverting US cargoes. 'Although tariffs pose downside risks to global LNG supply, it is possible there will be more investments in US LNG,' said Massimo Di Odoardo, Vice President of Gas and LNG Research. The power sector could also be adversely affected by trade uncertainty, particularly in the development of battery storage and renewable technologies. 'Unpredictable project costs are disrupting long-term strategies, particularly in battery storage due to China's supply chain dominance,' said Chris Seiple, Vice Chairman, Power and Renewables. For metals and mining, aluminium demand may decline by nearly 4 million tonnes and copper by 1.2 million tonnes in 2026 under the Trade War scenario, the report noted. Julian Kettle, Vice Chair, Metals and Mining at Wood Mackenzie, said, 'Even in a Trade Truce scenario, we foresee supply issues, while a tariff war could wipe out all projected growth through 2026.' The report concludes that despite recent trade agreements, significant risks remain. Gavin Thompson, Vice Chairman, Energy, Wood Mackenzie, said, 'Lower economic growth will curb energy demand, prices and investment, while higher import prices will raise costs in sectors from battery storage to LNG.'
