Latest news with #USGovernment
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump administration asks tiny Pacific nation of Palau to accept migrants deported from US
The Trump administration has requested that the small Pacific nation of Palau accept asylum seekers currently residing in the US, amid a wider push from the US to deport migrants to countries they are not from. Palau, a country of about 18,000 that lies just east of the Philippines, is considering a draft agreement to resettle 'third country nationals' from the US who 'may seek protection and against return to their home country'. The draft agreement does not detail how many individuals may be sent to Palau, nor what the Pacific nation would receive in return. 'Both Parties shall take into account … requests by third country nationals for asylum, refugee protection, or equivalent temporary protection,' the draft agreement, seen by the Guardian, states. 'The Government of the United States of America shall not transfer unaccompanied minors pursuant to this Agreement.' A letter from Palau's president Surangel Whipps Jr regarding the draft agreement and seen by the Guardian, makes clear the proposal is far from final and is subject to further discussion. It also states Palau would have 'full discretion to decide whether or not to accept any individuals.' The request to Palau marks the latest attempt by the Trump administration to remove migrants from within its borders. A supreme court ruling in June paved the way for the US government to remove migrants and transfer them to countries they are not from. Since then, the US has completed the transfer of migrants including South Sudan and Eswatini. According to Doris Meissner, who leads the Migration Policy Institute's US Immigration program and who is a former commissioner of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, the draft agreement with Palau mirrors other Trump administration requests made to 'scores' of other countries for migrant resettlement. 'Because most of the countries are small, far from the US, and not familiar to most Americans, the reason for such actions is primarily to heighten fear within immigrant communities in the US of being sent to distant places where they have no family or other connections,' Meissner said. Unlike the United States, Palau is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, an international treaty which obliges countries to protect people fleeing persecution and which provides a framework on how asylum seekers and refugees should be treated in the country of refuge. Noting this, the draft agreement states that Palau would instead act 'in accordance with its constitution' and its 'underlying humanitarian principles'. Last week Palau's President convened a meeting with the country's national congress and Council of Chiefs to discuss the request. In response to questions on the matter, Palau's Office of the President directed the Guardian to a statement issued after the meeting, stating that leaders 'reiterated their longstanding partnership with the United States' but more information was needed 'before any decision is made'. A spokesperson from the US state department said that it was a 'top priority' to implement 'the Trump Administration's immigration policies'. 'In some cases, we will work with other countries to facilitate the removal from the United States of nationals of third countries who seek asylum or other forms of protection in the United States,' the spokesperson said. 'Ongoing engagement with foreign governments is vital to deterring illegal and mass migration and securing our borders.' Palau holds deep ties with the US under a Compacts of Free Association (Cofa) agreement, which gives the country millions of dollars in budget support and aid. In 2023, Cofa funds accounted for about 30% of Palau's government revenue. This relationship may mean Palau's leaders 'feel pressured to accept this deal,' Camilla Pohle, a Pacific analyst, said. 'The compact provides Palau with a lot of funding as well as programs and services, and there's so much uncertainty under Trump about what kinds of things could end up on the chopping block,' said Pohle, whose position with the US Institute of Peace was recently terminated as a result of cuts made by the Trump administration. 'A deal like this has no material benefit to Palau whatsoever, and if Palau agrees to it, it will be essentially under duress, fearing that if they say no, that there will be some kind of negative repercussion,' she added. Pohle said that coupled with the Trump administration's decision to pull away from its climate commitments – a key priority for Pacific nations – the request would have a long-term impact on geopolitics in the region. 'This kind of policy is doing such damage to the US strategy in the Pacific that China will easily be able to capitalise on it,' Pohle said. 'It's taking what the Trump administration wants while offering almost nothing in return.' This is not the first time the US has asked Palau to accept people. In 2009, Palau agreed to resettle 17 Chinese Muslims held in Guantánamo Bay.
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump administration asks tiny Pacific nation of Palau to accept migrants deported from US
The Trump administration has requested that the small Pacific nation of Palau accept asylum seekers currently residing in the US, amid a wider push from the US to deport migrants to countries they are not from. Palau, a country of about 18,000 that lies just east of the Philippines, is considering a draft agreement to resettle 'third country nationals' from the US who 'may seek protection and against return to their home country'. The draft agreement does not detail how many individuals may be sent to Palau, nor what the Pacific nation would receive in return. 'Both Parties shall take into account … requests by third country nationals for asylum, refugee protection, or equivalent temporary protection,' the draft agreement, seen by the Guardian, states. 'The Government of the United States of America shall not transfer unaccompanied minors pursuant to this Agreement.' A letter from Palau's president Surangel Whipps Jr regarding the draft agreement and seen by the Guardian, makes clear the proposal is far from final and is subject to further discussion. It also states Palau would have 'full discretion to decide whether or not to accept any individuals.' The request to Palau marks the latest attempt by the Trump administration to remove migrants from within its borders. A supreme court ruling in June paved the way for the US government to remove migrants and transfer them to countries they are not from. Since then, the US has completed the transfer of migrants including South Sudan and Eswatini. According to Doris Meissner, who leads the Migration Policy Institute's US Immigration program and who is a former commissioner of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, the draft agreement with Palau mirrors other Trump administration requests made to 'scores' of other countries for migrant resettlement. 'Because most of the countries are small, far from the US, and not familiar to most Americans, the reason for such actions is primarily to heighten fear within immigrant communities in the US of being sent to distant places where they have no family or other connections,' Meissner said. Unlike the United States, Palau is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, an international treaty which obliges countries to protect people fleeing persecution and which provides a framework on how asylum seekers and refugees should be treated in the country of refuge. Noting this, the draft agreement states that Palau would instead act 'in accordance with its constitution' and its 'underlying humanitarian principles'. Last week Palau's President convened a meeting with the country's national congress and Council of Chiefs to discuss the request. In response to questions on the matter, Palau's Office of the President directed the Guardian to a statement issued after the meeting, stating that leaders 'reiterated their longstanding partnership with the United States' but more information was needed 'before any decision is made'. A spokesperson from the US state department said that it was a 'top priority' to implement 'the Trump Administration's immigration policies'. 'In some cases, we will work with other countries to facilitate the removal from the United States of nationals of third countries who seek asylum or other forms of protection in the United States,' the spokesperson said. 'Ongoing engagement with foreign governments is vital to deterring illegal and mass migration and securing our borders.' Palau holds deep ties with the US under a Compacts of Free Association (Cofa) agreement, which gives the country millions of dollars in budget support and aid. In 2023, Cofa funds accounted for about 30% of Palau's government revenue. This relationship may mean Palau's leaders 'feel pressured to accept this deal,' Camilla Pohle, a Pacific analyst, said. 'The compact provides Palau with a lot of funding as well as programs and services, and there's so much uncertainty under Trump about what kinds of things could end up on the chopping block,' said Pohle, whose position with the US Institute of Peace was recently terminated as a result of cuts made by the Trump administration. 'A deal like this has no material benefit to Palau whatsoever, and if Palau agrees to it, it will be essentially under duress, fearing that if they say no, that there will be some kind of negative repercussion,' she added. Pohle said that coupled with the Trump administration's decision to pull away from its climate commitments – a key priority for Pacific nations – the request would have a long-term impact on geopolitics in the region. 'This kind of policy is doing such damage to the US strategy in the Pacific that China will easily be able to capitalise on it,' Pohle said. 'It's taking what the Trump administration wants while offering almost nothing in return.' This is not the first time the US has asked Palau to accept people. In 2009, Palau agreed to resettle 17 Chinese Muslims held in Guantánamo Bay.
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Eswatini opposition attacks US deal as ‘human trafficking disguised as deportation'
Civil society and opposition groups in Eswatini have expressed outrage after the US deported five men to the country, with the largest opposition party calling it 'human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal'. The men, from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, were flown to the small southern African country, an absolute monarchy, last week as the US stepped up deportations to 'third countries' after the supreme court cleared them last month. Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique and has a population of about 1.2 million. It is Africa's last absolute monarchy and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986. The government estimated the five men would be held for about 12 months, a spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said, adding: 'It could be slightly less or slightly more.' She said Eswatini was ready to receive more deportees, depending on the availability of facilities and negotiations with the US, which has also deported eight people to South Sudan after holding them for weeks in a shipping container in Djibouti, and more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador. Officials have said the men, who were put in solitary confinement, were safely imprisoned in Eswatini. However, they have refused to disclose the terms of the deal, other than to say the US was footing the costs of keeping the men locked up and that they would work with international organisations to deport them to their home countries. Many civil society organisations and politicians were not convinced. 'This action, carried out without public consultation, adequate preparation, or community engagement, raises urgent questions about legality, transparency, and the safety of both the deported individuals and the people of Eswatini, especially women and girls,' said a coalition of seven women's groups. The organisations delivered a petition to the US embassy on Monday calling for the US to take back the deportees, for the deportees' human rights to be respected, and for Eswatini not to become a 'dumping ground for unresolved problems from elsewhere'. The groups' leaders held a protest outside the US embassy on Friday, where they sang, danced and held up signs with messages including: 'Whose taxpayers?', 'Eswatini is not a prison for US rejects' and 'Take the five criminals back to the US!!' Eswatini's largest opposition party, the People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), said in a statement: 'Pudemo vehemently condemns the treacherous and reckless decision by King Mswati III's regime to allow the United States of America to dump its most dangerous criminals on Swazi soil. 'This is not diplomacy but human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal. It is an insult to all Emaswati who value peace, security, and the sanctity of our homeland.' The coordinating assembly of NGOs, an umbrella group, said the situation was 'deeply alarming' and condemned the 'stigmatising and dehumanising language used by US officials'. It called for the Eswatini-US agreement to be made public and to be suspended pending 'genuine public consultation and transparent national dialogue'. Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, said in a post on X on 16 July that the men, who she said had been convicted of crimes including child rape, murder and burglary, were 'so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back'. She added: 'These depraved monsters have been terrorising American communities but … they are off of American soil.' Eswatini's prime minister, Russell Dlamini, told local media on Friday that the government was confident it would safely manage the prisoners. 'Eswatini is currently holding inmates who have committed more dangerous crimes than those attributed to the five deportees,' he said. A prison service spokesperson, Baphelele Kunene, said the country's citizens should not be afraid. 'We can confirm that the five inmates in question have been admitted to one of our high-security centres where they are responding very well to the new environment,' he said. 'Even though they come from the US, there is no preferential treatment for them as they are guided by the same prison regulations, eat the same food as others and are also expected to exhibit the same and equal amount of respect for prison protocols.' The US state department's most recent human rights report on Eswatini, in 2023, said there were 'credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; [and] political prisoners or detainees'. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections, which the system's advocates argue makes MPs more representative of their constituents. In September, Pudemo's leader, Mlungisi Makhanya, was allegedly poisoned in South Africa. The party said it was an assassination attempt, which Eswatini's government has denied. The Department of Homeland Security has been contacted for comment.
Associated Press
15 hours ago
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Trump announces trade deal with Japan that lowers threatened tariff to 15%
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan on Tuesday, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation. 'This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,' Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States 'will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan.' The president said Japan would invest 'at my direction' $550 billion into the U.S. and would 'open' its economy to American autos and rice. The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1. With the announcement, Trump is seeking to tout his ability as a dealmaker — even as his tariffs when initially announced in early April led to a market panic and fears of slower growth that for the moment appear to have subsided. Key details remained unclear from his post, such as whether Japanese-built autos would face a higher 25% tariff that Trump imposed on the sector. But the framework fits a growing pattern for Trump, who is eager to portray the tariffs as win for the U.S. His administration says the revenues will help reduce the budget deficit and more factories will relocate to America to avoid the import taxes and cause trade imbalances to disappear. But the wave of tariffs continues to be a source of uncertainty about whether it could lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses if companies simply pass along the costs. The problem was seen sharply Tuesday after General Motors reported a 35% drop in its net income during the second quarter as it warned that tariffs would hit its business in the months ahead, causing its stock to tumble. As the Aug. 1 deadline for the tariff rates in his letters to world leaders is approaching, Trump also announced a trade framework with the Philippines that would impose a tariff of 19% on its goods while American-made products would face no import taxes. The president also reaffirmed his 19% tariffs on Indonesia. The U.S. ran a $69.4 billion trade imbalance on goods with Japan last year, according to the Census Bureau. America had a trade imbalance of $17.9 billion with Indonesia and an imbalance of $4.9 billion with the Philippines. Both nations are less affluent than the U.S. and an imbalance means America imports more from those countries than it exports to them. The president is set to impose the broad tariffs listed in his recent letters to other world leaders on Aug. 1, raising questions of whether there will be any breakthrough in talks with the European Union. At a Tuesday dinner, Trump said the EU would be in Washington on Wednesday for trade talks. The Trump administration has a separate negotiating period with China that is currently set to run through Aug. 12 as goods from that nation are taxed at an additional 30% baseline. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would be in the Swedish capital of Stockholm next Monday and Tuesday to meet with his Chinese counterparts. Bessent said his goal is to shift the American economy away from consumption and to enable more consumer spending in the manufacturing-heavy Chinese economy. 'President Trump is remaking the U.S. into a manufacturing economy,' Bessent said on the Fox Business Network show 'Mornings with Maria.' 'If we could do that together, we do more manufacturing, they do more consumption. That would be a home run for the global economy.'
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump announces trade deal with Japan that lowers threatened tariff to 15%
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan on Tuesday, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation. 'This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,' Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States 'will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan.' The president said Japan would invest 'at my direction' $550 billion into the U.S. and would 'open' its economy to American autos and rice. The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1. With the announcement, Trump is seeking to tout his ability as a dealmaker — even as his tariffs when initially announced in early April led to a market panic and fears of slower growth that for the moment appear to have subsided. Key details remained unclear from his post, such as whether Japanese-built autos would face a higher 25% tariff that Trump imposed on the sector. But the framework fits a growing pattern for Trump, who is eager to portray the tariffs as win for the U.S. His administration says the revenues will help reduce the budget deficit and more factories will relocate to America to avoid the import taxes and cause trade imbalances to disappear. But the wave of tariffs continues to be a source of uncertainty about whether it could lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses if companies simply pass along the costs. The problem was seen sharply Tuesday after General Motors reported a 35% drop in its net income during the second quarter as it warned that tariffs would hit its business in the months ahead, causing its stock to tumble. As the Aug. 1 deadline for the tariff rates in his letters to world leaders is approaching, Trump also announced a trade framework with the Philippines that would impose a tariff of 19% on its goods while American-made products would face no import taxes. The president also reaffirmed his 19% tariffs on Indonesia. The U.S. ran a $69.4 billion trade imbalance on goods with Japan last year, according to the Census Bureau. America had a trade imbalance of $17.9 billion with Indonesia and an imbalance of $4.9 billion with the Philippines. Both nations are less affluent than the U.S. and an imbalance means America imports more from those countries than it exports to them. The president is set to impose the broad tariffs listed in his recent letters to other world leaders on Aug. 1, raising questions of whether there will be any breakthrough in talks with the European Union. At a Tuesday dinner, Trump said the EU would be in Washington on Wednesday for trade talks. The Trump administration has a separate negotiating period with China that is currently set to run through Aug. 12 as goods from that nation are taxed at an additional 30% baseline. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would be in the Swedish capital of Stockholm next Monday and Tuesday to meet with his Chinese counterparts. Bessent said his goal is to shift the American economy away from consumption and to enable more consumer spending in the manufacturing-heavy Chinese economy. 'President Trump is remaking the U.S. into a manufacturing economy,' Bessent said on the Fox Business Network show 'Mornings with Maria.' 'If we could do that together, we do more manufacturing, they do more consumption. That would be a home run for the global economy.'
