Latest news with #tradeAgreement
Times of Oman
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
EU pushes to review trade pact with Israel in wake of humanitarian concerns
Brussels: The EU on Wednesday decided to review Article 2 of its trade agreement with Israel, which was signed in 2000. The EU in its statement noted that Humanitarian principles matter for every conflict around the world and should be applied consistently in every warzone. "Whilst we acknowledge indications of a limited restart of aid, Israel blocked humanitarian aid entering Gaza for over two months. Food, medicines and essential supplies are exhausted. The population faces starvation. Gaza's people must receive the aid they desperately need," the statement said. "This means that if Israel is found to have breached its human rights obligations, it will face sanctions. But for the time being, the EU is just trying to put further pressure on Israel, hoping that it will one day allow more aid into Gaza," the statement added. Kallas, speaking to reporters after a meeting in Brussels, said that pressure is necessary to change the situation and that a strong majority of the bloc's nations favour this review, Al Jazeera reported. Just a few months ago, there was no consensus here at the EU on the need to put pressure on Israel or to implement sanctions. But over the last few days, they've managed to build more momentum towards a new push and get this review of the trade agreement, as per Al Jazeera. If, in the future, there is no progress and the EU feels the Israelis are weaponising aid to continue the carnage in Gaza, then it will convene once again and decide on its next step, which could be imposing sanctions. This will still be a delicate task, because key players like Germany says that sanctions are off the table, but people do feel there is a new consensus building towards taking stronger action against Israel and that otherwise the EU will be blamed for betraying the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the statement by the EU and claimed that the "war was forced upon Israel by the Hamas." "This war was forced upon Israel by Hamas, and Hamas is the one responsible for its continuation. Israel agreed time and again to the American proposals to a ceasefire and to the release of the hostages. Hamas refused each and every one of these proposals... We call on the EU to exert pressure where it belongs -- on Hamas", Israel's Foreign Ministry stated in a post on X.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
China, ASEAN complete negotiations on free trade area 3.0
HONG KONG, May 21 (Reuters) - China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have completed negotiations for their free trade area version 3.0, China's commerce ministry said on Wednesday, with the formal signing to take place before the end of the year.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump gives break to Rolls-Royce cars but threatens more tariffs on Mattel toys
Luxury British carmakers like Rolls-Royce, Range Rover and Aston Martin will be getting a tariff reprieve under the outlines of a trade agreement President Donald Trump announced Thursday while doubling down on his threats to continue tariffs on toys. Shortly after announcing he would reduce the tariff on British cars to 10%, from 27.5%, Trump said he would keep steep tariffs on toymaker Mattel — even if the company moves its overseas production out of China, where it makes around 40% of its toys. Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said this week that the company was looking to shift more production out of China, but doesn't see it moving to the U.S. 'That's OK, let him go, and we'll put a 100% tariff on his toys, and he won't sell one toy in the United States, and that's their biggest market,' Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office. 'I heard that, I mean, I watched this guy talking about how I'm going to go counter. I said, 'Well, I wouldn't want to have him as an executive too long.'' But in giving a tariff break to Rolls-Royce, Trump dismissed the idea that those vehicles could be made in the U.S. Other luxury cars made in the U.K., like Range Rovers, Land Rovers and Jaguars, will also be exempt from the 25% tariff Trump put earlier this year on all auto imports and charged a lower rate of 10%, even though those automakers ship thousands more vehicles to the U.S. than Rolls-Royce 'We took it from 25 to 10 on Rolls-Royce, because Rolls-Royce is not going to be built here. I wouldn't even ask them to do that. It's a very special car, and it's a very limited number, too," Trump said. "It's not, you know, one of the monster car companies that makes millions of cars. They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury." Mattel's Kreiz said the company has been shifting its production out of China for the past seven years and was looking to continue to diversify its supply chain in the coming months. Still, the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars told CNBC that 'where necessary, we will be taking pricing action in the U.S.' and didn't foresee being able to move manufacturing to the U.S. 'We believe that production in other countries, where we can be efficient and more productive, is the best balance between manufacturing outside of the U.S. and continuing to develop products in terms of design and creativity in America,' Kreiz said. The United States imports from China as much as 75% of the toy products it sells, according to the Commerce Department, making it one of the industries most reliant on that country's supply chain. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the impact of price increases on children's items produced in China, including toys and strollers, which are largely made there, though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said exemptions for baby products were 'under consideration.' Trump has put in place a 145% tariff on all Chinese imports, causing some companies to halt shipments to the U.S. from China or consider significant price increases. 'When you say strollers are going up, what kind of a thing? I'm saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller or something else,' Trump said in an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." 'I don't think that a beautiful baby girl needs — that's 11 years old — needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China,' Trump said on "Meet the Press. " 'I'm saying they don't need to have 30 dolls,' he added. This article was originally published on
CTV News
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
Report calls for ‘auto pact' tying duty-free vehicle imports to Canadian production
A new report suggests that if Canada can't convince President Donald Trump to drop all auto tariffs, it should negotiate a new auto trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico that would impose permanent import tariffs but grant producers a break if they meet minimum local production requirements. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump engage in a meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, May 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
