Author: ALJAZEERA

In justifying his latest tariffs announcement, President Donald Trump complains of unfair trade deficits, saying the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other countries for decades. He has blamed China for exploiting the United States through unfair trade agreements, condemned Canada’s high tariffs on American dairy as unacceptable, and criticized Cambodia for imposing excessive tariffs and benefiting at the US’s expense for years. What he has left out in his repeated criticisms is the trade surplus the US benefits from when it comes to his country’s service industry. Services make up about 70 percent of the US economy.…

Two days after sending the economy reeling by announcing widespread tariffs, United States President Donald Trump headed to play golf at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, even as the sell-off for financial markets worldwide is slamming into a higher, scarier gear. Before heading to his private golf course, Trump wrote on social media: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH.” Investors are not buying that message. The S&P 500 tumbled 5.7 percent as Wall Street’s worst crisis since the COVID pandemic crash deepened after China matched Trump’s big rise in tariffs announced earlier this week. The…

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 10 percent global baseline tariff on almost all imports to the United States, claiming the move marks the “Liberation Day” of the US economy. The policy is, however, as pro-US as the People’s Liberation Army of China. If maintained, the tariffs will prove extremely damaging to the US economy, the American consumer, and the country’s standing in the world. The 10 percent tariff is remarkably the baseline; Trump’s efforts to liberate the US economy include numerous far higher tariffs. One example is his 25 percent tariff on all automotive imports that came…

On March 4, the US-Mexico border was at a standstill. The trucks that Thor Salayandia was planning to send across a checkpoint to the United States sat in the lot. The only thing moving was the confusion in the air. Salayandia owns and operates a factory in Juarez, Mexico that makes auto parts and ships truckloads of metal tubes to warehouses in the US state of Texas for assembly. For the past month, his business has been thrown into turbulent waters. “It’s becoming a political game … so for two days there was a considerable reduction in traffic. Even the…

Japanese gaming giant expected to reveal release date, price and other key details in live presentation on Wednesday.Nintendo is set to reveal key details of its follow-up to the Switch in a presentation that has been eagerly anticipated by gaming fans and investors alike. The Japanese gaming giant will kick off the hour-long presentation for the Switch 2 at 13:00 GMT on Wednesday, with the hybrid handheld and home console’s price and release date among the details expected to be revealed. The Nintendo Direct event comes after the Kyoto-based company confirmed the existence of the next-generation system in a brief…

United States President Donald Trump has said his long-awaited reciprocal tariffs will be lower than what other countries charge as uncertainty over his biggest trade announcement yet continues to roil global stocks. Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said the tariffs he is preparing to announce on Wednesday will be “nicer” than the trade policies of US trading partners. “We are going to be very nice by comparison to what they were. The numbers will be lower than what they have been charging us, and in some cases, maybe substantially lower,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.…

Consumer confidence in the United States has continued its sharp 2025 decline as Americans’ views about their financial futures slumped to a 12-year low, driven by rising anxiety over tariffs and inflation. The Conference Board reported on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021. The reading was short of analysts’ expectations for a reading of 94.5, according to a survey by FactSet. The business group found that the measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell 9.6 points…

JD Vance’s visit to Greenland comes amid US President Trump saying he wants to take over the Arctic territory.Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has accused the United States of exerting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland in advance of a provocative high-level visit to the Arctic territory led by US Vice President JD Vance. Vance, who has become the attack dog of US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, will travel with his wife, Usha, and other senior officials to the US’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on Friday, “to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with US servicemembers”, his…

World leaders have denounced United States President Donald Trump for unveiling a new tariff measure, this time aimed at the automobile industry. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney offered one of the most frank assessments, saying it signalled an end to the tight bonds his country and the US once enjoyed. “The old relationship we had with the United States – based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation – is over,” Carney said. “We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States. We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere. And…

Prime Minister Albanese’s Labor Party has introduced new tax cuts in advance of general election due before May 17.Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he plans to call a national election “imminently” as the May 17 deadline for electing a new parliament is fast approaching. “It will be in May, I can guarantee that. And it will be called pretty imminently,” Albanese told radio station Triple M on Thursday. “I’m not calling it today but I will call it soon. I think that Australians want to get on with it,” he said. Separate reports from The Sydney Morning Herald and…