Author: ALJAZEERA

The one month exemption is for cars and trucks that comply with USMCA’s content rules.President Donald Trump will exempt automakers from his punishing 25-percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month as long as they comply with the terms of an existing free trade agreement, the White House has said. The announcement on Wednesday came after Trump spoke with the chief executive officers of the three big carmakers, Ford, GM and Stellantis. Auto stocks rose on the news, with General Motors up 5.3 percent and Ford up 4.1 percent. Trump’s press secretary said on Wednesday that the president is…

New 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada imports take effect along with a doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20 percent.United States President Donald Trump’s new 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada have taken effect, along with a doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20 percent, launching new trade conflicts with the top three US trading partners. The tariff actions, which could upend nearly $2.2 trillion in two-way annual US trade, went live at 00:01 EST (05:01 GMT) on Tuesday, hours after Trump declared that all three countries had failed to do enough to…

TSMC CEO announced the plan with US president, the latest firm to make investment commitments since Donald Trump took office.Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co plans to invest $100bn in the United States and build five additional factories in the coming years, it has said. TSMC CEO CC Wei announced the plan on Monday in a meeting at the White House with US President Donald Trump. “We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here,” Trump said. “It’s a matter of national security for us.” TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is a leading…

US president says Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano will be included in ‘Crypto Strategic Reserve’.United States President Donald Trump has named five cryptocurrencies for his proposed reserve of digital assets, sending prices of the tokens soaring. Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano will be included in a “Crypto Strategic Reserve”, Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday. Trump, who in January signed an executive order to examine the creation of a “strategic national digital assets stockpile”, said the move would “elevate” the industry after years of “corrupt attacks” by the administration of former US President Joe Biden.…

US State Department says overseas development and aid programmes to be cut by $54bn.The United States has dramatically cut the budgets of overseas development and aid programmes, with multiyear contracts pared down by 92 percent, or $54bn, the State Department has said. After his inauguration on January 20, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding a freeze on all US foreign aid for 90 days, during which time it would undergo a review by senior political leadership to cut spending on programmes that did not align with his “America First” agenda. The review in part targeted multiyear foreign…

China is experiencing a prolonged economic slowdown, which has led to a youth unemployment crisis. In 2023, the rate of 16 to 24-year-olds unable to find jobs reached a record high of 21.3 percent. Following the release of those figures, the government suspended reporting before revising its methodology to exclude university students. According to the latest figures, the rate is now 15.7 percent. Young people say they are having to settle for low-paying jobs, if they can find one at all. 101 East follows young jobseekers as they navigate China’s challenging labour market.

Trump’s comments Thursday clarified confusion he sowed on Wednesday when he seemed to suggest tariffs would be pushed back to April.United States President Donald Trump has said that his proposed 25-percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will go into effect on March 4 and threatened an extra 10-percent duty on Chinese imports because, he claims, deadly drugs are still pouring into the US from those countries. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site on Thursday that he would impose the additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods on March 4. This would come on top of the…

United States President Donald Trump has cancelled oil production concessions granted to Venezuela under his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said that the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has not made improvements in areas such as election reform and immigration enforcement. “We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolas Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime,” the post reads. In 2022, the Biden…

The proposal urged Apple to follow a litany of high-profile companies that have recently rolled back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.Apple shareholders have rebuffed an attempt to pressure the technology trendsetter into joining President Donald Trump’s push to scrub corporate programmes designed to diversify the workforce. The proposal drafted by the National Center for Public Policy Research — a self-described conservative think tank — urged Apple to follow a litany of high-profile companies that have retreated from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives currently in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. After a brief presentation about the anti-DEI proposal, Apple announced shareholders had rejected…

The move comes on the heels of threats by US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs that would make iPhones made overseas more expensive.Apple has said that it plans to invest more than $500bn in the United States over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas. The move, announced on Monday, comes just days after US President Donald Trump said Apple CEO Tim Cook promised him that the tech giant’s manufacturing would shift from Mexico to the US. Trump noted the company was doing so to avoid paying tariffs.…