China-EU trade relations: China-EU investment agreement to inject new life into global economic recovery

China and the European Union (EU) on Wednesday announced they have completed investment agreement negotiations as scheduled.

The long-awaited result, which came after 35 rounds of negotiations in the course of seven years, is a milestone in EU-China relations and is expected to inject new vitality into the pandemic-battered global economy, European experts, officials and business leaders have said.

Read more at: Xinhua Headlines: China-EU investment agreement to inject new life into global economic recovery - China.org.cn

EU-China Relations: EU edges closer to China investment deal, irking US

The EU and China are edging closer to a long-sought investment deal which would give European firms better access and protection in the Chinese market, but is bound to irk the new US administration.

The EU Commission, on Monday (28 December), briefed the 27 EU ambassadors in Brussels on the latest progress in talks, which have been going on since 2014.

And none of the envoys raised any objections to going ahead, which meant an announcement on the deal could come as early as this week.

Read more at: EU edges closer to China investment deal, irking US

China-US Relations: Biden Very Weak President: Chinese Advisor Says Joe Biden Could Start Wars

China must drop its illusion that its relations with the United States will automatically improve under President-elect Joe Biden's administration, a Chinese government adviser has said, adding that Beijing should be prepared for a tough stance from Washington.

Zheng Yongnian, the Dean of the Advanced Institute of Global and Contemporary China Studies, a Shenzhen-based think tank, has said that the Chinese government should utilise every opportunity to mend ties with the US, South China Morning Post has reported.

Read more at: Very Weak President: Chinese Advisor Says Joe Biden Could Start Wars

China-USA relations: A Growing Threat from China - Note EU-Digest - "but doesn't the blame for this lies with the USA ? "- by Mackubin Thomas Owens

It has been clear for some time that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) seeks to displace the United States as the leading power within the global order. China has sought to do so in a number of mutually reinforcing ways by employing all available tools, from military means to trade and technology.

In the area of trade, the PRC has exploited the openness of the liberal global system. Seduced by the conceit that the fall of the Soviet Union had heralded the triumph of a liberal world order of free trade and interdependence, the U.S. and other liberal countries invited China to join the World Trade Organization, believing that Beijing would happily accept the tenets of a liberal economic order and play by that order’s rules.

Read more at: A Growing Threat from China

EU-US Relations: How Europe can defend itself against US economic sanctions

The idea of US senators threatening a German state-owned port with “devastating legal and economic sanctions” was something that seemed unthinkable – until now. But recent developments around the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline (designed to transport Russian gas directly to Germany) have broken yet another taboo in transatlantic relations.

Since December, Europe’s closest partner has been trying hard to prevent the completion of the pipeline, using coercive measures in an attempt to achieve this. The pressure of sanctions and an initial threatening letter led European companies to stop work on the project at the end of 2019.

Now US senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Ron Johnson have ratcheted matters up yet further by sending another threatening letter to the operator of Sassnitz port, which serves as a key logistical base for building the pipeline. The Protecting European Energy Security Clarification Act (PEESCA), which is currently making its way through Congress and which Cruz introduced, takes the same line. Cruz and his Republican colleagues are threatening to destroy the port of Sassnitz through financial means. Should PEESCA become law, the United States will have significantly expanded its sanctions on European companies and officials.

 Read more at:
How Europe can defend itself against US economic sanctions | European Council on Foreign Relations

China - Netherlands Relations: Free trade and cooperation top Chinese FM Wang Yi's Netherlands visit

Chinese State Council and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called on the Netherlands to jointly defend multilateralism and free trade.Wang made the remarks during a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague.

Wang said China and the Netherlands enjoy a mutual bilateral relationship on the basis of mutual respect, mutual understanding, openness and mutual trust.

As the coronavirus pandemic is normalized in both countries, China is willing to work with the Dutch government to resume the flow of goods and people so as to make their contribution to global economic recovery.

Faced with the rising challenge of unilateralism, China would like to work the Dutch side to defend multilateralism and free trade and build a community with a shared future for mankind, he added.

Rutte said the Netherlands values the ties with China and is willing to expand cooperation in different areas.

He praised China's efforts in fighting against COVID-19, saying the Dutch side is willing to work with China in respective areas.

Read more at: 
Free trade and cooperation top Chinese FM Wang Yi's Netherlands visit - CGTN

China-US relations: What the world could use now: a reset between the U.S. and China

The U.S. has reached a critical inflection point in its relationship with China, made all the more urgent because of COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease and its resulting pandemic is an unfolding story, presenting new challenges each day, yet several lessons have emerged from it already.

Read  more at:
What the world could use now: a reset between the U.S. and China - MarketWatch

Iran: Rouhani calls on Muslim states to end US dollar domination

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pointed to the potentials of Islamic countries in different economic fields, noting that measures should be adopted to put an end to the domination of the US dollar.

“The Islamic world should adopt measures to set itself free from the domination of America’s financial system and US dollar,” Rouhani told the Kuala Lumpur summit on Thursday in Malaysia.

He went on to say that Islamic countries complement each other and that signing banking cooperation and creating various financial mechanisms can lead to the mentioned aim.

Read more at: Rouhani calls on Muslim states to end US dollar domination - Mehr News Agency

EU - US relations: US can expect counter measures after tariff move

The EU said Friday it "regrets" the US decision to impose tariffs over the WTO's ruling on illegal subsidies to aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

It leaves the EU with "no alternative but to follow through in due course with our own tariffs" in a similar case involving Boeing, trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said . "The European Commission is committed to defending European companies, farmers and consumers," she added.

Read more at: EU: US can expect counter measures after tariff move

EU-USA relations: The EU must wake-up to the fact that the "erraticly" acting US Trump Administration is not a friend of the EU, and must act accordingly

"I am the greatest - Trust me it's real"

Donald Trump is "inept," "insecure" and "incompetent," a UK government official reported Saturday to CNN.

And many  diplomats stationed in Washington, although they are not openly saying it, consider the British Ambassador  hit the nail right on the head.

Mr. Trump’s order to attack Iran recently in retaliation for its downing of a spy drone, and his abrupt reversal minutes before American forces carried it out, have intensified global doubts about the president’s judgment and the power wielded by the United States.

The appearance of erratic decision-making “adds to the confusion of his allies and adversaries,” said Nigel Sheinwald, a former British ambassador to Washington who once conducted hostage negotiations with the Iranian government. But it is also part of “a continuing picture of American uncertainty about the use of power,” Mr. Sheinwald said. “It is the leitmotif that runs throughout U.S. history.”

If leaders of Britain, France and Germany — America’s main European allies — saw Mr. Trump’s aborted attack as a point of no return for his own reputation, or for the United States’ global standing, they did their best to hide it.

The public response of Western politicians has been largely cautious, sometimes confused — but only implicitly critical.

Another sore point for the EU is that the United States is also intensifying its trade fight with the European Union over aircraft subsidies, proposing new tariffs on EU goods worth $4 billion.

The tariffs, announced late Monday by the United States Trade Representative, cover 89 products including meat, cheese, pasta, fruits, coffee and whiskey.

They could be added to a list of EU exports worth $21 billion that the USTR said in April would be subject to tariffs.

The threat to target more European goods comes just days after the United States and China agreed to resume talks on a trade deal. President Donald Trump said he would hold off imposing new tariffs on China.

Washington has also been locked in a dispute with the European Union for years over two of the world's biggest airplane manufacturers — Boeing (BA) and Airbus.

It is high time the EU starts calling a spade a spade and, starts playing hard-ball with the US. They have a lot of cards they can play and should not scare away from doing so.

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China - US Relations: Tariffs China: Blame U.S. for escalation of trade war, China says - by Christopher Bodeen

China issued a report Sunday blaming the United States for the countries’ trade dispute and said it won’t back down on “major issues of principle,” but offered no clarification about what additional steps it might take to up the ante.

The report from the Cabinet spokesman’s office said that China has kept its word throughout 11 rounds of talks and will honor its commitments if a trade agreement is reached. It accused the U.S. of backtracking three times over the course of the talks by introducing new tariffs and other conditions beyond what was agreed on. “But the more the U.S. government is offered, the more it wants,” it said, accusing America’s negotiators of “resorting to intimidation and coercion.”

Read more: Tariffs China: Blame U.S. for escalation of trade war, China says

Mexico-US Relations: Trump hits Mexico with 5% tariff in response to illegal immigration - by Jill Colvin and olleenLong

In a surprise announcement that could compromise a major trade deal, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

He said the percentage will gradually increase "until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied."

Trump's tariff threat comes at a time when Mexican authorities have been carrying out migrant raids and detaining thousands more who are traveling through the country on the way to the U.S.

Read more at: Trump hits Mexico with 5% tariff in response to illegal immigration - Japan Today

EU-China Relations: France Sticks it to US as Macron steals Trump’s thunder with Chinese Airbus order – by Rym Momtaz

€30 billion A320 Airbus order by China

While U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a trade deal to slash his country’s yawning deficit with China, it was his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron who landed a €30 billion aviation contract with Beijing on Monday.

China concluded a deal to buy 300 aircraft from Airbus during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to France. The value of the deal was twice what was touted last year, and only compounds the woes of U.S. manufacturer Boeing, whose 737 MAX planes have been grounded across the world this month, after two fatal crashes.

The deal struck in France will ratchet up pressure on Trump to come good on his long-promised trade accord with China. That agreement seemed to be facing headwinds last week when Trump warned that tariffs on China would remain in place for a "substantial period" even if a Washington-Beijing deal is struck.

Macron on Monday stressed the “colossal progress” needed to rebalance trade between the two countries — the EU ran a trade in goods deficit with China of some €177 billion in 2017 — while also hailing a slew of deals done in the health, infrastructure, transport, renewable energy and financial sectors.

“In the aeronautic sector, the conclusion today of a big contract in terms of A320s and big transporters, A350s, is an important advance and an excellent signal in the current context,” Macron said during a joint press conference with his Chinese counterpart at the Élysée Palace.

Read more: Macron steals Trump’s thunder with Chinese Airbus order – POLITICO

EU - US RELATIONS: Becoming more strained than ever over US tariffs on car exports

Transatlantic ties become strained over European car import Tariffs discussions

Read more at:

https://www.euronews.com/2019/02/19/transatlantic-ties-become-strained-over-european-car-import-discussion

Canada - China relations strained: "free Huawei executive or else" says China

Free Huawei executive or face consequences, China warns Canada

Read more at:

http://aje.io/kytjn

China-US relations: Arrest Meng Wanzhou, executive of Huawei, not favorable to improving relations China - US

Huawei arrest: China demands release of Meng Wanzhou

Note EU-Digest: Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada at the request of the US, who wants her extradited to US because of business dealings Huawei has with Iran. For those who might have forgotten - the US (Trump Administration) unilattery broke off relations with Iran, when the Trump Administration pulled out of the International Nuclear Agreement, signed between Iran and many other nations around the world, including the EU and the US. Hopefully Canada (Trudeau) will show some "backbone", by not extraditing her to the US, specially since all the other co-signers of the International Nuclear Agreement, including the EU and Canada, are still respecting the agreement with Iran.

Read more at 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46465768

Middle East: Saudi Arabia and U.S. on collision course as Mohammed bin Salman's standing ebbs

Trump has pledged that he won’t whitewash the murder and that the United States will do what’s necessary regarding whoever was involved, though he hasn’t mentioned Prince Mohammed’s name. The time to cash the check has come earlier than Trump expected. 

Saudi Arabia tried last week to lighten the load for the president by announcing the arrests of 21 suspects and the indictment of 15, while the attorney general said he would demand the death penalty for five, though he didn’t provide any names. 

Earlier King Salman fired Ahmed al-Asiri, the deputy intelligence chief, and Saud al-Qahtani, Mohammed’s senior adviser. In so doing the king set a ceiling on how high the punishment could go. But now it seems there will be no choice but to examine his own son’s future. 

According to The Washington Post, Prince Mohammed’s brother Khalid, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, was the one who phoned Khashoggi and encouraged him to go to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The prince’s adviser and aide, intelligence man Maher Abdulaziz Mutrib, allegedly led the ring and after the murder phoned Qahtani and asked him to tell the boss that it was mission accomplished. 

Mutrib didn’t explicitly say the boss’ name but Qahtani has only one boss and that’s Prince Mohammed. The Saudi ambassador has strongly denied having any telephone conversation with Khashoggi, and a Post reporter has written that their last meeting came in 2017; afterward they corresponded several times. The top Saudi prosecutor said Thursday that Khashoggi was murdered by a “lethal injection” and that his body was dismembered, with his organs handed to someone outside the consulate for disposal.

Read moire: Saudi Arabia and U.S. on collision course as Mohammed bin Salman's standing ebbs - Middle East News - Haaretz.com

EU - Iran Relations: Trump Sanctions Against Iran: EU pledges to help Iran out of US oil ban

Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on Sunday said the European Union (EU) has pledged to take action before the US ban on importing oil from Iran takes effect in November, the media reported.

The European countries have made this promise in an attempt to make up for the possible losses that Tehran may suffer, Jahangiri was quoted as saying by the Press TV.

The US sanctions have so far not limited European countries in the economic sector, particularly with regard to oil purchases and trade, Jahangiri said, Xinhua reported.

The impact has not been "very determining" despite the departure of some private companies, particularly the European ones, he added.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order August 6 to reimpose the first round of sanctions on Iran, which had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, to levy "maximum economic pressure" on the Islamic republic.

The sanctions will cover Iran's purchases of US dollar, its trade in gold and precious metals, and its automotive sector.

For the complete report click here

EU - Japan relations: Multi Billion Free Trade Agreement which defies protectionism

For the complete report go to:

https://www.dw.com/en/eu-japan-free-trade-agreement-defies-protectionism/a-44695274

EU-Turkey Relations: Deputy PM: Turkey-EU economic summit will show ties recovering

Turkey’s relationship with the European Union is in recovery and top economic policy makers are planning to meet at a summit in Brussels next month, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said.

Simsek will co-chair the December 7-8 meeting along with Jyrki Katainen, the European Commission’s Vice President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.

EU commissioners for economic affairs and enlargement, Pierre Moscovici and Johannes Hahn, will also attend, the deputy prime minister told Bloomberg in Ankara on Thursday.

The meeting aims to usher in period of improvement in frayed ties with the EU, which Turkey wants to join, Simsek said. European leaders distanced themselves from Turkey in the aftermath of a 2016 coup attempt, which was followed by purges that have also led to dozens of journalists, human rights activists and European citizens being jailed.

Ankara’s relations with countries including Germany and the Netherlands soured further this year when Turkish officials led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at European leaders and accused them of attacking Turkey for political gains before elections.

With the election cycle over in Europe, there’s now an opportunity to move past the political tension and make progress on subjects such as updating the terms of Turkey’s customs union with the bloc, Simsek said.

"The summit is going to send a very strong message that Turkey remains anchored to Europe and that Turkey-EU relations are on the mend," he said. "We continue to believe that upgrading the customs union between Turkey and the EU is mutually beneficial, and we hope that we’ll be back on track with issues such as the customs union going forward."

Simsek’s plans to engage the EU’s top officials in charge of economic issues and enlargement come amid a dense schedule of meetings with investors abroad.

After meeting with "a few dozen" institutional fund managers and corporate executives in Kuwait and London recently, the deputy prime minister is planning meetings in Germany and Moscow in the near future.

Read more: Luxemburger Wort - Deputy PM: Turkey-EU economic summit will show ties recovering