How would WTO brace Donald Trump?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) held the last of its 2024 meetings this week, and for anyone rooting for the institution to conclude long-discussed agreements just ahead of its 30th anniversary, the results were a little hard to watch. Here’s a recap of what came out of gatherings of the WTO’s General Council and its Dispute Settlement Body.

Here’s a recap of what came out of gatherings of the WTO’s General Council and its Dispute Settlement Body:

·        Dispute settlement reform was unresolved and there was a pledge to continue talking next year

·        On the second fisheries agreement, India and Indonesia were granted more time to air their concerns. “Fish 2” was at the decision stage but was demoted to a “discussion” item

·        India, South Africa and Turkey blocked a deal known as Investment Facilitation for Development. That left it short of the needed consensus, even though 126 members backed its incorporation into WTO bylaws

·        Progress was made on two administrative issues: picking dates for the next ministerial conference (March 26-29, 2026, in Cameroon) and approval of WTO Secretariat pension reforms

Newly re-appointed Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala tried to maintain a positive outlook, saying she hopes members return in the new year with a “spirit of compromise, ready to do deals.”

For an organization that needs everyone to agree, that’s going to be a challenge when US President-elect Donald Trump takes office January 20, 2025. His threatened tariffs and “America First” trade agenda run counter to the mission of the Geneva based WTO.

Trump promised 60% duties on Chinese imports and at least 10% for the rest of the world. In November, he threatened to impose further 10% tariffs on Beijing and 25% on Mexico and Canada if they fail to stop the flow of fentanyl and undocumented migrants to the US.

All of that violates the commitments that more than 160 nations make to join the WTO, said Bill Reinsch, a Commerce Department official during the Clinton administration and now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Trump is known to dislike multilateral institutions, having withdrawn the US from a trade deal for the Indo-Pacific, the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization in his first term.

He could quit the WTO, too. Or he could stay in it, heap more scorn on the rules-based international order and ignore other countries complaining about Washington’s protectionism.

In Trump’s first term, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer watched the WTO’s appellate body grind to a standstill by preventing the appointment of new judges as terms expired, leaving it short of the number needed to function.

This week Biden administration delegates blocked a move by 130 WTO member countries that called for a restart of the process to fill vacancies on the appellate body — the 82nd time that that proposal failed.

The outlook for the WTO to free itself of paralysis under the incoming Trump administration isn’t favorable. 

Jamieson Greer, Trump’s nominee for USTR, was a close adviser to Lighthizer. His views on WTO relevancy are unclear, but he did say in testimony in May that “efforts to hold China accountable under WTO dispute mechanisms were largely unfruitful.”

The WTO also irked some Trump allies by accelerating the process this year of approving Okonjo-Iweala for another four-year term at its helm.

That was “almost certainly designed to prevent the incoming Trump administration from having a say in the matter,” said Dennis Shea, Trump’s ambassador to the WTO in his first term.

“The WTO already has diminished reputation in the United States,” he said. “This unprecedented action only diminishes it further.”

According to a Geneva-based trade source, Trump’s name wasn’t mentioned during this week’s General Council session.

Courtesy: Bloomberg

Trump tariffs could impact US tanker trades

US President-elect, Donald Trump, has threatened to slap 25% tariffs on neighbours, Canada and Mexico, until such time as the flow of drugs and migrants stops. Since Canada to the north and Mexico to the south both supply large volumes of crude oil to US markets, there are far-reaching implications for the North American energy market.

Analysis by London shipbroker, Gibson, notes that Canada’s exports to the US of more than four million barrels of heavy crude a day move mostly through pipelines and would therefore be difficult to redirect.

About three quarters of the Canadian crude goes to the midcontinent region of the US, Gibson said, where refineries are geared up for these heavy grades. There is no ready alternative source of crude oil and refiners would have few options but to pay the tariff and pass the cost on to consumers, or cut refinery runs.

If Trump were to proceed with the tariffs, Canadian oil producers would have few options for other markets, Gibson said.

The Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline, opened in May, has doubled Canadian seaborne exports but spare capacity is limited.

About 175,000 barrels a day of TMX crude that currently goes to the US west coast could be redirected to Asia but these barrels would have to be replaced with supplies from Latin America or the Middle East, driving up ton-mile demand.

For Mexico, the situation is less complex, Gibson said. All of that country’s exports move by sea and European and Asian refiners could take up more Mexican oil if US demand fell.

This would boost ton-mile demand and could generate more business for larger tankers on long hauls. However, Gibson warned that vessels currently ballasting from east of Suez Canal to the US Gulf might well ship these cargoes, lessening the impact.

The shipbroker concludes that it is difficult to see the tariffs being enacted in their present form because they would raise costs for US consumers.

The broker notes that the President-elect has used tariffs as a negotiating ploy in the past.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dined with Trump at his Mar a Lago estate on Friday evening. The two men were said to have had a productive meeting and an ‘excellent conversation’.

Courtesy: Seatrade Maritimes News

Implications of US energy dominance

President-elect Donald Trump is set to create a National Energy Council that he says will establish American “energy dominance” around the world as he seeks to boost US oil and gas drilling and move away from President Joe Biden’s focus on climate change.

The energy council — to be led by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to head the Interior Department — will be key in Trump’s pledge to “drill, drill, drill” and sell more oil and other energy sources to allies in Europe and around the globe.

The new council will be granted sweeping authority over federal agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, with a mandate to cut bureaucratic red tape, enhance private sector investments and focus on innovation instead of “totally unnecessary regulation,” Trump said.

But the president-elect’s energy wishes are likely to run into real-world limits. For one, U. oil production under Biden is already at record levels. The federal government cannot force companies to drill for more oil, and production increases could lower prices and reduce profits.

A call for energy dominance — a term Trump also used in his first term as president — “is an opportunity, not a requirement,’' for the oil industry to move forward on drilling projects under terms that are likely to be more favorable to industry than those offered by Biden, said energy analyst Kevin Book.

Whether Trump achieves energy dominance — however he defines it — “comes down to decisions by private companies, based on how they see supply-demand balances in the global marketplace,’' said Book, managing partner at ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington research firm. Don’t expect an immediate influx of new oil rigs dotting the national landscape, he said.

Trump’s bid to boost oil supplies — and lower U.S. prices — is complicated by his threat this week to impose 25% import tariffs on Canada and Mexico, two of the largest sources of US oil imports. The oil industry warned the tariffs could raise prices and even harm national security.

“Canada and Mexico are our top energy trading partners, and maintaining the free flow of energy products across our borders is critical for North American energy security and US consumers,” said Scott Lauermann, speaking for the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s top lobbying group.

American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents U.S. refineries, also opposes potential tariffs, saying in a statement that “American refiners depend on crude oil from Canada and Mexico to produce the affordable, reliable fuels consumers count on every day.”

Scott Segal, a former Bush administration official, said the idea of centering energy decisions at the White House follows an example set by Biden, who named a trio of White House advisers to lead on climate policy. Segal, a partner at the law and policy law firm Bracewell, called Burgum “a steady hand on the tiller” with experience in fossil fuels and renewables.

And unlike Biden’s climate advisers — Gina McCarthy, John Podesta and Ali Zaidi — Burgum will probably take his White House post as a Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, Segal said.

Dustin Meyer, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, called the new energy council “a good thing” for the US economy and trade. “Conceptually it makes a lot of sense to have as much coordination as possible,” he said.

Still, “market dynamics will always be the key’’ for any potential increase in energy production, Meyer said.

Jonathan Elkind, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, called energy dominance a “deliberately vague concept,” but said, “It’s hard to see how (Trump) can push more oil into an already saturated market.”

Trump has promised to bring gasoline prices below US$2 a gallon, but experts call that highly unlikely, since crude oil prices would need to drop dramatically to achieve that goal. Gas prices averaged US$3.07 nationally as of Wednesday, down from US$3.25 a year ago.

Elkind and other experts said they hope the new energy council will move beyond oil to focus on renewable energy such as wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as nuclear. None of those energy resources produces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

“Failure to focus on climate change as an existential threat to our planet is a huge concern and translates to a very significant loss of American property and American lives,’' said Elkind, a former assistant energy secretary in the Obama administration. He cited federal statistics showing two dozen weather disasters this year that caused more than US$1 billion in damage each. A total of 418 people were killed.

Trump has played down risks from climate change and pledged to rescind unspent money in the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s landmark climate and health care bill. He also said he will stop offshore wind development when he returns to the White House in January.

Even so, his Nov. 15 announcement of the energy council says he will “expand ALL forms of energy production to grow our Economy and create good-paying jobs.”

That includes renewables, said Safak Yucel, associate professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

“The mandate for the energy council is US dominance globally, but what’s more American than American solar and American wind?’' he asked. A report from Ernst & Young last year showed that solar was the cheapest source of new-build electricity in many markets.

Trump, in his statement, said he wants to dramatically increase baseload power to lower electricity costs, avoid brownouts and “WIN the battle for AI superiority.”

In comments to reporters before he was named to the energy post, Burgum cited a similar goal, noting increased demand for electricity from artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, and fast-growing data centers. “The AI battle affects everything from defense to health care to education to productivity as a country, ″ Burgum said.

While Trump mocks the climate law as the “green new scam,” he is unlikely to repeal it, Yucel and other experts said. One reason: Most of its investments and jobs are in Republican congressional districts. GOP members of Congress have urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to retain the law, which passed with only Democratic votes.

“A lot of Southern states are telling Trump, ‘We actually like renewables,’” Yucel said, noting that Republican-led states have added thousands of jobs in recent years in wind, solar and battery power.

If renewables make economic sense, he added, “they’ll continue.’'

 Courtesy: Associated Press

Canada declares IRGC a terrorist group

Canada has listed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, after years of pressure from opposition legislators and some members of the Iranian diaspora.

Announcing the decision on Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc called it a “significant tool in fighting global terrorism”.

The move will mean that thousands of senior Iranian government officials, including top IRGC officials, will be barred from entering Canada.

The IRGC is a major military, political and economic force in Iran, with close ties to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It is estimated to have more than 190,000 active personnel with its own ground forces, navy and air force that oversee Iran’s strategic weapons.

The IRGC exerts influence elsewhere in the Middle East by providing money, weapons, technology, training and advice to allied governments and armed groups through its shadowy overseas operations arm, the Quds (Jerusalem) Force, according to the government.

The Quds Force was already listed as a terrorist group by Canada, but Wednesday’s announcement extends the designation to the entire IRGC.

Speaking to reporters, LeBlanc said the action “sends a strong message that Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist entity of the IRGC".

“The Iranian regime has consistently displayed disregard for human rights, both inside and outside of Iran as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order,” he said.

After this designation, current and former senior Iranian government officials already in Canada may also now be investigated and removed.
Canada's foreign affairs minister, Melanie Joly, warned that Canadians in Iran could be at risk of arbitrary detention following the announcement. “My message is clear for those who are in Iran right now, it’s time to come back home,” she said. “And for those who are planning to go to Iran, don’t go.”

The Canadian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously declined to extend the terrorism designation to the IRGC, despite pressure from some diaspora members — including the families of those who died after Flight PS752 was shot down by the IRGC in January 2020 in Tehran.

All 175 passengers onboard the plane were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents of Canada.

Tehran had claimed that the missile strike on the plane was done by mistake.

Trudeau had previously said in 2022 that he feared a terrorism designation would unfairly target Iranians in Canada who opposed the regime and fled, but had to serve in the IRGC in the past.
Asked why now by reporters, LeBlanc said the decision to designate a group as a terrorist entity is a “deliberative process” made on advice of security services and with foreign policy considerations.

“It is a threshold that must be met under the criminal code of Canada,” he said.

The move makes Canada the second country in North America after the US to label the IRGC as a terrorist organization, which did so in 2019. The UK had previously indicated its intent to make a similar move as recently as 2023, but has yet to do so. 

Iran Oil Show 2024 opens today

Despite all the propaganda against Iran oil industry's international successes and its energy diplomacy approach, the growing number of foreign oil companies’ presence at the 28th Oil Show is a clear sign of rising trust in Iran’s oil industry.

Director of the 28th Iran International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition, known as Iran’s Oil Show 2024, Gholamreza Jamali, made the remarks during a press conference on May 06 in Tehran adding the exhibition opens its doors to the public on May 08.

Jamali said that 1750 oil industry related companies, including 250 foreign companies from 12 countries including Russia, China, Germany, France, Japan, Belarus, India, Canada, Italy, Turkey, Austria and Argentina shows that Iran’s oil show is not only one of the largest oil exhibitions at home but also in the West Asia region.

The great achievements of Iran’s oil industry over the last two years, is due to the support of the Minister of Petroleum, Jamali said at the press conference.

A number of companies failed to take part in this year’s oil exhibition mainly due to lack of appropriate infrastructures expressing hope improvement in the facilities to provide proper conditions for participation of all companies in the next rounds of oil exhibitions.

Elsewhere in his remarks he said, a number of world high-ranking officials have been invited to participate at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

According to him, while during last year’s oil exhibition, just 2 thousand square meters had been allocated to accommodate foreign companies, this space has been expanded this year so that the foreign companies’ exclusive space reaches 5 thousand square meters.

 As far as it concerns allocating spaces, the organizers have decided to pay attention to the arrangement based on upstream, midstream and downstream activities and the halls and booths locations are somehow related to the subject of value chain in the oil industry

In order to support the technological innovations in the oil industry, an especial space has been allocated to the knowledge-based companies, technological companies, universities and start-ups, he also said.

Pointing out that numerous side events that will be held on the sidelines of the exhibition, the director of the Tehran Oil Show 2024 announced that many of these events would lead to the signing of contracts and memorandums of understanding in the oil industry, resulting in boosting production with economic results.

Jamali noted that providing appropriate conditions for direct connection between private and public sector activists is one of the main functions of the oil exhibition every year, which often faces some obstacles over the year due to the existence of administrative bureaucracy.

Announcing the slogan of this year's oil exhibition as "Oil industry, production leap, technological optimization", he said, "At this year’s exhibition we will reveal some equipment for the first time which is very important in view of meeting domestic needs and exporting to other countries."

The International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition as the main and most important oil event in Iran is held annually by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) with the support of the Petroleum Ministry.

The Petroleum Ministry’s subsidiaries including the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) and the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) have an active presence in the event.

Iran Oil Show 2024 is being held from May 08 to May 11 at Tehran International Permanent Fairground.

Iran denounces new sanctions

The Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani has refuted the charges made against Tehran in a recent resolution passed by the European Parliament, and denounced the new sanctions that the United States, Britain and Canada have placed on a number of Iranian citizens and firms.

The spokesperson also attacked several European nations for adhering to the harsh policies of the US administration by criticizing the European Parliament's decision against Iran.

He emphasized that Iran’s military capabilities are built in accordance with its needs to preserve territorial integrity and sovereignty, defend national security and interests, and provide a legitimate and deterrent defense against external threats and acts of aggression.

According to Kanaani, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is a major partner of the international community in providing peace and security to the region and the world, as well as in the fight against international terrorism.”

Imposing the sanctions, he said, the sanctions against Iran’s defense sector will actually present a chance to advance the nation’s military and defense capabilities and self-sufficiency, rather than weakening its resolve to strengthen its defense of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national interests.

“Many nations and governments, specifically in the West Asia region, hold out no hope of the role of the US and its European allies in the establishment of stability and security in the region anymore,” the spokesman continued. 

His remarks followed the announcement of further sanctions against Iran on Thursday by the US, Britain, and Canada in response to its retaliatory strike against Israeli military targets on April 13.

The three states said that they will punish people and companies “closely involved” in Iran’s drone manufacture in order to target the country’s drone and missile sectors.

By a vote of 357 to 20, the European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution denouncing Iran’s use of drones and missiles against the Israeli regime and urging the imposition of more penalties on Iranian organizations.

The Treasury Department and the State Department said on Tuesday that the United States government has imposed charges and penalties on four Iranian nationals in connection with an alleged multi-year cyber operation that targeted over a dozen American firms.

The Treasury Department issued sanctions on two firms, Dadeh Afzar Arman and Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik, which it claimed employed the individual defendants and served as front organizations for Iran’s Revolution Guards cyber command.

The business targets, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, were mostly defense contractors with access to confidential data; other targets included an accountancy firm and a hotel company located in New York. 

“These actors targeted more than a dozen US companies and government entities through cyber operations, including spear phishing and malware attacks,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

The defendants, according to the prosecution, used spearfishing—a tactic that entails deceiving email recipients into clicking on harmful links—and impersonating women to win over people’s trust in order to infect computers with malware.

The Israeli airstrike, which took place in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, resulted in the deaths of seven military advisors from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). Iranian officials have vowed a decisive response to what they described as a violation of international obligations and conventions.

Zahra Ershadi, Iran’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, told the 15-member Security Council that Iran reserves the right "to take a decisive response" to the attack, saying Israel violated the founding UN Charter, international law, and the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises.

Israel’s crime clearly breached the basic principles of diplomatic and consular immunity, as well as the 1961 Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes, the diplomat stated.

 

Who Supply Israel Murder Weapons?

Over 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. Mothers have been the largest share of Israeli killings, at an average of 37 mothers per day since October 07, 2023.

The numbers above, from the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza and the Red Crescent Society respectively, only convey part of the suffering experienced by 2.3 million Palestinians in the Strip.

There is not a single section in Palestinian society that has not paid a heavy price for the war, although women and children are the ones who have suffered most, constituting over 70% of all victims of the ongoing Israeli genocide.

These women and their children are killed at the hands of Israeli soldiers, but they are murdered with US-western supplied weapons.

We are told that the world is finally turning against Israel, and that the west’s nod of approval to Tel Aviv to carry on with its daily massacres may soon turn into a collective snub.

This claim was expressed best in the March 23 cover of the Economist magazine. It showed a tattered Israeli flag, attached to a stick, and planted in an arid, dusty land. It was accompanied by the headline “Israel Alone”.

The image, undoubtedly expressive, was meant to serve as a sign of the times.

Its profundity becomes even more obvious if compared to another cover, from the same publication soon after the Israeli military conquered massive Arab territories in the war of June 1967. “They did it,” the headline, back then, read. In the background, an Israeli military tank was pictured, illustrating the west-funded Israeli triumph.

Between the two headlines much, in the world and in the Middle East, has changed. But to claim that Israel now stands alone is not entirely accurate, at least not yet.

Though many of Israel’s traditional allies in the west openly disown its behavior in Gaza, weapons from various western and non-western countries continue to flow, feeding the war machine as it, in turn, continues to harvest more Palestinian lives.

Does Israel truly stand alone when its airports and seaports are busier than ever receiving massive shipments of weapons coming from all directions?

Almost every time a western country announces that it has suspended arms exports to Israel, a news headline appears shortly afterwards, indicating the opposite. Indeed, this has happened repeatedly.

Last year, Rome had declared that it was blocking all arms sales to Israel, giving false hope that some western countries are finally experiencing some kind of moral awakening.

Alas, on March 14, Reuters quoted the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto as saying that shipments of weapons to Israel are continuing, based on the flimsy logic that previously signed deals would have to be ‘honored’.

Another country that is also ‘honoring’ its previous commitments is Canada, which announced on May 19, following a parliamentary motion that it had suspended arms exports.

The celebration among those advocating an end to the genocide in Gaza were just getting started when, a day later, Ottawa practically reversed the decision by announcing that it, too, will honor previous commitments.

This illustrates that some western countries, which continue to impart their unsolicited wisdom about human rights, women’s rights and democracy on the rest of the world, have no genuine respect for any of these values.

Canada and Italy are not the largest military supporters of Israel. The US and Germany are. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in the decade between 2013 and 2022, Israel has received 68% of its weapons from the US and 28% from Germany.

The Germans remain unperturbed, even though 5% of the total population of Gaza has been killed, wounded or are missing due to the Israeli war.

Yet, the American support for Israel is far greater, although the Biden Administration is still sending messages to its constituency – majority of whom want the war to stop – that the president is doing his best to pressure Israel to end the war.

Though only two approved military sales to Israel have been announced publicly since October 07, the two shipments represent only 2% from the total US arms sent to Israel.

The news was revealed by the Washington Post on March 06. It was published at a time when US media was reporting on a widening rift between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“That’s an extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time,” a former senior Biden Administration official told the Post. Jeremy Konyndyk reached the obvious conclusion that the “Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of US support”.

For decades, the US military support to Israel has been the highest anywhere in the world. Starting 2016, this unconditional support exponentially increased during the Obama Administration to reach US$3.8 billion per year.

Immediately after October 07, the weapons shipments to Israel reached unprecedented levels. They included a 2,000-pound bomb known as 5,000 MK-84 munitions. Israel has used this bomb to kill hundreds of innocent Palestinians.

Though Washington frequently alleges to be looking into Israel’s use of its weapons, it turned out, according to the Washington Post, that Biden knew too well that Israel was regularly bombing buildings without solid intelligence that they were legitimate military targets”.

In some ways, Israel ‘stands alone’, but only because its behavior is rejected by most countries and peoples around the world. However, it is hardly alone when its war crimes are being executed with western support and arms.

For the Israeli genocide in Gaza to end, those who continue to sustain the ongoing bloodbath must also be held accountable.

 

Canadian allegations against India put United States in a pinch

The United States is caught in the middle of a diplomatic war between India and Canada, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that Indian agents were behind the killing of a Sikh Separatist leader in the country.

The explosive allegation comes amid the Biden administration’s charm offensive toward India as a key bulwark against China, with many questioning the US relationship with India’s controversial Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

The US reportedly worked closely with Canada in investigating the apparent murder on its soil. President Biden has not publicly commented on the allegations, highlighting the tricky balancing act of standing by Canada without alienating India.

All eyes are now on whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will present evidence to support his claims and just how bad relations between Ottawa and New Delhi will get before the US is forced to step in.

Since Trudeau’s public allegations against India on Tuesday, relations between the two countries have hit rock bottom. Canada has received no public support from its allies backing up the claim. 

Vivek Dehejia, professor of economics and an India-Canada policy expert at Carleton University in Ottawa, told The Hill that Canadian officials and Trudeau assumed they would get unconditional support from their allies and from the US in particular. 

“They have been disappointed by the level of support that they have received. If you look carefully at National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s recent comments, he’s walking a tightrope because Canada’s very dramatic allegations have put the US and other NATO allies in a bind,” he added.

On Thursday, Sullivan offered a vague statement in support of Canada’s undertaking in this investigation and said the US has also been in touch with Indian government.  

“It is a matter of concern for us. It is something we take seriously. It is something we will keep working on, and we will do that regardless of the country,” he told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was coordinating with Canada on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Friday, and called for India to cooperate in the ongoing probe.

“We want to see accountability. And it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result,” Blinken told reporters in New York.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that several senior officials of Canada’s Five Eyes allies, of which the US is a member, were informed of the allegations ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi. Nevertheless, no public comment was made by any senior leaders among the group’s members, which also include the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

According to Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow at the Washington, DC-based American Enterprise Institute, the Biden administration has no intention of sacrificing its relationship with India over an ill-judged accusation by Trudeau.

Biden has made closer ties with India a foreign policy priority in its efforts to counter China’s influence in Asia, inviting Modi for an official state visit in June, when he also addressed Congress. 

That was the same month that masked gunmen killed Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in Vancouver. The 45-year-old separatist leader had previously been designated as a terrorist by India. 

India has long maintained that Canada has turned a blind eye toward extremist elements against India, especially Khalistani secessionists who demand a separate homeland for Sikh in the Punjab region. 

“The fact is that the Canadians have allowed some pretty dodgy people to use Canadian soil and to spread violent messages,” Dhume said.

“It’s not as though there’s deep sympathy for Canada given that Trudeau has not handled this really well. He’s really been forced into a corner here.”

Trudeau has also come under scathing criticism from some former officials back home. 

Omer Aziz, a former foreign policy advisor for Trudeau’s administration in Canada, wrote in The Globe and Mail that Ottawa’s foreign policy initiatives have never understood South Asia or India, but were instead aimed at winning over the sizable ethnic Sikh vote at home. 

“Under Trudeau, the foreign policy choices have been subordinated to domestic diaspora politics, given the importance of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, which have been important liberal voters. Trudeau, who has a minority in Canadian parliament, is only in power because of the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh,” Dehejia told The Hill.

Singh is the first Sikh to lead a major federal party in Canada, and helped Trudeau form a minority government last year after the Liberals failed to win a majority in parliament. 

In New Delhi, the Canadian allegations have united a fractious political landscape. 

“The Indian response has been ferocious, and it’s been uniform,” said Dhume, adding that it has dredged up memories of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Air India bombing the next year, both of which were linked to Sikh separatists. 

Even Modi’s main opposition, the Indian National Congress has backed his government’s stance on Trudeau and Canada in a rare show of unity. 

“The Congress reiterates that the country’s fight against terrorism has to be uncompromising, especially when it threatens India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity,” it said in a statement.

Pressure is now on Trudeau to reveal how Canada obtained the intelligence that led it to so publicly suggest the Indian government was behind the killing. 

The prime minister doubled down on his claims Thursday, again saying Canada had credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil.

Canada may not be in a position to reveal where it got the information, Dhume said, but the Indian view is that if you’re not in a position to corroborate … then don’t make the allegation in public.

Yet ultimately it may depend on the US to settle the growing feud, which has resulted in India halting new visas for Canadians and expelling a Canadian diplomat. 

“Only the US has the ability to solve this as only they have both trust and influence in both Ottawa and New Delhi,” Dhume added. 

 

 

 

 

 

Fallout from Canada-India clash

Canada-India relations are reeling from the announcement that Canadian security agencies had uncovered evidence linking the Indian government to the assassination of an Indian-born Canadian citizen in British Columbia earlier this year. Canada Institute Associate Xavier Delgado outlines what's at stake for both countries and their allies in the Indo-Pacific.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canadian security agencies have obtained credible evidence linking the Indian government to the unsolved murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and notable advocate for Sikh separatism. 

Nijjar was shot by two masked assailants outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia earlier this year in an attack that Canada alleges has since been connected to agents of India.

The Indian foreign ministry decried the allegations as absurd and, in the aftermath of the announcement, exchanged tit-for-tat expulsions of senior diplomats from Ottawa and New Delhi.

The dispute has shined a sudden spotlight on the Canada-India relationship, which, prior to the Nijjar incident, had been trending in a positive direction. Geopolitical developments, economic ties, and demographic trends over the past ten years had set the stage for closer cooperation between the two former British colonies. India’s prominence in Canada’s 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy and high-level negotiations between the two states for an early progress trade agreement (EPTA) gave supporters of the relationship plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

Now, the allegations that the Indian government orchestrated the assassination of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil have cast a cloud of doubt over the path ahead for the bilateral relationship.

Trade will likely be the first major casualty of the fallout, with negotiations for the EPTA being put on hold. Both countries declared that they would pause trade talks with each other earlier this month and Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng has indefinitely postponed a trade mission to New Delhi that had been planned for October. The negotiations were a notable part of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which listed the EPTA as a critical step towards a larger comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) that would bolster trade ties between the two countries.

The stalled trade talks have put a US$17 billion bilateral trade relationship under strain. Canadian merchandise trade with India grew from approximately US$3.87 billion in 2012 to US$10.18 billion in 2022, with major increases in the export of Canadian energy products and import of Indian consumer goods. In that same year, services trade between the two countries measured US$6.96 billion. 

A reduction in the flow of Indian immigrants, which constitute almost one in five of all recent immigrants to Canada, could be even more devastating than a deterioration of trade relations.

Canada recently reached the 40-million-population milestone off an influx in inbound migration following the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Canada’s population growth, which is the fastest in the G7, is mainly driven by migration ‑ four in five new Canadians from 2016 to 2021 were immigrants. 

Indian immigration to Canada has tripled since 2013, overtaking and pulling away from the Philippines and China as the top source country for new Canadians in the 2021 census.

That census also counted 1.3 million ethnic Indians living in Canada, over 1 million of whom resided in British Columbia or Ontario. 77% of that group – 771,790 people – follow Sikhism, making Canada’s Sikh population the largest in the world outside of India. 

India also tops a notable subcategory of immigration ‑ international students, 34% of international students in Canada from 2015 to 2019 came from India, providing a critical source of revenue for Canadian academic institutions; by 2022, that share had grown to 40%. These numbers directly translate to the labor force, with Indian graduates from Canadian programs accounting for the largest share of post-graduate work permit holders in 2018 over China (20%) and the United States (1%).

Beyond the bounds of Canada-India relations, the dispute between the two countries may throw a wrench in the emerging Indo-Pacific framework of institutions and alliances.

India, with its economic might and security capabilities, has been hailed by the United States and democratic allies as a regional counterweight to China. Washington included India as a founding member of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and the freshly-anointed I2U2 bloc with Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Both countries are also founding members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD or Quad), a strategic security dialogue that includes Japan and Australia.

Canada, for its part, was not invited to join the Quad or IPEF at the conception of either group, nor was it included alongside Five Eyes allies Australia and the United Kingdom in the AUKUS security pact. After inviting Canada to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership during the Obama administration, the United States opted to not join the agreement, leaving both countries without a shared major economic or security institution in the Indo-Pacific. 

A chilling of relations with India could hinder Canada’s ability to join the network of Indo-Pacific institutions, both because regional allies will be wary of angering the Modi government and because India itself could block Canadian membership in certain groups.

Ottawa is clearly aware of India’s influence and power in the region. The Canadian Indo-Pacific strategy, published in late 2022, has an entire section dedicated to India that reads, “India’s strategic importance and leadership – both across the region and globally – will only increase as India – the world’s biggest democracy – becomes the most populous country in the world and continues to grow its economy.”

Canada is not the only party that stands to lose from this dispute. The allegations can damage India’s public image as a democratic nation committed to a rules-based order or, more critically, its perception as a trustworthy ally in the competition against China. Canada’s Five Eyes partners could reevaluate intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation with India if Canadian officials uncover definitive proof of India’s involvement in Nijjar’s murder. 

Disputes between allies are common and, in the diverse roster of countries that constitute the emerging Indo-Pacific architecture, should be expected. Governments disagree frequently over trade policies, environmental practices, and other issues that don’t pose a threat to their diplomatic relationships.

The Canada-India dispute is unique in that the severity of the allegations, the economic and demographic ties between the two countries, and the geopolitical context in which the situation unfolded have raised the stakes for all parties, including the United States.

To prevent spillover damage to the nascent Indo-Pacific alliances, Washington will need to approach the situation carefully. Beijing benefits the most from in-fighting between major US allies, but regardless of how the coming weeks play out, both Canada and India will still have poor relations with China and good relations with the United States. One reason for this is the values that all three countries nominally share. US leaders should remember this and remind Ottawa and New Delhi that the path forward must be paved by justice and a commitment to due process to deviate from those values would be to bring relations between all three countries into uncharted and volatile territory.

 

More sanctions imposed on Iran ahead of Mahsa Amini first death anniversary

The United States, Canada, Britain and some other European Union countries on Friday imposed more sanctions on Iran ahead of the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini.

“Countries that have regularly committed the harshest violence against their own citizens, especially against women and minorities, people of color, aboriginals, natives and immigrants and have never had the least courage to strongly protest or condemn the crimes of the child-killing Zionist regime have no right to shed crocodile tears for the Iranian nation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a press release.

In a statement on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "Mahsa’s tragic and senseless death in the custody of Iran’s so-called 'Morality Police' sparked demonstrations across Iran that were met with unspeakable violence, mass arrests, systemic internet disruptions and censorship by the Iranian regime." 

Kanaani described such moves and meddlesome remarks as “laughable and hypocritical shows”.

“Unfortunately, certain sides that have a dark historical record on human rights issues and women in a coordinated move and despicable efforts have issued worthless political statements to provoke sedition in the Islamic Republic of Iran by beating the drums of repetitive and ineffective sanctions,” Kanaani pointed out.  

The Foreign Ministry official despised the unlawful and undiplomatic moves of these countries and said it is better for the Europeans to acknowledge that the continuation of such unconstructive behaviors will never meet their interests and should adopt a new policy based on respect toward the great and civilized Iranian nation and the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  

The ministry spokesman concluded his remarks by saying that it is quite clear that the far-sighted Iranian people and the government as well as responsible security bodies will not waver in upholding collective security under the negative propaganda and biased moves of the Western sides. 

In a separate statement, The US Treasury Department also said it imposed sanctions on more than two dozen people and entities it said were connected to what it called violent suppression of protests in the wake of Amini's death.

The action targets 29 people and groups, including 18 key members of the IRGC and Iran's Law Enforcement Forces, as well as the head of Iran's Prisons Organizations, the department said. They also target officials linked to Iran's internet blockade and several media outlets.
Douran Software Technologies CEO Alireza Abedinejad as well as media organizations Press TV, Tasnim and Fars news agencies were also among those sanctioned.

The British government also announced sanctions against several Iranian officials, including the culture minister, his deputy and the mayor of Tehran.

 

 

Canada slaps fresh sanctions on Iran

Canada has slapped new sanctions on Iran, accusing it of destabilizing the region and backing Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, and also targeting the drone and aviation sectors of the nation.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Global Affairs Canada said seven additional individuals had been added to the federal government’s growing list of sanctions aimed against the Iranian nation. It was the 13th round of measures to be presented since October 2022.

“Today’s sanctions list 7 individuals involved in activities that gravely threaten international peace and security or that constitute gross and systemic violations of human rights in Iran,” the GAC statement read.

Ali Akbar Ahmadian, who was appointed Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in May, is on the list. He is a former commander of the navy division of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).

Two representatives of the Iranian company Imen Sanat Zaman Fara, which produces equipment for the nation’s Law Enforcement Command, are also sanctioned.

Four executives of aviation companies that manufacture drones are among the other individuals targeted by new Canadian penalties.

GAC purportedly said, “The sanctions build on Canada’s efforts to press Iran to address the legitimate grievances and interests of its citizens and impose costs for its destabilizing behavior abroad.”

These people are prohibited from entering Canada and any assets they may have in the country will be frozen as a result of the penalties.

The additional sanctions, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly claimed, “Send a clear message to Iran that Canada will not tolerate any violations of human rights.”

So far, Ottawa has sanctioned 170 Iranian individuals and 192 Iranian entities, according to its federal government.

Back in July, Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said that Iran had reacted to the recent European Union sanctions against Tehran over the alleged provision of drones to Russia, underlining that it did not provide Russia with drones for use in the Ukraine war.

Kanaani also noted, “It has been officially announced many times, the allegation that Iran exported drones to Russia in order to use them against Ukraine is a baseless accusation.”

He added, “Any attempt to link the war in Ukraine to the bilateral cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia is an act with purely political goals.”

Referring to the clear and frequent opposition of the Islamic Republic to the war in Ukraine, Kanaani emphasized the need to speed up efforts to stop the war through diplomatic means.

“Unfortunately, the West, with political motivations and resorting to false and unproven claims, is trying to continue using the ineffective and failed policy of imposing sanctions against the Iranian nation,” he added.

Kanani stressed that Iran reserves the right to take countermeasures against the sanctions of the European Union and its members.

Additionally, he asserted that the United States and its European allies have frequently used unilateral sanctions as “an illegal tool” against the Iranian nation.

“Resorting to sanctions is illegal, is a violation of the legal rights of the Iranian nation, and is a violation of human rights,” he said.

Kanaani was referring to the sanctions that have been put in place against Iran over the years by the United States and its European allies - France, Britain, and Germany - particularly after the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and launched a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

“We believe that three European countries failed to honor the JCPOA obligations as much as the United States did and should be held accountable,” he added.

He stated that after breaking the terms of the deal, they continue to level false allegations against Iran and impose unjustified sanctions on the nation.

“Iran reserves the right to show a proportionate, balanced, and serious response,” he noted.

  

Britain to join trans-Pacific trade pact

Britain on Sunday formally signed the treaty to join a major trans-Pacific trade pact, becoming the first country to take part since its inception in 2018 and opening the way for members to consider other applications including from China and Taiwan.

The signing was part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) commission meeting being held in New Zealand.

Ministers from member countries will meet later on Sunday to discuss a range of topics, including how to move forward with new applications and a review of the agreement itself.

Britain's Business and Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch said at the signing that her country was delighted to become the first new member of the CPTPP.

"This is a modern and ambitious agreement and our membership in this exciting, brilliant and forward looking bloc is proof that the UK's doors are open for business," Badenoch said.

The British government still needs to ratify the agreement.

The CPTPP is a landmark trade pact agreed in 2018 between 11 countries including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Britain will become the 12th member of the pact that cuts trade barriers, as it looks to deepen ties in the Pacific after its exit from the European Union in 2020.

China, Taiwan, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Ecuador have also applied to join the CPTPP.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the road to bringing Britain into the agreement had been long and at times challenging, but having major economies inside the partnership would bring the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific in a way that strengthened the rules-based trading system in the region.

 

 

World spy chiefs meet in Singapore

According to Reuters, senior officials from about two dozen of the world's major intelligence agencies held a secret meeting on the fringes of the Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore this weekend.

Such meetings are organized by the Singapore government and have been discreetly held at a separate venue alongside the security summit for several years. The meetings have not been previously reported.

The US was represented by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the head of her country's intelligence community, while China was among the other countries present, despite the tensions between the two superpowers.

Samant Goel, the head of India's overseas intelligence gathering agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), also attended.

"The meeting is an important fixture on the international shadow agenda," said one person with knowledge of the discussions. "Given the range of countries involved, it is not a festival of tradecraft, but rather a way of promoting a deeper understanding of intentions and bottom lines.

"There is an unspoken code among intelligence services that they can talk when more formal and open diplomacy is harder - it is a very important factor during times of tension, and the Singapore event helps promote that."

A spokesperson for the Singapore Ministry of Defence said that while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue, participants including senior officials from intelligence agencies also take the opportunity to meet their counterparts.

"The Singapore Ministry of Defence may facilitate some of these bilateral or multilateral meetings," the spokesperson said. "Participants have found such meetings held on the sidelines of the (dialogue) beneficial."

The United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand operate what is called the Five Eyes network to gather and share a broad range of intelligence, and their intelligence officials meet frequently.

Larger meetings of the intelligence community are rarer, and almost never publicized.

Although few details were available on the specific discussions in Singapore, Russia's war in Ukraine and transnational crime figured in the talks on Friday. On Thursday evening, the intelligence chiefs held an informal gathering.

No Russian representative was present, one of the sources said. Ukraine's deputy defence minister, Volodymr V. Havrylov, was at the Shangri-La Dialogue but said he did not attend the intelligence meeting.

Another of the sources said the tone at the meeting was collaborative and cooperative, and not confrontational.

At the main security dialogue, more than 600 delegates from 49 countries held three days of plenary sessions, as well as closed-door bilateral and multilateral meetings at the sprawling Shangri-La Hotel.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave the keynote address while US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu and counterparts from Britain, Japan, Canada, Indonesia and South Korea also spoke.

Haines was among the official US delegates to the Shangri-La Dialogue. At a discussion on cybersecurity in the main meeting, she said in response to a question from a Chinese military officer that cooperation between countries was essential.

"It is absolutely critical, even when there is distrust, and even when you are facing in effect adversaries, that you still try to work through and cooperate on issues of mutual interest and also try to manage the potential for escalation," she said.

US officials said on Friday that CIA Director William Burns visited China last month for talks with Chinese counterparts as the Biden administration seeks to boost communications with Beijing.

 

US ethanol exports exceeds 132 million gallons in March 2023

The United States exported 132.27 million gallons of ethanol and 898,086 tons of distillers’ grains in March, according to the data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on May 04, 2023. Exports of both products were up as compared to the previous month.

The 132.27 million gallons of ethanol exported in March was up when compared to both the 104.03 million gallons exported the previous month and the 125.1 million gallons exported in March 2022.

The US exported ethanol to more than three dozen countries in March. Canada was the top destination for US ethanol exports at 56.56 million gallons, followed by India at 22.76 million gallons and the Netherlands at 11.35 million gallons.

The value of US ethanol exports reached US$341.93 million in March, up from US$288.43 million in February, but down slightly from US$342.16 million in March 2022.

Total US ethanol exports for the first three months of 2023 reached 354.12 million gallons at a value of US$956.01 million, as compared to 393.66 million gallons exported during the same period of 2022 at a value of US$1.02 billion.

The 898,086 metric tons of distillers grains exported in March was up from 764,494 tons exported in February, but down from 927,134 tons exported in March 2022.

The US exported distillers grains to more than three dozen countries in March. Mexico was the top destination for US distillers grains export at 209,812 tons, followed by South Korea at 127,685 tons, and Turkey at 103,346 tons.

The value of U.S. distillers grains exports reached US$296.53 million in March, up from US$252.82 million the previous month and US$274.05 million in March of the previous year.

Total distillers grains exports for the first quarter of 2023 reached 2.43 million tons at a value of US$802.18 million, compared to 2.88 million tons exported during the same period of last year at a value of US$804.61 million.

Saudi Navy carries out evacuation operation from Sudan

The Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) carried out the operation that evacuated citizens, other nationals, diplomats and international officials from Sudan on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry announced. The RSNF conducted the operation with the support of various branches of the armed forces.

The Ministry said, “66 persons from Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Philippines, Canada, and Burkina Faso were among the evacuated.” The number of evacuated Saudi citizens was 91 persons.

All the Saudi citizens and nationals of other countries have arrived safely in Jeddah. This has come in the implementation of the directives of the Kingdom’s leadership, the Ministry said.

The batches arrived in Jeddah at King Faisal Naval Base and were received by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Eng. Waleed Al-Khereiji.

Al-Khereiji said that the journey of the evacuation was long, starting from Khartoum, passing through a number of regions in Sudan until reaching Port Sudan, and with the cooperation of government agencies in the Kingdom. He affirmed that an important role of the operation was done by Ministry of Defense that implemented this plan.

“We all celebrate the return of our sons and the sons of brotherly and friendly countries to the land of Saudi Arabia, which coincided with the celebration of Eid Al-Fitr.”

Saudi Arabia has worked to provide all the main needs for the foreign nationals, in preparation for facilitating their departure to their countries.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan received a phone call from his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Sheikh Salem voiced sincere congratulations on successful evacuations by Saudi ships of citizens from 11 countries from Sudan to Jeddah.

Sheikh Salem expressed Kuwait's appreciation and gratitude to the Saudi foreign minister for the Kingdom's efforts to ensure the evacuation of Kuwaiti citizens from Sudan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced earlier on Saturday the start of arranging the evacuation of Saudi citizens and a number of nationals from other countries from Sudan to Jeddah by sea on 5 Saudi ships. The second Saudi ship was carrying Saudia airline crew who was targeted in Khartoum airport.

It is noteworthy that after a week of fighting between two factions of the country’s military leadership, at least 400 people have been killed in Sudan.

FBI makes arrests over alleged secret Chinese police stations in New York

According to Saudi Gazette, US prosecutors have arrested two men in New York for allegedly operating a Chinese secret police station in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood.

Liu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both New York City residents, face charges of conspiring to act as agents for China and obstruction of justice.

China has previously denied operating the stations, calling them “service centers” for nationals overseas.

Jianwang and Jinping worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the United States on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security, the US Department of Justice alleged on Monday.

The outpost was closed in the fall of 2022, the department said, after those involved became aware of an FBI investigation into the station.

“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” said Breon Pearce, the top prosecutor in Brooklyn.

The stations are believed to be among at least 100 operating across the globe in 53 countries, including the UK and the Netherlands. And last month, Canada’s federal government announced an investigation into two Montreal-area sites thought to be police outposts.

“The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, from the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

According to prosecutors, Jianwang was closely connected to Chinese law enforcement, and was enlisted to help China with repressive activities in the US beginning in 2015, including harassing Chinese dissidents.

In 2018, he allegedly participated in efforts to push a purported PRC fugitive to return to China, including repeated harassment and threats to the individual and his family, living in China and the US.

And prosecutors said he was also enlisted to locate a pro-democracy activist in China. Jiangwang denied these actions when confronted by US authorities.

If convicted, both Jianwang and Jinping face up to 25 years in prison.

Chinese embassies in the US and Canada have said the locations are overseas service stations’ opened during the pandemic to assist nationals abroad with driver’s licensee renewal and similar matters.

But human rights groups have accused China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese nationals abroad.

FBI director Christopher Wray said last November that his agency was monitoring reports of such stations, calling them a real problem.

“To me, it is outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up shop, you know, in New York, let’s say, without proper coordination,” Wray said.

“It violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes.”

UBS takes over Credit Suisse

Moves by authorities to avert a global banking crisis appeared to have lifted market confidence on Monday as investors welcomed emergency dollar liquidity from top central banks and a historic Swiss-backed acquisition of troubled Credit Suisse by UBS Group.

In a package orchestrated by Swiss regulators on Sunday, UBS Group AG will pay 3 billion Swiss francs (US$3.23 billion) for 167-year-old Credit Suisse Group AG and assume up to US$5.4 billion in losses.

Major central banks, faced with the risk of a fast-moving loss of confidence in the financial system, also scrambled on Sunday to bolster the flow of cash around the world with a series of coordinated currency swaps to ensure banks have the dollars needed to operate.

The Swiss banking marriage is backed by a massive government guarantee, helping prevent what would have been one of the largest banking collapses since the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Financial markets staged a modest relief rally in Asia on Monday but are wary about a range of risks including contagion, the fragile state of US regional banks, and moral hazard.

"Policy makers will be hoping that the weekend's UBS buyout of troubled Credit Suisse will draw a line under recent market stresses," said Brian Martin, ANZ head of G3 economics in London.

Central banks were already facing the conundrum of how much is enough? in the face of resilient labour markets, given the lags with which their policy decisions affect economies. They now have a new conundrum, 'how much is too much?' for financial stability?

Pressure on UBS helped seal Sunday's deal.

"It's a historic day in Switzerland, and a day frankly, we hoped, would not come," UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher told analysts on a conference call. "I would like to make it clear that while we did not initiate discussions, we believe that this transaction is financially attractive for UBS shareholders," Kelleher said.

UBS CEO Ralph Hamers said there were still many details to be worked through.

"I know that there must be still questions that we have not been able to answer," he said. "And I understand that and I even want to apologize for it."

In a global response not seen since the height of the pandemic, the Fed said it had joined central banks in Canada, England, Japan, the EU and Switzerland in a coordinated action to enhance market liquidity. The European Central Bank vowed to support euro zone banks with loans if needed; adding the Swiss rescue of Credit Suisse was instrumental in restoring calm.

Problems remain in the US banking sector, where bank stocks remained under pressure despite a move by several large banks to deposit US$30 billion into First Republic Bank, an institution rocked by the failures of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank.

On Sunday, First Republic saw its credit ratings downgraded deeper into junk status by S&P Global, which said the deposit infusion may not solve its liquidity problems.

US bank deposits have stabilized, with outflows slowing or stopping and in some cases reversing, a US official said on Sunday, adding the problems of Credit Suisse are unrelated to recent deposit runs on US banks and that US banks have limited exposure to Credit Suisse.

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is planning to relaunch the sale process for Silicon Valley Bank, with the regulator seeking a potential breakup of the lender, according to people familiar with the matter.

There are also concerns about what happens next at Credit Suisse and what that means for investors and employees.

UBS chairman Kelleher told a media conference that it will wind down Credit Suisse's investment bank, which has thousands of employees worldwide. UBS said it expected annual cost savings of some US$7 billion by 2027.

The Swiss central bank said Sunday's deal includes 100 billion Swiss francs (US$108 billion) in liquidity assistance for UBS and Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse shares had lost a quarter of their value last week. The bank was forced to tap $54 billion in central bank funding as it tries to recover from scandals that have undermined confidence.

Under the deal with UBS, some Credit Suisse bondholders are major losers. The Swiss regulator decided that Credit Suisse bonds with a notional value of US$17 billion will be valued at zero, angering some of the holders of the debt who thought they would be better protected than shareholders in the takeover deal announced on Sunday.

(US$1 = 0.9280 Swiss francs)

 

 

World powers oppose Israeli settlement authorization

Foreign ministers of four European countries and Canada joined Washington on Tuesday in opposing a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to authorize nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States issued a joint statement voicing concern over the plans announced by Israel on Sunday.

"We strongly oppose unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution," they said.

Later, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Ottawa also strongly opposed the expansion of settlements and added that such unilateral actions jeopardize efforts to achieve comprehensive, just and lasting peace.

On Sunday, Israel granted retroactive authorization to nine settler outposts in the West Bank and announced mass construction of new homes in established settlements, prompting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to say he was deeply troubled.

Israel's foreign ministry had no immediate comment but Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, from the hardliner religious nationalist bloc in Netanyahu's government, said he wanted to go further.

"This is our mission. This is our doctrine," Ben-Gvir said. "Nine settlements are nice but it's still not enough. We want much more," he said in a video message.

Most world powers view as illegal the settlements Israel has built on land it captured in a 1967 war with Arab powers.

Israel disputes that and cites biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests.

Since the 1967 war, it has established 132 settlements on land Palestinians see as the core of a future state, according to the Peace Now watchdog group.

Besides the authorized settlements, groups of settlers have built scores of outposts without government permission. Some have been razed by police, others authorized retroactively. The nine granted approval on Sunday is the first for this Netanyahu government.

Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official, welcomed the joint statement but added, "We demand that words be turned to deeds."

With tensions in the West Bank already high, the move has alarmed world powers which fear an even greater escalation of violence. Israeli forces have conducted near daily raids in the West Bank, pursuing a crackdown begun last year in the wake of a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks.

This year more than 40 Palestinians, including both militant fighters and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces. At the same time, 10 people have been killed in Israel in two attacks by Palestinians.