Politics
Trump says no reason to meet Xi, threatens ‘massive’ China tariffs
- Trump cancels planned meeting with Xi at APEC summit.
- US president warns of massive new tariffs on China.
- Markets dip as Trump reignites fears of trade war.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said he no longer feels the need for a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this month, slamming Beijing for hostile trade practices and threatening “massive” tariffs.
In a lengthy and unexpected Truth Social post, Trump railed against China imposing export controls on rare earth minerals — a critical component in modern technology.
“Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile,” Trump said in the post, which he sent as he headed for a medical check-up at a military hospital near Washington.
“I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” he said, adding that he had also seen no reason to call Xi about the issue.
Trump added: “One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America.”
Wall Street stocks quickly tumbled into negative territory as Trump’s tariff threatened to reignite the simmering trade war between Washington and Beijing.
As recently as last week Trump had stressed the importance of his plans to meet Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which was to be their first encounter since the US president returned to power in January.
He had also said that he would travel to China next year.
But in his post on Friday, Trump said China had sent letters to countries around the world detailing export controls on “each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it´s not manufactured in China.”
‘Lying in wait’
“There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive’, but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time,” Trump wrote.
He accused Beijing of “lying in wait” despite what he characterized as six months of good relations, adding that he had not spoken to Xi about the matter.
Trump also questioned whether the timing of China’s announcement was designed to take the shine off the Gaza ceasefire deal that he brokered this week between Israel and Hamas.
Rare earth elements are critical to manufacturing everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware and renewable energy technology. China dominates global production and processing of these materials.
Trump said other countries had contacted the United States expressing anger over China’s “great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere.”
He characterised China’s approach as building monopoly positions on magnets and other elements, calling it “a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least.”
“Dependent on what China says about the hostile ‘order’ that they have just put out, I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move,” he said.
Washington and Beijing engaged in a tit-for-tat tariffs war earlier this year that threatened to effectively halt trade between the world´s two largest economies.
Both sides eventually agreed to de-escalate tensions but the truce has been shaky.
Trump said last week that he would push Xi on US soybean purchases as American farmers, a key voting demographic in his 2024 election win, grapple with fallout from his trade wars.
China had said earlier Friday that it would impose “special port fees” on ships operated by and built in the United States after Washington announced charges for Chinese-linked ships in April.
- Private carrier admits misjudgement, planning gaps.
- Regulator orders IndiGo to relieve senior office bearers.
- Operational meltdown linked to new policy of pilot rest.
India’s civil aviation regulator on Saturday imposed a fine of $2.45 million on IndiGo, the country’s biggest airline, for poor roster planning that led to large-scale flight cancellations in December.
Airports across India were thrown into disarray late last year, with the private carrier admitting “misjudgement and planning gaps” in adapting to a new policy of pilot rest.
Over 4,000 mostly domestic flights were either cancelled or delayed for over a week across the country, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The operational meltdown came even though IndiGo had two years to prepare for the new rules aimed at giving pilots more rest periods in between flights to enhance passenger safety.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it was levying the penalty for several lapses, including “failure to strike (a) balance between commercial imperatives and crew members’ ability to work effectively”.
The regulator ordered IndiGo to relieve its senior vice president of its operations control centre of his responsibilities, according to a statement released on Saturday.
It also issued warnings to senior officials at the company, including CEO Pieter Elbers “for inadequate overall oversight of flight operations and crisis management”.
There was no immediate response from IndiGo to the fine.
IndiGo, which commands 60% of India’s domestic market, operates more than 2,000 flights a day.
The crisis was one of the biggest challenges faced by the no-frills airline that has built its reputation on punctuality.
India is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets. In November 2024, IndiGo reached a daily level of 500,000 passengers for the first time.
- Khamenei terms wave of protests “American conspiracy”.
- Iran’s supreme leader says will not spare domestic criminals.
- DPM Dar expresses hope for peace and stability in region.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday accused US President Donald Trump of being responsible for “casualties” during a protest wave in the country.
“We hold the American president guilty for the casualties, damages and accusations he has levelled against the Iranian nation,” he told a crowd of supporters during an address marking a religious holiday.
“This was an American conspiracy,” he said, adding that “America’s goal is to swallow Iran… the goal is to put Iran back under military, political and economic domination”.
He further said authorities “must break the back of the seditionists” after a crackdown on the protest wave.
“We do not intend to lead the country to war, but we will not spare domestic criminals… worse than domestic criminals, international criminals, we will not spare them either,” he added.
“By God’s grace, the Iranian nation must break the back of the seditionists just as it broke the back of the sedition.”
It is pertinent to mention here that more than 3,000 people have died in Iran’s nationwide protests, rights activists said on Saturday, while a “very slight rise” in internet activity was reported in the country after an eight-day blackout.
The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the country, culminating in mass violence late last week.
Tensions in Iran, however, subsided after three weeks of protests under an internet blackout. The capital Tehran, however, has been comparatively quiet for four days, said several residents reached by Reuters.
Drones were flying over the city, but there were no signs of major protests on Thursday or Friday, said the residents, who asked not to be identified for their safety.
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar held telephonic conversation with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi today.
They discussed the current situation in Iran and the wider region.
DPM Dar expressed hope for peace and stability, and both sides agreed to continue bilateral consultations on matters of mutual interest.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump thanked Iran’s leaders for cancelling what he said were hundreds of planned executions of protesters after a crackdown.
Taking to his social media platform, he said the mass hangings had been called off and praised Tehran for the move.
US President Donald Trump, whose repeated threats to act had included a vow to “take very strong action” if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” he posted on social media.
- Venezuela’s Machado gave her Nobel medal to Trump.
- Donald Trump says he intends to keep the medal.
- Original laureate recorded in history as prize recipient.
OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation that won it, though the medal can be given away, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday, a day after last year’s winner gave her medalto US President Donald Trump.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave her medalon on Thursday to Trump, who thanked her for it. The White House released a photo of Trump and Machado, with Trump holding up a gold-coloured frame displaying it, and a White House official said Trump intends to keep it.
Machado’s award also consists of a diploma and 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.19 million).
“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the award body said in a statement.
“There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items,” it added.
‘Inseparably linked’
The medal and the diploma are physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the prize, said the five-strong award committee.
“The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” it said.
The committee, which did not refer to Trump and Machado by name in its statement, said it does not comment on a laureate’s statements, decisions or actions after the prize is announced.
It was not the first time a Nobel laureate has given away the medal. In 1943, Nobel literature laureate Knut Hamsun gave his to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
In 2022, Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov sold his medal for $100 million to raise money for the UN children’s fund Unicef to help Ukrainian refugee children.
In 2024, the widow of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan donated his 2001 Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma to the UN office in Geneva.
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