China and 11-member regional bloc sign an upgraded version of their free trade pact, as both weather the impact of the US tariffs.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have upgraded their free trade agreement as trade between the two regions continues to rise in the shadow of United States President Donald Trump’s trade war.
The trade pact was signed on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, in a ceremony witnessed by Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
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The “3.0 version” of the deal will broaden collaboration on “infrastructure, digital and green transition, trade facilitation and people-to-people exchanges”, according to China’s State Council. It builds on the region’s first free trade pact with China, which came into force in 2010.
The 11-member ASEAN and China have become each other’s largest trade partners in recent years, thanks to the China Plus One supply chain that emerged after Trump’s trade war with China in 2018.
Trade between China and ASEAN has already hit $785bn in the nine months of 2025, up 9.6 percent year-on-year. Much of this trade reflects integrated manufacturing supply chains, but it also increasingly includes finished goods from China that are destined for Southeast Asian consumers.
In his remarks to the ASEAN summit on Tuesday, Li praised China and the bloc’s deepening trade relationship, and spoke of his expectation for “expanded and higher-quality economic cooperation” under the upgraded trade pact.
“Cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results, trade volume continues to grow steadily, and ASEAN governments have promoted even closer people-to-people exchanges,” he said.
Zhiwu Chen, a professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera that the “3.0” trade pact comes at a time when China is trying to shore up its relationship with ASEAN.
“This is very important for China, as its trade tensions with the US and EU have been rising, and China needs ASEAN countries. At the same time, this is a time for ASEAN to take advantage of the window of opportunities precisely for the same reason,” he said, describing the deal as a “win-win outcome for both sides”.
In his remarks, Li also took aim at Trump’s tariffs, which have disrupted global trade, and marked the most protectionist policy pursued by the US government since the 1930s.
“Unilateralism and protectionism have seriously disrupted the global economic and trade order. External forces are increasingly interfering in our region, and many countries have been unfairly subjected to high tariffs,” Li said.
The US president also attended the ASEAN summit on Sunday, and is due to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later this week.
While at ASEAN, Trump signed trade deals with Cambodia and Malaysia, as well as framework agreements with Thailand and Vietnam, highlighting his preference for bilateral trade deals hammered out in one-on-one discussions.
The deals appeared to finalise Trump’s “reciprocal tariff” rate on the four countries, which were set earlier this year at 19 to 20 percent.
Tariffs and trade barriers are also expected to headline Trump’s meeting with Xi, after US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent announced that the two sides had reached a “framework agreement” on tariffs this week.
Earlier this month, Trump had threatened to impose a tariff of 100 percent on Chinese goods by November 1, after China strengthened export controls on rare earth minerals. Bessent said the framework agreement should help both sides “avoid” a tariff hike, according to Reuters.
Irish Olympic swimmer Shane Ryan has joined the Enhanced Games, a multi-sport competition that will allow athletes to use performance-enhancing substances without being subject to drug tests.
Ryan, who was born in the USA, competed in three successive Olympics Games for Ireland before announcing his retirement from the sport earlier this month.
“After a decade dedicated to traditional competition on the world’s highest stage, I’m excited to dive into this next chapter with the Enhanced Games,” the 31-year-old said on his decision.
Ryan joins Team GB Olympic swimmer Ben Proud, four-time Greece Olympian Kristian Gkolomeev and US sprinter Fred Kerley in announcing his intentions to compete at the Games.
The move has been criticised by Sport Ireland, which says it is “deeply disappointed” with the decision.
The first Enhanced Games are due to take place in Las Vegas in 2026 with each event awarded a total prize purse of $500,000 and a $1m on offer for competitors who break world records.
Swim Ireland has also condemned the move, confirming his disassociation with the organisation and that he will no longer be provided with any funding or services.
Ryan competed at the Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Games, becoming the first Irish swimmer to participate at three Olympics.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland said that Ryan’s move to the Enhanced Games “stands in direct opposition to our core clean sport values”.
If Kerley were to run quicker than Usain Bolt’s 100m record of 9.58 seconds, he would receive $1m (£730,000) in prize money from the Enhanced Games.
Earlier this month, Olympic swimmer Ben Proud became the first British athlete to sign up, despite World Aquatics being the first international sport federation to ban athletes, coaches and officials from its events if they have taken part in the competition.
An athlete commission from UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) described the Enhanced Games as a “reckless venture” which could “damage the integrity of world sport irrevocably.”
In January, Kerley was tasered and arrested by police following a confrontation with officers in Miami but said later in May it was down to a “misunderstanding”.
He was reported to have been arrested for allegedly punching his former girlfriend and fellow athlete Alaysha Johnson in the face.
As well as his bronze in Paris, Kerley also won 100m silver at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
He has also won world 4x100m and 4x400m gold medals, and recorded the sixth-fastest 100m time in history with 9.76 seconds.
Olympic swimmer Ben Proud has become the first British athlete to join the controversial Enhanced Games – but says he would never do anything to undermine ‘clean’ sport.
But he has now committed to an event which allows athletes to take banned performance-enhancing drugs.
He never won Olympic gold or broke the 50m freestyle world record, which has stood since 2009, but feels that the Enhances Games “give me a new opportunity to continue this pursuit and see how far I can take things”.
Asked if he thinks the event undermines clean sport, Proud told BBC Sport: “No. I think it opens up the potential avenue to excel in a very different way.
“Speaking for myself, I think realistically I’ve achieved everything I can, and now the Enhanced [Games] is giving me a new opportunity. I definitely don’t think that’s undermining a clean sport.
“I really respect the sport I’ve been part of, and I would never step back in knowing I’ve done something which isn’t in the rules.”
Proud said he sees ‘traditional sport’ and the Enhanced Games as “two very separate entities”, and that he found athletes breaking the rules “incredibly frustrating”.
“I see doping in clean sports as a complete no-go,” he said. “I don’t have any time for that.
“The fact it’s still happening is a problem. It’ll always be a cat and mouse game, there will always be people developing new techniques or people getting away with things.
“That’s one thing that has ruined sport for a lot of people. The anti-doping agencies just don’t have the ability to completely make sure everyone is clean and on a level playing field, and that to me has always been the biggest frustration.
“If you were part of my life for the past 12, 13 years, you’d see how much time you have to allocate to making sure we’re available to be tested on a daily basis, making sure we’re constantly giving our samples.”
BBC Sport has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for comment.
Wada’s latest Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) report, external was published in July, covering 2022. It said that from 241,143 samples, 1,979 (0.82%) were reported to be adverse findings, of which 1,376 (69.5%) resulted in an ADRV.
Megan Romano announced as first female competitor at 2026 debut of Olympic-style Enhanced Games in Las Vegas.
The Olympic-style sport venture that will run an event next year with no drug testing signed world-champion swimmer Megan Romano as its first female and first US athlete.
The Enhanced Games will debut next May in Las Vegas, featuring swimming, track and weightlifting competitions in an event that will allow athletes to use performance enhancers.
Romano calls competing in the event “an opportunity to push the boundaries of human performance in a transparent and scientifically-backed environment, and to compete on a stage where female athletes are valued and compensated fairly. equally. I believe this is the future of sport.”
The Enhanced Games will offer a prize purse of $500,000 for each event, with $1m bonuses going to anyone who breaks a world record in the 100-metre sprint (track) and 50-metre freestyle (swimming).
Megan Romano, right, and members of the US relay team pose with their gold medals on the podium after winning the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay final during the Short Course Swimming World Championships in 2012 [Valdrin Xhemaj/EPA]
Those marks would not count as “official”, because world records need to be ratified by international federations, which require record-breakers to pass doping tests.
The International Olympic Committee has condemned the concept of the Enhanced Games, saying, “If you want to destroy any concept of fair play and fair competition in sport, this would be a good way to do it.”
But the games have built some momentum and raised money in the “double-digit millions,” according to founder Aron D’Souza.
Four male swimmers, including Olympic medallist James Magnussen of Australia, have committed to the games.
Romano, a standout swimmer at Georgia in college, anchored the US 4×100 freestyle relay team to a gold medal at world championships in 2013.
“The Future of Sports Is Here: We are on a mission to redefine superhumanity through science, innovation and sports.”
An unabashedly ambitious goal, or at least choice of words. Yet “redefining superhumanity” isn’t enough for the Enhanced Games, a start-up that plans to hold an Olympic-style competition next year in Las Vegas.
The venture also seeks to “reinvent sports with science.”
Translation: Not just allow performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), not just encourage their use, but celebrate their use.
Or, in the juice-flecked hyperbole of Enhanced Games copywriters, “We are pioneering a new era in athletic competition that embraces scientific advancements to push the boundaries of human performance.”
Breaking a world record in track or swimming sprint events will trigger a $1 million payout to the athlete, one of several performance bonuses promised by Enhanced. Where will the money come from? Investors reportedly include conservative billionaire Peter Thiel, Saudi prince Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, and Donald Trump Jr. From the audacity of the message to the deep pockets funding the venture to the athletes tempted by the prospect of making big money and setting world records, the Enhanced Games are worth a closer look.
Why are the Enhanced Games in the news?
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Witold Banka sounded an alarm last week at a meeting of Summer Olympics sports leaders, warning that the Enhanced Games pose a threat to all that’s hallowed and decent in global sport.
“This initiative seeks to normalize the use of potentially dangerous drugs,” Banka said. “For the sake of athlete health and the purity of sport, of course, it must be stopped.
“As the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles approach, we cannot allow what should be a celebration of honest sporting endeavor to be overshadowed by this cynical attempt to undermine clean sport. We will urge the U.S. authorities to find legal ways to block this initiative.”
Witold Banka, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), attends a press conference at the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 25, 2024, in Paris.
(Michel Euler / Associated Press)
Banka’s warning prompted eye-rolling in some quarters. The Senate committee on Consumer Protection, Technology and Data Privacy will hold a hearing Tuesday titled “WADA Shame: Swimming in Denial Over Chinese Doping.”
WADA refused to investigate claims of 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for a PED before the Tokyo Olympics. With the LA Games in 2028 and Salt Lake City Games in 2034 looming, the Senate committee also plans to address claims that inconsistent enforcement by WADA has resulted in unfair competitions impacting American athletes.
USADA chief executive Travis Tygart accused Banka of mentioning the Enhanced Games to distract from the upcoming Senate hearing, telling the Associated Press, “Banka’s indignation equals his misinformation or ignorance about how free democratic societies and markets work.”
That doesn’t mean Tygart is A-OK with an endeavor that encourages the use of PEDs and the resulting tainted accomplishments.
“As we have repeatedly said, for all of the obvious reasons, the Enhanced Games or any other open competition is a bad idea,” Tygart said in comments emailed to Agence France-Presse. “If he really wants to ask U.S. authorities to do something, he should show up and ask the Senate to do something.”
The first global sports body to push back is World Aquatics, which passed a rule two weeks ago that bans any swimmer who supports the Enhanced Games — even if they’ve never competed — from representing their country again.
Former Olympic athlete Michael Phelps, (from left) Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, and former Olympic athlete Allison Schmitt are sworn in during an Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 25, 2024.
(Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
The rule applies to those who “support, endorse, or participate in sporting events that embrace the use of scientific advancements or other practices that may include prohibited substances and/or prohibited methods,” a World Aquatics statement said.
When and where will the Enhanced Games take place?
The Enhanced Games will take aim at world records in swimming, weightlifting and track at Resorts World in Las Vegas on Memorial Day Weekend, 2026.
Scheduled swimming events are the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle, and the 50-meter and 100-meter butterfly. Weightlifting will include the snatch and the clean & jerk. Track events will include the 100-meter dash and the 110-meter hurdles.
Chef Ray Garcia’s restaurant, ¡Viva!, located inside the Resorts World Las Vegas on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)
Each event will carry a prize purse of $500,000, with $250,000 awarded to each winner. In addition, bonuses will be paid for world records, including $1 million for records in the 100-meter sprint and 50-meter freestyle, which the Enhanced Games website describes as “the two definitive tests of raw human speed.”
The Enhanced Games will take place within the resort. The competition complex features a four-lane pool, a six-lane sprint track and a weightlifting stage.
Who came up with this and why?
The founder and president of the Enhanced Games is Aron D’Souza, an Australian entrepreneur. D’Souza has been on a crusade to create an alternative to the Olympic Games, which he believes don’t compensate athletes fairly.
He advocates for the use of PEDs, arguing that athletes should have the freedom to make choices about their own bodies and that WADA acts as an “anti-science police force” for the International Olympic Committee.
Previously, D’Souza led Thiel’s litigation against Gawker Media involving the wrestler Hulk Hogan, which resulted in one of the largest invasion of privacy judgments in history, and is the subject of the book “Conspiracy” by author Ryan Holiday.
D’Souza is the founder of Sargon, a technology infrastructure company in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. He sold his stake in the company in 2018.
(L-R) Amy Chua and Peter Thiel attend Inauguration Eve hosted by Uber, X and The Free Press at Cafe Riggs on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)
The extent to which billionaire investors, such as Thiel, Alwaleed Al Saud and Trump Jr., will fund the Enhanced Games is unclear. Money isn’t a problem, if statements on the event’s website are believed: “We are backed by some of the world’s most successful venture capitalists, allowing us to operate independently without government and taxpayer funding.”
D’Souza told the Associated Press that Trump Jr.’s group, called 1789 Capital, is bringing “double digit millions” to the Enhanced Games. Trump Jr. made a video trumpeting his partnership, that includes an appearance by his father, President Trump.
Trump Jr., in a statement accompanying the announcement of the funding, said: “This is about excellence, innovation, and American dominance on the world stage — something the MAGA movement is all about.”
D’Souza is thrilled by the backing of America’s first family and other moneyed interests.
“To know that some of the most significant figures in American social and political life support the Enhanced Games is more important to us than any investment,” he said on a video call in February. “I’ve had the great fortune of working alongside many members of the administration and other prominent figures of the Trump movement over the years, so it’s a very natural fit.”
D’Souza and his team express lofty goals beyond juicing athletes, setting records and paying race winners. Last week, D’Souza posted as much on LinkedIn:
“This isn’t just about enhancement. It’s about economic freedom. About athletes having a choice. About breaking the monopoly that old institutions hold over human performance.
“At the Enhanced Games, we are unapologetic: We’re not backing down. We will fight — in the courts, in the public square, and in the arena of ideas — for every athlete who’s been silenced, underpaid, or discarded.”
Why are performance-enhancing drugs forbidden anyway?
The list of health risks associated with taking anabolic steroids — which have no medical use approved by the U.S. government — is long and frightening:
Men may see their breasts and prostate gland grow and their testicles shrink. Women may get a deeper voice, grow body hair and lose hair on their head. Both men and women might tear tendons or develop liver tumors, severe acne, elevated blood pressure, heart problems, issues with anger and depression.
The Enhanced Games say the competition will be under the supervision of a medical team, but by the time the games begin, damage from taking PEDs may have already developed.
“Protecting athletes is our top priority,” the Enhanced Games website proclaims. “Every competitor will undergo rigorous, state-of-the-art medical profiling before participating in the competition.”
The first athlete to show results from using the Enhanced Games PEDs regimen is Kristian Gkolomeev, a Greek swimmer who never medaled in four Olympics.
In February, Gkolomeev swam two-hundredths of a second faster than the 50-meter freestyle world record with a time of 20.89. He wore an inline full-body open water suit that is prohibited by World Aquatics.
“I’m kind of like the driver in the car, but I need the team behind me,” Gkolomeev said during an Enhanced Games promotional event last month in Las Vegas.
Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev competes in the Swimming Men’s 50m Freestyle Semifinal 1 during the LEN European Aquatics Championships, at the Milan Gale Muskatirovic sports centre in Belgrade, on June 22, 2024.
(Andrej Isakovic / AFP via Getty Images)
Many believe that breaking records under the influence of PEDs is meaningless.
Paul Ifrim, a Romanian Luger who finished 20th at the 2010 Winter Olympics, responded to D’Souza’s LinkedIn post with this comment:
“I earned my place at the Olympics through hard, clean work and unwavering dedication over the course of many years. Integrity, fair play, respect, and perseverance are what inspire and shape true athletes. Your argument for ‘enhancing’ drugs, viewed as ‘athlete compensation,’ is a disgrace to those principles.
“What message are we sending young, aspiring athletes? That cheating and cutting corners is a valid path to success? These are pathetic excuses for undermining the true spirit of competition. You’re delusional for promoting this agenda. True athletes rise through grit and honor, not shortcuts and hypocrisy.”
Tygart, the CEO of USADA, had a similar reaction: “While those behind the Enhanced Games might be looking to make a quick buck, that profit would come at the expense of kids across the world thinking they need to dope to chase their dreams. We desperately wish this investment was being made in the athletes who are currently training and competing the real and safe way.
“They are the role models this world so desperately needs and they are the ones who deserve our support — not some dangerous clown show that puts profit over principle.”
A counterpoint was published last summer by anti-doping expert Michael Ashenden, who helped create the athlete blood passport system and develop a test for the blood-boosting drug Erythropoietin (EPO).
Initially opposed to the Enhanced Games, Ashenden changed his mind, writing that the failures of WADA to combat doping in the Olympics make an alternative viable.
“Today I advocate for the concept of an Enhanced Games to co-exist with the Olympic Movement, provided their athletes do nothing illegal,” Ashenden wrote. “I realized that not following the WADA rules was not so radical after all….”
“I acknowledge that by offering incentives for record performances, the Enhanced Games are tacitly encouraging the use of performance-enhancing substances. But by offering a gold medal, the Olympic Movement also incentivizes the use of performance-enhancing substances….
“Although it may be a bitter pill for the Olympic Movement, it was foreseeable that the commercialization of sport under their stewardship would create an environment that seeded a corporate disruptor.”
