VANCOUVER — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a video address released Sunday that Canada’s strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected.
In the 10-minute address, Carney spoke about his government’s efforts to strengthen the Canadian economy by attracting new investments and signing trade deals with other countries.
“The world is more dangerous and divided,” Carney said. “The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.
“Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become weaknesses. Weaknesses that we must correct.”
Carney said tariffs imposed by President Trump have affected workers in the auto and steel industries. He added that businesses are holding back investments “restrained by the pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us.”
Many Canadians have also been angered by Trump’s comments suggesting Canada become the 51st state.
Carney said he plans to give Canadians regular updates on his government’s efforts to diversify away from the U.S.
“Security can’t be achieved by ignoring the obvious or downplaying the very real threats that we Canadians face,” he said. “I promise you I will never sugarcoat our challenges.”
It’s not the first time Carney, who served as a central bank governor, first at the Bank of Canada and later with the Bank of England, has spoken about a shift in world power.
During a speech in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he received widespread praise for condemning economic coercion by great powers against small countries.
His remarks brought a rebuke from Trump.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said after the speech. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
There was no immediate White House reaction Sunday to the address.
Carney’s comments came days after securing a majority government following special election wins and as the opposition Conservatives push him to deliver a U.S. trade deal, which was among his promises in last year’s election.
A review of the current version of the North American Free Trade Agreement among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico is scheduled for July.
In his address, Carney said he wants to attract new investments into Canada, double the size of clean energy capacity and reduce trade barriers within the country. He also emphasized Canada’s increased defense spending, reduction in taxes and efforts to make housing more affordable.
“We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner,” he said. “We can’t control the disruption coming from our neighbors. We can’t control our future on the hope it will suddenly stop.
“We can control what happens here. We can build a stronger country that can withstand disruptions from aboard.”
Carney said simply hoping the “United States will return to normal” is not a feasible strategy.
“Hope isn’t a plan and nostalgia is not a strategy,” he said.
Carney said Canada has “been a great neighbor,” standing with the U.S. in conflicts including Afghanistan, plus two World Wars.
“The U.S. has changed and we must respond,” he said. “It’s about taking back control of our security, our borders and our future.”
April 19 (UPI) — Citing steep tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday his country’s historically close trade and economic ties to the United States have become a “weakness.”
In a video statement posted to YouTube, the Canadian leader asserted the United States has “fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.”
This has meant that “many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses — weaknesses that we must correct.”
Carney’s comments as Trump’s trade war with Canada has disrupted decades of cross border cooperation, triggered in part by a broad 10% tariff slapped by Washington onto all goods not excluded under the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement known as CUSMA.
Significantly higher U.S. levies have also been imposed on key strategic sectors, including a 50% tariff on Canadian products that are almost entirely made of steel, aluminum or copper, and a 25% tariff on products that are “largely” made of those metals.
Many types of Canadian heavy equipment also face a 15% tariff upon entry into the United States.
Ottawa says the effect of these measures has been profound, “displacing workers, disrupting supply chains, forcing companies to rethink where they source their materials and products, and causing uncertainty that is curbing investment.”
Although Canada still has the best deal of any U.S. trading partner in an era when Trump has used the threat of tariffs and against both allies and adversaries for strategic and political ends, “we cannot rely on our most important trade relationship as we once did. We must build our strength at home,” Carney said.
“Workers in our industries most affected by U.S. tariffs in autos and steel and lumber are under threat,” he added. “Businesses are holding back investments restrained by the pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us.”
Triggered by the U.S. trade actions and Trump’s oft-repeated desire to annex Canada as the “51st state,” Carney’s Liberal Party government in Januarymade a milestone deal with China to lower some of the tariffs imposed by one another on some of their trade goods.
Under that pact, China lowered its tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, while Canada slashed its tariffs on up to 49,000 electric vehicles that are made in China.
The deal was denounced by Trump, who threatened to impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods sent to the United States in response.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric and general way of life,” the U.S. president asserted.
But Carney on Sunday again defended his expansion of trade away from the United States, saying, “We will attract new investment so we can build more for ourselves, striking new partnerships abroad so we can sell into new markets.
“It’s about taking back control of our security, our borders and our future.”
President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on October 7, 2025. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo
A coalition of EU-based chemical producers of titanium dioxide – a strategic chemical used in green energy and aerospace – has lodged a complaint with the Commission alleging unfair foreign subsidies against leading Chinese producer LB Group, which is seeking to acquire a UK plant of British competitor Venator, Euronews has learned.
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The move follows the European Commission’s decision in January 2025 to impose anti-dumping duties on LB Group, a trade defence measure targeting low-priced imports into the EU.
Acquiring a production plant in the UK would allow the Chinese group to export its products to the European market duty-free under the EU-UK trade agreement, circumventing EU anti-dumping tariffs.
The EU chemical sector is under pressure from growing competition from Chinese rivals, which are flooding the market with overcapacity.
The alliance behind the complaint against LB Group includes several companies producing in the EU — US-based Tronox and Kronos, Czech Precheza and Slovenian Cinkarna — collectively accounting for about 90% of EU titanium dioxide production.
Enforcing the Foreign Subsidies Regulation outside the EU
Sources said the complaint was filed in December 2025, urging the European Commission to investigate the Chinese company over alleged unfair foreign subsidies used to finance the acquisition of Venator’s plant.
The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, adopted in 2022, allows the Commission to investigate non-EU companies to assess whether they benefit from distortive foreign subsidies to make acquisitions in the EU or take part in public procurement.
The tool was initially designed with China in mind, reflecting concerns over excessive state subsidies support for Chinese companies acquiring strategic EU assets or infrastructure. However, the regulation has not yet been applied outside the EU.
The plant targeted by LB Group is located in Greatham in northeast England, which left the EU in 2020 after Brexit. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is currently reviewing the deal and is expected to issue a decision in May.
If the European Commission opens an investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, it could set a precedent and send a strong signal globally.
The move would come as the EU chemical industry loses market share in Europe.
According to Cefic, which represents the sector in Brussels, the bloc has lost around 9% of its production capacity since 2022, resulting in the loss of 20,000 direct jobs.
The European Commission on Wednesday imposed anti-dumping duties on glass fibre —a key input for the EU’s renewable industry— produced by Chinese companies operating in Egypt, Bahrain and Thailand.
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The move confirms the EU’s push to curb Chinese imports entering the bloc via Belt and Road routes to sidestep tariffs on products officially labelled “made in China.”
Brussels seeks to shield its market from a surge of low-cost imports from the Asian giant, targeting goods it considers heavily subsidized or sold in the EU below production cost in China.
The tariffs on glass fibre from the three countries will range from 11% to 25.4% of the product’s value.
“The investigation confirms the existence of unfair practice, which is an important signal,” Ludovic Piraux, President of Glass Fibre Europe, said.
But he added that the measures adopted “remain insufficient to fully address the predatory strategies pursued through these investments in third countries.”
Job losses loom
China has invested $1 trillion through the Belt and Road initiative – a large-scale infrastructure programme which replaced the former silk road initiative and is aimed at strengthening connectivity, trade and communication across Eurasia, Latin America and Africa. The programme spans more than 150 countries, supporting infrastructure, transport, raw materials extraction and the relocation of industries and state-owned enterprises abroad.
As early as 2010, following an industry complaint, the Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese glass fibre imports. In the years that followed, Chinese producers established factories in Bahrain and Egypt, from which exports to the EU resumed.
By 2024, glass fibre imports from those countries, along with Thailand, accounted for 24% of the EU market. Egyptian imports alone reached 18%, with Glass Fibre Europe warning the situation could worsen.
This is not the first time the Commission has targeted Chinese products made in third countries under Belt and Road arrangements. It has previously imposed measures on aluminium foil from Thailand and glass fibre produced in Türkiye.
European glass fibre manufacturers have been pushing for action for more than a decade, alongside unions seeking to protect jobs in the sector.
The complaint which lead to Wednesday’s anti-dumping duties was first reported by Euronews in January 2025.
The industry directly employs more than 4,500 workers in the EU and says it supports hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs along the value chain.
Judith Kirton-Darling, General secretary of industriAll Europe, warned that “in the longer term”, the situation could worsen if the EU does not take “a stronger” stance on Chinese dumping.
“It is more than likely that we will face plant closures in Europe which will fundamentally undermine our industry,” she said.
The U.S Central Command said late Tuesday that its forces have halted all maritime traffic to and from Iran. File Photo by Ali Haider/EPA-EFE
April 15 (UPI) — The U.S. military’s maritime blockade of Iran has “completely halted” sea-based trade with the Middle Eastern country, U.S. Central Command said late Tuesday.
President Donald Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after negotiations to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran collapsed.
The blockade of 12 U.S. warships, more than 100 fighter and surveillance aircraft and more than 10,000 soldiers began at 10 a.m. EDT Monday, an effort to prohibit maritime traffic to and from all Iranian ports.
According to U.S. military officials, it covers the entire southern coastline of Iran, including ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, between which lies the Strait of Hormuz.
“A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East,” Adm. Brad Cooper, Central Command commander, said in a statement.
“In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.”
Central Command said earlier Tuesday that no ships had made it through during the blockade’s first 24 hours and that six vessels had complied with U.S. forces’ direction to return to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
“The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas,” Central Command said.
The blockade comes amid a two-week cease-fire between the United States and Iran that Trump announced on April 8. During the fragile truce negotiations on a permanent end to the war were to be conducted.
However, negotiations with Iran collapsed in Pakistan on Sunday, seemingly over disagreements on Iran’s nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Not long after the war began with the United States and Israel attacking Iran on Feb. 28, Iran sharply restricted vessel traffic to the Strait of Hormuz, an important trade route through which flows roughly 27% of the world’s maritime trade in crude oil and petroleum products as well as 20% of global liquefied natural gas trade, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Iran’s control of trade through the strait has caused gas prices to spike, threatening countries with energy crises.
The U.S. blockade appears aimed at financially squeezing Iran by cutting it off from maritime trade revenue.
According to Maid Maleki, senior fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., research institute, the blockade could cost Iran about $435 million a day.
“The blockade makes continued resistance economically impossible,” he said in a statement.
Viktor Orbán has positioned Hungary as a European centre for Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, while disregarding the EU’s tariffs on them.
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Now his political successor, Péter Magyar, appears less inclined to reverse that policy in a radical way.
At a press conference on Monday following a landslide victory against Orbán, Magyar praised China as “one of the most important, largest, and strongest countries in the world.”
“I am very happy to travel to Beijing, and we are very happy to welcome Chinese leaders here in Hungary,” he added.
Magyar also said he would “review” Chinese investments in Hungary – particularly on electric vehicles – but “not with the aim of shutting them down or preventing them from happening.”
In recent years, Hungary was eager to attract Beijing’s largeness, with BYD building its first European passenger EV factory in Szeged in 2024 and major firms such as CATL, NIO and EVE Energy investing heavily in the country.
But that open-door policy has increasingly clashed with the EU’s push to tighten scrutiny of Chinese investments, as China floods Europe with low-cost imports and as many as 600,000 job losses are projected in the EU in the bloc’s auto sector this decade amid intensifying competition from Chinese manufacturers.
Magyar will also have to deal with concerns over alleged forced labour involving Chinese workers at Hungarian plants of EV giant BYD, as well as a recent European Commission probe into unfair subsidies at the same site. Those developments have tarnished the company’s reputation and raised concerns over Beijing’s investments.
Driving more value from investment in Hungary
At his press conference on Monday, the leader of Hungary’s Tisza party did not enter details. But he made clear that Hungary would align its policy more closely with Brussels.
“Rather, the goal is to ensure that those projects comply with European Union and Hungarian environmental regulations, health procedures, and labour safety standards, and contribute to the performance of the Hungarian national economy,” Magyar added.
He also appeared determine to distance himself from Orbán’s wariness of a recent European Commission proposal on “Made in Europe,” which targets China.
The draft law, currently discussed by EU governments and MEPs, would impose stricter conditions on foreign direct investment above €100 million in sectors such as batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels and critical raw materials.
Under the proposal, investors from countries holding 40% of global market share in a given sector would be required to hire at least 50% of EU workers. Additional conditions could include foreign ownership caps below 49%, joint ventures with European partners and technology transfers.
“What we do not want — and will not accept — is for foreign companies to come, receive significant Hungarian state support, employ very few Hungarians, create little to no added value for the Hungarian economy, and at the same time endanger the quality of Hungary’s land, air, and water,” Magyar added, signalling his intention to align policy more closely with Brussels.
NEW YORK — Calls inside Congress for investigations into the prediction market platform Polymarket are increasing after the latest instance in which groups of anonymous traders made strategic, well-timed bets on a major geopolitical event hours before it occurred.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that at least 50 new accounts on Polymarket placed substantial bets on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire in the hours, even minutes, before President Trump announced it late Tuesday. These were the sole bets made on Polymarket through these accounts.
In January, an anonymous Polymarket user made a $400,000 profit by betting that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro would be out of office, hours before Maduro was captured. In the hours before the start of the Iran war, another account made roughly $550,000 in a series of trades effectively betting that the U.S. would strike Iran and that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be removed from office.
Such prescient wagers have raised eyebrows — and accusations that prediction markets are ripe for insider trading. And the issue goes beyond these three geopolitical events, according to at least one report.
Researchers at Harvard University released a paper last month in which, using public blockchain data, they estimated that $143 million in profits have been made on Polymarket by individuals who potentially had insider information about events ranging from Taylor Swift’s engagement to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y who sits on the House Financial Services Committee as well as the subcommittee on digital assets and financial technology, sent a letter Thursday to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission demanding the regulator review and investigate these well-timed trades. The CFTC regulates the derivatives markets, which includes prediction markets.
“This pattern raises serious concerns that certain market participants may have had access to material nonpublic information regarding a market-moving geopolitical event,” Torres wrote. The letter was shared exclusively with AP.
“What is the statistical likelihood that of anyone other than an insider trader placing a winning bet 12 minutes before a market-moving presidential announcement?” Torres said in an interview with AP. “There are two answers: God, or an insider trader. And something tells me that God is not placing bets around Donald Trump’s posts on Truth Social. “
Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket allow users to bet on everything from whether it will rain in Phoenix, Ariz., next week to whether the Federal Reserve will raise or lower interest rates.
Americans have limited access to Polymarket, which was banned from the U.S. in 2022. The company has moved to reenter the country by acquiring a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse, giving it a legal pathway to start offering contracts domestically. The company has begun a limited rollout in the U.S.
Polymarket also operates a separate, crypto-based platform offshore that remains outside U.S. jurisdiction. That platform accounts for most of its activity.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent a letter to Polymarket on Thursday demanding the company explain why it continues to allow trades on war and violence as well as whether the company is making efforts to keep insiders from trading on the platform.
“Polymarket has become an illicit market to sell and exploit national security secrets unlike any in history, and by extension a potential honeypot for foreign intelligence services watching for those same suspicious bets and wagers,” Blumenthal wrote.
Republicans also have criticized these platforms and called for bans on these sorts of bets. There are at least two bills pending in Congress co-signed by both parties, one in the House and one in the Senate.
“We don’t want to imagine a world where America’s adversaries use prediction markets to anticipate our next move,” Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, said after the release of AP’s findings on the ceasefire wagers.
Polymarket did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The stakes are high for both Polymarket and Kalshi as they seek approval to operate nationwide, particularly in the lucrative sports betting market.
Kalshi, which already is regulated in the U.S., and its executives have a goal of making the company the nation’s dominant prediction market. Kalshi has leaned heavily into sports, which critics have said effectively makes it a sports betting platform that dabbles in event-based contracts on the side. Both companies also announced partnerships with sports teams and even news organizations to broaden their reach as well. AP has an agreement to sell U.S. elections data to Kalshi.
The competition also carries political overtones. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in Polymarket through his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, and separately serves as a paid strategic adviser to Kalshi.
Iran has proposed a 10-point peace plan to end the war as the United States and Israel intensify their attacks on Tehran and a deadline looms that was set by US President Donald Trump for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, whose near-closure has triggered a global energy crisis.
At the White House on Monday, Trump called the 10-point plan a “significant step” but “not good enough”.
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Iran’s top university and a major petrochemical plant were hit on Monday after Trump threatened to target power plants and bridges until Tehran agreed to end the war and open the strait, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass.
Here is more about Iran’s 10-point plan and Trump’s response to it:
What is Iran’s 10-point plan?
On Monday, Pakistan, which has mediated talks in Islamabad aimed at ending the war, put forth a 45-day ceasefire proposal after separate meetings with US and Iranian officials. The Iranian and US negotiators have not met face to face about the 45‑day truce plan. In late March, Trump told reporters that his envoys were talking to a senior Iranian official, but this was not confirmed by Iran. Tehran has denied holding talks with US negotiators.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran had conveyed its response via Islamabad. Iran reportedly rejected the proposed ceasefire, putting forward instead a call for a permanent end to the hostilities.
The Iranian proposal consisted of 10 clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions and reconstruction, IRNA reported. The conflict has spread to the Gulf region and Lebanon, where 1.2 million Lebanese people have been displaced due to Israeli attacks.
Details about the 10 clauses have not been published.
How did the White House respond?
Speaking to reporters about Iran’s plan, Trump said: “They made a … significant proposal. Not good enough, but they have made a very significant step. We will see what happens.”
“If they don’t make a deal, they will have no bridges and no power plants,” he added.
In a profane Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump threatened to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants, if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully reopened. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F****** Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” he wrote.
The deadline is set for 8pm Washington time on Tuesday (00:00 GMT). Tehran has rejected this ultimatum and threatened to retaliate.
Human rights organisations and members of the US Congress have criticised Trump for threatening to attack civilian targets, which is considered a war crime.
The Axios news website reported that an unnamed US official who saw the Iranian response called it “maximalist”.
What other proposals have been on the table?
The last time the word “maximalist” was used to describe a peace plan in this war was late last month when Iran called a US plan “maximalist”.
An unnamed, high-ranking diplomatic source told Al Jazeera on March 25 that Iran had received a 15-point plan drafted by the US. The plan was delivered to Iran through Pakistan.
The source said Tehran described the US proposal as “extremely maximalist and unreasonable”.
“It is not beautiful, even on paper,” the source said, calling the plan deceptive and misleading in its presentation.
The 15-point plan included a 30-day ceasefire, the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear facilities, limits on Iran’s missiles and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
In return, the US would remove all sanctions imposed on Iran and provide support for electricity generation at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.
Iran has rejected a temporary ceasefire, arguing it would give the US and Israel time to regroup and launch further attacks. Tehran has pointed to Israel’s 12-day war on Iran in June. The US joined that conflict for one day, hitting Iran’s three main nuclear sites with air strikes. Trump claimed at the time that the US had destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities but months later justified the current war by saying Iran posed an imminent threat.
The UN nuclear watchdog, however, said Iran was not in a position to make a nuclear bomb.
The US and Israel launched the war on February 28 as Washington was holding negotiations with Iran. On the eve of the war, Oman, the mediator of the talks, had said a deal was “within reach”.
Tehran has said for years that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and it does not intend to create nuclear weapons. It even signed a deal with the US in 2015 to limit its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. But Trump withdrew from the landmark deal in 2018 and slapped sanctions back on Iran.
In response, Iran decided to enrich uranium from 3.6 percent, which was allowed under the 2015 deal, to almost 60 percent after its Natanz nuclear facility was bombed in 2021. Iran blamed Israel. A 90 percent level of purity is required to make an atomic bomb.
Why does this matter?
With Tuesday’s deadline fast approaching, chances for a ceasefire appear remote as the two sides remain far from agreement and the conflict is now in its second month.
On Tuesday, Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, posted on X: “Pakistan positive and productive endeavours in Good Will and Good Office to stop the war is approaching a critical, sensitive stage …”
War in Iran and US tariffs are destabilizing global trade. But commerce hasn’t slowed; it’s simply rerouting.
As last fall’s G20 summit closed in Johannesburg, the United Arab Emirates announced plans to inject up to $1 billion in AI infrastructure funding across Africa. The pledge is the latest in a growing wave of investment from the Gulf Cooperation Council states that signals a broader shift.
Together, the Middle East and Africa represent roughly 2 billion consumers and a combined GDP of more than $5 trillion. Investment and trade spanning the regions are already accelerating. GCC countries have deployed over $100 billion in Africa and bilateral trade grew at an annual rate of about 8% between 2021 and 2022, reaching $154 billion.
Europe and China remain the continent’s largest capital providers, but the Gulf states are closing the gap. As war, supply-chain disruptions, and new US tariffs reshape global trade, countries across the MENA region see an opportunity to position themselves as the logistical and financial bridge linking Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Gateways And Corridors
The two natural points of entry are Egypt and Morocco. They have a foot in both regions and long experience navigating between the Arab world and the African continent.
Egypt acts as a gateway to East Africa, with commercial routes extending toward Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda. Morocco has established itself as a hub for west Africa, leveraging decades of political and economic ties with francophone markets. Businesses from both countries are expanding across the continent in sectors including food processing, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telecoms, and technology.
Over the past decade, the Gulf states have also steadily expanded their presence, deploying capital through longterm strategic investments to reshape Africa’s trade routes while securing access to land, natural resources, and fast-growing markets.
Gulf investors are targeting corridors along the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, including the Berbera–Ethiopia trade route and points of access to the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean. Their aim is to anchor supply chains that direct African trade through Gulf logistics hubs before it reaches global markets.
Tarek El Nahas, group head of International Banking at Mashreq Bank
“The GCC is becoming more and more of a trade hub for Africa,” says Tarek El Nahas, group head of International Banking at Dubai-headquartered Mashreq Bank. “We’ve got a lot of clients that have their regional operations here for both Middle East and Africa.”
Infrastructure is central to these developments. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are investing heavily in ports, logistics hubs, and industrial zones, laying the foundations for new Global South supply chains.
The UAE is by far Africa’s largest Gulf stakeholder. Dubai’s DP World and Abu Dhabi Ports have secured concessions to operate and develop ports in Algeria, Egypt, Somalia, Somaliland, Tanzania, South Africa, Guinea, Senegal, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Congo-Brazzaville, Eritrea, Rwanda, and Niger.
Air connections are also an investment target, with Qatar Airways supporting several African airlines including South Africa’s Airlink while Doha in 2019 acquired 60% of Rwanda’s new international airport.
Telecom operators such as Qatar’s Ooredoo and the UAE’s e& (formerly Etisalat) support cable infrastructure and data centers and have signed partnerships with local providers like Maroc Telecom as part of a plan to reach several dozen countries across the continent by 2030.
In light of the recent Iranian attacks on GCC infrastructure, UAE and Saudi Arabia are also considering shifting some AI assets to secure locations in Africa. Abu Dhabi’s G42 is already building a $1 billion data center in Kenya.
Commodities, Food, And Energy
What, then, are these closely connected regions trading? Exchange often begins with natural resources.
Oil and gas dominate Gulf exports to Africa, while the continent supplies metals. Gold is a major African export to the UAE, already a hub for precious metals and stones; Gulf investors are also targeting rare metals and minerals critical to energy transition and AI supply chains.
Deal activity reflects this shift. Last year, Abu Dhabi-based International Resources Holding acquired 51% of Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines for $1.1 billion. Saudi Arabia’s Maaden Holding, through Manara Minerals, is pursuing similar deals in Zambia and elsewhere.
These ventures sometimes feed Western markets. In November, the US and Saudi Arabia agreed to cooperate on mineral supplies to reduce reliance on China, and in March, US-based Cove Capital and Saudi Arabia’s AHQ announced a “multibillion dollar” fund to invest in African minerals including cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earths.
Renewable energy is another focus. The UAE’s Masdar has committed $10 billion to African clean energy projects by 2030, backing solar projects in Angola, Uganda, Zambia, and Mozambique. Late last year, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power signed a deal with the African Development Bank to invest up to $5 billion in renewable energy and water systems in countries including South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco.
Food security is also a major driver for GCC countries, which buy over 80% of their comestibles from abroad. The UAE and Saudi Arabia import agricultural products and livestock from across Africa while investing in farmland and production projects to secure long-term supply. Qatar has made important commitments in North African countries, including a $3.5 billion dairy farm in Algeria.
North African manufacturers, meanwhile, are increasingly targeting African markets. Egyptian pharmaceutical companies, for example, have become major exporters across the continent.
Regulatory challenges and logistical bottlenecks persist, but African trade integration is supported by a growing web of multilateral agreements. Regional frameworks including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Agadir Agreements, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)— launched in 2021 and designed to unify a market of 1.5 billion people—facilitate investment and commercial exchange.
Several countries also benefit from US and European trade preference programs such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows some 30 African economies to export certain goods to the US duty-free. These arrangements make parts of Africa and MENA increasingly attractive as manufacturing and re-export bases for companies seeking to access Western markets.
“We’re starting to see more companies from Asia, for example, setting up a presence in the MENA region to benefit from a lower tariff environment, and I think Egypt will become a big beneficiary in terms of manufacturing,” El Nahas says.
Financing The Corridors
Moroccan and Egyptian banks have taken the lead in cross-border expansion, financing trade and infrastructure projects across the continent. Most international lenders, by contrast, maintain a limited on-the-ground presence in Africa but operate through regional hubs that circle the continent, notably in Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
“Egypt is pivoting its export strategy toward Europe and Africa.”
Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, CIB
Several pan-African banks, meanwhile, including United Bank for Africa, Standard Group, and Ecobank, have set up a presence in the GCC—mainly in Dubai or Abu Dhabi—to facilitate trade and investment flows between the two regions. Gulf banks tend to manage African operations from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Doha, increasingly partnering with local lenders on large infrastructure projects and exploring collaboration in areas such as AI applications in banking.
The long-term potential is vast. Africa accounts for roughly 20% of the global population but just 3% of GDP. For now, intra-African trade represents only about 15% of the continent’s total trade, compared to over 50% in Asia and almost 70% in the European Union. For investors and policymakers, the opportunity lies in unlocking that untapped connectivity.
There is a geostrategic factor as well.
The US-Israeli war with Iran and the accompanying disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have heightened the need for additional trade corridors, notably through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
“Egypt is pivoting its export strategy toward Europe and Africa to leverage its geographical proximity, filling supply gaps caused by delays from Asian competitors,” says Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, CEO of Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt’s largest private sector bank, which has a presence in Kenya and Ethiopia. “This surge in demand is expected to offset revenue losses of exports to the Gulf.”
In an increasingly fragmented global economy, both regions see value in strengthening ties. The geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and Africa remains volatile, but investors argue that deeper south-south integration may offer one of the most resilient growth paths.
HomeTransaction BankingBridging Continents: The Future of Middle East-Africa Trade Alliances
Islam Zekry, Group Chief Finance & Operation Officer and Executive Board Member at CIB, explores how GCC-Africa partnerships are driving economic growth, resilience and a transformative era of South-South cooperation, and how Egypt’s strategic location and financial expertise position it as a key player in emerging trade corridors.
Global Finance: How can new trade alliances and partnerships, particularly between the GCC and African nations, drive economic growth and resilience across both regions?
Islam Zekry: The partnership between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Africa is gaining momentum. However, what is changing is the depth and strategic intent behind these partnerships. As global supply chains fragment and capital becomes more selective, structured trade alliances between GCC nations and African economies have the potential to create one of the most significant South–South growth corridors of the next decade.
Several structural complementarities underpin this opportunity. GCC economies possess deep capital pools, sovereign investment vehicles, advanced logistics capabilities and strong global trade linkages. In addition, many African economies are rich in natural resources, arable land, renewable energy potential and rapidly growing consumer markets with favorable demographics.
When strategically aligned, partnerships can yield positive growth outcomes. For example, food security partnerships, where African agricultural production meets Gulf demand, demonstrate this potential. Moreover, investments in energy and transition, particularly in renewables and green hydrogen, support the transition towards cleaner energy resources. Such partnerships can also drive the development of the infrastructure and logistics sector—strengthening ports, industrial zones and transport corridors. Ultimately, financial sector integration enhances capital flows and trade finance capacity.
“Egypt is not just a transit point for global trade—it is becoming a focal point in a more integrated Afro-Arab economic architecture.”
Islam Zekry, Group Chief Finance & Operation Officer and Executive Board Member at CIB
Beyond capital deployment, what differentiates the next phase of GCC–Africa engagement is the development of capacity for resilience. Global shocks—whether pandemic disruptions, geopolitical tensions or commodity volatility—have demonstrated the importance of diversified trade relationships. GCC–Africa alliances reduce overdependence on traditional West–East corridors, creating balanced, multipolar trade flows.
Therefore, for these partnerships to reach their full potential, financial architecture must evolve in tandem with physical infrastructure. Efficient cross-border payment systems, local currency settlement mechanisms, risk-sharing frameworks and strong banking partnerships determine how seamlessly goods, services,and capital move between the two regions. This is where banks with both regional understanding and international connectivity play a transformative role, not merely as financial intermediaries, but as enablers of structured trade ecosystems.
GF: What makes Egypt uniquely positioned to serve as a trade and investment hub between the Middle East and Africa, and how can this role evolve in the context of emerging trade corridors?
Zekry: Strategically positioned at the convergence of Africa, the Middle East and Europe, Egypt controls one of the world’s crucial maritime arteries through the Suez Canal. The country boasts one of Africa’s largest and most diversified economies and hosts one of the region’s leading banking sectors.
However, Egypt’s strategic relevance goes beyond geography. The country serves as a natural logistical bridge. It connects Mediterranean trade routes with Red Sea and Gulf shipping lanes while maintaining deep commercial ties across Sub-Saharan Africa. This dual orientation—northward to Europe and southward into Africa—positions Egypt as a balancing hub within emerging trade corridors.
The country has also built significant industrial and export capacity. Its robust manufacturing base, expanding energy sector,and growing role in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and renewable energy markets position it as a credible anchor economy within regional value chains. Egypt’s financial institutions support cross-border expansion and structured trade finance. Egyptian banks have developed strong capital bases, regional expertise and global correspondent networks, enabling them to intermediate complex trade flows across Africa and the Middle East.
As new trade corridors emerge, from Red Sea logistics networks to Gulf-backed infrastructure investments in East Africa, alongside the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) driven continental integration, Egypt’s role is set to evolve across three key areas. The country functions as a gateway for capital deployment into Africa, serving as a strategic hub for GCC and international investors seeking structured entry into African markets. It also has the potential to serve as a regional trade finance hub, facilitating corridor-based financing between North Africa, East Africa,and the Gulf. Finally, Egypt can act as a connector of payment ecosystems, enabling interoperability between African financial systems and Middle Eastern capital markets.
The next phase of Egypt’s development hinges on deepening this integration, aligning customs frameworks, digitizing trade documentation, strengthening regional payment systems and encouraging bilateral currency arrangements. If strategically executed, Egypt will not simply remain a transit point for global trade, but will become a focal point in a more integrated Afro-Arab economic architecture.
The future of Middle East–Africa trade alliances will not be defined solely by infrastructure announcements or headline investments. It will depend on how effectively capital, policy and financial systems converge to support real economic exchange. In this context, Egypt stands out as both a geographic and financial bridge. Therefore, strengthening GCC–Africa partnerships represents not just an opportunity, but a structural shift toward greater regional resilience and South–South cooperation.
Uruguay’s Minister of Economy and Finance Gabriel Oddone said the pressure by the United States to break trade ties with China is applied daily and channeled through different areas of the bilateral relationship. File Photo by Federico Gutierrez/EPA
March 27 (UPI) — Uruguayan Minister of Economy and Finance Gabriel Oddone said the United States is exerting “unimaginable” and “unsustainable” pressure on his South American country to break its trade relationship with China, according to remarks made at a private meeting.
The comments during a session with business leaders were reported by the local weekly Búsqueda.
With about 3.5 million inhabitants and a territory comparable to the state of Florida, Uruguay has had China as its main trading partner for more than 14 years, accounting for about 26% of its exports.
Oddone said the pressure is applied daily and channeled through different areas of the bilateral relationship.
According to attendees at the meeting with the Confederation of Business Chambers, the minister said that if Uruguay does not comply with Washington’s demands, its trade relationship with the administration of President Donald Trump “will not improve and could get worse.”
The remarks came Tuesday during a meeting at the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay, attended by more than 20 business representatives, along with the director of the Office of Planning and Budget, Rodrigo Arim.
The meeting lasted more than two hours and addressed economic and trade issues in a context described as “very complex.”
China is the main destination for key exports, such as beef, soybeans and cellulose. The pressure from the United States comes amid growing geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing, which is affecting countries with trade ties to both powers.
According to attendees cited by Búsqueda, Oddone acknowledged that the government has “little room for maneuver” due to the fiscal situation inherited from the previous administration and internal differences within the ruling coalition over advancing economic reforms.
On the domestic front, the minister defended the country’s economic performance despite lower-than-expected growth.
Uruguay’s gross domestic product grew 1.8% in 2025, below the official projection of 2.6%, while analysts have already cut expectations for 2026 to around 1.6%.
Facing criticism from the private sector over the size and slow pace of the state, Oddone urged business leaders to also consider positive aspects.
“We should not only see the glass as half-empty,” he said, noting that the economy continues to grow despite an adverse international environment in which Uruguay is “swimming in dulce de leche,” a colloquial phrase interpreted as meaning it is difficult to move quickly.
The minister also ruled out improving competitiveness through a depreciation of the exchange rate.
“Uruguay is not going to become a cheap country,” he said, adding that improvements will come from microeconomic changes to reduce costs and streamline foreign trade.
Asked by Búsqueda, the minister declined to comment publicly on the meeting, as it was a private event. Some participants described it as useful, but with “mixed” feelings, while others said they valued explanations from the economic team.
At the close, Oddone adopted an optimistic tone.
“Believe me, we will do well,” he said, highlighting the country’s institutional and economic strengths to face an international scenario marked by trade tensions and regional slowdown.
While the Commission hailed the Australia agreement as a new geostrategic win, EU farmers continue to express deep discontent stemming from the Mercosur deal.
In practice, the backlash around the agreement with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay has done little to shift the Commission’s dual approach in its negotiating line. On the one hand, the commission kept making concessions on entry-level or mid-range farm goods such as beef, while on the other hand, it pushed for market access for high value-added exports —like wine, Geographical Indications (GI) and cars— with mixed results.
“The EU has all the assets to be an agri-food power,” Luc Vernet, from the export-focused brussels think tank Farm Europe, told Euronews, adding: “We should develop a broader strategy beyond high value-added products, covering all sectors and all levels of quality, because the European model delivers exceptional quality not just in luxury products.”
Yet the opposition to the Latin America deal — which triggered a legal challenge suspending its ratification — crystallised among EU farmers over fears of unfair competition from meat imports.
The Mercosur agreement granted quotas of 99,000 tonnes of beef per year, 25,000 tonnes of pork and 188,000 tonnes of poultry. Despite conditions added to new quotas in the Australia deal, EU farmers complain of imports piling up across successive agreements.
Concessions made on beef
Over eight years of talks with Canberra—the world’s second-largest beef exporter—Australia pushed hard for greater access for beef and sheep meat. Tensions intensified in 2023, when negotiations broke down after the EU rejected Australia’s demand for 40,000 tonnes of beef per year, offering no more than 30,000 tonnes instead.
The final deal agreed Tuesday allows 30,600 tonnes of beef annually into the EU. For sheep and goat meat, Brussels accepted a 25,000-tonne duty-free quota, while sugar was limited to 35,000 tonnes of raw cane for refining and rice to 8,500 tonnes a year.
However, perhaps drawing lessons from Mercosur, Brussels imposed multiple conditions on the quotas. Beef imports, which will have to be from grass-fed cattle, will be phased in over 10 years, sheep meat over 7 years, and rice over 5 years. Sugar will also be subject to certification under a private sustainability scheme.
Safeguard clauses, allowing both sides to react to market disruption, will apply for seven years – but are extended for sensitive farm goods : 15 years for beef, 12 for sheep and 10 for rice.
But a farmers’ representative told Euronews there were serious doubts about the effectiveness of the safeguard mechanisms: “Our experience in general with safeguards is that they are extremely difficult to activate because the burden of the proof is on us, farmers.”
The offensive agenda of the Commission
By contrast, agriculture was far less contentious in the India negotiations, where New Delhi itself resisted opening its market due to domestic farm sensitivities, particularly in dairy. EU sensitive products were largely excluded.
But wine featured prominently on Brussels’ offensive agenda, with Indian tariffs cut from 150% to 20% for premium wines and 30% for mid-range products over seven years. Tariffs for cars will also fall from 110% to 10% but under a quota of 250,000 vehicles a year after a decade – by which point Chinese manufacturers have great chances to have strengthened their position.
In negotiations with Australia, the EU again sought greater access for its wine but encountered strong opposition from domestic producers. In the end, the deal protects more than 1,600 EU wine GIs, plus over 50 new ones from 12 member states.
On Prosecco, Australian producers will still be allowed to use the term domestically to designate a grey grape variety, provided it is linked to Australian GI, with Canberra agreeing to stop exporting such wines after 10 years.
The EU also secured protection for 165 agri-food GIs and 231 spirit drink GIs. But it failed to remove Australia’s luxury car tax, securing instead preferential treatment for EU electric vehicles. But Brussels won improved access to critical raw materials – a key EU demand, that may have lead to more concessions on meat.
The EU approved a sweeping customs reform to handle growing trade volumes and streamline the application of its standards.
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The agreement, which was reached on Thursday evening, introduces new tools to improve the collection of customs duties and increase controls on non-compliant or unsafe goods, without imposing excessive burdens for authorities and traders.
“Today’s agreement marks the greatest reform since the creation of the Customs Union in 1968”, Cypriot Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said in a statement following the adoption of the reform. “This modern toolbox will facilitate trade and ensure the proper collection of duties, in a simplified manner, and with the required legal certainty”, the minister added.
Customs management and trade have gained renewed urgency after trade volumes have sharply increased in the last years. Some €4.6 billion low-value items under €150 were imported to the EU in 2024, representing an average of 12 million parcels per day, according to European Commission data. That is a major increase from the €2.3 billion that entered in 2023 and €1.4 billion in 2022.
In addition, uncertainties over US tariffs, combined with new EU trade deals such as those with MERCOSUR and Australia, make this reform particularly timely.
EU customs data hub
The new rules foresee the creation of an EU customs data hub, which will be an online platform to facilitate the monitoring of trade flows without disrupting their smooth operation.
Businesses importing and exporting from the EU will only need to submit customs information on that single portal.
The hub, which will be operational for e-commerce from July 2028, will be managed by a new European Custom Authority, headquartered in Lille, France.
The Authority will oversee the EU customs by coordinating national offices and supporting them in the risk management. In particular, the Authority will analyse the import and export data to flag cargos that poses the highest risk for inspection.
The reform will also introduce simplified procedures for “trust and check traders” for transparent businesses that will not be subjected to active customs interventions.
For e-commerce operators that fail to comply with EU standards, it will be applied a new system of financial penalties.
The reform foresees a new EU handling fee for small parcels entering the EU starting November 2026, with the exact amount to be decided by the European Commission. From July to November, a temporary €3 tax will apply to all parcels under €150.
BRUSSELS — The European Parliament voted Thursday to approve a trade deal between Washington and Brussels but with amendments added to protect European interests should the United States fail to hold up its end of the bargain.
The deal was negotiated last July in Turnberry, Scotland, by President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It set a 15% tariff on most goods in an effort to stave off far higher import duties on both sides that might have sent shock waves through economies around the globe.
New language now says that the deal can be suspended if Washington “undermined the objectives of the deal, discriminated against EU economic operators, threatened member states’ territorial integrity, foreign and defence policies, or engaged in economic coercion.”
That clause was forged because of the tensions over Greenland, said Bernd Lange, a German lawmaker and head of the EU’s parliamentary trade committee.
Trump drew widespread condemnation across the 27-nation bloc by threatening to take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. He has backed away from the threat, at least for now.
“If this would happen again, then immediately the tariffs would be installed,” he said at a news conference after lawmakers voted. He said the protective modifications were “weatherproofing” the Turnberry deal.
The deal will now be further negotiated by EU trade representatives Maroš Šefčovič and his U.S. counterpart Jamieson Greer, who are meeting Friday on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
“We need the EU-U.S. deal in force on both sides — delivering real certainty for EU businesses and showing that genuine partnership gets results,” Šefčovič said after the vote in Brussels.
There were formally two votes to introduce clauses to the deal. One passed 417-154 and the other 437-144 with dozens of abstentions each.
The U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Pudzer said the vote would provide “stability and predictability” for U.S. and EU businesses and drive economic growth. “We encourage all parties to think to the future and the importance of unleashing opportunities for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.
Malte Lohan, CEO of American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, said the vote is “the right signal for businesses that have been stuck in limbo over the past year” and “a necessary step towards a more predictable transatlantic marketplace.”
Croatian lawmaker Željana Zovko said that despite the trade spat between Brussels and Washington, trade across the Atlantic had grown over the past year. “This resilience proves the trans-Atlantic trade works, and if it works, we should strengthen it, not hold it back.”
EU lawmakers on Thursday approved the EU-US trade deal struck in Turnberry, Scotland, in 2025, while attaching a set of conditions to the agreement.
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A broad majority of political groups backed the deal, which cuts EU tariffs on most US industrial goods to zero, with 417 votes in favour, 154 against, and 71 abstentions.
The European Commission and Washington had pushed for the deal’s implementation, but MEPs delayed backing it until last week amid tensions over Greenland and fresh US trade investigations that raised fears Washington could undermine the deal with new tariffs.
Initially criticized by MEPs as unbalanced and defended by the Commission as the best possible outcome, the deal sets US tariffs on EU goods at 15%, while the EU eliminates duties on most US industrial products.
MEPs introduced safeguards to rebalance the pact in the event of future threats from US President Donald Trump or violations by the United States.
“Of course, that’s imbalanced, but if we could improve it, maybe we can live with it,” Socialist German MEP Bernd Lange said ahead of the vote.
The European Parliament will now work with EU member states to find a common position and enable the tariff cuts, with the attached safeguards expected to be the main point of contention.
These include a “sunset clause” under which the deal expires in March 2028 unless both sides agree to extend it. It also includes a “sunrise clause” which would make tariff preferences conditional to the US respecting its Turnberry commitments.
Lawmakers moved to shield the deal from fresh US tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down 2025 US tariffs in February, prompting the White House to impose new duties on EU goods and launch an investigation into alleged unfair trade practices that could lead to further tariffs.
MEPs also linked the tariff cuts on steel and aluminium to equivalent actions by the US.
Lille will host the European Custom Authority, a new decentralised agency tasked with supporting and coordinating national customs administrations across the bloc.
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The decision was made on Wednesday in Brussels, after EU lawmakers from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU voted on the matter in three rounds.
“France is one of Europe’s leading customs nations, [considering] one in three parcels entering the EU passes through French territory,” Dutch MEP Dirk Gotink, rapporteur on the customs reform, said in a press statement.
“Lille’s strategic location at the crossroads of Europe makes it the natural hub for this authority,” the EU lawmaker continued.
Italy, with Rome as its candidate, was the runner-up in the voting rounds.
Other contenders included Belgium with Liège, Croatia with Zagreb, the Netherlands with The Hague, Poland with Warsaw, Portugal with Porto, Romania with Bucharest, and Spain with Málaga.
Customs management and trade have taken on renewed urgency after former US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs shortly after taking office.
Amid growing global trade uncertainty, the EU has stepped up engagement with international partners. This week, it signed a new agreement with Australia, while the EU–Mercosur deal is set to apply provisionally from 1 April.
The establishment of the new authority is part of the overall reform of the EU customs framework, with key negotiations expected to take place on Thursday.
The reform also aims to tackle the rising pressure from increased trade flows, fragmented national systems and the rapid rise of e-commerce.
The agency is expected to be set up in 2026 and could become operational in 2028 according to a draft schedule which is still be subject to significant changes.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday sealed a free-trade agreement with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, slashing tariffs on most EU goods and farm exports.
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The deal marks another win for Brussels as it races to diversify trade ties and lock in strategic partners amid rising global tensions.
The pact will save the EU €1 billion a year in duties, the Commission said, with exports projected to climb as much as 33% over the next decade.
Agriculture proved a flashpoint, with EU farmers already pushing back against the Mercosur trade agreement and a legal challenge from MEPs threatening ratification.
Tariffs will eventually fall to zero on products including cheese (over three years), wine, some fruit and vegetables, chocolate and processed foods.
On the toughest issues — beef and sheep, which sank talks in 2023 — Australia agreed to quotas of 30,600 and 25,000 tonnes a year, respectively.
A safeguard mechanism will allow the EU to shield sensitive sectors if a surge in Australian imports harms the bloc’s market.
Beyond agriculture, the agreement opens access to Australia’s critical raw materials, including aluminium, lithium and manganese.
Brussels also failed to scrap Australia’s luxury car tax. Instead, 75% of EU electric vehicles will be exempt.
The deal is a geostrategic push
The Commission expects strong export gains in key sectors, including dairy (up to 48%), motor vehicles (52%) and chemicals (20%).
Brussels has prioritized the deal as it builds partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, where China’s influence has become central. A security and defence partnership with Canberra was also announced Tuesday.
“The EU and Australia may be geographically far apart but we couldn’t be closer in terms of how we see the world,” von der Leyen said, adding: “With these dynamic new partnerships on security and defence, as well as trade, we are moving even closer together.”
Since Donald Trump returned to power in 2025, trade agreements have taken on sharper geostrategic weight for the EU as it seeks new markets.
In 2025, Brussels struck deals with Mexico, Switzerland and Indonesia. The Mercosur pact was also signed earlier this year and will be provisionally applied from 1 May despite a European Parliament legal challenge.
More could follow. Talks are ongoing with the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, von der Leyen told EU ambassadors on 9 March.
The head of US Central Command says forces have struck Iranian coastal missile sites and infrastructure, degrading Tehran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington vows to continue targeting its regional military capabilities.
When governing body offficials the Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco, overturning Senegal’s victory two months after the chaotic final, football fans were stunned.
While Moroccan fans took to the streets to celebrate their team’s belated success, the decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was met with disbelief in Senegal, with fans and authorities calling the decision “unjust”.
Senegal’s government on Wednesday said it will pursue “all appropriate legal avenues” to overturn the decision and called for an international investigation into “suspected corruption” within African football’s governing body.
The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) then announced on Thursday that it had instructed lawyers, apparently carrying through its threat to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Such a move could lead to a yearlong legal battle before a ruling.
CAF’s appeals board on Tuesday ruled that Senegal forfeited the final by leaving the field of play without the referee’s authorisation, and it awarded Morocco a default 3-0 win.
The game was delayed for 14 minutes as most of the Senegalese players and staff returned to their dressing room, while Senegal fans battled stewards behind one of the goals in protest against a controversial penalty call for Morocco after Senegal had a goal ruled out.
Morocco and Senegal have long shared close ties built on religion, trade and culture. Tijaniyyah, a Sufi Muslim order, is widely followed in both countries. Moroccan banks and companies heavily invest in Senegal’s finance and agriculture sectors. Cultural exchanges include student programs, migration and joint festivals.
But the tensions surrounding the final and CAF’s appeals court decision to overturn Senegal’s victory have put a strain on the relationship between the two countries.
Last month, 18 Senegal fans who were arrested on charges of hooliganism at the final were given prison terms of up to a year by a Moroccan court. The Senegalese government has expressed solidarity with the Senegalese supporters.
Seydina Issa Laye Diop, president of the Senegalese national team’s fan group called “12th Gainde”, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the incidents should not damage the relationship between Senegal and Morocco.
“However, there are limits: if this continues, it could somewhat affect the pride of the Senegalese people,” Diop said. “If the goal is to preserve friendship, then it must be nurtured. Small gestures can have a big impact. These are things we can move past, especially since, during the trial, no solid argument has justified the continued detention of these supporters.”
Mariama Ndeye, a student in Senegal’s capital Dakar, said the decision has negatively affected her view of Moroccans.
“When everything goes well, they call us their brothers. But when things don’t go their way, they start being nasty,” Ndeye said.
The newspapers reporting the fallout from CAF’s AFCON decision are seen on display in Dakar, Senegal [Misper Apawu/AP]
Politics and sport are rarely separated as Senegal and Morocco find out
On Wednesday, Morocco’s embassy in Dakar called on Moroccans in Senegal to “demonstrate restraint, vigilance, and a sense of responsibility.”
“It is important to recall that, in all circumstances, it is only a match, the outcome of which should never justify any form of escalation or excessive remarks between brotherly peoples,” the embassy said.
While the dispute has remained centred around the football match, bad feelings have spread more generally.
In Casablanca, home appliances business owner Ismail Fnani said he felt like other African countries were rooting against Morocco during the final.
“Honestly, my views toward Senegalese and sub-Saharan Africans changed after this,” he said. “We used to feel sympathy and help them because they were migrants who had struggled to get here. Where there was once sympathy and compassion, now I will treat them as they have treated us.”
Mohamed el-Arabi, who works in a grocery shop in Casablanca, said he did not celebrate the decision awarding Morocco the title.
“We would have preferred it to stay with Senegal because it doesn’t feel right otherwise,” El Arabi said.
“People here have started hating Senegalese. They no longer provide them with help. We used to be like brothers, especially since they are Muslims like us, but that is no longer the case,” he added.
The Senegalese government’s allegation of “suspected corruption” at CAF followed anger at perceived favouritism towards Morocco, which is a 2030 World Cup co-host and has invested heavily to become a football superpower.
On Wednesday, CAF President Patrice Motsepe defended the body against perceptions of favouritism towards Morocco.
“Not a single country in Africa will be treated in a manner that is more preferential, or more advantageous, or more favourable than any other country on the African continent,” Motsepe said in a video published on the CAF website.
Iran’s strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas facility will cut an estimated 17% of the country’s Liquefied Natural Gas export capacity for up to five years, officials say. The damage is a major blow to the global energy market, which could disrupt supplies to Europe, Asia and beyond.
Carney says Canada’s economic ties with U.S. are a weakness that must be corrected
VANCOUVER — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a video address released Sunday that Canada’s strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected.
In the 10-minute address, Carney spoke about his government’s efforts to strengthen the Canadian economy by attracting new investments and signing trade deals with other countries.
“The world is more dangerous and divided,” Carney said. “The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.
“Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become weaknesses. Weaknesses that we must correct.”
Carney said tariffs imposed by President Trump have affected workers in the auto and steel industries. He added that businesses are holding back investments “restrained by the pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us.”
Many Canadians have also been angered by Trump’s comments suggesting Canada become the 51st state.
Carney said he plans to give Canadians regular updates on his government’s efforts to diversify away from the U.S.
“Security can’t be achieved by ignoring the obvious or downplaying the very real threats that we Canadians face,” he said. “I promise you I will never sugarcoat our challenges.”
It’s not the first time Carney, who served as a central bank governor, first at the Bank of Canada and later with the Bank of England, has spoken about a shift in world power.
During a speech in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he received widespread praise for condemning economic coercion by great powers against small countries.
His remarks brought a rebuke from Trump.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said after the speech. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
There was no immediate White House reaction Sunday to the address.
Carney’s comments came days after securing a majority government following special election wins and as the opposition Conservatives push him to deliver a U.S. trade deal, which was among his promises in last year’s election.
A review of the current version of the North American Free Trade Agreement among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico is scheduled for July.
In his address, Carney said he wants to attract new investments into Canada, double the size of clean energy capacity and reduce trade barriers within the country. He also emphasized Canada’s increased defense spending, reduction in taxes and efforts to make housing more affordable.
“We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner,” he said. “We can’t control the disruption coming from our neighbors. We can’t control our future on the hope it will suddenly stop.
“We can control what happens here. We can build a stronger country that can withstand disruptions from aboard.”
Carney said simply hoping the “United States will return to normal” is not a feasible strategy.
“Hope isn’t a plan and nostalgia is not a strategy,” he said.
Carney said Canada has “been a great neighbor,” standing with the U.S. in conflicts including Afghanistan, plus two World Wars.
“The U.S. has changed and we must respond,” he said. “It’s about taking back control of our security, our borders and our future.”
Morris writes for the Associated Press.
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Canadian PM Mark Carney calls close trade ties to U.S. a ‘weakness’
April 19 (UPI) — Citing steep tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday his country’s historically close trade and economic ties to the United States have become a “weakness.”
In a video statement posted to YouTube, the Canadian leader asserted the United States has “fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.”
This has meant that “many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses — weaknesses that we must correct.”
Carney’s comments as Trump’s trade war with Canada has disrupted decades of cross border cooperation, triggered in part by a broad 10% tariff slapped by Washington onto all goods not excluded under the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement known as CUSMA.
Significantly higher U.S. levies have also been imposed on key strategic sectors, including a 50% tariff on Canadian products that are almost entirely made of steel, aluminum or copper, and a 25% tariff on products that are “largely” made of those metals.
Many types of Canadian heavy equipment also face a 15% tariff upon entry into the United States.
Ottawa says the effect of these measures has been profound, “displacing workers, disrupting supply chains, forcing companies to rethink where they source their materials and products, and causing uncertainty that is curbing investment.”
Although Canada still has the best deal of any U.S. trading partner in an era when Trump has used the threat of tariffs and against both allies and adversaries for strategic and political ends, “we cannot rely on our most important trade relationship as we once did. We must build our strength at home,” Carney said.
“Workers in our industries most affected by U.S. tariffs in autos and steel and lumber are under threat,” he added. “Businesses are holding back investments restrained by the pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us.”
Triggered by the U.S. trade actions and Trump’s oft-repeated desire to annex Canada as the “51st state,” Carney’s Liberal Party government in January made a milestone deal with China to lower some of the tariffs imposed by one another on some of their trade goods.
Under that pact, China lowered its tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, while Canada slashed its tariffs on up to 49,000 electric vehicles that are made in China.
The deal was denounced by Trump, who threatened to impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods sent to the United States in response.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric and general way of life,” the U.S. president asserted.
But Carney on Sunday again defended his expansion of trade away from the United States, saying, “We will attract new investment so we can build more for ourselves, striking new partnerships abroad so we can sell into new markets.
“It’s about taking back control of our security, our borders and our future.”
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Exclusive: EU-based chemical producers ask Commission to probe Chinese group over deal in the UK
Published on •Updated
A coalition of EU-based chemical producers of titanium dioxide – a strategic chemical used in green energy and aerospace – has lodged a complaint with the Commission alleging unfair foreign subsidies against leading Chinese producer LB Group, which is seeking to acquire a UK plant of British competitor Venator, Euronews has learned.
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The move follows the European Commission’s decision in January 2025 to impose anti-dumping duties on LB Group, a trade defence measure targeting low-priced imports into the EU.
Acquiring a production plant in the UK would allow the Chinese group to export its products to the European market duty-free under the EU-UK trade agreement, circumventing EU anti-dumping tariffs.
The EU chemical sector is under pressure from growing competition from Chinese rivals, which are flooding the market with overcapacity.
The alliance behind the complaint against LB Group includes several companies producing in the EU — US-based Tronox and Kronos, Czech Precheza and Slovenian Cinkarna — collectively accounting for about 90% of EU titanium dioxide production.
Enforcing the Foreign Subsidies Regulation outside the EU
Sources said the complaint was filed in December 2025, urging the European Commission to investigate the Chinese company over alleged unfair foreign subsidies used to finance the acquisition of Venator’s plant.
The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, adopted in 2022, allows the Commission to investigate non-EU companies to assess whether they benefit from distortive foreign subsidies to make acquisitions in the EU or take part in public procurement.
The tool was initially designed with China in mind, reflecting concerns over excessive state subsidies support for Chinese companies acquiring strategic EU assets or infrastructure. However, the regulation has not yet been applied outside the EU.
The plant targeted by LB Group is located in Greatham in northeast England, which left the EU in 2020 after Brexit. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is currently reviewing the deal and is expected to issue a decision in May.
If the European Commission opens an investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, it could set a precedent and send a strong signal globally.
The move would come as the EU chemical industry loses market share in Europe.
According to Cefic, which represents the sector in Brussels, the bloc has lost around 9% of its production capacity since 2022, resulting in the loss of 20,000 direct jobs.
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EU cracks down on Chinese goods bypassing tariffs via Belt and Road Initiative
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The European Commission on Wednesday imposed anti-dumping duties on glass fibre —a key input for the EU’s renewable industry— produced by Chinese companies operating in Egypt, Bahrain and Thailand.
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The move confirms the EU’s push to curb Chinese imports entering the bloc via Belt and Road routes to sidestep tariffs on products officially labelled “made in China.”
Brussels seeks to shield its market from a surge of low-cost imports from the Asian giant, targeting goods it considers heavily subsidized or sold in the EU below production cost in China.
The tariffs on glass fibre from the three countries will range from 11% to 25.4% of the product’s value.
“The investigation confirms the existence of unfair practice, which is an important signal,” Ludovic Piraux, President of Glass Fibre Europe, said.
But he added that the measures adopted “remain insufficient to fully address the predatory strategies pursued through these investments in third countries.”
Job losses loom
China has invested $1 trillion through the Belt and Road initiative – a large-scale infrastructure programme which replaced the former silk road initiative and is aimed at strengthening connectivity, trade and communication across Eurasia, Latin America and Africa. The programme spans more than 150 countries, supporting infrastructure, transport, raw materials extraction and the relocation of industries and state-owned enterprises abroad.
As early as 2010, following an industry complaint, the Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese glass fibre imports. In the years that followed, Chinese producers established factories in Bahrain and Egypt, from which exports to the EU resumed.
By 2024, glass fibre imports from those countries, along with Thailand, accounted for 24% of the EU market. Egyptian imports alone reached 18%, with Glass Fibre Europe warning the situation could worsen.
This is not the first time the Commission has targeted Chinese products made in third countries under Belt and Road arrangements. It has previously imposed measures on aluminium foil from Thailand and glass fibre produced in Türkiye.
European glass fibre manufacturers have been pushing for action for more than a decade, alongside unions seeking to protect jobs in the sector.
The complaint which lead to Wednesday’s anti-dumping duties was first reported by Euronews in January 2025.
The industry directly employs more than 4,500 workers in the EU and says it supports hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs along the value chain.
Judith Kirton-Darling, General secretary of industriAll Europe, warned that “in the longer term”, the situation could worsen if the EU does not take “a stronger” stance on Chinese dumping.
“It is more than likely that we will face plant closures in Europe which will fundamentally undermine our industry,” she said.
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U.S. says blockade has ‘completely halted’ Iran’s maritime trade
The U.S Central Command said late Tuesday that its forces have halted all maritime traffic to and from Iran. File Photo by Ali Haider/EPA-EFE
April 15 (UPI) — The U.S. military’s maritime blockade of Iran has “completely halted” sea-based trade with the Middle Eastern country, U.S. Central Command said late Tuesday.
President Donald Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after negotiations to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran collapsed.
The blockade of 12 U.S. warships, more than 100 fighter and surveillance aircraft and more than 10,000 soldiers began at 10 a.m. EDT Monday, an effort to prohibit maritime traffic to and from all Iranian ports.
According to U.S. military officials, it covers the entire southern coastline of Iran, including ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, between which lies the Strait of Hormuz.
“A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East,” Adm. Brad Cooper, Central Command commander, said in a statement.
“In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.”
Central Command said earlier Tuesday that no ships had made it through during the blockade’s first 24 hours and that six vessels had complied with U.S. forces’ direction to return to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
“The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas,” Central Command said.
The blockade comes amid a two-week cease-fire between the United States and Iran that Trump announced on April 8. During the fragile truce negotiations on a permanent end to the war were to be conducted.
However, negotiations with Iran collapsed in Pakistan on Sunday, seemingly over disagreements on Iran’s nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Not long after the war began with the United States and Israel attacking Iran on Feb. 28, Iran sharply restricted vessel traffic to the Strait of Hormuz, an important trade route through which flows roughly 27% of the world’s maritime trade in crude oil and petroleum products as well as 20% of global liquefied natural gas trade, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Iran’s control of trade through the strait has caused gas prices to spike, threatening countries with energy crises.
The U.S. blockade appears aimed at financially squeezing Iran by cutting it off from maritime trade revenue.
According to Maid Maleki, senior fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., research institute, the blockade could cost Iran about $435 million a day.
“The blockade makes continued resistance economically impossible,” he said in a statement.
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Péter Magyar walks line between Brussels and Beijing on China Trade
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Viktor Orbán has positioned Hungary as a European centre for Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, while disregarding the EU’s tariffs on them.
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Now his political successor, Péter Magyar, appears less inclined to reverse that policy in a radical way.
At a press conference on Monday following a landslide victory against Orbán, Magyar praised China as “one of the most important, largest, and strongest countries in the world.”
“I am very happy to travel to Beijing, and we are very happy to welcome Chinese leaders here in Hungary,” he added.
Magyar also said he would “review” Chinese investments in Hungary – particularly on electric vehicles – but “not with the aim of shutting them down or preventing them from happening.”
In recent years, Hungary was eager to attract Beijing’s largeness, with BYD building its first European passenger EV factory in Szeged in 2024 and major firms such as CATL, NIO and EVE Energy investing heavily in the country.
But that open-door policy has increasingly clashed with the EU’s push to tighten scrutiny of Chinese investments, as China floods Europe with low-cost imports and as many as 600,000 job losses are projected in the EU in the bloc’s auto sector this decade amid intensifying competition from Chinese manufacturers.
Magyar will also have to deal with concerns over alleged forced labour involving Chinese workers at Hungarian plants of EV giant BYD, as well as a recent European Commission probe into unfair subsidies at the same site. Those developments have tarnished the company’s reputation and raised concerns over Beijing’s investments.
Driving more value from investment in Hungary
At his press conference on Monday, the leader of Hungary’s Tisza party did not enter details. But he made clear that Hungary would align its policy more closely with Brussels.
“Rather, the goal is to ensure that those projects comply with European Union and Hungarian environmental regulations, health procedures, and labour safety standards, and contribute to the performance of the Hungarian national economy,” Magyar added.
He also appeared determine to distance himself from Orbán’s wariness of a recent European Commission proposal on “Made in Europe,” which targets China.
The draft law, currently discussed by EU governments and MEPs, would impose stricter conditions on foreign direct investment above €100 million in sectors such as batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels and critical raw materials.
Under the proposal, investors from countries holding 40% of global market share in a given sector would be required to hire at least 50% of EU workers. Additional conditions could include foreign ownership caps below 49%, joint ventures with European partners and technology transfers.
“What we do not want — and will not accept — is for foreign companies to come, receive significant Hungarian state support, employ very few Hungarians, create little to no added value for the Hungarian economy, and at the same time endanger the quality of Hungary’s land, air, and water,” Magyar added, signalling his intention to align policy more closely with Brussels.
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Morgan Stanley maps 60 stocks across the space trade
Morgan Stanley maps 60 stocks across the space trade
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Polymarket bets tied to Iran war spur lawmakers’ call for investigation
NEW YORK — Calls inside Congress for investigations into the prediction market platform Polymarket are increasing after the latest instance in which groups of anonymous traders made strategic, well-timed bets on a major geopolitical event hours before it occurred.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that at least 50 new accounts on Polymarket placed substantial bets on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire in the hours, even minutes, before President Trump announced it late Tuesday. These were the sole bets made on Polymarket through these accounts.
In January, an anonymous Polymarket user made a $400,000 profit by betting that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro would be out of office, hours before Maduro was captured. In the hours before the start of the Iran war, another account made roughly $550,000 in a series of trades effectively betting that the U.S. would strike Iran and that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be removed from office.
Such prescient wagers have raised eyebrows — and accusations that prediction markets are ripe for insider trading. And the issue goes beyond these three geopolitical events, according to at least one report.
Researchers at Harvard University released a paper last month in which, using public blockchain data, they estimated that $143 million in profits have been made on Polymarket by individuals who potentially had insider information about events ranging from Taylor Swift’s engagement to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y who sits on the House Financial Services Committee as well as the subcommittee on digital assets and financial technology, sent a letter Thursday to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission demanding the regulator review and investigate these well-timed trades. The CFTC regulates the derivatives markets, which includes prediction markets.
“This pattern raises serious concerns that certain market participants may have had access to material nonpublic information regarding a market-moving geopolitical event,” Torres wrote. The letter was shared exclusively with AP.
“What is the statistical likelihood that of anyone other than an insider trader placing a winning bet 12 minutes before a market-moving presidential announcement?” Torres said in an interview with AP. “There are two answers: God, or an insider trader. And something tells me that God is not placing bets around Donald Trump’s posts on Truth Social. “
Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket allow users to bet on everything from whether it will rain in Phoenix, Ariz., next week to whether the Federal Reserve will raise or lower interest rates.
Americans have limited access to Polymarket, which was banned from the U.S. in 2022. The company has moved to reenter the country by acquiring a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse, giving it a legal pathway to start offering contracts domestically. The company has begun a limited rollout in the U.S.
Polymarket also operates a separate, crypto-based platform offshore that remains outside U.S. jurisdiction. That platform accounts for most of its activity.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent a letter to Polymarket on Thursday demanding the company explain why it continues to allow trades on war and violence as well as whether the company is making efforts to keep insiders from trading on the platform.
“Polymarket has become an illicit market to sell and exploit national security secrets unlike any in history, and by extension a potential honeypot for foreign intelligence services watching for those same suspicious bets and wagers,” Blumenthal wrote.
Republicans also have criticized these platforms and called for bans on these sorts of bets. There are at least two bills pending in Congress co-signed by both parties, one in the House and one in the Senate.
“We don’t want to imagine a world where America’s adversaries use prediction markets to anticipate our next move,” Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, said after the release of AP’s findings on the ceasefire wagers.
Polymarket did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The stakes are high for both Polymarket and Kalshi as they seek approval to operate nationwide, particularly in the lucrative sports betting market.
Kalshi, which already is regulated in the U.S., and its executives have a goal of making the company the nation’s dominant prediction market. Kalshi has leaned heavily into sports, which critics have said effectively makes it a sports betting platform that dabbles in event-based contracts on the side. Both companies also announced partnerships with sports teams and even news organizations to broaden their reach as well. AP has an agreement to sell U.S. elections data to Kalshi.
The competition also carries political overtones. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in Polymarket through his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, and separately serves as a paid strategic adviser to Kalshi.
Sweet writes for the Associated Press.
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What’s Iran’s 10-point peace plan that Trump says is ‘not good enough’? | International Trade News
Iran has proposed a 10-point peace plan to end the war as the United States and Israel intensify their attacks on Tehran and a deadline looms that was set by US President Donald Trump for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, whose near-closure has triggered a global energy crisis.
At the White House on Monday, Trump called the 10-point plan a “significant step” but “not good enough”.
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Iran’s top university and a major petrochemical plant were hit on Monday after Trump threatened to target power plants and bridges until Tehran agreed to end the war and open the strait, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass.
Here is more about Iran’s 10-point plan and Trump’s response to it:
What is Iran’s 10-point plan?
On Monday, Pakistan, which has mediated talks in Islamabad aimed at ending the war, put forth a 45-day ceasefire proposal after separate meetings with US and Iranian officials. The Iranian and US negotiators have not met face to face about the 45‑day truce plan. In late March, Trump told reporters that his envoys were talking to a senior Iranian official, but this was not confirmed by Iran. Tehran has denied holding talks with US negotiators.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran had conveyed its response via Islamabad. Iran reportedly rejected the proposed ceasefire, putting forward instead a call for a permanent end to the hostilities.
The Iranian proposal consisted of 10 clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions and reconstruction, IRNA reported. The conflict has spread to the Gulf region and Lebanon, where 1.2 million Lebanese people have been displaced due to Israeli attacks.
Details about the 10 clauses have not been published.
How did the White House respond?
Speaking to reporters about Iran’s plan, Trump said: “They made a … significant proposal. Not good enough, but they have made a very significant step. We will see what happens.”
“If they don’t make a deal, they will have no bridges and no power plants,” he added.
In a profane Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump threatened to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants, if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully reopened. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F****** Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” he wrote.
The deadline is set for 8pm Washington time on Tuesday (00:00 GMT). Tehran has rejected this ultimatum and threatened to retaliate.
Human rights organisations and members of the US Congress have criticised Trump for threatening to attack civilian targets, which is considered a war crime.
The Axios news website reported that an unnamed US official who saw the Iranian response called it “maximalist”.
What other proposals have been on the table?
The last time the word “maximalist” was used to describe a peace plan in this war was late last month when Iran called a US plan “maximalist”.
An unnamed, high-ranking diplomatic source told Al Jazeera on March 25 that Iran had received a 15-point plan drafted by the US. The plan was delivered to Iran through Pakistan.
The source said Tehran described the US proposal as “extremely maximalist and unreasonable”.
“It is not beautiful, even on paper,” the source said, calling the plan deceptive and misleading in its presentation.
The 15-point plan included a 30-day ceasefire, the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear facilities, limits on Iran’s missiles and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
In return, the US would remove all sanctions imposed on Iran and provide support for electricity generation at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.
Iran has rejected a temporary ceasefire, arguing it would give the US and Israel time to regroup and launch further attacks. Tehran has pointed to Israel’s 12-day war on Iran in June. The US joined that conflict for one day, hitting Iran’s three main nuclear sites with air strikes. Trump claimed at the time that the US had destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities but months later justified the current war by saying Iran posed an imminent threat.
The UN nuclear watchdog, however, said Iran was not in a position to make a nuclear bomb.
The US and Israel launched the war on February 28 as Washington was holding negotiations with Iran. On the eve of the war, Oman, the mediator of the talks, had said a deal was “within reach”.
Tehran has said for years that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and it does not intend to create nuclear weapons. It even signed a deal with the US in 2015 to limit its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. But Trump withdrew from the landmark deal in 2018 and slapped sanctions back on Iran.
In response, Iran decided to enrich uranium from 3.6 percent, which was allowed under the 2015 deal, to almost 60 percent after its Natanz nuclear facility was bombed in 2021. Iran blamed Israel. A 90 percent level of purity is required to make an atomic bomb.
Why does this matter?
With Tuesday’s deadline fast approaching, chances for a ceasefire appear remote as the two sides remain far from agreement and the conflict is now in its second month.
On Tuesday, Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, posted on X: “Pakistan positive and productive endeavours in Good Will and Good Office to stop the war is approaching a critical, sensitive stage …”
“Stay Tuned for more”.
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Shaping New Trade Corridors | Global Finance Magazine
War in Iran and US tariffs are destabilizing global trade. But commerce hasn’t slowed; it’s simply rerouting.
As last fall’s G20 summit closed in Johannesburg, the United Arab Emirates announced plans to inject up to $1 billion in AI infrastructure funding across Africa. The pledge is the latest in a growing wave of investment from the Gulf Cooperation Council states that signals a broader shift.
Together, the Middle East and Africa represent roughly 2 billion consumers and a combined GDP of more than $5 trillion. Investment and trade spanning the regions are already accelerating. GCC countries have deployed over $100 billion in Africa and bilateral trade grew at an annual rate of about 8% between 2021 and 2022, reaching $154 billion.
Europe and China remain the continent’s largest capital providers, but the Gulf states are closing the gap. As war, supply-chain disruptions, and new US tariffs reshape global trade, countries across the MENA region see an opportunity to position themselves as the logistical and financial bridge linking Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Gateways And Corridors
The two natural points of entry are Egypt and Morocco. They have a foot in both regions and long experience navigating between the Arab world and the African continent.
Egypt acts as a gateway to East Africa, with commercial routes extending toward Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda. Morocco has established itself as a hub for west Africa, leveraging decades of political and economic ties with francophone markets. Businesses from both countries are expanding across the continent in sectors including food processing, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telecoms, and technology.
Over the past decade, the Gulf states have also steadily expanded their presence, deploying capital through longterm strategic investments to reshape Africa’s trade routes while securing access to land, natural resources, and fast-growing markets.
Gulf investors are targeting corridors along the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, including the Berbera–Ethiopia trade route and points of access to the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean. Their aim is to anchor supply chains that direct African trade through Gulf logistics hubs before it reaches global markets.
“The GCC is becoming more and more of a trade hub for Africa,” says Tarek El Nahas, group head of International Banking at Dubai-headquartered Mashreq Bank. “We’ve got a lot of clients that have their regional operations here for both Middle East and Africa.”
Infrastructure is central to these developments. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are investing heavily in ports, logistics hubs, and industrial zones, laying the foundations for new Global South supply chains.
The UAE is by far Africa’s largest Gulf stakeholder. Dubai’s DP World and Abu Dhabi Ports have secured concessions to operate and develop ports in Algeria, Egypt, Somalia, Somaliland, Tanzania, South Africa, Guinea, Senegal, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Congo-Brazzaville, Eritrea, Rwanda, and Niger.
Air connections are also an investment target, with Qatar Airways supporting several African airlines including South Africa’s Airlink while Doha in 2019 acquired 60% of Rwanda’s new international airport.
Telecom operators such as Qatar’s Ooredoo and the UAE’s e& (formerly Etisalat) support cable infrastructure and data centers and have signed partnerships with local providers like Maroc Telecom as part of a plan to reach several dozen countries across the continent by 2030.
In light of the recent Iranian attacks on GCC infrastructure, UAE and Saudi Arabia are also considering shifting some AI assets to secure locations in Africa. Abu Dhabi’s G42 is already building a $1 billion data center in Kenya.
Commodities, Food, And Energy
What, then, are these closely connected regions trading? Exchange often begins with natural resources.
Oil and gas dominate Gulf exports to Africa, while the continent supplies metals. Gold is a major African export to the UAE, already a hub for precious metals and stones; Gulf investors are also targeting rare metals and minerals critical to energy transition and AI supply chains.
Deal activity reflects this shift. Last year, Abu Dhabi-based International Resources Holding acquired 51% of Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines for $1.1 billion. Saudi Arabia’s Maaden Holding, through Manara Minerals, is pursuing similar deals in Zambia and elsewhere.
These ventures sometimes feed Western markets. In November, the US and Saudi Arabia agreed to cooperate on mineral supplies to reduce reliance on China, and in March, US-based Cove Capital and Saudi Arabia’s AHQ announced a “multibillion dollar” fund to invest in African minerals including cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earths.
Renewable energy is another focus. The UAE’s Masdar has committed $10 billion to African clean energy projects by 2030, backing solar projects in Angola, Uganda, Zambia, and Mozambique. Late last year, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power signed a deal with the African Development Bank to invest up to $5 billion in renewable energy and water systems in countries including South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco.
Food security is also a major driver for GCC countries, which buy over 80% of their comestibles from abroad. The UAE and Saudi Arabia import agricultural products and livestock from across Africa while investing in farmland and production projects to secure long-term supply. Qatar has made important commitments in North African countries, including a $3.5 billion dairy farm in Algeria.
North African manufacturers, meanwhile, are increasingly targeting African markets. Egyptian pharmaceutical companies, for example, have become major exporters across the continent.
Regulatory challenges and logistical bottlenecks persist, but African trade integration is supported by a growing web of multilateral agreements. Regional frameworks including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Agadir Agreements, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)— launched in 2021 and designed to unify a market of 1.5 billion people—facilitate investment and commercial exchange.
Several countries also benefit from US and European trade preference programs such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows some 30 African economies to export certain goods to the US duty-free. These arrangements make parts of Africa and MENA increasingly attractive as manufacturing and re-export bases for companies seeking to access Western markets.
“We’re starting to see more companies from Asia, for example, setting up a presence in the MENA region to benefit from a lower tariff environment, and I think Egypt will become a big beneficiary in terms of manufacturing,” El Nahas says.
Financing The Corridors
Moroccan and Egyptian banks have taken the lead in cross-border expansion, financing trade and infrastructure projects across the continent. Most international lenders, by contrast, maintain a limited on-the-ground presence in Africa but operate through regional hubs that circle the continent, notably in Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
“Egypt is pivoting its export strategy toward Europe and Africa.”
Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, CIB
Several pan-African banks, meanwhile, including United Bank for Africa, Standard Group, and Ecobank, have set up a presence in the GCC—mainly in Dubai or Abu Dhabi—to facilitate trade and investment flows between the two regions. Gulf banks tend to manage African operations from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Doha, increasingly partnering with local lenders on large infrastructure projects and exploring collaboration in areas such as AI applications in banking.
The long-term potential is vast. Africa accounts for roughly 20% of the global population but just 3% of GDP. For now, intra-African trade represents only about 15% of the continent’s total trade, compared to over 50% in Asia and almost 70% in the European Union. For investors and policymakers, the opportunity lies in unlocking that untapped connectivity.
There is a geostrategic factor as well.
The US-Israeli war with Iran and the accompanying disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have heightened the need for additional trade corridors, notably through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
“Egypt is pivoting its export strategy toward Europe and Africa to leverage its geographical proximity, filling supply gaps caused by delays from Asian competitors,” says Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, CEO of Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt’s largest private sector bank, which has a presence in Kenya and Ethiopia. “This surge in demand is expected to offset revenue losses of exports to the Gulf.”
In an increasingly fragmented global economy, both regions see value in strengthening ties. The geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and Africa remains volatile, but investors argue that deeper south-south integration may offer one of the most resilient growth paths.
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“Take the oil”: Trump eyes seizing Iran oil to gain trade leverage over China: report
“Take the oil”: Trump eyes seizing Iran oil to gain trade leverage over China: report
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The Future of Middle East-Africa Trade Alliances
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Bridging Continents: The Future of Middle East-Africa Trade Alliances
Islam Zekry, Group Chief Finance & Operation Officer and Executive Board Member at CIB, explores how GCC-Africa partnerships are driving economic growth, resilience and a transformative era of South-South cooperation, and how Egypt’s strategic location and financial expertise position it as a key player in emerging trade corridors.
Global Finance: How can new trade alliances and partnerships, particularly between the GCC and African nations, drive economic growth and resilience across both regions?
Islam Zekry: The partnership between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Africa is gaining momentum. However, what is changing is the depth and strategic intent behind these partnerships. As global supply chains fragment and capital becomes more selective, structured trade alliances between GCC nations and African economies have the potential to create one of the most significant South–South growth corridors of the next decade.
Several structural complementarities underpin this opportunity. GCC economies possess deep capital pools, sovereign investment vehicles, advanced logistics capabilities and strong global trade linkages. In addition, many African economies are rich in natural resources, arable land, renewable energy potential and rapidly growing consumer markets with favorable demographics.
When strategically aligned, partnerships can yield positive growth outcomes. For example, food security partnerships, where African agricultural production meets Gulf demand, demonstrate this potential. Moreover, investments in energy and transition, particularly in renewables and green hydrogen, support the transition towards cleaner energy resources. Such partnerships can also drive the development of the infrastructure and logistics sector—strengthening ports, industrial zones and transport corridors. Ultimately, financial sector integration enhances capital flows and trade finance capacity.
“Egypt is not just a transit point for global trade—it is becoming a focal point in a more integrated Afro-Arab economic architecture.”
Islam Zekry, Group Chief Finance & Operation Officer and Executive Board Member at CIB
Beyond capital deployment, what differentiates the next phase of GCC–Africa engagement is the development of capacity for resilience. Global shocks—whether pandemic disruptions, geopolitical tensions or commodity volatility—have demonstrated the importance of diversified trade relationships. GCC–Africa alliances reduce overdependence on traditional West–East corridors, creating balanced, multipolar trade flows.
Therefore, for these partnerships to reach their full potential, financial architecture must evolve in tandem with physical infrastructure. Efficient cross-border payment systems, local currency settlement mechanisms, risk-sharing frameworks and strong banking partnerships determine how seamlessly goods, services,and capital move between the two regions. This is where banks with both regional understanding and international connectivity play a transformative role, not merely as financial intermediaries, but as enablers of structured trade ecosystems.
GF: What makes Egypt uniquely positioned to serve as a trade and investment hub between the Middle East and Africa, and how can this role evolve in the context of emerging trade corridors?
Zekry: Strategically positioned at the convergence of Africa, the Middle East and Europe, Egypt controls one of the world’s crucial maritime arteries through the Suez Canal. The country boasts one of Africa’s largest and most diversified economies and hosts one of the region’s leading banking sectors.
However, Egypt’s strategic relevance goes beyond geography. The country serves as a natural logistical bridge. It connects Mediterranean trade routes with Red Sea and Gulf shipping lanes while maintaining deep commercial ties across Sub-Saharan Africa. This dual orientation—northward to Europe and southward into Africa—positions Egypt as a balancing hub within emerging trade corridors.
The country has also built significant industrial and export capacity. Its robust manufacturing base, expanding energy sector,and growing role in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and renewable energy markets position it as a credible anchor economy within regional value chains. Egypt’s financial institutions support cross-border expansion and structured trade finance. Egyptian banks have developed strong capital bases, regional expertise and global correspondent networks, enabling them to intermediate complex trade flows across Africa and the Middle East.
As new trade corridors emerge, from Red Sea logistics networks to Gulf-backed infrastructure investments in East Africa, alongside the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) driven continental integration, Egypt’s role is set to evolve across three key areas. The country functions as a gateway for capital deployment into Africa, serving as a strategic hub for GCC and international investors seeking structured entry into African markets. It also has the potential to serve as a regional trade finance hub, facilitating corridor-based financing between North Africa, East Africa,and the Gulf. Finally, Egypt can act as a connector of payment ecosystems, enabling interoperability between African financial systems and Middle Eastern capital markets.
The next phase of Egypt’s development hinges on deepening this integration, aligning customs frameworks, digitizing trade documentation, strengthening regional payment systems and encouraging bilateral currency arrangements. If strategically executed, Egypt will not simply remain a transit point for global trade, but will become a focal point in a more integrated Afro-Arab economic architecture.
The future of Middle East–Africa trade alliances will not be defined solely by infrastructure announcements or headline investments. It will depend on how effectively capital, policy and financial systems converge to support real economic exchange. In this context, Egypt stands out as both a geographic and financial bridge. Therefore, strengthening GCC–Africa partnerships represents not just an opportunity, but a structural shift toward greater regional resilience and South–South cooperation.
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U.S. pressures Uruguay to break trade ties with China, minister says
Uruguay’s Minister of Economy and Finance Gabriel Oddone said the pressure by the United States to break trade ties with China is applied daily and channeled through different areas of the bilateral relationship. File Photo by Federico Gutierrez/EPA
March 27 (UPI) — Uruguayan Minister of Economy and Finance Gabriel Oddone said the United States is exerting “unimaginable” and “unsustainable” pressure on his South American country to break its trade relationship with China, according to remarks made at a private meeting.
The comments during a session with business leaders were reported by the local weekly Búsqueda.
With about 3.5 million inhabitants and a territory comparable to the state of Florida, Uruguay has had China as its main trading partner for more than 14 years, accounting for about 26% of its exports.
Oddone said the pressure is applied daily and channeled through different areas of the bilateral relationship.
According to attendees at the meeting with the Confederation of Business Chambers, the minister said that if Uruguay does not comply with Washington’s demands, its trade relationship with the administration of President Donald Trump “will not improve and could get worse.”
The remarks came Tuesday during a meeting at the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay, attended by more than 20 business representatives, along with the director of the Office of Planning and Budget, Rodrigo Arim.
The meeting lasted more than two hours and addressed economic and trade issues in a context described as “very complex.”
China is the main destination for key exports, such as beef, soybeans and cellulose. The pressure from the United States comes amid growing geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing, which is affecting countries with trade ties to both powers.
According to attendees cited by Búsqueda, Oddone acknowledged that the government has “little room for maneuver” due to the fiscal situation inherited from the previous administration and internal differences within the ruling coalition over advancing economic reforms.
On the domestic front, the minister defended the country’s economic performance despite lower-than-expected growth.
Uruguay’s gross domestic product grew 1.8% in 2025, below the official projection of 2.6%, while analysts have already cut expectations for 2026 to around 1.6%.
Facing criticism from the private sector over the size and slow pace of the state, Oddone urged business leaders to also consider positive aspects.
“We should not only see the glass as half-empty,” he said, noting that the economy continues to grow despite an adverse international environment in which Uruguay is “swimming in dulce de leche,” a colloquial phrase interpreted as meaning it is difficult to move quickly.
The minister also ruled out improving competitiveness through a depreciation of the exchange rate.
“Uruguay is not going to become a cheap country,” he said, adding that improvements will come from microeconomic changes to reduce costs and streamline foreign trade.
Asked by Búsqueda, the minister declined to comment publicly on the meeting, as it was a private event. Some participants described it as useful, but with “mixed” feelings, while others said they valued explanations from the economic team.
At the close, Oddone adopted an optimistic tone.
“Believe me, we will do well,” he said, highlighting the country’s institutional and economic strengths to face an international scenario marked by trade tensions and regional slowdown.
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The EU’s recipe for trade deals : easy on beef, tough on wine
Three deals across three key regions : Mercosur, India and Australia.
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While the Commission hailed the Australia agreement as a new geostrategic win, EU farmers continue to express deep discontent stemming from the Mercosur deal.
In practice, the backlash around the agreement with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay has done little to shift the Commission’s dual approach in its negotiating line. On the one hand, the commission kept making concessions on entry-level or mid-range farm goods such as beef, while on the other hand, it pushed for market access for high value-added exports —like wine, Geographical Indications (GI) and cars— with mixed results.
“The EU has all the assets to be an agri-food power,” Luc Vernet, from the export-focused brussels think tank Farm Europe, told Euronews, adding: “We should develop a broader strategy beyond high value-added products, covering all sectors and all levels of quality, because the European model delivers exceptional quality not just in luxury products.”
Yet the opposition to the Latin America deal — which triggered a legal challenge suspending its ratification — crystallised among EU farmers over fears of unfair competition from meat imports.
The Mercosur agreement granted quotas of 99,000 tonnes of beef per year, 25,000 tonnes of pork and 188,000 tonnes of poultry. Despite conditions added to new quotas in the Australia deal, EU farmers complain of imports piling up across successive agreements.
Concessions made on beef
Over eight years of talks with Canberra—the world’s second-largest beef exporter—Australia pushed hard for greater access for beef and sheep meat. Tensions intensified in 2023, when negotiations broke down after the EU rejected Australia’s demand for 40,000 tonnes of beef per year, offering no more than 30,000 tonnes instead.
The final deal agreed Tuesday allows 30,600 tonnes of beef annually into the EU. For sheep and goat meat, Brussels accepted a 25,000-tonne duty-free quota, while sugar was limited to 35,000 tonnes of raw cane for refining and rice to 8,500 tonnes a year.
However, perhaps drawing lessons from Mercosur, Brussels imposed multiple conditions on the quotas. Beef imports, which will have to be from grass-fed cattle, will be phased in over 10 years, sheep meat over 7 years, and rice over 5 years. Sugar will also be subject to certification under a private sustainability scheme.
Safeguard clauses, allowing both sides to react to market disruption, will apply for seven years – but are extended for sensitive farm goods : 15 years for beef, 12 for sheep and 10 for rice.
But a farmers’ representative told Euronews there were serious doubts about the effectiveness of the safeguard mechanisms: “Our experience in general with safeguards is that they are extremely difficult to activate because the burden of the proof is on us, farmers.”
The offensive agenda of the Commission
By contrast, agriculture was far less contentious in the India negotiations, where New Delhi itself resisted opening its market due to domestic farm sensitivities, particularly in dairy. EU sensitive products were largely excluded.
But wine featured prominently on Brussels’ offensive agenda, with Indian tariffs cut from 150% to 20% for premium wines and 30% for mid-range products over seven years. Tariffs for cars will also fall from 110% to 10% but under a quota of 250,000 vehicles a year after a decade – by which point Chinese manufacturers have great chances to have strengthened their position.
In negotiations with Australia, the EU again sought greater access for its wine but encountered strong opposition from domestic producers. In the end, the deal protects more than 1,600 EU wine GIs, plus over 50 new ones from 12 member states.
On Prosecco, Australian producers will still be allowed to use the term domestically to designate a grey grape variety, provided it is linked to Australian GI, with Canberra agreeing to stop exporting such wines after 10 years.
The EU also secured protection for 165 agri-food GIs and 231 spirit drink GIs. But it failed to remove Australia’s luxury car tax, securing instead preferential treatment for EU electric vehicles. But Brussels won improved access to critical raw materials – a key EU demand, that may have lead to more concessions on meat.
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EU approves customs reform to handle rising trade and global uncertainties
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The EU approved a sweeping customs reform to handle growing trade volumes and streamline the application of its standards.
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The agreement, which was reached on Thursday evening, introduces new tools to improve the collection of customs duties and increase controls on non-compliant or unsafe goods, without imposing excessive burdens for authorities and traders.
“Today’s agreement marks the greatest reform since the creation of the Customs Union in 1968”, Cypriot Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said in a statement following the adoption of the reform. “This modern toolbox will facilitate trade and ensure the proper collection of duties, in a simplified manner, and with the required legal certainty”, the minister added.
Customs management and trade have gained renewed urgency after trade volumes have sharply increased in the last years. Some €4.6 billion low-value items under €150 were imported to the EU in 2024, representing an average of 12 million parcels per day, according to European Commission data. That is a major increase from the €2.3 billion that entered in 2023 and €1.4 billion in 2022.
In addition, uncertainties over US tariffs, combined with new EU trade deals such as those with MERCOSUR and Australia, make this reform particularly timely.
EU customs data hub
The new rules foresee the creation of an EU customs data hub, which will be an online platform to facilitate the monitoring of trade flows without disrupting their smooth operation.
Businesses importing and exporting from the EU will only need to submit customs information on that single portal.
The hub, which will be operational for e-commerce from July 2028, will be managed by a new European Custom Authority, headquartered in Lille, France.
The Authority will oversee the EU customs by coordinating national offices and supporting them in the risk management. In particular, the Authority will analyse the import and export data to flag cargos that poses the highest risk for inspection.
The reform will also introduce simplified procedures for “trust and check traders” for transparent businesses that will not be subjected to active customs interventions.
For e-commerce operators that fail to comply with EU standards, it will be applied a new system of financial penalties.
The reform foresees a new EU handling fee for small parcels entering the EU starting November 2026, with the exact amount to be decided by the European Commission. From July to November, a temporary €3 tax will apply to all parcels under €150.
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EU lawmakers approve trade deal with U.S., but add safeguards
BRUSSELS — The European Parliament voted Thursday to approve a trade deal between Washington and Brussels but with amendments added to protect European interests should the United States fail to hold up its end of the bargain.
The deal was negotiated last July in Turnberry, Scotland, by President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It set a 15% tariff on most goods in an effort to stave off far higher import duties on both sides that might have sent shock waves through economies around the globe.
New language now says that the deal can be suspended if Washington “undermined the objectives of the deal, discriminated against EU economic operators, threatened member states’ territorial integrity, foreign and defence policies, or engaged in economic coercion.”
That clause was forged because of the tensions over Greenland, said Bernd Lange, a German lawmaker and head of the EU’s parliamentary trade committee.
Trump drew widespread condemnation across the 27-nation bloc by threatening to take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. He has backed away from the threat, at least for now.
“If this would happen again, then immediately the tariffs would be installed,” he said at a news conference after lawmakers voted. He said the protective modifications were “weatherproofing” the Turnberry deal.
The deal will now be further negotiated by EU trade representatives Maroš Šefčovič and his U.S. counterpart Jamieson Greer, who are meeting Friday on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
“We need the EU-U.S. deal in force on both sides — delivering real certainty for EU businesses and showing that genuine partnership gets results,” Šefčovič said after the vote in Brussels.
There were formally two votes to introduce clauses to the deal. One passed 417-154 and the other 437-144 with dozens of abstentions each.
The U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Pudzer said the vote would provide “stability and predictability” for U.S. and EU businesses and drive economic growth. “We encourage all parties to think to the future and the importance of unleashing opportunities for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.
Malte Lohan, CEO of American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, said the vote is “the right signal for businesses that have been stuck in limbo over the past year” and “a necessary step towards a more predictable transatlantic marketplace.”
Croatian lawmaker Željana Zovko said that despite the trade spat between Brussels and Washington, trade across the Atlantic had grown over the past year. “This resilience proves the trans-Atlantic trade works, and if it works, we should strengthen it, not hold it back.”
McNeil writes for the Associated Press.
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EU lawmakers support EU–US trade deal, with conditions attached
EU lawmakers on Thursday approved the EU-US trade deal struck in Turnberry, Scotland, in 2025, while attaching a set of conditions to the agreement.
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A broad majority of political groups backed the deal, which cuts EU tariffs on most US industrial goods to zero, with 417 votes in favour, 154 against, and 71 abstentions.
The European Commission and Washington had pushed for the deal’s implementation, but MEPs delayed backing it until last week amid tensions over Greenland and fresh US trade investigations that raised fears Washington could undermine the deal with new tariffs.
Initially criticized by MEPs as unbalanced and defended by the Commission as the best possible outcome, the deal sets US tariffs on EU goods at 15%, while the EU eliminates duties on most US industrial products.
MEPs introduced safeguards to rebalance the pact in the event of future threats from US President Donald Trump or violations by the United States.
“Of course, that’s imbalanced, but if we could improve it, maybe we can live with it,” Socialist German MEP Bernd Lange said ahead of the vote.
The European Parliament will now work with EU member states to find a common position and enable the tariff cuts, with the attached safeguards expected to be the main point of contention.
These include a “sunset clause” under which the deal expires in March 2028 unless both sides agree to extend it. It also includes a “sunrise clause” which would make tariff preferences conditional to the US respecting its Turnberry commitments.
Lawmakers moved to shield the deal from fresh US tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down 2025 US tariffs in February, prompting the White House to impose new duties on EU goods and launch an investigation into alleged unfair trade practices that could lead to further tariffs.
MEPs also linked the tariff cuts on steel and aluminium to equivalent actions by the US.
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Lille clinches bid to host EU Customs Authority
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Lille will host the European Custom Authority, a new decentralised agency tasked with supporting and coordinating national customs administrations across the bloc.
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The decision was made on Wednesday in Brussels, after EU lawmakers from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU voted on the matter in three rounds.
“France is one of Europe’s leading customs nations, [considering] one in three parcels entering the EU passes through French territory,” Dutch MEP Dirk Gotink, rapporteur on the customs reform, said in a press statement.
“Lille’s strategic location at the crossroads of Europe makes it the natural hub for this authority,” the EU lawmaker continued.
Italy, with Rome as its candidate, was the runner-up in the voting rounds.
Other contenders included Belgium with Liège, Croatia with Zagreb, the Netherlands with The Hague, Poland with Warsaw, Portugal with Porto, Romania with Bucharest, and Spain with Málaga.
Customs management and trade have taken on renewed urgency after former US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs shortly after taking office.
Amid growing global trade uncertainty, the EU has stepped up engagement with international partners. This week, it signed a new agreement with Australia, while the EU–Mercosur deal is set to apply provisionally from 1 April.
The establishment of the new authority is part of the overall reform of the EU customs framework, with key negotiations expected to take place on Thursday.
The reform also aims to tackle the rising pressure from increased trade flows, fragmented national systems and the rapid rise of e-commerce.
The agency is expected to be set up in 2026 and could become operational in 2028 according to a draft schedule which is still be subject to significant changes.
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Von der Leyen clinches Australia trade deal
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday sealed a free-trade agreement with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, slashing tariffs on most EU goods and farm exports.
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The deal marks another win for Brussels as it races to diversify trade ties and lock in strategic partners amid rising global tensions.
The pact will save the EU €1 billion a year in duties, the Commission said, with exports projected to climb as much as 33% over the next decade.
Agriculture proved a flashpoint, with EU farmers already pushing back against the Mercosur trade agreement and a legal challenge from MEPs threatening ratification.
Tariffs will eventually fall to zero on products including cheese (over three years), wine, some fruit and vegetables, chocolate and processed foods.
On the toughest issues — beef and sheep, which sank talks in 2023 — Australia agreed to quotas of 30,600 and 25,000 tonnes a year, respectively.
A safeguard mechanism will allow the EU to shield sensitive sectors if a surge in Australian imports harms the bloc’s market.
Beyond agriculture, the agreement opens access to Australia’s critical raw materials, including aluminium, lithium and manganese.
Brussels also failed to scrap Australia’s luxury car tax. Instead, 75% of EU electric vehicles will be exempt.
The deal is a geostrategic push
The Commission expects strong export gains in key sectors, including dairy (up to 48%), motor vehicles (52%) and chemicals (20%).
Brussels has prioritized the deal as it builds partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, where China’s influence has become central. A security and defence partnership with Canberra was also announced Tuesday.
“The EU and Australia may be geographically far apart but we couldn’t be closer in terms of how we see the world,” von der Leyen said, adding: “With these dynamic new partnerships on security and defence, as well as trade, we are moving even closer together.”
Since Donald Trump returned to power in 2025, trade agreements have taken on sharper geostrategic weight for the EU as it seeks new markets.
In 2025, Brussels struck deals with Mexico, Switzerland and Indonesia. The Mercosur pact was also signed earlier this year and will be provisionally applied from 1 May despite a European Parliament legal challenge.
More could follow. Talks are ongoing with the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, von der Leyen told EU ambassadors on 9 March.
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US says it has crippled Iranian threat in Strait of Hormuz | International Trade
The head of US Central Command says forces have struck Iranian coastal missile sites and infrastructure, degrading Tehran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington vows to continue targeting its regional military capabilities.
Published On 21 Mar 202621 Mar 2026
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Senegal and Morocco tied by religion and trade but divided by AFCON fallout | Africa Cup of Nations News
When governing body offficials the Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco, overturning Senegal’s victory two months after the chaotic final, football fans were stunned.
The impact of the decision could spread beyond sport and weaken the bond between the nations.
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While Moroccan fans took to the streets to celebrate their team’s belated success, the decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was met with disbelief in Senegal, with fans and authorities calling the decision “unjust”.
Senegal’s government on Wednesday said it will pursue “all appropriate legal avenues” to overturn the decision and called for an international investigation into “suspected corruption” within African football’s governing body.
The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) then announced on Thursday that it had instructed lawyers, apparently carrying through its threat to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Such a move could lead to a yearlong legal battle before a ruling.
CAF’s appeals board on Tuesday ruled that Senegal forfeited the final by leaving the field of play without the referee’s authorisation, and it awarded Morocco a default 3-0 win.
The game was delayed for 14 minutes as most of the Senegalese players and staff returned to their dressing room, while Senegal fans battled stewards behind one of the goals in protest against a controversial penalty call for Morocco after Senegal had a goal ruled out.
The players returned, Morocco missed the penalty, and Senegal won the match 1-0 in extra time.
What are the bonds that tie Morocco and Senegal?
Morocco and Senegal have long shared close ties built on religion, trade and culture. Tijaniyyah, a Sufi Muslim order, is widely followed in both countries. Moroccan banks and companies heavily invest in Senegal’s finance and agriculture sectors. Cultural exchanges include student programs, migration and joint festivals.
But the tensions surrounding the final and CAF’s appeals court decision to overturn Senegal’s victory have put a strain on the relationship between the two countries.
Last month, 18 Senegal fans who were arrested on charges of hooliganism at the final were given prison terms of up to a year by a Moroccan court. The Senegalese government has expressed solidarity with the Senegalese supporters.
Seydina Issa Laye Diop, president of the Senegalese national team’s fan group called “12th Gainde”, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the incidents should not damage the relationship between Senegal and Morocco.
“However, there are limits: if this continues, it could somewhat affect the pride of the Senegalese people,” Diop said. “If the goal is to preserve friendship, then it must be nurtured. Small gestures can have a big impact. These are things we can move past, especially since, during the trial, no solid argument has justified the continued detention of these supporters.”
Mariama Ndeye, a student in Senegal’s capital Dakar, said the decision has negatively affected her view of Moroccans.
“When everything goes well, they call us their brothers. But when things don’t go their way, they start being nasty,” Ndeye said.
Politics and sport are rarely separated as Senegal and Morocco find out
On Wednesday, Morocco’s embassy in Dakar called on Moroccans in Senegal to “demonstrate restraint, vigilance, and a sense of responsibility.”
“It is important to recall that, in all circumstances, it is only a match, the outcome of which should never justify any form of escalation or excessive remarks between brotherly peoples,” the embassy said.
While the dispute has remained centred around the football match, bad feelings have spread more generally.
In Casablanca, home appliances business owner Ismail Fnani said he felt like other African countries were rooting against Morocco during the final.
“Honestly, my views toward Senegalese and sub-Saharan Africans changed after this,” he said. “We used to feel sympathy and help them because they were migrants who had struggled to get here. Where there was once sympathy and compassion, now I will treat them as they have treated us.”
Mohamed el-Arabi, who works in a grocery shop in Casablanca, said he did not celebrate the decision awarding Morocco the title.
“We would have preferred it to stay with Senegal because it doesn’t feel right otherwise,” El Arabi said.
“People here have started hating Senegalese. They no longer provide them with help. We used to be like brothers, especially since they are Muslims like us, but that is no longer the case,” he added.
The Senegalese government’s allegation of “suspected corruption” at CAF followed anger at perceived favouritism towards Morocco, which is a 2030 World Cup co-host and has invested heavily to become a football superpower.
On Wednesday, CAF President Patrice Motsepe defended the body against perceptions of favouritism towards Morocco.
“Not a single country in Africa will be treated in a manner that is more preferential, or more advantageous, or more favourable than any other country on the African continent,” Motsepe said in a video published on the CAF website.
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Iran’s strike on Qatar gas facility will reduce supply for 3 to 5 years | International Trade
Iran’s strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas facility will cut an estimated 17% of the country’s Liquefied Natural Gas export capacity for up to five years, officials say. The damage is a major blow to the global energy market, which could disrupt supplies to Europe, Asia and beyond.
Published On 19 Mar 202619 Mar 2026
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