trucks

Palestinians are turning to soup kitchens to feed their families as Gaza is gripped by a crippling food crisis because Israel is limiting the entry of aid trucks, despite the new ceasefire agreement.

Hamas says US claim is ‘unfounded’, calling it ‘an attempt to justify further reduction of already limited’ aid in Gaza.

Hamas has denied accusations by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) that the Palestinian group looted aid trucks in the Gaza Strip.

CENTCOM had published drone footage that allegedly showed an aid truck being looted in the enclave. It said in a statement that the drone observed suspected Hamas operatives looting the truck that was travelling as part of a humanitarian convoy in northern Khan Younis on October 31.

On Sunday, Hamas called the United States’ accusations “unfounded” and “part of an attempt to justify the further reduction of already limited humanitarian aid, while covering up the international community’s failure to end the blockade and starvation imposed on civilians in Gaza”.

“All manifestations of chaos and looting ended immediately after the withdrawal of the [Israeli] occupying forces, proving that the occupation was the only party that sponsored these gangs and orchestrated the chaos,” it added.

Hamas said more than 1,000 Palestinian police and security forces had lost their lives and hundreds were wounded while trying to provide protection for humanitarian aid convoys and ensure that assistance reaches those in need.

It affirmed that none of the international or local institutions, nor any driver working with the aid convoys, has filed any report or complaint about looting by Hamas.

“This clearly demonstrates that the scene cited by the US Central Command is fabricated and politically motivated to justify blockade policies and the reduction of humanitarian aid,” it said, blaming the US for failing to document the ongoing Israeli attacks following the ceasefire agreement that killed 254 Palestinians and wounded 595.

CENTCOM said that the MQ-9 aerial drone was flying overhead to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

“Over the past week, international partners have delivered more than 600 trucks of commercial goods and aid into Gaza daily. This incident undermines these efforts,” it said in the statement.

Hamas said the average number of aid trucks entering Gaza daily does not exceed 135, while the rest are commercial trucks bearing goods that Gaza’s population cannot afford “despite our repeated calls to increase the number of humanitarian aid trucks and reduce commercial shipments”.

“The US adoption of the Israeli narrative only deepens Washington’s immoral bias and places it squarely as a partner in the blockade and the suffering of the Palestinian people,” it said.

The ceasefire took effect on October 10 under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.

Phase one of the deal includes the release of the captives in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.

Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 68,500 people and wounded over 170,600 across Gaza.

Last month, US President Donald Trump had said he would introduce new tariffs to protect the manufacture of medium- and heavy-duty trucks from outside competition.

United States President Donald Trump has said that all medium- and heavy-duty trucks imported into the country will face a 25 percent tariff rate starting November 1, a significant escalation of his effort to protect US companies from foreign competition.

Trump made the announcement on Monday.

Last month, Trump had said heavy truck imports would face new duties on October 1 on national security grounds, saying the new tariffs were to protect manufacturers from “unfair outside competition” and that the move would benefit companies such as Paccar-owned Peterbilt and Kenworth and Daimler Truck-owned Freightliner.

Under trade deals reached with Japan and the European Union, the US has agreed to 15 percent tariffs on light-duty vehicles, but it is not clear if that rate will be set for larger vehicles.

The Trump administration has also allowed producers to deduct the value of US components from tariffs paid on light-duty vehicles assembled in Canada and Mexico.

Larger vehicles include trucks for delivery, garbage pickup, and public utilities; buses for transit, shuttles, and schools; tractor-trailer trucks; semitrucks; and heavy-duty vocational vehicles.

Impact on allies

The US Chamber of Commerce earlier urged the US Commerce Department not to impose new truck tariffs, noting the top five import sources are Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany, and Finland, “all of which are allies or close partners of the United States posing no threat to US national security”.

Mexico is the largest exporter of medium- and heavy-duty trucks to the US. A study released in January said imports of those larger vehicles from Mexico have tripled since 2019 to around 340,000 today, according to government statistics.

Under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, medium- and heavy-duty trucks move free of tariffs if at least 64 percent of a heavy truck’s value originates in North America, via parts like engines and axles, raw materials such as steel, or assembly labour.

Tariffs could also affect Chrysler’s parent company Stellantis, which produces heavy-duty Ram trucks and commercial vans in Mexico. Stellantis had been lobbying the White House not to impose steep tariffs on its Mexican-made trucks.

Sweden’s Volvo Group is building a $700m heavy-truck factory in Monterrey, Mexico, due to start operations in 2026.

Mexico is home to 14 manufacturers and assemblers of buses, trucks, and tractor trucks, and two manufacturers of engines, according to the US International Trade Administration.

Mexico opposed new tariffs, telling the US Commerce Department in May that all Mexican trucks exported to the US have on average 50 percent US content, including diesel engines.

Last year, the US imported almost $128bn in heavy vehicle parts from Mexico, accounting for approximately 28 percent of total US imports, Mexico said.

The announced 100% tariff on pharmaceuticals, 25% on trucks, and 30% on furniture, due to come into effect on October 1, reopen the US president’s trade war.

United States President Donald Trump has announced steep new tariffs on pharmaceutical products, big-rig trucks, and home renovation fixtures and furniture.

The announcement late on Thursday signalled the harshest trade plans from Trump since last April’s shock unveiling of reciprocal tariffs on virtually every US trading partner across the globe, marking a revival of the Republican president’s trade war.

Starting on October 1, “we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies across Asia with big exposure to the US market fell on Friday, including South Korea’s Samsung Biologics.

Trump’s move was criticised by Australia, which exported pharmaceutical products worth an estimated $1.3bn to the US in 2024, according to the United Nations Comtrade Database.

In a separate post, Trump wrote of a 25 percent tariff on “all ‘Heavy (Big) Trucks’ made in other parts of the world” to support US manufacturers such as “Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks and others”.

Foreign companies that compete with these manufacturers in the US market include Sweden’s Volvo and Germany’s Daimler. Shares in both companies were sharply lower in after-hours trading in Europe.

Trump said the truck tariffs were “for many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!”

Earlier this year, the Trump administration launched a so-called Section 232 probe into imports of trucks to “determine the effects of national security”, setting the stage for Thursday’s announcement.

Section 232 is a trade law provision that gives the president broad authority to impose tariffs or other restrictions on imports when they are deemed a threat to national security.

Trump also said a 50 percent tariff on home renovation materials and a 30 percent tariff on upholstered furniture would be imposed, as he claimed that such products were swamping the US market from abroad.

According to the US International Trade Commission, in 2022, imports, mainly from Asia, represented 60 percent of all furniture sold, including 86 percent of all wood furniture and 42 percent of all upholstered furniture.

Shares in home furniture retailers Wayfair and Williams Sonoma, which depend on these imported goods, tumbled in after-hours trading.

Trump’s administration has already imposed a baseline 10 percent tariff on all countries, with higher individualised rates on nations where exports to the US far exceed imports.

Trump has also used emergency powers to impose extra tariffs on trade deal partners Canada and Mexico, as well as on China, citing concerns over fentanyl trafficking and undocumented migration.

It was not yet clear how these new tariffs would factor into the existing measures.

Sept. 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has announced a slew of tariffs to go into effect at the start of next month impacting pharmaceuticals, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, heavy trucks and other products.

Trump announced the tariffs separately on his Truth Social media platform Thursday night, all to go into effect Oct. 1, with the first being a 25% tariff on all so-called heavy trucks manufactured outside of the United States.

The second statement announced a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and “associated products,” as well as a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture over “national security and other reasons” to protect U.S. manufacturing from “the large scale ‘FLOODING’ of these products into the United States by other Countries.”

The third, and final, announcement for Thursday night from the American president was a 100% tariff on branded or patented pharmaceutical products, which would be waived if the company was “BUILDING their pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America.”

“There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started,” he said.

Trump has long turned to economic tariffs as a bargaining tool, both as a negotiation tactic and as an attempt to spur the domestic manufacturing industry. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has railed against trade deficits, often framing them as examples of trading partners taking advantage of the United States.

He has imposed a series of policies that have increased tariffs on U.S. imports from all global partners, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. Some countries have responded with retaliatory tariffs, while many of his policies are being challenged in the courts.

Countries have also independently made deals with the United States to reduce the severity of the tariffs.

According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Trump’s tariffs are expected to generate $2.3 trillion over the next decade but cost the United States 0.8% of GDP and 825,000 jobs based on the nonprofits’ modeling.

President Donald Trump announced a new wave of tariffs on Thursday, including a 100% levy on branded or patented drug imports from 1 October, unless a company is building a factory in the US.

Washington will also impose a 25% import tax on all heavy-duty trucks and 50% levies on kitchen and bathroom cabinets, the US president said as he unveiled the industry-focused measures.

“The reason for this is the large scale “FLOODING” of these products into the United States by other outside Countries,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, citing the need to protect US manufacturers.

The announcements come despite calls from US businesses for the White House to not impose further tariffs.

The new tariffs could impact major producers of branded pharmaceuticals – including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Japan.

The UK exported more than $6bn (£4.5bn) worth of pharmaceutical products to the US last year, according to the United Nations.

Jane Sydenham, investment director at Rathbones, said speculation over tariffs for pharmaceuticals meant the sector had endured a “rollercoaster ride” over the past few months.

“The pharmaceutical sector in terms of share prices has been under pressure for quite some time both in the UK and the United States and Europe so nobody likes uncertainty and that’s been keeping a cloud over the sector for a while,” she told the BBC’s Today programme.

However, Neil Shearing, chief economist at Capital Economics, said the tariff announcements were “not quite as big a move as it appears at first sight”.

This was due to the exemptions available to generic drugs and to those firms building factories in the US.

“Many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies either already have some production in the US or have announced plans to build production in the near future,” he said.

The tariffs on heavy trucks would protect US manufacturers from “unfair outside competition” and that the duties would help lift American companies such as Peterbilt and Mack Trucks, Trump said.

These firms “will be protected from the onslaught of outside interruptions”, he wrote.

The new levies on kitchen and bathroom cabinets, as well as some other furniture, were in response to high levels of imports, which hurt local manufacturers, the president said.

He added that the US would start charging a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture from next week.

The new duties came as Trump expands his tariff policies, which have been a key feature of his second term in the White House.

Trump’s sweeping tariffs on more than 90 countries came into effect in early August, as part of his policies aimed at boosting jobs and manufacturing in the US, among other political goals.

He previously imposed sector-specific tariffs on steel, copper, aluminium, cars and vehicle components.

Earlier this year, the US Chamber of Commerce urged the White House to not introduce new tariffs, arguing that many parts used in truck production are sourced “overwhelmingly” from countries like Mexico, Canada, Germany, Finland and Japan.

The organisation added that these countries are “allies or close partners of the United States posing no threat to US national security.”

Mexico and Canada are among the biggest suppliers of parts for medium and heavy-duty trucks, accounting for more than half of total US imports in the sector last year, said the chamber.

It warned that it was “impractical” to expect many of these parts to be sourced domestically, resulting in higher costs for the industry.

The new tariffs favour domestic producers but are “terrible” for consumers as prices are likely to rise, said trade expert Deborah Elms from research firm Hinrich Foundation.

The levies would cover more products at higher rates than Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which were aimed at correcting trade imbalances with other countries.

These industry-specific import taxes could serve as a back-up plan to secure revenues as Trump’s sweeping duties on global trading partners are being challenged in court, said Ms Elms.

Hundreds of Palestinians risked their lives to reach aid trucks as they arrived in northern Gaza. Amid volleys of gunfire, crowds of people climbed onto moving trucks to grab whatever food they could to feed their starving families. Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Al Khalili was there.

Israeli settlers attacked an aid convoy for the second time in days, delaying 30 trucks from Jordan on their way to Gaza. Video shows settlers chanting “May Palestine’s name be wiped out”. Jordan condemned the assault, accusing Israel of failing to stop repeated settler attacks.