India, China Resume Cross-Border Trade Through 3 Strategic Points After 6 Years of suspension

Good news! Make trade not war!

(1) India, China Resume Cross-Border Trade Through 3 Strategic Points After 6 Years | FP Video - YouTube

Socialist Spain for years a manufacturing 'Gateway' for Chinese Vehicles Flooding the European Union

A question of fair competition! Will a trade war between the EU and China develop?

Is China flooding the EU with consumer goods?

"The growing arrival and continued penetration of Chinese automakers in European Union markets is a now years-long phenomenon across the regional bloc. It is reportedly estimated Chinese brands represent a majority of the 27 new vehicle brands on sale in Spain and in other European countries, with Chinese vehicles accounting for nearly ten percent of all sales in Europe. ...

Although the E.U. imposed protective tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles (EVs) in recent years, Chinese carmakers are able to completely circumvent the tariffs by manufacturing its cars in European factories instead. ..."

Socialist Spain Now 'Gateway' for Chinese Vehicles Flooding Europe "Existing Chinese vehicle manufacturing plants in Spain have turned the country into a “gateway” for Chinese vehicles into Europe, local outlets stated."

Increasing geographical trade with non-U.S. markets in China and India could significantly decrease Canada’s reliance on the U.S. Really!

How many times has this been demanded or tried in the past several decades! What is the definition of insanity? Just kidding!

The issue and awareness of the high economic dependence of Canada on the US goes back at least to the 1960s as far as I remember.

Caveat: I did not read neither the article nor the study.

Opportunities to Diversify Canada’s Trade | Fraser Institute

New US Tariffs on 60 countries, Including in Europe and China, for goods produced with forced labor inspired by US Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh's dissent

Good news! A very interesting angle to impose import tariffs! 

Will President Trump try to go down in history as an abolitionist? Way to go!

How serious is modern slavery or indentured servitude or similar arrangements/conditions around the world even today at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century?

Caveat: I am not familiar with the details of President Trump's latest imposition of tariffs.

"... Trump imposed the latest tariffs, ranging from 10-12.5 percent, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. They follow an investigation under Section 301 finding failure to prevent the importation of goods as a result of forced labor in the respective countries.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 is one of the pathways forward that Kavanaugh highlighted in the dissent when the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s worldwide International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which he imposed on April 2, 2025. ..."

"Today, Ambassador Jamieson Greer is taking final action, at President Trump’s direction, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 by imposing tariffs on 60 economies for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.  Today’s action comes after the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) investigations, which included two rounds of public hearings, more than 2,100 public comments, and engagement with our trading partners to remedy these longstanding concerns.

“President Trump recognizes that decades of moral suasion have not eradicated forced labor from global supply chains.  The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” said Ambassador Greer.  “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.  I am encouraged by the trading partners who have moved quickly to adopt forced labor import prohibitions, and look forward to ensuring their effective enforcement.” ..."

U.S. Tariffs 60 Trading Partners, Including Europe and China, for Slave Labor Product Imports "United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer on Thursday announced “tariffs on 60 economies for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”"

Trump’s Tariffs on 60 Countries Adopt Method Justice Brett Kavanaugh Laid Out in SCOTUS Ruling "The tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on 60 countries Thursday night utilize one of the mechanisms that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh laid out in the dissent of February’s Supreme Court ruling striking down Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs."

USTR Takes Action in Forced Labor Section 301 Investigations (original government news release)

Trump's Newest Tariffs Are Likely Illegal Too (a critical voice) "The Section 301 tariffs announced on Thursday overstep the powers granted by Congress and likely run afoul of the major questions doctrine."

More than Just Trade: Taiwan’s Investment Boom in the United States

Good news! This is mind boggling!

"... an investment agreement signed in January between the United States and Taiwan. The deal promises $250 billion in Taiwanese private-sector investment and up to $250 billion in government-backed credit guarantees in the United States. ...

Taiwan was the United States fourth-largest trading partner in 2025, with bilateral trade totaling approximately USD 256 billion. Four years prior, Taiwan was America’s eleventh-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade barely exceeding USD 100 billion.

Now, Taiwan is the United States fourth-largest source of imports (USD 201 billion), and the tenth-largest export market (USD 55 billion). This large volume of trade has led the United States to become Taiwan’s second-largest trading partner for over a decade. ...

While discussion of Taiwanese investment understandably focuses on TSMC, there are also a growing number of companies across a wide range of industries trying to expand into the American market. ..."

More than Just Trade: Taiwan’s Investment Boom in the United States | Global Taiwan Institute

TSMC plans further $100bn US investment to feed AI demand (latest news) "Taiwanese chipmaker raises full-year capex to $64bn, revenue growth forecast to 40%"

China-US trade talks kick off in Seoul ahead of high-profile leaders’ summit of President Trump and Xi Jinping in China

Good news! Auspicious! Hope and pray for a breakthrough!

"Senior officials from China and the United States have started a new round of trade talks in Seoul, South Korea, hours ahead of US President Donald Trump’s scheduled arrival in Beijing. ..."

China-US trade talks kick off in Seoul ahead of high-profile leaders’ summit | South China Morning Post

19 WTO Members Agree Among Themselves Not to Impose E-Commerce Duties

Good news! President Trump is not only about raising tariffs! 😊

"“The U.S. and ‌more than a dozen other countries including Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia on Thursday launched their own pact to not impose duties on e-commerce after no agreement was reached to end deadlock with Brazil, a document showed. ..."

19 WTO Members Agree Among Themselves Not to Impose E-Commerce Duties - Human Progress

19 members of the WTO, including US, agree among themselves not to impose duties on e-commerce

The US Supply Chain Shakeup away from China before and After President Trump's Tariffs, in Five Charts

Very recommendable! Apparently, US companies have already significantly diversified their supply chains away from China before President Trump's second term.

The research study is in so far flawed as it was already published in November of 2025 (revised April 2026), which means it is able to evaluate only a very few months of foreign trade data since President Trump imposed new tariffs on 4/2/2026. Probably, to little data!

"Last year’s US-imposed tariffs sped up significant trade shifts—toward Mexico and away from China—that began years earlier and have diversified American imports among top partners.

While the Trump administration’s major tariff announcement on April 2, 2025, was billed as “Liberation Day,” research by Harvard Business School ... suggests that companies were already positioned to adjust to the levies. The recalibration of supply chains has been so profound that US imports from China have returned to near-2001 levels, when the country entered the World Trade Organization. ..."

From the abstract:

"This paper documents stylized facts about the “Great Reallocation” in US supply chain trade following the 2018–2019 tariff shocks and the April 2025 Liberation Day announcements.

We find that:

(i) The US has decoupled from China but not from the world overall.

(ii) US imports diversified mainly among its top-20 partners, rather than expanding to new source countries.

(iii) Local linear projections confirm ongoing declines in China’s import shares, with compensating increases from Vietnam, Mexico, and Taiwan.

(iv) Most of this shift occurred along the product-level intensive margin, though extensive margin adjustments became more pronounced for Vietnam and India from 2021-2024.

(v) After a period of “wait and see”, the decline in import shares from China spread to contract-intensive and relationship-sticky goods by 2021-2024.

(vi) Trade reallocation has already accelerated after Liberation Day, in favor of trade partners facing lower additional tariffs and with geographically proximate supply networks.

Together, these findings show that the US-China tariff shocks have unwound the US’ sourcing from China back to where it stood at the time of China’s WTO accession."

The US Supply Chain Shakeup After Tariffs, in Five Charts | Working Knowledge "Research ... documents how US imports have shifted away from China and toward Mexico and other top partners."

An Anatomy of the Great Reallocation in US Supply Chain Trade (no public access)

China has promised to eliminate tariffs on imports from every African country except Eswatini

Have you ever heard of Eswatini (former official name Swaziland in southern Africa, population about 1.3 million)?

The Scramble for Africa continues!

Will Eswatini cave in to Chinese pressure?

"China already has a zero-tariff policy for imports from 33 African countries, but Beijing said last year it would extend the policy to all 53 of its diplomatic partners on the continent…

From May 1, zero levies will apply to all African countries except Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.” ..."

China to Scrap Tariffs for Most of Africa from May - Human Progress

Flag of Eswatini

US and Bangladesh signed Trade Deal: Growing Challenges for Pakistan

Good news!

"The USA and Bangladesh signed a reciprocal trade deal on 9th February, 2026. Under this deal, 7,132 US commodities will get duty-free access in Bangladesh, and 2,500 Bangladeshi commodities will receive duty-free access in US markets. However, this agreement links the tariff concession for Bangladeshi garment exports with US-produced cotton or man-made fibre. To put it simply, preferential access to Bangladeshi garments will be provided if Bangladesh agrees to use US-produced cotton in its apparel production. This agreement could strengthen Bangladesh’s position in the USA market; however, it carries broader implications for Bangladesh and regional trade dynamics.

Bangladesh is one of the key markets for Pakistan’s cotton and cotton-related products. Alone in 2024, Pakistan exported $395 million worth of heavy pure cotton, heavy mixed woven cotton ($76.8 million) and heavy mixed woven cotton ($76.2 million). Since the tariff concession for garment exports is linked to the use of American cotton, the Bangladeshi manufacturers have a strong incentive to shift towards the US Market. After this agreement, Pakistan’s textile products will face enhanced competition in the US markets."

US and Bangladesh Trade Deal: Growing Challenges for Pakistan

Ice age Europeans imported tools from distant lands, perhaps as souvenirs

Amazing stuff!

"To survive Europe’s bitterly cold ice age some 25,000 years ago, people did what people do best: They networked. In a paper published today in Science Advances, archaeologists report finding stone tools in central Spain that came from almost 800 kilometers away, the farthest confirmed distance a stone tool has been found from its source in this time period, known as the European Paleolithic. ..."

From the abstract:

"Social networking is an essential feature of hunter-gatherer societies. It fosters the circulation of goods and information and enables kinship ties across different scales, including long-distance contacts. While such behaviors are known since at least the Upper Palaeolithic, evidence for geographically extensive social networks remains scarce. This evidence is limited to indirect inferences based on shared cultural traits, “art” styles, and symbolic items, while lithic raw material movements are mostly local and regional, with few cases exceeding 300 kilometers.

We provide geochemical evidence for the largest confirmed distance between the source and discard location of a knapped lithic object in Palaeolithic Europe. Solutrean artifacts discarded at Peña Capón, Central Iberia, were sourced in Southwest France, 600 to 700 kilometers away.

This demonstrates social networks of unprecedented geographic scale maintained during ∼1400 years during the Last Glacial Maximum. It also suggests that stone tools were exchanged as symbolic items to solidify social contacts and sustain far-reaching networks as risk-buffering mechanisms among widely dispersed hunter-gatherers."

Ice age Europeans imported tools from distant lands, perhaps as souvenirs | Science | AAAS

Far-reaching hunter-gatherer networks during the Last Glacial Maximum in Western Europe (open access)

Fig. 1. Jasperoid chert artifacts.

Fig. 2. Location of studied geological units and outcrops.

Kenya Secures $1 Billion China Trade Deal and at the same time an extension of US market access

Nice move by Kenya!

Canada Breaks with US, Cuts Tariffs for China with Palki Sharma

Some very interesting moves by Canada!

US signs major trade and investment deal with Taiwan

Good news!

Fact Sheet: Restoring American Semiconductor Manufacturing Leadership Through an Agreement on Trade & Investment with Taiwan

US and Taiwan sign $250B trade deal, cutting tariffs on Taiwanese goods

America’s New ‘Trade for Aid’ Global Health Paradigm

Good news! Why should US foreign aid be without conditions and contingencies?

"As the U.S. negotiates new international aid deals with African governments, a new framework is taking shape—with funding linked directly to trade and geopolitical goals. 

 

The basics: The U.S. has pledged ~$16 billion and signed 14 deals with countries in recent weeks as part of the new “America First” aid strategy. Agreements in the works include:  

A $1.5 billion deal with Zambia that is reportedly contingent on mining access. 

A $2.1 billion deal with Nigeria—made with the condition that the country increase its own health spending and promote Christian faith-based health care providers.  

Rerouted funds: The new deals also cut out UN agencies and NGOs, sending money directly to governments.  

 

And still: Overall U.S. aid remains ~50% below 2024 levels. ..."

Global Health NOW: U.S. Aid Cuts Threaten Progress Against AIDS Orphanhood; and America’s New ‘Trade for Aid’ Global Health Paradigm

Connecting Azerbaijan, Protecting Armenia: Trump’s Quiet Caucasus Power Play Sidelines Russia

Good news!

"Washington has been quietly crafting a South Caucasus plan that turns diplomacy into steel, roads, and real leverage – a blueprint for reshaping the region.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan unveiled the Implementation Framework for the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). ..."

Connecting Azerbaijan, Protecting Armenia: Trump’s Quiet Caucasus Power Play Sidelines Russia "A new US-Armenia framework aims to unlock transit through the South Caucasus, strengthen Armenia’s sovereignty, and sideline Russia and Iran – just as Yerevan heads into a volatile election year. ...

laying out how unimpeded, multimodal transit would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave while fully preserving Armenian sovereignty, jurisdiction, and border control. ...

In practical terms, TRIPP would insert Armenia into the Trans-Caspian “Middle Corridor,” linking Central Asia and the Caspian to Europe – and doing so with American capital, oversight, and commercial stakes built in.

A US-controlled development company, Armenian regulatory authority, and explicit guarantees on territorial integrity form the project’s backbone. ..."

US President Donald Trump meets with Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the White House Cabinet Room on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025.

China to ban use of Check Point products - report

The tit-for-tat between China and the US continues!

China to ban use of Check Point products - report - Globes "China has warned Chinese companies not to purchase cybersecurity solutions of a dozen US and Israeli companies out of concern that national security will be harmed, Reuters” reports."

Why Silver Is Booming: From “Poor Man’s Gold” to Global Power Play with Palki Sharma

Very recommendable!

Why China is Falling Out with its Trading Partners given its large net trade surpluses

Recommendable! How true is it that China is also manipulating its currency by keeping the Yuan artificially undervalued to sell cheap?

Are Vietnam and Thailand helping China dodge US tariffs?

Good question! Or how about other countries?

Since the tariffs are not applied uniformly across all countries certainly opportunities for circumvention abound.

"A sharp increase in exports from several Southeast Asian countries to the U.S. this year is stirring the debate over claims that Chinese goods are being rerouted to evade American tariffs. ..."

Are Vietnam and Thailand helping China dodge US tariffs? - Nikkei Asia