Chinese villagers hit by worst floods in generations say they had no warning
The residents of Pingtou, a small village in China's southern Guangdong province, are grappling with the worst floods in living memory. While the regi...
The United States wants South Korea to join a coordinated push to limit China’s fast-growing share of the world shipbuilding market, Seoul’s trade ministry said on Friday, tying the request to talks over 25 % tariffs on steel, cars and other goods.
Trade Policy Director Chang Sung-gil told a parliamentary forum that U.S. negotiators “feel a sense of crisis that China’s market share is rising” and see South Korea, the No 2 shipbuilding nation, as a “strategic partner” in efforts to counter Beijing.
Washington, he said, is asking Seoul to cooperate not only in ship construction itself but in unspecified “other areas” as a precondition for deeper industrial collaboration. The Biden administration also wants South Korea to increase purchases of U.S. energy and farm products in exchange for discussing a rollback of reciprocal 25 % tariffs imposed under Section 232 in 2018.
China’s foreign ministry urged both allies to avoid deals that harm third-party interests. “No agreement or negotiation should harm the interests of third parties,” spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing on Friday.
The rivalry comes as China has captured more than 50 % of the global order book for new vessels, while South Korea holds roughly one-third, according to Clarkson Research Service data. The U.S. builds few commercial ships but fears Chinese dominance could give Beijing leverage over critical maritime supply chains.
South Korean officials say any pact must balance national sensitivities about importing additional U.S. farm goods—always a contentious issue in Seoul—and protect the domestic steel industry, which faces the same U.S. tariffs it has lobbied to remove.
Industry analysts expect the talks to intensify ahead of a possible summit later this year, but warn that aligning on both trade and strategic objectives will be difficult. “Seoul relies heavily on Chinese components even as it competes for hull orders,” said Park Jin-woo, a logistics professor at Korea Maritime University. “Decoupling at the shipyard gate will not be straightforward.”
Neither the U.S. Trade Representative’s office nor South Korea’s industry ministry has publicly commented on the substance of the private discussions.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will send an upgraded ‘version 3.0’ free-trade agreement to their heads of government for approval in October, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday after regional talks in Kuala Lumpur.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
Chinese automaker Chery has denied an industry-ministry audit that disqualified more than $53 million in state incentives for thousands of its electric and hybrid vehicles, insisting it followed official guidance and committed no fraud.
Drone attacks continue to haunt communities around Kyiv. Overnight, Russian forces launched another wave of drones at the Kyiv region, hitting the Bucha district. Fires broke out and several homes were damaged. Local authorities say three women, aged 16, 56, and 80, were injured.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that a pause in the conflict in Ukraine may be approaching, following a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is working urgently to mend strained ties with Mexico, after relations collapsed late last year when Canadian officials indicated a preference for pursuing a U.S. trade deal without Mexico.
U.S. President Donald Trump should proceed with imposing additional sanctions on Russia, as they could help bring the war in Ukraine to an end, Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said on Friday in a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker interview.
Israel’s Security Cabinet has approved a new military plan to take control of Gaza City, marking a significant escalation in its nearly two-year conflict with Hamas and raising alarm among humanitarian agencies over the deepening crisis for civilians in the enclave.
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