Latest News
Trump threatens to impose additional 100% tariff on China
US President Donald Trump has said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on imports from China from next month.
In a post on social media, Trump said the US would also put export controls on critical software.
In an earlier post on Friday, he hit back at Beijing’s move this week to tighten its rules for exports of rare earths, accusing China of “becoming very hostile” and trying to hold the world “captive”.
He threatened to pull out of a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping. He later said he had not cancelled it, but that he did not know “that we’re going to have it”. “I’m going to be there regardless,” he told reporters at the White House.
Financial markets dropped in the wake of Trump’s remarks, with the S&P 500 closing down 2.7%, its steepest fall since April.
China dominates production of rare earths and certain other key materials, which are key components in cars, smartphones and many other items.
The last time Beijing tightened export controls – after Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods early this year – there was an outcry from many US firms reliant on the materials. Carmaker Ford even had to temporarily pause production.
In addition to tightening rules for rare earth exports, China has opened a monopoly investigation into the US tech firm Qualcomm that could stall its acquisition of another chipmaker.
Although Qualcomm is based in the US, a significant portion of its business is concentrated in China.
Beijing has also said it will charge new port fees to ships with ties to the US, including those owned or operated by US firms.
“Some very strange things are happening in China!” Trump wrote in a post on social media on Friday. “They are becoming very hostile.”
The US and China have been in a fragile trade détente since May, when the two sides agreed to drop triple-digit tariffs on each others’ goods that had nearly stopped trade between the two countries.
The move left US tariffs on Chinese goods facing an added 30% levy compared with the start of the year, while US goods entering China face a new 10% tariff.
Officials have held a series of talks since then on matters including TikTok, agricultural purchases, and the trade of rare earths and advanced technology like semiconductors.
The two sides were expected to meet again this month at a summit in South Korea.
China expert Jonathan Czin, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Xi’s recent actions were a bid to shape the upcoming talks, noting that the recent rare earths directive does not go into effect immediately.
“He’s looking for ways to seize the initiative,” he said. “The Trump administration is having to play a game of whack-a-mole and deal with these issues as they come up.”
He added that he did not think China was worried about US retaliation in response.
“What China took away from the Liberation Day tariffs and the cycle of escalation followed by de-escalation is that the Chinese side had a higher pain threshold,” he said. “From their perspective, the Trump administration blinked.”
In prior rounds of trade talks, China has pushed for looser US restrictions on semiconductors. It is also interested in securing more stable tariff policies that would make it easier for its businesses to sell into the US.
Xi had previously used as leverage his country’s dominance of rare earths production.
But the export rules unveiled this week target overseas defence manufacturers, making them particularly serious, said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security program at Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Nothing makes America move like targeting our defence industry,” she said. “The US is going to have to negotiate because we have limited options, and in an era of rising geopolitical tension and potential conflict, we need to build our industrial defence base.”
While a Trump-Xi meeting now looks unlikely, she said it was not necessarily completely off the table. Ms Baskaran said there’s still time and room for talks. China’s new rules don’t take effect until December.
“Negotiations are likely imminent,” she said. “Who does them and where they happen will be determined with time.”
[BBC]
Latest News
Payment of Compensation to the people who have lost their cultivable lands in implementing the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project
Approval has been granted at the Cabinet meeting held on 27-06-2012 to provide cultivable agricultural lands from the lower Uma Oya valley to 276 farming families in Hali-Ela, Walimada, and Uva Paranagama Divisional Secretariat Divisions who have lost their cultivable lands due to the acquisition of lands for the
Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project.
However, the aforementioned proposal could not be implemented due to the encroachment of a large portion of the identified lands by unauthorized persons, heavy forest cover, the threats posed by wild elephants, remoteness from their original settlements, and difficulties in adapting to other environmental conditions and social anomalies.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation to pay an estimated compensation of Rs. 12 lakhs for each of these 276 farming families, based on the
recommendations submitted by the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed to provide solutions for the issues arising in the implementation of the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project.
In view of the prevailing war situation in the Middle East region and its impact on the economy, the Government has already taken several immediate measures to mitigate such effects.
In parallel, the need has been identified to manage state expenditure within existing fiscal constraints and approved state expenditure limits, while ensuring the continuity of essential public services.
Accordingly, taking into consideration the restrictions imposed on fuel issuance and the declaration of Wednesdays as holidays for government offices providing non-essential public services, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, to continue the
payment of fuel allowances to Ministers, Members of Parliament, and public officers based on the fuel prices
prevailing as at 01-03- 2026, until further notice; and similarly, continue the payment of other allowances linked to fuel prices based on the fuel prices prevailing as at 01-03-2026.
In accordance with the guidance of the Most Venerable Mahanayake Theros and the All Ceylon Shasanarakshaka Mandalaya, it has been identified as appropriate to conduct the State Vesak Festival for the year 2026 (Buddhist Era 2570) at the historic Medillawala Purana Viharaya in Thihagoda, Matara District, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, and the Department of Buddhist Affairs.
It has been decided to conduct this year’s State Vesak Festival under the theme “Abhiththaretha Kalyane” (“Let us
hasten towards the common good”). Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the joint resolution furnished by the Hon. Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government and the. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs to: conduct the National Vesak Festival
centering the Medillawala Purana Viharaya in Thihagoda, Matara District; to declare the period from 27 May to 02 June 2026 as Vesak Week; and organize and implement various Buddhist religious programmes across the island during that period.
Payment of Compensation to the people who have lost their cultivable lands in implementing the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project
Draft Bill of the Chartered Institute of Media Professionals of Sri Lanka to be Gazzated
Telecommunication Levy Act No. 21 of 2011 to be amended
Management of State Expenditure during the Energy Crisis
Vesak week from 27 May to 02 June
Free Tourist Visas for Passport Holders of 39 Countries
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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