Sino-US Trade War 2.0: Phase I

Posted inChina
With Trump assuming office in January, the US has begun the phase I of the Trade War 2.0. As a first step, President Trump has taken two concrete steps – on 04 February, an additional 10% tariff was imposed on all Chinese goods bringing the average tariff on Chinese goods entering the US market to around 30%, and ended the de minimis exemption that allowed packages worth less than $800, bound for individual consumers, to avoid tariff. In addition, Trump has stated that the US might revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status in place since 2000. This could raise the tariff on Chinese goods to over 60%. In response, China announced starting 10 February, it will impose levels of 15% on imports of US coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil as well as on some farm equipment and some autos.        Trade War 1.0, that began in…

India and Xi Jinping’s Absence at BRICS Rio-Summit

Posted inChina, Russia
       President Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin skipped this week’s summit in Rio, Brazil. While President Putin’s absence is linked to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, no specific reasons were given for President Xi’s absence by China’s foreign ministry. Absence of both President Xi and Putin, is likely to make the outcome of the summit less significant and low profile. BRICS grouping has come a long way since its establishment as an informal grouping of four major emerging economies in 2009, to now include South Africa (2010), Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE (2024), and Indonesia (2025). Although significant, the BRICS grouping has remained inconsequential to matters related to geo-politics, with much of its attention focused on matters related to west-dominated institutions of global governance. BRICS, whose members represent more than half of world’s population, a quarter of world economy, and include three military superpowers, stopped short of…