Category World News

‘I am in no rush’: Brazil’s Lula weighs countermeasures to Trump’s tariffs

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Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, has stated that his administration will not immediately impose tariffs on Americans.

Instead, he called on Donald Trump, his US counterpart, to join him in trade negotiations on Friday.

Brazil currently pays 50% of its US exports, which is the highest current tariff rate for any nation besides India.

Brazil’s Chamber of Foreign Commerce (CAMEX) began looking into whether countermeasures would be imposed by local law on Thursday, despite Brazil’s unwillingness to respond in kind.

In a radio interview on Friday, Lula said, “This is a process that takes a while.” We must let the United States know that we can also take legal action against them. But I’m not too anxious. Negotiation is what I want.

As part of Trump’s push to put an end to a trial against his fellow far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil has been subject to the stringent US tariffs since August 1.

Since taking office, Bolsonaro, who presided over Brazil from 2019 to 2023, has been the subject of numerous legal proceedings, including allegations that he allegedly fabricated his COVID-19 vaccination records and used government resources to devalue the electoral process.

His most significant legal difficulty is his most recent trial for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2022 election results, which he vehemently defeated.

In the beginning of September, the case will likely result in a verdict. Bolsonaro, on the other hand, has defended the proceedings as political persecution and denied wrongdoing.

Trump has made similar claims. He claimed in a letter to Lula from July 9 that the Brazilian government was censoring right-wing voices, and that he would impose the 50% tariff as a result.

“This trial shouldn’t be occurring,” he said. A witch hunt needs to end right away. Trump authored .

The letter also contained a warning against using any retaliatory measures: “Anytime you decide to raise your tariffs, whatever the number you choose to raise them by will be added to the 50% that we charge.

In response to Bolsonaro’s trial, the Trump administration also imposed sanctions and revoked Brazilian government visas.

Lula, however, has argued that Trump’s actions are an attempt to stifle Brazilian law.

Lula’s government claimed that the US’s 50 percent tariff violated international agreements by filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization on August 11.

Since then, the US and the international organization have agreed to consult. A panel from the World Trade Organization would likely evaluate Brazil’s case if that were to fail.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry requested on Thursday that CAMEX investigate whether a reciprocity law passed by Congress could be used to carry out retaliatory measures against the US, with approval from Lula’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

CAMEX will have 30 days to make its conclusions regarding the potential impact of US tariffs on the market.

Lula told Radio Itatiaia on Friday, “I took this measure because we have to move forward with the process.” It will take a year if we follow the law’s requirements.

Lula has repeatedly claimed that Trump administration officials have resisted engaging in negotiations to lower the hefty export taxes.

The US exports to Brazil are more than its imports, according to the US Trade Representative. More than $ 127.6 billion was traded in total goods and services with Brazil last year, up from $ 202 billion.

Lula reiterated his desire to speak with Trump in a radio interview on Friday, stating that he opposed to a trade war. Brazil won’t, he added, abandoning its own sovereignty.

Sri Lanka’s crisis shows how debt is devouring the Global South

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One of its longest-lasting economic recovery cycles is occurring in Sri Lanka. A toxic combination of unsustainable borrowing, poor fiscal management, and external shocks caused the nation’s financial collapse in 2022.

Aragalaya, a broad-based citizens’ movement that demands accountability, economic justice, and an end to political corruption, organized massive demonstrations.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the current president, resigned in the wake of the uprising. However, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration regained power after his resignation.

The Wickremesinghe administration negotiated $3 billion in support from the IMF in its New Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement in 2023, delaying calls for new elections. Sri Lanka also reached a debt restructuring agreement with a group of creditors, including China, India, and Japan, to unlock a second instalment of this bailout package later that year.

The new administration has since been confined by the IMF and the previous political establishment, despite the fact that the Sri Lankan people had elected a progressive government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and with a historic mandate by September 2024.

The 17th IMF program, known as the 17th IMF program, has been frequently cited as a sign of stabilization, while praising the debt restructuring agreement and compliance with IMF requirements.

What about the human cost of this “recovery”?

Privatizing state-owned businesses is a part of the punitive structural adjustment process, including removing the Central Bank’s authority from state control, restricting the state’s borrowing capacity, and coordinating creditors’ interests with national development goals. Employees’ Pension Fund (EPF), specifically the Employees’ Provident Fund, are under the spotlight for its efforts to reduce domestic debt, raising concerns for salaried workers whose real incomes have already been reduced by high inflation and higher taxes.

In addition, funding for health and education has remained stagnant as the cost of these projects has increased, leading to delays or cancellations for significant rural infrastructure projects in transportation and irrigation. The reforms that were implemented to achieve macroeconomic stability, such as interest rate increases, tax adjustments, the elimination of subsidies, higher energy prices, and the deterioration of workers’ pensions, have demanded a lot of citizens.

Additionally, the IMF program has sparked neoliberal legal reforms that stifle the Central Bank’s ability to hold accountable for the public, restrain the government’s budgetary constraints, and promote the privatization of land, water, and seeds through agribusiness.

The Sri Lankan government has implemented extensive austerity measures to meet IMF objectives, most notably, the goal of a 2.3% primary budget surplus by 2025. If not from the poor’s money pots, where else will that surplus come from? Bankers may enjoy this austerity, but those who reside in rural areas and coastal villages are in fear and hardship. The debt restructuring program’s investor profit is prioritized over the public interest, reducing the fiscal space required to rebuild essential services.

According to civil society organizations, 6.3 million people skip meals right now, and at least 65, 600 are experiencing severe food shortages.

Anura Dissanayake, the newly elected president, has given the Treasury instructions to reinstitute subsidies for the agricultural and fishing sectors in a notable move. Although welcome, this might not suffice. Farmers report that fuel costs are still high and are a source of income for them.

Farmers are struggling with rising costs, climate catastrophes, and lower state support, many of whom are locked into chemical input-intensive production.

Sri Lanka’s 2025 public health funding accounts for only 1.5% of its GDP, which is five times the amount needed to pay public debt interest. This glaring disparity highlights the fiscal restrictions on basic social spending.

However, this is more than just a Sri Lankan tale.

It is a part of a larger global debt crisis that is causing the South’s public finances to be in crisis. International financial organizations like the IMF, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been forced to give national policymaking authority to a large number of nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific, and Central Europe.

According to a recent report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), half of the world’s population now lives in nations where they spend more on interest payments than on health or education. Development nations were among the hardest hit by interest payments in 2024 alone, accounting for a staggering $921 billion.

UNCTAD warns against the effects of rising global interest rates and a fundamentally unjust financial system, which are causing a cycle of dependency and underdevelopment.

Existing debt relief mechanisms are inadequate, ad hoc, fragmented, and overwhelmingly tilted in favor of creditors, despite the fact that developing countries routinely pay interest rates several times higher than those charged to wealthy nations. Global South governments are increasingly pressing for a permanent, transparent debt resolution mechanism with a focus on justice, development, and national sovereignty.

Global grassroots movements are also paying close attention to this issue.

More than 500 people from all over the world will gather in Kandy, Sri Lanka, for the third Nyeleni Global Forum for food sovereignty in September. Small-scale food producers, indigenous peoples, trade unions, researchers, and progressive policy think tanks will be present at the gathering. The global debt crisis and how it undermines fundamental rights to food, health, and land will be one of the main themes.

The forum is intended to provide alternatives charting space. Movements will devise strategies to establish grassroots power rather than relying solely on technocratic financial institutions or state-led negotiations.

They want to connect local struggles, such as those of farmers who oppose land grabs or those who organize for living wages, to global campaigns calling for the end of global debt, climate change, and the restructuring of the world financial system.

Those of us in the Global South are aware that fiscal targets and compliance checklists alone cannot lead to a just recovery. We demand that people’s dignity be prioritized above creditors’ profit margins, as well as the reclaiming of public space for social goods investment, and the democraticization of debt governance.

This may be the most urgent and necessary restructuring of all, for Sri Lanka and countless other African, Asian, and Latin American nations.

US denies visas for Palestinian officials before UN assembly

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Before the UN General Assembly (UNGA), President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would be denying and revoking visas for Palestinian Authority (PA) and PLO members.

The US Department of State made the announcement in a statement released on Friday.

The Trump administration stated in a statement that “it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for breaking their commitments and for lowering the chances for peace.”

The members “must consistently reject terrorism,” according to the statement, citing Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

UN experts have referred to Israel’s actions as “attempts to bypass negotiations” by referring to Israeli actions taken during and after Israel’s war in Gaza.

Both the Palestinian Authority and the internationally acclaimed Palestinian umbrella organization, the PLO, represent the Palestinian people and advocate for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the international stage.

Prior to now, the Trump administration had previously criticized PA and PLO members for “ignoring peace” and glorifying them.

Since UN members and non-member observers like Palestine typically send large delegations to the UNGA, it was not immediately clear which officials the denials would concern.

The US Department of State stated in a statement on Friday that it would grant waivers to Ambassador Riyad Mansour’s current leadership of the Palestinian Authority Mission to the UN.

According to Mansour, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to attend the UN summit on September 22 that will include a segment on Palestinian rights, according to Mansour.

He claimed that it was not clear whether Abbas’s planned visit would be impacted by the US’s decision.

We will examine the implications and how they might apply to any member of our delegation, he said, and we will respond accordingly.

According to Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, who was reporting from Washington, DC, the US is supposed to grant visas to UN member-state representatives for a visit to the organization’s headquarters.

Fisher predicted that this would be contentious. It was agreed that, in effect, US immigration policies would not have an impact on people who wanted to travel there on official business when the UN was established in 1947 and had its headquarters in New York.

Fisher did point out that the US has previously denied visas to some officials, including Yasser Arafat, the head of PLO, who was subsequently denied entry to the UN.

Omar al-Bashir, the then head of state of Sudan, was denied a visa by the US in 2013 for a trip there.

According to Fisher, “the reason for that is that the International Criminal Court wanted him.”

Trump revokes Secret Service detail for political opponent Kamala Harris

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is currently the president of the United States, has been informed by White House officials that the president has suspended his political opponent’s Secret Service protection.

According to the reports, Harris will lose protection from the federal law enforcement agency on September 1 due to the change that was made on Friday.

Former vice presidents typically receive six months of Secret Service protection when they leave office, but Joe Biden, the president, quietly signed a directive extending protection for his deputy shortly before his term ended in January.

Trump is facing two assassination attempts in the run-up to the November 2024 election, which is a particularly hot time in US politics.

In the run-up to Trump’s 107-day defeat, Harris had supplanted Biden as the Democratic nominee.

Harris, who has maintained a low profile since her resounding defeat, is scheduled to launch a book tour later this year shortly after receiving the protection’s removal. She will be present at a number of public events as a result.

The book will provide a “behind-the-scenes account” of her mad-dash campaign, which came after Biden’s disastrous decision to run for re-election despite growing concerns over the octogenarian’s advanced age, according to Harris, the former attorney general of California and the first woman and woman of color to hold office.

In response to the action, senior adviser to Harris, Kirsten Allen, spoke diplomatically.

According to the Reuters news agency, “the vice president is appreciative of the United States Secret Service’s professionalism, dedication, and unwavering commitment to safety.”

Some critics criticized Trump for his violent attacks on Harris on the campaign trail, which included calling him “radical” and “extremist” and using numerous anti-Black tropes.

That raises the possibility of retaliation in addition to Trump’s pardon of supporters who staged political violence at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Tanisha Long, a community organizer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wrote on X that “he’s spent months pardoning his supporters and green-lighting political violence.”

Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection was canceled after he “created his own personal lynch mob of bigots” (p. 2).

Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton and other political foes had previously requested his former ally’s security clearance.

Man Utd’s Amorim sometimes ‘hates his players and wants to quit’

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As the under-fire manager revealed he occasionally “hates” his players, Ruben Amorim has admitted to considering leaving Manchester United.

After United suffered a humiliating League Cup second-round defeat on Wednesday against fourth-placed Grimsby, there was a rumor that Amorim might leave Old Trafford with a cryptic interview.

After their slow start to the season, Amorim was forced to say, “Something has to change” as a result of United’s penalty shootout defeat to the Mariners.

Prior to the Grimsby incident, Amorim’s side lost to Arsenal and drew with Fulham in their opening two Premier League games.

The former Sporting Lisbon coach, who has only been in charge of United since November, is already in serious trouble because of the club’s worst top-flight performance since 1973-74.

Amorim, who reportedly retains United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe’s support at the moment, would be under more pressure if Burnley’s promoted performance on Saturday was to become another victim.

According to Amorim, “Every time we have a defeat like that, I’m going to be like that,” Amorim said to reporters on Friday. “Sometimes I hate my players, others I love my players, others I defend my players, and sometimes I think I can’t,” he said.

I will be like that because of how I do things. At that point, I thought I was incredibly frustrated and enraged.

I sometimes want to leave, and other times, I want to stay for 20 years.

I sometimes enjoy playing with my players, but occasionally I find it difficult to do so. It will be difficult, but I need to work on that right away so that I can focus on the upcoming game. ”

After the humiliation at Grimsby, Amorim said he wanted to leave United, but he is now focused on bringing his team back from their most recent slump.

After the game, I felt that. That’s not what I’m feeling right now. So that is somewhat similar. That is, in my opinion, the hardest aspect of the defeat, he said.

Sometimes the outcome is the way we lost or drew the game, not the outcome. That is the difficult thing to accept.

Because we can perform better. We run, run, and other small things while we are in the middle of covering positions and battling for the ball.

The good news is that we now have the next game to raise that level.

I am aware, once more, that you have a lot of knowledgeable people discussing how to handle the media, to be more consistent and composed. That’s not how I’m going to behave. ”

After spending a total of $ 269 million on forwards Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, and Matheus Cunha during the off-season, United’s loss to Grimsby was a huge blow to Amorim.

After being defeated by fellow strugglers Tottenham in the Europa League final, Amorim’s transformation led to their transformation.

Prior to his arrival in England, the highly regarded Portuguese coach admitted he was surprised by United’s failure to improve last season.

According to Amorim, “we had a very good preseason, we were playing better, and we were being consistent with our play.”

Russia, China slam European nations over Iran ‘snapback’ sanctions move

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Russia and China have condemned Britain, Germany, and France’s decision to start a process that could impose UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

The three European nations, collectively known as the E3, on Thursday launched the so-called “snapback mechanism” in response to accusations that Iran had broken a 2015 agreement that demanded that it stop developing nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

The decision creates a 30-day window in which to sign a new UN resolution to end sanctions before they are imposed.

In a statement blaming the United States and Europe for the fallout of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, “We strongly condemn these actions by European countries and call on the international community to reject them.”

China criticized the actions taken by the European Union as “unintentional.”

“The Iranian nuclear problem is at a crucial turning point. According to Guo Jiakun, a regular media briefing on Friday, “leting the Security Council’s snapback mechanism of sanctions be used to undermine the political and diplomatic resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.”

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier decried the action, calling him “unjustified” and “lacking any legal basis” in a call with his European counterparts.

He declared, “The Islamic Republic of Iran will appropriately respond to this unlawful and unjustified action.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated in a statement that the European countries’ decision will “gravely undermine” their ongoing cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog agency.

Threat of NPT withdrawal

In response to the European decision, Iranian MP Hossein-Ali Haji-Deligani reported to the Tasnim news agency that the parliament is considering legislation to remove Iran from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (NPT) list.

For decades, the treaty has served as the foundation of global nuclear weapons control.

The MP informed the organization that the draft law was on the agenda and that the legal review and approval process for the West might turn out to be a mistake in the wake of potential resumption of nuclear negotiations with the West.

He claimed that breaking all ties with the European trio would be the only course of action.

Iran claims nuclear energy is necessary for its power, but the West has long expressed concern that it is attempting to build an atomic bomb.

In his first term, US President Donald Trump uninvited the 2015 agreement because he felt it was insufficiently reducing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.