White House Trade Talks | Pakistan Election Attack | Greece Wildfires

Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. July 25, 2018 Daily News Brief   TOP OF THE AGENDA EU’s Juncker Hopes to Head Off Trade Escalation European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is in Washington today in a bid to find common ground (Politico) with U.S. President Donald J. Trump and halt an escalating trade war between the United States and the European Union. Trump has imposed a range of tariffs on foreign goods, including on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, and threatened fresh tariffs on European automobiles after accusing the bloc (Bloomberg) of unfairly protecting its own car market. The European Union has already imposed retaliatory tariffs and threatened to expand them (Reuters) to cover $20 billion worth of U.S. goods if Trump moves ahead with auto tariffs. Juncker hopes to instead reach a deal to reduce tariffs among leading industrial economies. Yesterday, the Trump administration announced a $12 billion aid plan (Washington Post) for American farmers hit by retaliatory tariffs. ANALYSIS “The tariff war that Trump has launched is poised not only to depress trade and growth but also to do irreparable harm to the rules-based trading system that has anchored the expansion of international commerce since World War II,” write CFR’s Edward Alden and Charles A. Kupchan in Foreign Policy. “If the EU is to stop the world from returning to an era of warring trade blocs, it needs to meet Trump’s fire and fury not with retaliatory measures but with liberal leadership by example,” argues the American Enterprise Institute’s Dalibor Rohac in Politico. “A bilateral deal between the EU and the United States to cut industrial tariffs, or a plurilateral agreement to rid the world of car tariffs, are just two of the many ideas circulating among experts,” writes the Atlantic Council’s Marie Kasperek. PACIFIC RIM Airlines to Comply With China’s Taiwan Demand Major U.S. airlines including American Airlines and Delta agreed to stop referring to Taiwan (BBC) as a separate destination after China threatened sanctions. Until today most U.S.-based carriers had refused the change; the U.S. State Department had referred to the demand (Politico) as “nonsense.”  This CFR Backgrounder explores the controversy over Taiwan’s status. CAMBODIA: The country’s armed forces paraded in the capital, Phnom Penh, ahead of a weekend election, a show of force (Reuters) authorities said is meant to discourage illegal boycotts of the vote. International election monitors have called for greater oversight (Radio Free Asia) of Cambodia’s democratic process. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Suicide Bombings Mar Pakistani Election The self-proclaimed Islamic State claimed a suicide bomb attack (BBC) near a polling station in the city of Quetta that killed at least thirty-one people as voting got underway. Ahead of the election, the country’s human rights commission warned of attempts to manipulate vote tallies and the Islamic State said it was responsible for an earlier bombing that killed 149 people. CFR’s Alyssa Ayres argues that Pakistan’s democratic challenges are cause for concern. INDIA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Kampala for a state visit, offered Uganda (Reuters) $205 million in credit to upgrade its electricity infrastructure and agricultural sector. Modi concluded a visit to Rwanda yesterday. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Islamic State Blamed for Attacks in Southwest Syria State media reported that Islamic State militants were behind a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks in the city of Sweida and nearby villages that killed dozens of people Wednesday. The southwest has seen an increase in violence (Al Jazeera) as Syrian government forces have made gains against rebels there in recent months.  IRAN: President Hassan Rouhani removed Valiollah Seif (AFP) as head of the country’s central bank amid a currency crisis that has seen the Iranian rial lose half its value since April. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA China’s Xi Promises South Africa Investment Chinese President Xi Jinping, meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday, committed to $14.7 billion (Mail and Guardian) in new investments to Africa’s second-largest economy, including $10 billion toward expanding Chinese auto plants. Xi and Ramaphosa are set to meet with the leaders of Brazil, India, and Russia later this week for the annual BRICS summit. ZIMBABWE: President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he “will not allow chaos” during next week’s presidential election after authorities banned a planned opposition march (Zimbabwe Herald) in the capital of Harare. Mnangagwa’s main challenger, Nelson Chamisa, has threatened to “shut down the country” if defeated. EUROPE Death Toll Rises in Greece Wildfires Officials said that at least eighty people have died (Ekathimerini) and many more are missing following Greece’s deadliest wildfires in over a decade. European Council President Donald Tusk has promised EU aid (Guardian), and countries including Cyprus and Spain have dispatched firefighter teams and water-dropping aircraft. AMERICAS Colombian Ex-President Leaves Senate Former President Alvaro Uribe resigned from his Senate seat (NYT) yesterday after the Supreme Court announced it would expand its probe of the ex-leader to include allegations of bribery. Uribe has been under investigation for witness tampering related to accusations he founded a “death squad” militia before becoming president. He says the charges are politically motivated. MEXICO: Journalist Ruben Pat Cahuich was gunned down (LAHT) near the resort town of Playa del Carmen yesterday. He was the ninth Mexican reporter to be murdered this year. UNITED STATES Migrant Parents Reportedly Deported Without Children The Trump administration told a federal court yesterday that more than 450 migrant parents who were separated from their children (NYT) after entering the United States are no longer in the country, though it remained unclear how many were deported. Federal agencies face a Thursday deadline to reunite more than 1,500 migrant parents with their children. This CFR Backgrounder explores the U.S. immigration debate.         Council on Foreign Relations — 58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 CFR does not share email addresses with third parties. Forward This Email | Subscribe to CFR Newsletters | Unsubscribe - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

From: dailybrief@e.cfr.org

Date: July 25, 2018 at 09:54PM