Trump Backs NATO | ZTE Talks | Africa's Free Trade Pact

Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. July 12, 2018 Daily News Brief   TOP OF THE AGENDA Tense NATO Summit Ends With Pledges of Support U.S. President Donald J. Trump and other NATO leaders reaffirmed their commitment (RFE/RL) to the alliance as they concluded a Brussels summit on Thursday, appearing to bring an end to unusually public tensions over member countries’ defense spending levels. Trump, who began the summit with criticisms that NATO allies did not contribute enough to their defense budgets, said countries have agreed to up their spending and that he now believes the United States is being treated “fairly” (NYT). French President Emmanuel Macron said that members had not agreed (AP) to increase their commitments beyond current spending targets. The flurry of discussion over spending came after the alliance said it will continue to provide support (Tolo) for the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan through at least 2024. ANALYSIS “While European defense spending has fallen in recent decades, the U.S. has also drastically reduced its own military commitment to NATO since the Cold War. Europe was largely de-militarized in the 1990s, and every NATO member, including the U.S., took advantage of it,” CFR’s Stephen Sestanovich writes for Axios. “The 2 percent goal relays almost no useful information about what countries spend money on and the value of their purchases in contributing to collective defense. For instance, Greece makes the threshold, but most of its spending is on salaries and pensions,” Seamus Daniels and Kathleen Hicks write for War on the Rocks. This CFR Backgrounder looks at the challenges facing the seventy-year alliance. PACIFIC RIM U.S., ZTE in Talks to Resume Business Representatives from the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE, which the United States accused of violating sanctions on North Korea and Iran, met with U.S. Commerce Department officials this week to hash out a compliance deal (SCMP) to lift a ban barring the company from buying U.S. parts. MYANMAR: China is helping to mediate peace talks (Nikkei) between the Myanmar government and rebel groups along its Chinese border. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA India Shifts Away From Iranian, Venezuelan Oil India has nearly doubled (Reuters) its purchases of U.S. crude oil so far this year compared with the same period in 2017. The shift comes as the United States has put greater pressure on its allies to curb purchases of Iranian oil. CFR’s Amy Myers Jaffe discusses last month’s meeting of OPEC members and Iran’s response. PAKISTAN: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, is running for parliament (BBC) in elections later this month, campaigning on a pledge to move toward a “peaceful, progressive” Pakistan. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Syrian Pro-regime Forces Attack Islamic State Affiliate Warplanes believed to belong to either the Syrian government or Russia attacked territory (Syria Direct) held by an offshoot of the self-proclaimed Islamic State in the southern province of Daraa. The strikes are believed to be the first against the affiliate since it was founded in 2016. In Foreign Affairs, Jennifer Cafarella writes that the United States has options to constrain Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad if it is willing to use them. LIBYA: The price for brent crude oil fell 6 percent yesterday after Libya announced it will resume production (oilprice.com) of hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. Armed factions in the east returned control (Reuters) of four oil terminals to the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation after a weeks-long takeover. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Uganda to Review Social Media Tax The Ugandan government will seek to amend legislation that introduced a daily tax for using social media platforms (CNN), Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said yesterday. The move prompted nationwide outcry, with many Ugandans saying it hinders freedom of speech and innovation. NIGERIA: President Muhammadu Buhari, meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Abuja, said he will soon sign (Vanguard) a landmark African free trade agreement. South Africa signed onto (Bloomberg) the continent-wide deal last week, leaving Nigeria as the last major African economy outside the pact. In Foreign Affairs, Landry Signe writes that Africa is bucking global isolationist trends. EUROPE German Minister Assailed After Migrant Suicide Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is facing calls to resign (DW) by some members of his party’s center-left coalition partner as news emerged that one Afghan migrant in a group recently deported from Germany committed suicide in Kabul. Seehofer had appeared to welcome the group’s removal. AMERICAS Top Ecuadorian Court Upholds Ruling Against Chevron The country’s highest court backed a $9.5 billion judgement (AP) against oil giant Chevron for environmental damage and harm to indigenous populations. The ruling was viewed as largely symbolic since the company no longer operates in Ecuador. BRAZIL: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai launched the expansion (Reuters) of her educational charity to Latin America with a visit to Rio de Janeiro yesterday. She criticized the Trump administration’s separation of migrant families in the United States as “cruel.” UNITED STATES Border Agency Accuses NYC Mayor of Illegal Crossing Customs and Border Protection accused New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio of ignoring a border patrol agent’s instructions and crossing the southern border illegally (NYT). De Blasio, along with several other mayors, walked across the U.S.-Mexico border from the Mexico side last month. He denied ignoring any instructions from authorities.         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 12, 2018 at 10:16PM