AFP - Squid Business

Trump optimiste avant la reprise des pourparlers avec la Chine

Les pourparlers entre la Chine et les États-Unis à Genève pour tenter de résoudre la guerre commerciale entre les deux pays doivent reprendre dimanche, Donald Trump ayant fait part de son optimisme sur les progrès accomplis la veille.”Très bonne réunion aujourd’hui avec la Chine, en Suisse. Beaucoup de choses ont été discutées, beaucoup ont été approuvées. Une remise à zéro a été négociée de manière amicale mais constructive. Nous souhaitons, pour le bien de la Chine et des États-Unis, que la Chine s’ouvre aux entreprises américaines. De grands progrès ont été accomplis!”, a écrit le président américain samedi soir sur le réseau Truth Social.Signe de l’importance des enjeux, les deux capitales ont envoyé des représentants de haut rang à Genève ce week-end pour ces tractations: le secrétaire américain au Trésor Scott Bessent, le représentant au Commerce Jamieson Greer et le vice-Premier ministre chinois He Lifeng.”Ces négociations reflètent le fait que l’état actuel des relations commerciales, avec ces droits de douane prohibitifs, n’est au final dans l’intérêt ni des Etats-Unis, ni de la Chine”, souligne auprès de l’AFP Nathan Sheets, économiste en chef chez Citigroup.Ces discussions constituent la première rencontre en face à face de hauts responsables des deux plus grandes économies mondiales depuis que Donald Trump a imposé le mois dernier une surtaxe de 145% sur les marchandises venant de Chine, en plus des droits de douane préexistants.Pékin, qui a promis de combattre “jusqu’au bout” ces surtaxes, a riposté avec 125% de droits de douane sur les produits américains.Résultat: les échanges bilatéraux sont pratiquement à l’arrêt et les marchés ont connu de violents soubresauts.- “Perdant-perdant” -“C’est une proposition perdant-perdant d’avoir des droits de douane aussi élevés, reprend Nathan Sheets.Vendredi, Donald Trump avait fait un geste en suggérant d’abaisser à 80% les droits de douane qu’il a lui-même imposés à Pékin. Mais sa porte-parole Karoline Leavitt s’est empressée de préciser que Washington n’abaisserait pas ses taxes unilatéralement et que la Chine devait également faire des concessions.Les discussions avaient commencé en samedi marin à Genève dans la villa cossue du représentant permanent de la Suisse auprès des Nations unies à Genève, sur les rives du Lac Léman.”Le contact établi en Suisse est une étape importante dans la promotion de la résolution du contentieux”, avait indiqué l’agence de presse officielle Chine nouvelle.Le simple fait que ces discussions ont lieu “est une bonne nouvelle pour le commerce et les marchés financiers”, estime Gary Hufbauer, du Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE). Cependant, cet expert se montre “très sceptique sur un retour à une situation normale dans les relations commerciales entre la Chine et les Etats-Unis”.”Des droits de douane de 145% sont absolument prohibitifs”, poursuit-il, ajoutant que même abaissés à 70 ou 80% comme il en est question, le niveau des transactions entre les deux pays serait divisé par deux.Le vice-Premier ministre chinois est arrivé à Genève avec semble-t-il un atout: Pékin a annoncé vendredi un bond de 8,1% de ses exportations en avril, un chiffre quatre fois supérieur aux prévisions des analystes. Mais les exportations vers les États-Unis ont chuté de près de 18%.burs/bdx/nr

Trump optimiste avant la reprise des pourparlers avec la Chine

Jordan hospital treats war casualties from across Middle East

Shahd Tahrawi was wounded in an Israeli strike on Gaza, Hossam Abd al-Rahman suffered burns in an explosion in Iraq and bombardment in Yemen has left Mohammed Zakaria in need of multiple surgeries.They all met at the charitable Al-Mowasah hospital in the Jordanian capital Amman, which treats some of the many civilians wounded in conflicts across the Middle East.”I feel sad when I look around me in this place” seeing “people like me, innocent, simple civilians” whose lives have been blighted by the horrors of war, said Abd al-Rahman, a 21-year-old Iraqi patient.”They are victims of war, burned by its fires… but had no part in igniting them,” he told AFP.He is waiting for his ninth operation at the Amman hospital, to treat third-degree burns to his face, neck, abdomen, back and hand he suffered in an accident with unexploded ordnance in his native city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.”I was a child when I was burned 10 years ago,” he said.”My life was completely destroyed, and my future was lost. I left school even though my dream was to become a pilot one day.”Abd al-Rahman, who had 17 surgeries in Iraq before arriving at the hospital in Jordan, said that through “all these painful operations”, he hopes to “regain some of my appearance and life as a normal human being”.At Al-Mowasah, also known as the Specialised Hospital for Reconstructive Surgery and run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Abd al-Rahman said he has found comfort in meeting patients from around the region.”We spend long periods of time here, sometimes many months, and these friendships reduce our loneliness and homesickness.”- ‘They feel safe’ -MSF field communications manager Merel van de Geyn said the hospital has patients “from conflict zones across the Middle East, from Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Gaza”.”We provide them with complete treatment free of charge” and cover the cost of flights, food and other expenses, she said.In addition to the medical procedures, the hospital places great importance on psychological support.”Here, they feel safe,” said van de Geyn.”They’re surrounded by people who have gone through similar experiences… Mutual support truly helps them.”From her room on the hospital’s fifth floor, Shahd Tahrawi, a 17-year-old Palestinian, recalled the night of December 9, 2023, when a massive explosion destroyed her family’s home in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.The Israeli bombardment killed her father and 11-year-old sister, and left Shahd and her mother wounded.Shahd has had five operations on her left leg, three of them in Jordan.She said that on the night of the strike, she was woken up by the sound of the explosion and the rubble falling on her.”I started screaming, ‘Help me, help me!’… and then I lost conciousness.”Now, she said her dream was to become a doctor and help “save people’s lives, just like the doctors save mine”.- ‘Nothing but destruction’ -The hospital was established in 2006 to treat victims of the sectarian violence that erupted in Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion, but has since expanded its mission.In just under two decades, 8,367 patients from Iraq, Yemen, the Palestinian territories, Sudan, Libya and Syria have undergone a total of 18,323 surgeries for injuries caused by bullets, explosions, bombardment, air strikes and building collapses in conflict.The hospital has 148 beds, three operating theatres, and physiotherapy and psychological support departments.In one room, four Yemeni patients were convalescing.One of them, 16-year-old Mohammed Zakaria, had dreamt of becoming a professional footballer, before his life changed dramatically when an air strike blew up a fuel tanker in Yarim, south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, in 2016.The blast killed six of his relatives and friends, his father, Zakaria Hail, said.”The war has brought us nothing but destruction,” said the father, sitting next to his son who is unable to speak after recent surgery to his mouth.

SNCF: un trafic presque normal attendu dimanche

La SNCF prévoit de faibles perturbations dimanche, avec plus de neuf TGV sur dix en France, pour le dernier jour de la grève des contrôleurs durant ce weekend-end de pont du 8-mai.Le trafic est “peu perturbé” ce weekend-end, selon un porte-parole de la direction de la communication du groupe SNCF.”Les Transilien (trains de banlieue parisiens), les (trains régionaux) TER et Intercités ont circulé normalement et le trafic était normal à 96% sur les TGV samedi. Nous prévoyons la même chose dimanche”, a-t-on déclaré de même source.La mobilisation des grévistes, “très forte” samedi, devrait “un peu baisser dimanche”, selon le syndicat Sud-Rail.”Samedi, on était au-delà des 60% de grévistes chez les contrôleurs de TGV, avec des pointes dans le Sud-Est à plus de 66%. Et on est environ à 50% sur les TER”, a déclaré à l’AFP Fabien Villedieu, de Sud-Rail.En dépit de cette mobilisation – la SNCF tablant elle-aussi un taux de grévistes dépassant les 60% le samedi – le groupe public avait assuré que tous les voyageurs pourraient “voyager le jour prévu vers leur destination”.Le syndicat SUD-Rail et un collectif de contrôleurs baptisé Collectif national ASCT (CNA) a appelé à la grève les 9, 10 et 11 mai pour réclamer une augmentation de leur prime de travail et une meilleure anticipation des plannings, trop souvent modifiés à la dernière minute d’après eux.- Nouvelle mobilisation en juin -La plupart des trains peuvent rouler grâce au déploiement de volontaires, cadres dans l’entreprise, qui ont reçu des formations spéciales d’une journée pour remplacer les contrôleurs grévistes dans les trains.Pour Sud-Rail, cela ne suffit pas à expliquer les faibles perturbations du trafic: “La SNCF a cherché à invisibiliser la grève, en imposant un plan de transport dégradé, avec des unités simples de TGV de 500 personnes au lieu des doubles trains habituels pendant les périodes d’affluence, qui nécessitent plus de contrôleurs”, selon Fabien Villedieu.Début mai, le PDG de SNCF Voyageurs Christophe Fanichet avait indiqué à l’AFP avoir “déjà des milliers de réservations en moins pour ce pont du 8-mai” en anticipation de la grève.Affirmant avoir “donné toute sa chance au dialogue social” avec “plus de 35 réunions”, il s’est engagé à “donner de la lisibilité sur les repos hebdomadaires des chefs de bord TGV, à six mois et non plus à trois mois”, mais a exclu une augmentation de la rémunération.Sud-Rail devrait faire le point “en début de semaine prochaine” sur la suite éventuelle à donner au mouvement.Au début de cette semaine, une grève des conducteurs à l’appel de la CGT-Cheminots, première organisation syndicale à la SNCF, avait provoqué des perturbations sur les lignes régionales dans plusieurs régions comme les Hauts-de-France ou l’Ile-de-France.D’après SNCF Voyageurs, “environ neuf TER sur dix auront circulé en France (pendant cette grève), et environ huit Transilien sur dix, avec des disparités selon les régions ou les lignes”. La CGT-Cheminots a déjà prévu une poursuite de la mobilisation: elle a lancé un appel à la grève le 4 juin pour les conducteurs, en marge d’une table ronde consacrée à la prime dont ils bénéficient, le 5 juin pour toutes les catégories de cheminots, avec des revendications portant sur les salaires ou l’amélioration des conditions de travail, et le 11 juin pour les contrôleurs.

SNCF: un trafic presque normal attendu dimanche

Trump hails ‘total reset’ in US-China trade relations as talks continue

US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks Sunday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout.In a Truth Social post early Sunday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.”The second day of closed-door meetings between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are due to restart in the morning, according to an individual familiar with the talks who was not authorized to speak publicly.”These talks reflect that the current state of the trade relations with these extremely high tariffs is ultimately in the interests of neither the United States nor China,” Citigroup global chief economist Nathan Sheets told AFP, calling the tariffs a “lose-lose proposition.”The discussions are the first time senior officials from the world’s two largest economies have met face-to-face to tackle the thorny topic of trade since Trump slapped steep new levies on China last month, sparking robust retaliation from Beijing. The levies imposed by Trump on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145 percent, with cumulative US duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245 percent.In retaliation, China put 125 percent tariffs on US goods, cementing what appears to be a near trade embargo between the two countries.Ahead of the meeting, Trump signaled he might lower the tariffs, suggesting on social media that an “80% Tariff on China seems right!”However, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the United States would not lower tariffs unilaterally, and that China would also need to make concessions.- ‘An important step’ -The first day of negotiations occurred Saturday at the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, a discrete villa with sky blue shutters near a large park on the left bank of Lake Geneva.Going into the meeting, both sides played down expectations of a major change in trade relations, with Bessent underlining a focus on “de-escalation” and not a “big trade deal,” and Beijing insisting the United States must ease tariffs first.A commentary published by China’s state news agency Xinhua called the talks “an important step in promoting the resolution of the issue.”The fact the talks are even happening “is good news for business, and for the financial markets,” said Gary Hufbauer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).But Hufbauer cautioned he was “very skeptical that there will be any return to something like normal US-China trade relations,” with even a tariff rate of 70 to 80 percent still potentially halving bilateral trade.- China ‘better-equipped’ – China’s vice premier went into the discussions buoyed by Friday’s news that China’s exports rose last month despite the trade war.The unexpected development was attributed by experts to a re-routing of trade to Southeast Asia to mitigate US tariffs.Among some of the more moderate Trump officials like Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, “there’s a realization that China is better equipped to deal with this trade war than the US,” said Hufbauer.The Geneva meeting comes after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first deal with any country since he unleashed his blitz of global tariffs.The five-page, non-binding deal confirmed to nervous investors that the United States is willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties, but maintained a 10 percent baseline levy on most British goods.Following the US-UK trade announcement, analysts have voiced pessimism about the likelihood negotiations will lead to any significant changes in the US-China trade relationship.”It’s nice that they’re talking. But my expectations for the actual outcomes of this first round of talks is pretty limited,” Sheets from Citigroup said.”I think it’s quite possible they’ll walk away from Geneva saying how constructive and productive the talks were, but not actually reducing tariffs at all,” Hufbauer said.In his Truth Social post, Trump said the talks had made “GREAT PROGRESS!!””We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business,” he added.

Trump hails ‘total reset’ in US-China trade relations as talks continue

S. Korea conservatives choose presidential candidate after last-minute chaos

Film claims to name killer of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

A new documentary purports to name the Israeli soldier who killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was gunned down in the West Bank while reporting in 2022.Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist known for her coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, was shot dead in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank while she worked, wearing a bulletproof vest marked “press.”Al Jazeera and witnesses immediately blamed the Israeli army. Then Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said it was probable the shots had come from Palestinian militants. In the weeks that followed, several journalistic investigations pointed the blame at Israeli gunfire. Months later, Israel released an internal investigation that found a “high probability” that Abu Akleh was accidentally shot by the Israeli army, which claimed it was targeting armed Palestinians.Produced by independent news site Zeteo, the documentary “Who killed Shireen?” names for the first time the suspect as Alon Scaggio, an elite soldier.”Israel did everything it could to conceal the soldier’s identity, they wouldn’t provide the US with any information. They wouldn’t let the US interview him. They wouldn’t give the US his statement. And they wouldn’t give his name,” said Dion Nissenbaum, a journalist who worked on the film.Assisted by producer Conor Powell and reporter Fatima AbdulKarim — who worked for The New York Times in the West Bank — Nissenbaum, a former Wall Street Journal correspondent, consulted testimony from two Israeli soldiers present in Jenin on May 11, 2022 as well as top US officials.- ‘Intentional killing’ claim -The documentary alleges that Scaggio, then 20, had completed training for the elite Duvdevan unit just three months prior.”He shot her intentionally. There’s no question about that. The question is did he know she was a journalist and did he know she was Shireen Abu Akleh? Was it an order from above?” Nissenbaum told AFP.”Personally, I don’t think it was an order. I don’t think he knew it was Shireen. Nobody ever has indicated that he could tell that it was Shireen. But she was wearing the blue flak-jacket with the word ‘press’ on it.””The evidence (suggests)… it was an intentional killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. Whether or not they knew it was her or not can very well be debated, but they would have absolutely known that it was a media person or a non-combatant at a minimum,” said a senior official from the administration of then US president Joe Biden, speaking in the film anonymously.Washington did not exert significant pressure on the issue, the documentary claims, for fear of antagonizing its ally.Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said he called on Biden to declassify documents about the killing — but went unanswered.The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said “it is the first time that a potential suspect has been named in connection with an Israeli killing of a journalist” according to its records dating back to 1992.Impunity in the case “has effectively given Israel permission to silence hundreds more” journalists, the CPJ said.Reporters Without Borders estimates around 200 journalists were killed in the past 18 months of Israeli strikes on Gaza.An Israeli army spokesman condemned the unauthorized disclosure of the suspect’s name despite no “definitive determination” of who shot Abu Akleh.The soldier in question “fell during an operational activity,” the army added.Nissenbaum had initially thought Scaggio died in Gaza, but ultimately concluded he was killed in Jenin on June 27, 2024 almost two years after Abu Akleh.