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Bangladesh’s interim leader called an emergency meeting on Saturday after textile leaders in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing nation said US tariffs were a “massive blow” to the key industry.Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in the South Asian country, and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hard hit in a revolution that toppled the government last year.US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 percent on Bangladesh, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton and 32 percent on polyester products.Bangladesh exports $8.4 billion of garments annually to the United States, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the national trade body.That totals around 20 percent of Bangladesh’s total ready-made garments exports.Interim leader Muhammad Yunus “convened an emergency meeting… to discuss the US tariff issue,” the government said in a statement.Sheikh Bashiruddin, who holds the commerce portfolio in the government, told reporters after the meeting that Yunus “will raise the issue with the US administration”.Bashiruddin said he believed Bangladesh would “not be severely affected”, adding that some other competitors faced “much higher than those on us”.Yunus’ senior advisor Khalilur Rahman said the government had been readying for the tariff hike, and had began talks with US officials in February.”I have already spoken with several State Department officials,” Rahman said on Saturday. “The discussions are ongoing. We will take the necessary steps based on these discussions.”Bangladesh’s tax authority, the National Board of Revenue, is also expected to meet to review the fallout from the tariffs.Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, chairman of RDM Group, a major manufacturer with an estimated $25 million turnover, said on Thursday that the industry would lose trade.”Buyers will go to other cost-competitive markets — this is going to be a massive blow for our industry,” he said.Several garment factories produce clothing for the US market alone.Anwar Hossain, administrator of the BGMEA, has told AFP that the industry was “not ready” for the tariff impact.Bangladesh, the second-largest producer after China, manufactures garments for global brands — including for US firms such as Gap Inc, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi Strauss.

India’s navy on Saturday delivered hundreds of tonnes of food aid to earthquake-hit Myanmar, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met reclusive junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.India was among the first countries to rush aid and rescue teams to its war-torn neighbour after a devastating 7.7-magnitude quake on March 28.The death toll from the earthquake has risen to more than 3,300, Myanmar state media said Saturday.More than one week after the disaster, desperate survivors remain without enough food and shelter.The latest aid from India comprised 442 tonnes of food including rice, cooking oil, noodles and biscuits, the Indian embassy in Yangon said.The consignment arrived via an Indian navy ship, INS Gharial, at Thilawa port.Modi held a rare face-to-face meeting on Friday with Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting — the grouping of the seven nations on the Bay of Bengal.”India is doing whatever is possible to assist our sisters and brothers of Myanmar in this critical time,” Modi was quoted as saying in a government statement on Friday.India’s foreign ministry said that Modi told the junta chief that there was “no military solution to the conflict”, and stressed the “importance of early restoration of a democratic process through inclusive and credible elections”.Min Aung Hlaing’s armed forces have ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup, when they wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a multi-sided conflict.The junta leader had issued a rare appeal for international aid following the earthquake, indicating the severity of the crisis.Previous military regimes in the country have shunned foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.Sri Lanka also sent a medical team and a plane loaded with supplies, many funded by donations from Buddhist temples, to Myanmar, a defence official said.Colombo has pledged more than $1 million to help quake victims in the fellow Buddhist nation.burs-abh/pjm/sco

India secured defence and energy deals with neighbouring Sri Lanka on Saturday during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, seen as a move to counter rival China’s growing influence in the region.Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake rolled out the red carpet for Modi and conferred on him the country’s highest civilian honour for “the deep personal friendship” shown to the smaller neighbour.”We believe that our security interests are aligned,” Modi said during a televised ceremony from Dissanayake’s office in the capital.”Our security is interdependent and interconnected.”A five-year defence cooperation agreement provides training of Sri Lankan military personnel in India as well as information and technology sharing.Dissanayake applauded what he called “India’s rise as a world power, not just a regional power”.”I have reiterated our position to Prime Minister Modi that Sri Lankan territory will not be allowed to be used by anyone to undermine India’s security,” he added.India has previously objected to Chinese submarines and research vessels which have called at the main seaport in Colombo.Sri Lanka has not allowed Chinese submarines to dock since 2014, after India raised concerns over two such visits.Last year, Colombo imposed a ban on foreign research vessels following New Delhi’s accusations that Chinese ships were being used to spy on India.On Saturday, Dissanayake welcomed Modi — the first foreign dignitary to visit Colombo since the leftist leader swept to power last year — with a 19-gun salute.- Balancing China -The two leaders also celebrated the start of construction of a 120-megawatt solar power project, developed as a joint venture between the two nations.The solar plant, located in the island’s northeastern Trincomalee district, had been stalled for years but was reinvigorated with New Delhi’s backing.Modi’s visit comes as Colombo grapples with the competing interests of New Delhi and Beijing.India has become concerned about China’s influence in Sri Lanka, which it sees as falling within its sphere of interest.Dissanayake’s first foreign visit was to New Delhi in December, but he followed it with a visit to Beijing in January, underscoring Sri Lanka’s delicate balancing act.China has emerged as Sri Lanka’s largest single bilateral creditor, accounting for more than half of its $14 billion bilateral debt at the time the island defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2022.Beijing was also the first to restructure its loans to Sri Lanka, a move that helped pave the way for the island to emerge from its worst economic meltdown.In January, Colombo announced it had signed an agreement with a Chinese state-owned company to invest $3.7 billion in an oil refinery in the island’s south.The deal would mark Sri Lanka’s largest single foreign investment and is seen as crucial for its economic recovery.Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka followed a summit in Thailand and a string of meetings with leaders of neighbouring nations as he sought to shore up India’s regional ties.On the sidelines of the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting — the grouping of seven nations on the Bay of Bengal — Modi held a rare face-to-face meeting with Myanmar’s junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing.He also held talks on Friday with the interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus — the first such meeting since a revolution in Dhaka ousted New Delhi’s long-time ally Sheikh Hasina and sent relations into a tailspin.India had been the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government, and her overthrow prompted Yunus to make his first state visit last month to China.Modi also met on Friday in Bangkok with his Nepali counterpart, KP Sharma Oli — their first meeting since Oli returned to power last year — as well as Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan.

Pakistan’s brittle batting was exposed again as a Ben Sears-inspired New Zealand won the third and final one-day international by 43 runs Saturday to sweep the series 3-0.The tourists were dismissed for 221 off 40 overs in response to New Zealand’s 264-8, in a match shortened to 42 overs after a delayed start at Mount Maunganui.It followed the pattern of the first two games, with the hosts winning the opener in Napier by 73 runs, followed by an 84-run victory in Hamilton.New Zealand also dominated the preceding T20 series, winning 4-1.Pakistan struggled throughout the tour to adjust to the sustained bounce and movement of New Zealand’s seam attack and their batsmen were again guilty of rash shots at Bay Oval.Aggressive pace bowler Sears claimed 5-34 to follow his five-wicket bag in Hamilton, with four of his victims falling to short-pitched deliveries.Player of the series Sears became the first New Zealander to claim five wickets in successive ODIs and said he simply appreciated a chance to play in the 50-over series, having previously been considered a T20 specialist. “It was a cool couple of days, I’m pretty grateful to get the opportunity against a really good team and it was cool to get some wickets,” said Sears, who adopted the same successful approach in both games.”Same plan, it was just trying to hold it through the middle and just keep that pressure going. It was just cool to be part of that performance.”Fellow seamer Jacob Duffy, who was a handful in both series, took 2-40, including the wicket of Mohammad Rizwan for 37 in the 33rd over to effectively end the tourists’ hopes of victory.Babar Azam top-scored with 50 off 58 balls while opener Abdullah Shafique ground out a sluggish 33 off 56.- Pakistan outplayed again -Pakistan’s innings began badly when opener Imam-ul-Haq was forced to retire hurt for one, having been struck on the jaw by a fielder’s throw when attempting a quick single.Rizwan conceded his team had been outplayed.”It’s a disappointing series. I will give credit to New Zealand, they played really well in all departments of the game,” he said.”They are like true professionals in all departments. And we need to improve and that’s it, we need to play better against the new ball.”Earlier, Rhys Mariu scored a maiden half-century after New Zealand were asked to bat first, with the start of the match delayed for two hours because of a wet outfield.Opener Mariu, playing just his second international match, scored a composed 58 off 61 balls, featuring six fours and two sixes.A number of New Zealand middle-order batsmen made starts but didn’t press on for big scores until captain Michael Bracewell produced a flashy 59 at the death.Bracewell struck six sixes in his 40-ball knock before being caught off the last ball of the innings bowled by Akif Javed.Seamer Javed took 4-62 off his eight overs although Naseem Shah was arguably the best of the Pakistan bowlers, taking 2-54 and bowling with good pace and movement.

Sri Lanka’s leader rolled out the red carpet on Saturday for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Colombo balances ties with neighbouring giant India and its biggest lender, China.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake welcomed Modi — the first foreign dignitary to visit Colombo since the leftist leader swept elections last year — with a 19-gun salute.Dissanayake and Modi are expected to sign agreements on energy, defence and health, but the visit’s highlight will be the launch of an Indian-backed 120 megawatt solar power project.The solar plant on the island’s northeastern Trincomalee district had been stalled for years, but reinvigorated with New Delhi’s backing as a joint project.Modi, who praised his “spectacular welcome” to Sri Lanka after arriving in Colombo late on Friday evening, was given an honour guard parade in the capital’s Independence Square.His visit comes as Colombo grapples with the competing interests of New Delhi and Beijing.New Delhi has been concerned about China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka, which it considers to be within its sphere of geopolitical influence.- Regional allies  -Dissanayake’s first foreign visit was to New Delhi in December, but he followed that with a visit to Beijing in January, underscoring Sri Lanka’s delicate balancing act.China has emerged as Sri Lanka’s largest single bilateral creditor, accounting for more than half of its $14 billion bilateral debt at the time the island defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2022.Beijing was also the first to restructure its loans to Sri Lanka, a move that cleared the way for the island to emerge from that year’s worst-ever economic meltdown.Colombo also signed an agreement announced in January with a Chinese state-owned company to invest $3.7 billion on an oil refinery in the island’s south.It would be Sri Lanka’s largest single foreign investment and is seen as crucial for the island’s economy.New Delhi has expressed concern over China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka.Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka comes after a summit in Thailand and a string of meetings with leaders of regional nations as he sought to shore up India’s relations with neighbours.On the sidelines of the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting — the grouping of the seven nations on the Bay of Bengal — Modi held a rare face-to-face meeting with Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.Modi also held talks on Friday with the interim leader of neighbouring Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, the first such meeting since a revolution in Dhaka ousted New Delhi’s long-term ally Sheikh Hasina and soured relations.India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government and her overthrow sent cross-border relations into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit last month to China.Modi also met on Friday in Bangkok with his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli, the first since Kathmandu’s leader returned to power last year, as well as Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan.

Benazir Raufi stands alone in her restaurant, her staff and customers too afraid to visit after Pakistan’s government announced it was cancelling the residence permits of hundreds of thousands of Afghans.Islamabad announced at the start of March that 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) would be cancelled — the second phase of a deportation programme which has already forced 800,000 undocumented Afghans across the border.”If I’m deported, it will destroy me. Either my heart will stop, or I’ll take my own life,” 45-year-old Raufi, who was 13 years old when her family fled civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, told AFP.”Pakistan gave us our smile and now those smiles are being taken away.”Ten Afghan women who worked for her have refused to leave home after the restaurant in Rawalpindi was raided by police — facing deportation to a country where women are banned from studying, certain jobs and visiting some public places like parks.”I have no one to return to. The Taliban won’t accept us,” Raufi added, her voice cracking. The government’s deadline for ACC holders to leave voluntarily has been pushed back to April, but harassment by authorities has been underway for months, according to activists. Those born in Pakistan, married to Pakistanis, or living for decades in the country are among those to have their government residence permits cancelled.The deportation campaign comes as political ties between the neighbouring governments have soured over Pakistan’s rapidly deteriorating security situation along the border. Last year was the deadliest year in almost a decade in Pakistan, with more than 1,600 people killed in attacks — nearly half of them security forces personnel — according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government denies.The Taliban government has repeatedly called for the “dignified” return of Afghans to their country, with Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urging countries hosting Afghans not to force them out.- ‘No future for my daughter’ -“I have freedom (in Pakistan) — I can visit the park, and my daughter can go to school,” Dua Safay, who fled when the Taliban government returned to power in 2021.”There’s no future for me or my daughter in Afghanistan,” added Safay, whose real name has been changed.Some 600,000 Afghans have crossed the border into Pakistan since the Taliban government implemented their austere version of Islamic law.”They will be sent back to a country where conditions are extremely harsh, especially for women and children,” according to Moniza Kakar, a Pakistan-based human rights lawyer.”These people fled to escape persecution. Forcing them back into that fire is a violation of international law.”Millions of Afghans have travelled to Pakistan over the past four decades, fleeing successive conflicts including the Soviet invasion, a civil war and the post-9/11 US-led occupation.The ethnic Pashtun belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which borders Afghanistan shares close cultural and linguistic ties with Afghan Pashtuns.Around 1.3 million Afghans with resident cards issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are allowed to remain in the country but have been banned from the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.”Over 1,000 people have been moved to detention centres in the past three to four days, while thousands are leaving voluntarily all over Pakistan,” Kakar added.- ‘They’ll call me Pakistani’ -Many families fear being mistreated or extorted for money by the authorities if they are detained, or of being separated from relatives.”If I have to go, I’ll go in tears, with a broken heart,” said 43-year-old Naimatullah, who was born in Pakistan and has never been to Afghanistan. “They (people) won’t even see me as an Afghan — they’ll call me Pakistani. I am a nobody.”After the deadline, Samiullah, who was born in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan and is married to a Pakistani woman, will be considered an illegal foreigner.”My wife will not be able to go with me, my daughters are from here. It is a constant struggle. I can’t get caught,” the 29-year-old told AFP.Tens of thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan who are waiting to be relocated to Western nations also fear being deported.Most are advised by Western nations to cross into Pakistan where their asylum claims take months to be processed.Among them is Samia Hamza, a 31-year-old women’s rights activist and mother of four, currently in the northwestern city of Peshawar.”They gave us a support letter but the Pakistani police does not recognise it,” she told AFP.”We need to stay one more month in Pakistan, then we will receive our visa to Brazil and leave.”

Protesters displayed a banner calling Myanmar’s junta chief a “murderer” as he joined a regional summit in Bangkok on Friday, a week after a huge earthquake killed thousands and left desperate survivors pleading for food and shelter.More than 3,000 people are confirmed dead after the 7.7-magnitude quake and the United Nations estimates that up to three million may have been affected in some way — many left without shelter after their homes were destroyed.Many nations have sent aid and rescue teams but there is little sign of Myanmar’s ruling military helping survivors on the ground in some of the worst-hit areas.Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing held talks with leaders from Bay of Bengal littoral nations at a plush Bangkok hotel on Friday.The decision to invite him drew criticism, and protesters outside the venue hung a banner from a bridge reading: “We do not welcome murderer Min Aung Hlaing.”The latest death toll in Myanmar stands at 3,145, with 4,589 injured and 221 missing, according to state media. In Bangkok, 22 people were killed, most of them crushed when a tower block under construction collapsed.In Sagaing, the central Myanmar city close to the epicentre of last week’s quake and where an estimated 80 percent of buildings have been damaged, AFP journalists witnessed desperate scenes in recent days as hundreds of exhausted, hungry survivors scrambled for supplies.Teams of citizen volunteers from around Myanmar piled into Sagaing in trucks laden with water, oil, rice and other basic necessities.With so many homes in Sagaing and neighbouring Mandalay left uninhabitable by the quake, survivors have been sleeping in the streets for a week, and are badly in need of proper shelter.A patch of land in Mandalay — a dustbowl covered in trash — has sprouted a tent city of people from ruined homes or others too scared to return because of aftershocks. “There are many people who are in need,” cab driver Hla Myint Po, 30, now living in tents with his family, told AFP.”Sometimes when donors bring things it’s chaos.”While the crisis rages in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing sat down Thursday night for a gala dinner with fellow leaders from the BIMSTEC group at the $400-a-night Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok.The veteran general ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in a 2021 coup, triggering a bloody civil war, and has been accused of war crimes and serious human rights abuses. Min Aung Hlaing is under multiple global sanctions and the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has sought an arrest warrant for him for alleged crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims.The junta has carried out dozens of attacks on its own people since the quake, the UN said, including more than 16 air strikes since the military joined rebel groups in declaring a temporary ceasefire to allow aid to get through.However, the junta chief was given red carpet treatment by the Thai government as he arrived for the meeting with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and other leaders from Bay of Bengal nations.The BIMSTEC leaders issued a statement after their talks offering condolences to quake victims and survivors.- ‘Deplorable’ –  Myanmar’s shadow opposition National Unity Government (NUG) condemned Min Aung Hlaing’s presence at the summit, calling it an affront to justice “given the immense suffering he has inflicted on the people of Myanmar”.”Allowing the junta leader and his representatives to participate in regional and international forums risks legitimising an illegal regime,” the NUG said in a statement.Yadanar Maung of the Justice for Myanmar campaign group said it was “deplorable” that Thailand and BIMSTEC welcomed him.Shunned and sanctioned by many Western countries since the coup, the junta has turned to close allies China and Russia for support as it struggles to get the upper hand in a complex, multi-sided civil war.BIMSTEC is Min Aung Hlaing’s first foreign trip outside of China, Russia or Belarus since he attended another regional summit in Indonesia in 2021 soon after the coup.The Bangkok meeting afforded the isolated leader a rare chance for face-to-face diplomacy and he took advantage by holding meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Paetongtarn.India’s foreign ministry said the so-called Quad Partners — which also include Australia, Japan and the United States — welcomed “recent commitments to temporary, partial ceasefires”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with the interim leader of neighbouring Bangladesh on Friday, the first such meeting since a revolution in Dhaka ousted New Delhi’s long-term ally and soured relations.Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, took charge of Bangladesh in August 2024 after India’s old ally Sheikh Hasina was toppled as prime minister by a student-led uprising and fled to India by helicopter.India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government and her overthrow sent cross-border relations into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit last month to China — India’s biggest rival.Bangladesh has also moved closer to India’s arch-enemy Pakistan during the festering diplomatic dispute.Tensions between India and Bangladesh have prompted a number of tit-for-tat barbs between senior figures from both governments. New Delhi has repeatedly accused Muslim-majority Bangladesh of failing to adequately protect its minority Hindu citizens — charges denied by the caretaker administration of Yunus.Yunus posted a picture on social media on Friday showing him shaking hands with Modi. His press secretary Shafiqul Alam said later the “meeting was constructive, productive, and fruitful”.Their meeting took place on the sidelines of a regional summit in Thailand.Yunus also shared a photograph of the two men smiling as he handed Modi a framed picture of themselves a decade ago, when the Indian leader honoured the micro-finance pioneer in 2015 with a gold medal for his work supporting society’s poorest.- ‘Spirit of pragmatism’ -Vikram Misri, the secretary of India’s foreign ministry, told reporters that Modi “reiterated India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh”.Modi said he wanted a “positive and constructive relation with Bangladesh based on a spirit of pragmatism”, Misri added, repeating New Delhi’s concerns about alleged “atrocities” against minorities in Bangladesh.Yunus, according to Alam, also raised with Modi Dhaka’s long-running complaint about what it says are Hasina’s incendiary remarks from exile.Hasina, who remains in India, has defied extradition requests from Bangladesh to face charges including mass murder.Dhaka has requested that India allow Hasina’s extradition to face charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government.Misri said Modi and Yunus had discussed the extradition order but there was “nothing more to add” at present.Yunus also raised concerns about border violence along the porous frontier with India, as well as issues of the shared river waters that flow from India as the Ganges and the Brahmaputra wind towards the sea.Misri said that the “prevention of illegal border crossing” was necessary.Yunus’s caretaker government is tasked with implementing democratic reforms ahead of fresh elections slated to take place by June 2026.Modi and Yunus had dinner on Thursday night, sitting next to each other alongside other leaders from the BIMSTEC regional bloc in Bangkok, but the bilateral meeting on Friday was the first since relations frayed between the neighbouring nations.burs-pjm/pbt

Pacific island nations hit hardest by US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs are querying the “unfair” impost, and they are fearful of the impact.The United States has punished Fiji, Vanuatu and tiny Nauru for running trade surpluses with the economic superpower, slapping them with duties far above its new 10-percent baseline.Besides squeezing their finances, analysts say the US levies are making Pacific countries wary of their historic ally, which has already cut humanitarian aid programmes.”It’s just another reason to have less trust in the US, stacked on top of the US aid freeze,” said Blake Johnson, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank.It also creates opportunities for China to expand its ties from aid to trade, he said, as Beijing vies with the United States and its allies for influence in the geographically strategic region.Among the Pacific countries’ biggest sellers in the United States are the traditional narcotic kava drink, and spring water under the brand Fiji Water — owned by Los Angeles-based The Wonderful Company.The 22-percent tariffs on Vanuatu are expected to impact exports and hurt kava farmers, a spokesperson for the prime minister said.-‘Just suck them up’ -Vanuatu was hit by the tariffs after running a US$6.6 million surplus in its trade of goods with the United States last year, according to UN data. Jonathan Naupa, owner of Vanuatu kava exporter Mount Kava, said demand for kava was high and he had no plans to cut prices for the US market.”We are going to keep our prices right where they are — the American public can just suck them up,” he told AFP, adding that there was a growing global market for kava exports.He welcomed Trump’s move.”I actually think it’s a good thing that he’s done this because it will make the Americans realise that they need to treat our cultural product with a bit more respect,” he said.”With the shortage of kava in Vanuatu, I don’t see prices going down, and I hope my fellow exporters also try to follow suit and not drop their prices.”Nauru’s main exports include the remnants of its once-vast phosphate deposits and the sale of fishing rights, but it was not clear what made up its 2024 goods trade surplus with the United States of $1.4 million — about the price of a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan.It faces a 30-percent US trade tariff.Fiji runs a larger surplus in the trade of goods with the United States of about $252 million helped by exports of  Fiji Water, kava and fish, and it now faces a 32-percent tariff across the board.- ‘Unfair’ -The beach-fringed tourist magnet says it applies zero or five-percent duty on 96 percent of US imports.Trump’s levy “is quite disproportionate and unfair”, Finance Minister Biman Prasad said in a statement.”We are still trying to get more details on the exact rationale and application of the newly announced retaliatory tariff by the US and will work with our key stakeholders and US counterparts to get this,” he said.Roland Rajah, director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre at the Lowy Institute think tank, said the tariffs were based on the scale of US trade deficits with each country.But it makes economic sense to have a trade deficit with some countries and a surplus with others, he said.”It’s not necessarily driven by particular policy distortions,” Rajah added, making it hard for countries to find a basis for trade talks with the United States.”The other factor for the Pacific is that being small countries and quite small trading partners in the world it might be very difficult for them to get a hearing with the Trump administration, who will have bigger fish to fry at the current moment.”Papua New Guinea, the most populous Pacific island country, said it had no plans to retaliate against the US decision to impose a 10-percent tariff.”We will continue to strengthen our trade relations in Asia and the Pacific, where our produce is welcomed,” Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement.”If the US market becomes more difficult due to this tariff, we will simply redirect our goods to markets where there is mutual respect and no artificial barriers.”

Family members of people killed during former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown on drugs demanded an investigation Friday into what they say has been a flood of online threats since his arrest.Duterte was detained on March 11 and put on a plane to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands the same day to face a charge of crimes against humanity tied to his drug war, in which thousands of mostly poor were killed.On Friday, the relatives of four of those slain and their lawyer, Kristina Conti, filed complaints asking the National Bureau of Investigation “to identify the names, addresses and IP addresses” of alleged Duterte supporters responsible for online threats and disinformation targeting them.Conti said her own social media pages had been bombarded with “hate speech, expletives and misogynistic remarks”.”People might think that if the victims are gone, the case against Duterte will be dissolved too. So we are taking these threats seriously,” she told reporters after filing the complaints, warning that online threats can escalate into physical harm.Sheerah Escudero, whose brother was found dead in 2017 with his head wrapped in packaging tape at the height of the bloody crackdown, was among the complainants.Escudero said people on social media had accused her of being a liar and a drug addict, with some even sending personal messages telling her she deserved to be killed and beheaded.”We are just calling for justice, but they are twisting our narratives and accusing us of spreading fake news,” an emotional Escudero said.Following Duterte’s arrest, AFP fact-checkers saw dozens of online posts by his supporters targeting the families of drug war victims, seeking to discredit their accounts of extrajudicial killings.In one Facebook post, a photo of a drug war widow holding a portrait of her late husband was altered to claim she was lying about her husband’s death.Conti said they have identified specific pro-Duterte vloggers and pages as responsible for the disinformation that fueled the online attacks.She added the online harassment seemed systematic based on the dates and time stamps, but noted they have yet to determine if these were funded by the Duterte camp.”But definitely, the sentiments are pro-Duterte,” Conti said. The complainants held a meeting with NBI officials who said they would assign an agent to look into their complaints.While no timeline for an investigation has been set, Conti said once the report is completed, they will study the possibility of filing libel or civil cases.