Tag: joe biden

IMF knocks Joe Biden’s China tariffs as risk to US, world growth

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The International Monetary Fund criticized the Biden administration’s decision to aggressively raise tariffs on some Chinese goods, underscoring its warning that tensions between the world’s top two economies risk hurting global trade and growth.

“Our view is that the US would be better served by maintaining open trade policies that have been vital to its economic performance,” IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozack said Thursday in Washington when asked about the move earlier this week.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgvieva last month said “all eyes are on the US” as the fund has grown increasingly vocal in criticizing its biggest and most influential shareholder for the global impact of its policies. That includes Washington’s surging debt levels, trade restrictions and industrial policies aimed at China, and even the impact of the Federal Reserve’s tight monetary policy, which has weakened currencies globally against the dollar.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled sweeping tariff hikes on a range of Chinese imports, including electric vehicles, in an election-year bid to bolster domestic manufacturing in critical industries.

The president’s top economic advisor, Lael Brainard, on Thursday defended the new tariffs as necessary to protect recent manufacturing and job gains in the US from “unfairly under-priced exports from China.”

IMF research shows that fragmentation in the global economy can have a variety of outcomes, including potential losses for global gross domestic product of as much as 7% in a “severe fragmentation,” equivalent to the combined output of the German and Japanese economies. The cost would be higher if there’s a breakdown in trade and availability of technology, Kozack said.

“We also encourage the US and China to work together toward a solution that addresses the underlying concerns that have exacerbated trade tensions,” she said. “And, more broadly, we urge all countries to work within the multilateral framework to resolve their differences.“

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Joe Biden, Donald Trump agree on debates in June and September

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday agreed to hold two campaign debates in June and September, but there were no guarantees that they would happen as their camps are still far apart on key details like the setting and ground rules for the potential face-offs.

The quick agreement on the timetable to meet followed the Democrat’s announcement that he will not participate in fall presidential debates sponsored by the nonpartisan commission that has organised them for more than three decades. Biden’s campaign instead proposed that media outlets directly organise the debates with the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees, with the first to be held in late June and the second in September before early voting begins. Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, said he was Ready and Willing to Debate Biden at the proposed times.

Still, the two sides remain far apart on key questions of how to organise the debates, including agreeing on media partners, moderators, location and rules – some of the very questions that prompted the formation of the Commission on Presidential Debates in 1987. Biden’s proposal would exclude third-party candidates, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Trump’s campaign has been pushing for more debates and earlier debates, arguing voters should be able to see the two men face off well before early voting begins in September.

He has repeatedly said he will debate Biden anytime, anywhere, any place, even proposing the two men face off outside the Manhattan courthouse where he is currently on criminal trial in a hush-money case. Trump has also been taunting Biden with an empty lectern at some of his rallies.

In teeing up the debates, both Biden and Trump traded barbs on social media – each claiming victory the last time they faced off in 2020. “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate,” Biden said in a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. ”Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal.”

Trump, for his part, said Biden was “the WORST debater I have ever faced – He can’t put two sentences together!”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Joe Biden imposes tariffs on Chinese chips, critical minerals and EVs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Joe Biden is hiking tariffs on a wide range of Chinese imports — including semiconductors, batteries, solar cells, and critical minerals — in an election-year bid to bolster domestic manufacturing in critical industries.

The US will also raise levies on port cranes and medical products, in addition to previously reported increases on steel, aluminum, and electric vehicles. The changes are projected to affect around $18 billion in current annual imports, the White House said.

The moves represent Biden’s most comprehensive update to the China tariffs first imposed by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, and a recognition that a hawkish approach to trade with Beijing remains popular with US voters. None of Trump’s tariffs will be reduced. Biden will ratchet up rates on goods the US struggled to import during the coronavirus pandemic, and for key industries — like chips and green energy — that he’s sought to bolster since he took office.

Still, Biden must strike a careful balance. Additional tariffs risk increasing prices for consumers already hurting from inflation, and inspiring the ire of China, which could choose to retaliate in kind.

The changes are staggered to take effect from 2024 to 2026, and are more targeted than the 60% flat tariff Trump has proposed. The biggest jump is for EVs, with the tariff rate quadrupling, while other imports are seeing levies doubled or being imposed for the first time.

Biden will formally announce the measures, detailed in a statement, at a White House Rose Garden event on Tuesday. Officials, who described the plan on condition of anonymity before the official announcement, said they are pairing domestic investments from the bipartisan infrastructure act and the Chips and Science Act with new tariffs to level the playing field with China.

In some cases, the levies apply to areas where China has only a small segment of the US market, but are intended to head off a potential deluge of imports.

“China is simply too big to play by its own rules,” National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard told reporters. “China’s using the same playbook it has before to power its own growth at the expense of others by continuing to invest, despite excess Chinese capacity, and flooding global markets with exports that are underpriced due to unfair economic practices.”

Targeted Industries

The tariff rate on semiconductors will double from 25% to 50% by 2025, targeting an industry Biden has made a centerpiece of his manufacturing agenda through billions in subsidies to bolster US production.

The levies aim to counter China’s rush into so-called legacy chips, which are older-generation components that are still essential to the global economy. The Biden administration recently concluded a survey of more than 100 auto, aerospace, defense and other companies about their supply chains for those less-advanced semiconductors, and the EU is considering launching a similar review of its own.

Certain critical minerals will see a new 25% tariff this year, while natural graphite and permanent magnets will be hit with that rate in 2026. Ship-to-shore cranes will also face a new 25% tariff this year.

The electric vehicle tariff will take effect this year, with a final tariff rate of 102.5%, up from 27.5% now. And tariffs on certain steel and aluminum from China — currently facing a 0% or 7.5% tariff — will rise to 25% this year.

Tariffs on lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, as well as battery parts, will jump to 25% from 7.5% this year, while non-EV lithium-ion batteries make the same jump in 2026. Solar-cell tariffs will rise from 25% to 50% this year.

The US will also impose a new 50% tariff on Chinese syringes and needles this year, while tariffs on personal protective equipment, such as respirators and face masks, rise to 25% from either 0% or 7.5% now. Tariffs on rubber medical and surgical gloves will jump to 25% from 7.5% in 2026.

It’s unclear whether the moves will trigger retaliatory tariffs by China, but the tariff regime proposed under Trump already applies to about $226 billion worth of goods, according to an estimate provided by the administration, based on 2023 data.

“Hopefully we will not see a significant Chinese response — but that’s always a possibility,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday.

She said in a statement that “President Biden and I have seen firsthand the impacts of surges of certain artificially cheap Chinese imports on American communities in the past, and we will not tolerate that again.”

“These problems built up over time and will not be solved in a day,” Yellen added.

Long Review

Tuesday’s announcement is the culmination of a mandatory review of Trump’s tariffs that stretched for more than a year and under the shadow cast by the upcoming election. Both candidates have sought to portray themselves as tough on Beijing with Trump pledging across-the-board tariffs on China if elected.

Biden has touted a domestic manufacturing boom he says is keeping US jobs at home and his allies have criticized Trump’s tariff proposal, saying it would only worsen already high inflation that has been a persistent liability.

Biden’s tariff changes do not include any offsetting reductions. One of the officials said the US had not seen improvements in many unfair Chinese trade practices, such as forced technology transfers, since the tariffs were first imposed, making any reductions unwarranted.

Brainard referred to the domestic calculations at play.

“China’s unfair practices have harmed communities in Michigan, in Pennsylvania and around the country that are now having the opportunity to come back,” she told reporters, referencing two swing states crucial to the 2024 outcome.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Major airlines sue Biden administration over fee disclosure rule

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Major U.S. airlines are suing the U.S. Transportation Department over a new rule requiring upfront disclosure of airline fees.

Airlines for America, along with American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines, filed suit in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday.

This follows the issuance of USDOT’s final rules requiring airlines and ticket agents to disclose service fees alongside the airfare, saying it would help consumers avoid unneeded or unexpected fees.

The airline group said the department’s rule will confuse consumers and its “attempt to regulate private business operations in a thriving marketplace is beyond its authority.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Biden set to impose tariffs on China EVs, strategic sectors

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Joe Biden’s administration is poised to unveil a sweeping decision on China tariffs as soon as next week, one that’s expected to target key strategic sectors while rejecting the across-the-board hikes sought by Donald Trump, people familiar with the matter said.

The decision is the culmination of a review of Section 301 tariffs first put into place under Trump starting in 2018. The new tariffs will focus on industries including electric vehicles, batteries and solar cells, with existing levies largely being maintained. An announcement is scheduled for Tuesday, two of the people said.

While a decision could be delayed, it nonetheless represents one of Biden’s biggest moves in the economic race with China. It builds on his call last month to hike tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, and the formal launch of a fresh probe into China’s shipbuilding industry.

The yuan weakened on the news, while the CSI 300 Index of Chinese shares fell as much as 0.6% in early trading before rallying.

“It’ll definitely cause investors to pause on stocks that are potentially exposed,” said Xin-Yao Ng, director of investment at abrdn, adding that many green-tech brands such as battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. already have limited US exposure. “Everyone knows it’s a risk.”

China’s Foreign Ministry said the tariffs imposed by the previous US administration “seriously disrupted” economic and trade exchanges between the two countries. It called on Washington to cancel the restrictions, and added that China will take steps to defend its rights and interests.

“Instead of correcting its wrong practices, the United States continued to politicize economic and trade issues,” Lin Jian, a ministry spokesman, said at a regular briefing on Friday. “To further increase tariffs is to add insult to injury.”

President Xi Jinping’s strategy of ramping up manufacturing to arrest an economic slowdown at home has triggered alarm abroad. US and European Union leaders have scolded Beijing over state support that they say has fueled a deluge of cheap exports that threaten jobs in their markets. The EU launched an EV subsidy investigation in October that may lead to additional tariffs by July.

The US is standing up to China’s “unfair economic practices and industrial overcapacity,” Biden said last month. “I’m not looking for a fight with China. I’m looking for competition, but fair competition.”

The tariffs would likely have little immediate impact on Chinese firms, since its world-beating EV manufacturers have steered clear of the US market due to tariffs. Its solar companies mostly export to the US from third countries to avoid curbs, with US firms seeking higher tariffs on that trade, too.

Biden and Trump are jockeying to be seen as tough on China as they head toward an election rematch in November. Biden signed into law a bill last month that began a countdown for video-sharing platform TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd., or quit the American market.

Trump has promised to hike tariffs on China across the board if reelected, vowing a 60% tax on all Chinese imports. Many Democrats have dismissed that approach, in part because it would raise prices for US consumers grappling with inflation.

During Trump’s last administration, Washington and Beijing became embroiled in a tit—for-tat trade war in which China retaliated with measures that aimed to exact pain in the American heartland by targeting agricultural exports.

US Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, expects Beijing to respond again. “We know how China reacted when Trump put tariffs on,” he said. “They hit agriculture with it. I can’t be sure that China would hit agriculture the same as they did in the Trump ones, but they’re going to hit back.”

Strategic Tariffs 

Biden’s announcement would be formally enacted by the office of US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who last month said that she expected a conclusion to a review that began in 2022 to end soon. The administration had been looking at ways to make the tariffs more strategic and effective, she added.

The move comes after Biden last month proposed new 25% tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum as part of a series of steps to shore up the American steel sector and woo its workers in an election year. That vow was viewed as largely symbolic, because China currently exports little of either metal to the US.

Beijing responded with restraint to the threat of metal curbs, imposing tariffs on US propionic acid, an export market worth $7 million to America last year, according to customs data. Still, ramping up tariffs on a broader spectrum of industries could prompt a stronger response from Chinese officials.

The full range of existing duties spans imports from industrial inputs, such as microchips and chemicals, to consumer merchandise including apparel and furniture. Trump imposed the first of the tariffs in 2018, citing section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

For years, internal divisions prevented Biden’s team from arriving at a consensus on what to do about the tariffs. Some officials including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had argued that reducing curbs on household items could help ease US inflation.

While the Biden administration had considered the political implications of changes to the tariffs, USTR in late 2022 began a legally required formal review of their impact. In the absence of such an evaluation, the curbs would have started to automatically expire in mid-2022.

Under Trump, Washington and Beijing reached the so-called phase one agreement in early 2020. That reduced some duties in exchange for China pledging to address intellectual-property theft and increase its purchases of energy, farm and manufactured goods, along with services, by $200 billion in the two years through the end of 2021. China fell more than one third short of its promises.

Biden’s tariff move comes after his nation’s turbulent relationship with China has stabilised in recent months amid a flurry of diplomatic engagements. After the US president met his Chinese counterpart in California last November, Biden said they had achieved “real progress.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Joe Biden poised to impose tariffs on China EVs, strategic sectors

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Joe Biden’s administration is poised to unveil a sweeping decision on China tariffs as soon as next week, one that’s expected to target key strategic sectors with new levies while rejecting the kind of across-the-board hikes sought by Donald Trump, people familiar with the matter said.

The decision is the culmination of a review of so-called Section 301 tariffs first imposed under Trump. The administration is set to impose new, targeted tariffs on some key sectors including electric vehicles, batteries and solar equipment. The full announcement is expected to also largely maintain existing levies. An announcement is scheduled for Tuesday, two of the people said.

The full details aren’t clear, and the White House declined comment.

While a decision could be delayed, it nonetheless presents one of Biden’s biggest moves in the economic race with China. It builds on a call last month to hike tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, and the formal launch of a fresh probe into Chinese shipbuilding.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Joe Biden to tout new $3.3 billion Microsoft data centre at failed Foxconn site Trump backed

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Joe Biden will visit the political battleground state of Wisconsin on Wednesday to announce plans by Microsoft Corp to build a $3.3 billion high-tech data centre that will create thousands of jobs, the White House said.

The Microsoft facility in Racine County, in southeastern Wisconsin, will be built on the same land where Taiwan electronics manufacturer Foxconn had planned to build a $10 billion factory that former President Donald Trump once called “the eighth wonder of the world,” before Foxconn drastically scaled back its plans.

Microsoft’s plans will result in 2,300 union construction jobs and around 2,000 permanent jobs over time, the White House said. It said nearly 4,000 jobs had been added in Racine since Biden took office, while about 1,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during the Trump administration.

Microsoft will partner with Gateway Technical College to train 1,000 people for data centre and other roles by 2030, and will work to train 1,000 business leaders to adopt AI in their operations, the White House added.

“Together, these investments will position the industrial heartland to lead the way in industries of the future,” it said.

Biden, a Democrat, will also use his fourth trip this year to Wisconsin — one of seven swing states critical to his 2024 reelection bid — to meet with volunteers in Racine’s Black community, his campaign said in a separate statement.

Biden is seeking to shore up support among Black voters ahead of the November 5 presidential election, with national polls showing him essentially tied in a rematch with Trump, a Republican making his third bid for the White House after losing to Biden in 2020.

Representatives for Trump’s campaign could not be immediately reached for comment. Trump and former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker grabbed golden shovels for the factory site groundbreaking in 2018, as politicians promised a new “Wisconn Valley” tech hub in the United States.

Biden will meet with volunteers whom campaign officials are training to use a new mobile phone app that helps voters connect with people they already know to drum up votes.

His campaign is also launching a $14 million ad campaign, including a seven-figure investment targeting Black, Latino and Asian voters. On Thursday, it will release an ad called “Terminate” focusing on Trump’s attacks on Americans’ health care.

Biden’s campaign said it was expanding its operations this month to include 200 offices and 500 staff members by the end of May and planned to boost outreach to small businesses as part of a bigger drive to expand in key communities.

Also Read: US President Biden calls China ‘Xenophobic,’ ramping up 2024 campaign rhetoric

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US halts weapon shipment to Israel as battles rage around Rafah

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Hamas said it was battling Israeli troops on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip’s crowded southern city of Rafah on Wednesday after a U.S. official said Washington had halted a shipment of powerful bombs that Israel could use in a full-scale assault.

The United States, which is seeking to stave off an Israeli invasion of Rafah, said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in an impasse in negotiations, with talks resuming in Cairo on Wednesday.

Israel has threatened a major assault on Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there, but Western nations and the United Nations have warned a full-scale attack on the city would be a humanitarian catastrophe.

Hamas said its fighters were battling Israeli forces in the east of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from combat further north in the enclave. Islamic Jihad said its fighters attacked Israeli soldiers and military vehicles with heavy artillery near the airport east of Rafah.

“The streets of the city echo with the cries of innocent lives lost, families torn apart, and homes reduced to rubble. We stand on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented proportions,” Rafah’s mayor, Ahmed Al-Sofi, said in an appeal to the international community to intervene.

Around 10,000 Palestinians have left Rafah since Monday, said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number at tens of thousands.

A senior U.S. official said President Joe Biden‘s administration paused a shipment of weapons to Israel last week in an apparent response to the expected Rafah offensive. The White House and Pentagon declined to comment.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah, and as a result paused a shipment consisting of 1,800 2,000-lb bombs and 1,700 500-lb bombs.

This would be the first such delay since the Biden administration offered its “ironclad” support to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Washington is Israel’s closest ally and main weapons supplier.

A senior Israeli official declined to confirm the report, “If we have to fight with our fingernails, then we’ll do what we have to do,” the source said. A military spokesperson said any disagreements were resolved in private.

Israeli tanks rolled across the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and the only exit for the evacuation of wounded patients.

The complex was closed for a second day on Wednesday, according to the Gaza health ministry, but Israel said it was reopening the other crossing in southern Gaza, Kerem Shalom, through which most aid to Gaza has been delivered recently.

The Israeli military said it had uncovered Hamas infrastructure in several locations in eastern Rafah and its troops were conducting targeted raids on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.

It has told civilians, many of whom have been uprooted several times already, to go to an “expanded humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi, some 20 km (12 miles) away.

Armed groups of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah said in separate statements that gunfights continued in the central Gaza Strip, while residents of northern Gaza reported heavy Israeli tank shelling against eastern areas of Gaza City.

CEASEFIRE TALKS

In Cairo, delegations to negotiations from Hamas, Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar reacted positively to their resumption on Tuesday and meetings were expected to continue on Wednesday, two Egyptian sources said.

CIA Director Bill Burns was to travel from Cairo to Israel on Wednesday to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Mossad counterpart, an Israeli government source said.

Israel on Monday declared that a three-phase proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. White House spokesperson John Kirby said a new text presented by Hamas suggests the remaining gaps can “absolutely be closed.”

The proposal included a first phase with a six-week ceasefire, an influx of aid to Gaza, the return of 33 Israeli hostages, alive or dead, and the release by Israel of 30 detained Palestinian children and women for each released Israeli hostage, according to several sources.

Since a week-long ceasefire in November, the only pause so far, the two sides have been blocked by Hamas’ refusal to free more Israeli hostages without a promise of a permanent end to the conflict and Israel’s insistence on only a temporary halt.

Israel’s offensive has killed 34,844 Palestinians in seven months of war in Gaza, most of them civilians, the Gaza health ministry said.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 128 remain hostage in Gaza and 36 have been declared dead, according to the latest Israeli figures.

Al-Sofi, Rafah’s mayor, said 1.4 million people sheltering in the city had nowhere to go. The coastal al-Mawasi area where those in eastern neighbourhoods were being told to move to “lacks the necessities of life”, he said.

Around 200 patients from Rafah’s Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, in an area designated by the Israeli army as a combat zone, were forced to evacuate to the west of the city after receiving calls warning them to leave, health officials said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US paused weapons shipment to Israel over Rafah invasion concern

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over worries about Israel nearing a decision to launch a wide-ranging military offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which President Joe Biden opposes, according to a senior administration official.

The delivery was supposed to contain 3,500 bombs, split roughly evenly between 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) and 500-pound explosives, the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said.

The official added the administration is worried about the damage the larger bombs could inflict on dense urban settings like Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The US has not made a final decision about how to proceed with the shipment, according to the official.

The decision, reported earlier by the Associated Press, marks one of the most prominent instances of discord between the US and Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault that killed 1,200 people and saw roughly 250 more taken hostage by the group, designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. The US has long been Israel’s largest and most reliable military backer, but Biden has called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to protect civilians in Gaza.

Biden told Netanyahu last month, following the killing of aid workers in an Israeli strike, that ongoing US support for the war would depend on new steps to protect civilians.

The US president in April signed a foreign aid package that contained fresh assistance for Israel, but the paused bomb shipment was not connected to those funds, according to the administration official. Arms transfers that are under review were drawn from previously appropriated money and the administration is committed to ensuring Israel gets every dollar of the new national security aid, the official said.

The Biden administration in April began reviewing future transfers of certain armaments as Israeli leaders seemed to close in on a decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, despite repeated warnings from the US. Discussions between American and Israeli officials over Rafah plans are continuing and have yet to fully address the administration’s concerns, the official said.

“Two things can be true at once,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier Tuesday, without addressing the weapons-transfer pause. “Israel has a right and a responsibility to defend itself, and we’re going to continue to provide for their security and help them with that. And at the same time, they have a right and obligation to be careful about civilian casualties and getting more humanitarian assistance in.”

Israel’s military moved to take control of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt and ordered some civilians to leave the city so that an attack can get underway. That came after Hamas said it accepted a cease-fire proposal, but Israel rejected it, saying it fell far short of meeting their demands.

While the White House has repeatedly expressed opposition to a Rafah incursion, officials have not indicated publicly that Israel’s current operations in the area have violated Biden’s warnings against a full-scale invasion of the city. White House spokesman John Kirby earlier Tuesday described the existing operation as “limited” and intended to cut off Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons and money into Gaza.

Israel says reopening Kerem Shalom aid crossing into Gaza

Israel was reopening Kerem Shalom crossing on its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a statement from the Israeli agency in charge of it said, adding that aid trucks routed through from Egypt were already undergoing security inspections there.

Israel had closed Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday after a Palestinian shelling attack nearby killed four soldiers.Israel was reopening Kerem Shalom crossing on its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a statement from the Israeli agency in charge of it said, adding that aid trucks routed through from Egypt were already undergoing security inspections there.

Israel had closed Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday after a Palestinian shelling attack nearby killed four soldiers.

With inputs from Reuters

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Joe Biden’s historic marijuana shift is his latest election-year move for young voters

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Joe Biden may eventually ban TikTok, but he’s moving to give something back to the young people who dominate the popular social media app — a looser federal grip on marijuana.

Facing softening support from a left-leaning voting group that will be crucial to his reelection hopes in November, Biden has made a number of election-year moves intended to appeal in particular to younger voters.

His move toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug is just the latest, coming weeks after he cancelled student loans for another 206,000 borrowers. He has also made abortion rights central to his case for reelection.

The push to highlight issues that resonate with younger voters comes as Biden fights to hold together the coalition that sent him to the White House in 2020.

Biden, the oldest president in US history, is battling a perception among voters that he’s lost a step as he’s aged. Discontent with his handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has exploded into unrest on college campuses. While inflation has ebbed from its peak and the job market remains strong, polls show Americans still blame Biden for high prices and high-interest rates, which are squeezing first-time buyers out of the housing market.

A proposal by the US Drug Enforcement Administration would recognise the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalise marijuana outright for recreational use.

Biden called for a review of federal marijuana law in October 2022 and moved to pardon thousands of Americans convicted federally of simple possession of the drug. He has also called on governors and local leaders to take similar steps to erase marijuana convictions.

“The American people have made clear in state after state that cannabis legalization is inevitable,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat and an early proponent of easing marijuana laws, said in a statement. ”The Biden-Harris administration is listening.”

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both touted their support for marijuana law reform to mark the 4/20 cannabis holiday at exactly 4:20 p.m. Saturday.

The comments are the latest sign the administration plans to continue to focus on the popular issue ahead of the November election.

“Sending people to prison just for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” Biden posted on the social media platform X. “It’s time that we right these wrongs.”

The politics of marijuana are favourable for the president.

According to AP VoteCast, 63% of voters nationally in the 2022 midterm elections said they favour legalising recreational use of marijuana nationwide, compared with 36% who said they were opposed. Support for legalization was higher among adults under age 45, 73% of whom were in favour. About 8 in 10 Democrats, roughly two-thirds of independents and about half of Republicans were in favour.

Biden has issued pardons to thousands of people for federal marijuana possession and commuted long sentences handed down for nonviolent drug offences. In 2022, he urged governors to pardon state offences.

While young voters lean left, they are also less likely to vote. Biden can’t afford for a reliable group of supporters to stay home or vote for a third-party candidate like independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is aggressively courting young voters, or the Green Party’s Jill Stein, who is leaning into her opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The last two elections were decided by fewer than 100,000 votes in three states.

Despite growing public acceptance, Biden’s move has prominent detractors, including several former top DEA officials. Opponents say the potency of today’s marijuana could lead to harmful side effects, including psychosis and anxiety.

“This is a political act — it’s not following the science,” said former DEA Administrator Tim Shea. “It’s politics in an election year. It’s like forgiving student loans. It’s aimed at a select group of people and the impact is going to be bad.”

“Law enforcement can’t believe it’s happening,” Shea added.

During the crack epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s, then-Sen. Biden was a prominent voice in the so-called “War on Drugs.”

Ethan Nadelmann, who has been advocating for drug legalization for decades, said Biden probably senses now that a more lenient stance on pot could help rally younger voters and progressive members of his party.

“It will end the hypocrisy,” Nadelmann said.

Former President Donald Trump’s views on marijuana are unclear. But as a resident of Florida, he’ll have the chance to vote on a legalization initiative on the ballot in November. In an interview last year with Newsmax, the GOP presidential nominee said pot causes “significant damage” even as he acknowledged that legalizing cannabis is a “pretty popular thing” among voters.

Federal drug policy has lagged behind much of the country, with 38 states having already legalised medical marijuana in addition to 24 that have approved its recreational use. That’s helped fuel fast growth in the U.S. marijuana industry, with sales estimated to be worth $25 billion a year.

Easing federal regulations could reduce the tax burden that can be 70% or more by allowing businesses to take tax deductions and seek loans, according to industry groups. It could also make it easier for scientists to research marijuana.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow