International

PM Mottley called for global cooperation

Chinese Premier Li Qiang holds a welcoming ceremony for Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, June 25, 2023.

China’s vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind resonates strongly given the current state of international relations, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley noted. “The world is in a very precarious position. And the one thing I know is that we are bound by being human and by living on the (same) planet.”

by Xinhua writers Yan Liang, Xuan Liqi and Zhu Yubo

BRIDGETOWN, June 25 (Xinhua) — Countries worldwide should put their differences aside to work together to tackle common global challenges and spur development for the people, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has said.

“In spite of differences and size, the commitment to a number of key values allows us to be able to work cooperatively together,” Mottley told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently, stressing the importance of Barbados-China ties.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which marks its 10th anniversary in 2023, is a global development plan that “is able to help countries across the world bring greater levels of development and greater levels of connectivity in working and helping each other,” she noted.

“Barbados is happy to have signed that agreement,” said Mottley, whose country has already benefited from stepped-up cooperation with China, with repairs made to a number of roads in the Scotland district, representing one-seventh of Barbados’ land area.

People-to-people exchanges have led to fruitful cooperation between the two countries, especially in the fields of health and education, said the prime minister.

This aerial photo taken on May 28, 2023 shows a coastal view of Bridgetown, capital of Barbados. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

Chinese teachers at the Confucius Institute at Barbados’ University of the West Indies “are not only teaching Mandarin, but also the culture and the history of China,” she said. “There were a number of Chinese doctors … working here and providing critical services to our population.”

China’s vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind resonates strongly given the current state of international relations, Mottley noted. “The world is in a very precarious position. And the one thing I know is that we are bound by being human and by living on the (same) planet.”

“We have in common the fact that we are human. We may look different on the outside, but our bodies function the same way. We live on the (same) planet Earth. So we start from that perspective,” said the prime minister, calling on nations to learn how to live together.

Nations need to put aside the “differences that separate us” in favor of “focusing on what we must do together to save the planet,” she said.

“So we have the climate crisis; we have the pandemic; we have food and water and security (issues). And there are too many regions in the world where people just simply do not have access to the appropriate food or safe drinking water,” Mottley said, adding the solution is to “work together to make the world a better place.”

Although “Barbados may have a small land area,” the prime minister noted. “We are a large ocean state at the very time when oceans will be the next frontier that has to help save the planet.” (PR)

International

10 % ON EXPORTS TO US

US President Donald Trump says it’s Liberation Day in America as he announced his sweeping new tariffs. The new measures took effect at midnight. Since taking office in January, Trump has imposed several of the measures.

US President Donald Trump has announced a 10 percent universal tariff on all imports into the country. This includes Barbadian exports to the American market. According to Mr. Trump, the tariff is in retaliation for the 10 per cent tariff now charged by Jamaica on U.S. imports.

The tariff means American consumers are likely to see an increase in the price of Jamaican goods sold on the U.S. market.

St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Belize, Suriname, St. Kitts and Antigua are among the Caribbean countries that will also see a 10% tariff applied to their exports.

Nearly 60 countries across the world have been hit with tariffs ranging from 10 per cent to as high as 49 per cent. China, countries in the European Union, Taiwan and Vietnam are among the hardest hit. It’s one of the most sweeping impositions of tariffs in U.S. history.

Trump says the tariffs are aimed at protecting American markets from unfair global trade practices. He’s projecting a resurgence in American manufacturing as a result of the sweeping tariffs.

International

China’s Xi Jinping tells top global CEOs to use their influence to defend trade

Gathering of senior business leaders in Beijing comes amid rising tensions with US

Xi Jinping has urged global business leaders to work together to protect supply chains at a meeting with a group of executives including Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx, Ola Källenius of Mercedes-Benz and Georges Elhedery of HSBC.

Amid a deepening trade war with the US, the Chinese leader told the group of more than 40 business leaders, which also included Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca, Miguel Ángel López Borrego of Thyssenkrupp and Amin Nasser of Saudi Aramco, that foreign business leaders should resist behaviours that “turn back the clock” on history.

“We hope everyone can take a broad and long-term view . . . and not blindly follow actions that disrupt the security and stability of global industrial chains and supply chains, but instead contribute more positive energy and certainty to global development,” Xi told the gathering in Beijing on Friday.

The event at the Great Hall of the People marked the second consecutive year that Xi held a carefully staged meeting with foreign chief executives in the Chinese capital. Last year’s event was held exclusively with US business leaders.

The meeting came at the conclusion of a busy week for Chinese policymakers, who are trying to strengthen relations with international business amid rising tensions with US President Donald Trump’s administration.

China’s premier annual CEO conference, the China Development Forum, was held in Beijing this week, followed by the Boao Forum for Asia in the tropical resort island of Hainan. Beijing is seeking to promote itself as a bastion of stability in global trade in contrast to the US, where Trump has launched successive waves of tariffs on products from aluminium to cars. The president has vowed widespread, reciprocal duties on US trading partners on April 2, threatening further disruption to international trade.

“A few countries are building ‘small yards with high walls’, setting up tariff barriers, and politicising, instrumentalising, weaponising, and over-securitising economic and trade issues,” said Xi, who was accompanied by his foreign, commerce and finance ministers.

He said these actions were forcing companies “to take sides and make choices that go against economic principles”. “This runs counter to the overarching trend of open markets,” he said. He added that foreign enterprises, especially multinational corporations, had “considerable international influence”.

“We hope everyone will . . . resist regressive moves that turn back the clock,” Xi said. “Together, we must safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains. “Decoupling and severing ties harms others without benefiting oneself; it leads nowhere.”

International

US to Negotiate with Regional Governments on Hiring of Cuban Doctors

US special envoy to the Caribbean and Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, says the United States intends to negotiate a mechanism with Caribbean governments regarding the hiring of Cuban doctors.

The US has threatened visa restrictions for nations who benefit from Cuban medical missions. They deem the programme as a form of forced labour and trafficking on the part of the Cuban government.

Several countries in the Caribbean rely heavily on Cuban medical missions to supplement local staff.

The special envoy says the US wants a united voice against human trafficking, in favour of international labour laws. He says they look forward to reaching a deal that allows Caribbean governments to directly hire Cuban doctors.