Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 76

Marcos' hold on senate grows shaky while Duterte wins mayor race from jail

Dominated by a fiery feud between two political dynasties, the Philippine mid-term elections have thrown up unexpected results that may shake President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr's hold on the senate. According to the latest count of 80% of the votes, Marcos allies appear to have captured fewer senate seats than expected.Meanwhile his rival, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte who is

The Philippines has voted - now the game of thrones begins again

As the noise and colour of a two-month election campaign subsides, a game of thrones between the two most powerful families in the Philippines resumes. President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, and his Vice-President, Sara Duterte, are embroiled in a bitter feud, and a battle for power.  As allies they won a landslide victory in the last presidential election in 2022. But as their

Chinese exporters use ‘origin washing’ to evade U.S. tariffs

A flurry of so-called “origin washing” advertisements have flooded Chinese social media platforms, offering exporters ways to avoid steep U.S. tariffs by re-exporting and freight forwarding goods or falsely labeling their place of manufacture. Video ads posted on Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, show businesses promoting “one-stop re-export and freight

US and China agree to slash tariffs for 90 days

The United States and China on Monday agreed to temporarily suspend most tariffs on each other’s goods after a weekend of marathon trade negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland by officials from the world’s two largest economies, during which both sides touted “substantial progress.”By May 14, the U.S. will temporarily lower its tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China will cut its

Torbjørn Færøvik: Sir Cyril Radcliffe - briten som delte India med fyllepenn og linjal

Hils på Sir Cyril Radcliffe, den piperøykende britiske advokaten som i 1947 delte India i to. Han fikk en frist på seks uker og hadde bare nokså grove kart å forholde seg til. ”Min Gud, hvilken umenneskelig jobb!” sukket han midtveis i oppdraget. Endelig ferdig reiste han hjem i all hast. Siden er han blitt forbannet av millioner av mennesker.De siste dagene har navnet hans fått ny aktualitet.

Inside Trump’s negotiating strategy with China

A few hours after President Donald Trump’s trade negotiating team boarded a flight for the most important economic meetings in the world, their boss took to social media to publicly throw a curveball into the negotiations. That was the point – not necessarily the path.Trump’s decision to float the possibility of cutting his 145% tariffs on China to 80% gave the impression that Trump was

Zero ships from China are bound for California’s top ports. Officials haven’t seen that since the pandemic

On Friday morning, West Coast port officials told CNN about a startling sight: Not a single cargo vessel had left China with goods for the two major West Coast ports in the past 12 hours. That hasn’t happened since the pandemic. Six days ago, 41 vessels were scheduled to depart China for the San Pedro Bay Complex, which encompasses both the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach in California

China has spent billions developing military tech. Conflict between India and Pakistan could be its first major test

The escalating conflict between India and Pakistan could be offering the world a first real glimpse into how advanced Chinese military technology performs against proven Western hardware – and Chinese defense stocks are already surging. Shares of China’s AVIC Chengdu Aircraft rose 40% this week, as Pakistan claimed it used AVIC-produced J-10C fighter jets to shoot down Indian combat aircraft –

Trump, in a major concession, says the tariff on China should be 80% — but will leave it up to Bessent

President Donald Trump on Friday set negotiating terms for his administration’s first discussions with China, which are set to take place in Geneva this weekend.In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump appeared to lay out his demands — and concessions — for the meeting between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and their Chinese counterparts. Trump said

The UK trade agreement was the easy part. China will be exponentially harder

As Trump administration officials prepare to meet with Chinese officials in Geneva this weekend, it’s tempting to believe the momentum from the United Kingdom trade deal announcement on Thursday will carry over. Don’t hold your breath.“I’m keeping my expectations in check. Tariffs are high. Tensions are high. It’s easier to impose tariffs than to unwind them,” said Wendy Cutler, a former US trade