No India-Middle East trade corridor without Turkey: Erdogan on new transport link
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said there could be no proposed India-Middle East trade corridor without Turkey.
“We say that there is no corridor without Turkey. Turkey is an important production and trade base. The most convenient line for traffic from the east to west has to pass through Turkey,” Erdogan told a press team that accompanied him for the G20 summit in India. Turkey is already backing another proposed corridor through Middle East. This will connect the Gulf to Turkey and Europe through a rail line and highway via ports in the UAE, Qatar and Iraq. It envisages a 1,200-km dual-track with trains running at 300 kmph and a modern highway from al-Faw, an Iraqi port. India, Saudi Arabia and EU have announced a trade corridor linking South Asia to Europe through rail lines and shipping channels via UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies has imposed an anti-dumping duty on Chinese steel imports for five years.
An anti-dumping duty of $613 per tonne has been imposed on flat-base steel wheels from China, according to a notification on Monday. The anti-dumping duty on steel wheels was imposed in 2018 and the DGTR has recommended a continued imposition of duties for another five years.
The duty was imposed after Steel Secretary, Nagendra Nath Sinha, had said on Sept 4 that the Union government was monitoring the steel-import situation after the industry raised concerns over potential dumping by Chinese sellers.
During the April–July period, China was the second-biggest steel exporter to India. India’s Chinese steel imports rose 62% year-on-year to 0.6 million tonnes during this period.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 9 announced the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe mega economic corridor during G20 summit. The project includes India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and the US
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
India-Middle East- Europe economic corridor will be more significant than the silk and spice routes of the world, Saudi’s Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih has said.
“The economic corridor will be historical. People talk about the Silk route, the Spice route of India through the Arabian Peninsula, but this is going to be more significant and relevant. Because it’s going to be about new energy, data, connectivity, human resources, aviation routes and it’s about aligning countries that are of the same mind and same vision,” Al-Falih added. He was speaking on the sidelines of the Saudi-India Investment Forum to reporters in New Delhi.
“Both countries (Saudi Arabia and India) have great human capital and access to financial resources. The next step is to make sure that the private sector fully understands what we have right before them, in terms of opportunities… we need to clear the roadmap for them and I think great things will happen,” Al-Falih added.
The rail and shipping corridor is part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII) — a collaborative effort by G7 nations to fund infrastructure projects in developing nations. PGII is considered to be the bloc’s counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The project will aim to enable greater trade among the involved countries, including energy products.
The corridor will include a rail link as well as an electricity cable, a hydrogen pipeline and a high-speed data cable, according to a document prepared by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The declaration document also called the project “a green and digital bridge across continents and civilizations.”
“Today we all have reached an important and historic partnership. In the coming times, it will be a major medium of economic integration between India, West Asia and Europe,” PM Modi said while announcing the project. The corridor will give a new direction to connectivity and sustainable development of the entire world, he added.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is expected to attract additional Asian countries, boosting manufacturing, food security, and supply chains within its sphere of influence.
At the G20 Summit, PM Modi and other world leaders launched the India-Middle East-Europe Connectivity Corridor. (Source: X/@PMOIndia)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed it as “a testament to human endeavor and unity across continents,” while US President Joe Biden deemed it “a real big deal.” Leaders from India, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union have jointly unveiled a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that directly challenges China’s expansive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which seeks to establish trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa.
As the BRI marks its 10th anniversary, many view it as a tool for China to exert influence over developing nations, often resulting in debt traps. For Chinese President Xi Jinping, the announcement of the new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, which also involves Israel and Jordan, comes at an inopportune moment. Data reveals that the value of new foreign contracted projects under the BRI has stagnated since its peak in 2019, coinciding with China’s domestic real estate debt crisis.
A noteworthy shift in the global order was evident at the G20, with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s participation, signaling Italy’s inclination to abandon the BRI. Italy had been the first G7 country to join Xi Jinping’s ambitious project in 2019.
Following the announcement, President Biden remarked, “The world stands at an inflection point in history. A point where decisions we make today are going to affect the course of our future—all of our futures for decades to come. A point where our investments are more critical than ever.”
Beijing’s widening curbs on iPhone use by government staff raised concerns among U.S. lawmakers on Thursday and fanned fears that American tech companies heavily exposed to China could take a hit from rising tensions between the countries.
A customer talks to sales assistants in an Apple store as Apple Inc’s new iPhone 14 models go on sale in Beijing, China, September 16, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Apple (AAPL.O) closed down 2.9% on Thursday and suffered its worst two-day percentage decline since November — after news that Beijing has told employees at some central government agencies in recent weeks to stop using their Apple phones at work.
Several Wall Street analysts said the curbs show that even a company with a good relationship with the Chinese government and a large presence in the world’s second-biggest economy was not immune to rising tensions between the two nations.
Sino-U.S. friction has worsened in recent years as Washington tries to restrict China’s access to key technologies including cutting-edge chip technology, and Beijing looks to reduce its reliance on American tech.
China’s Huawei last week launched its new Mate 60 Pro smartphone, which is powered by an advanced chip made by Chinese contract chipmaker SMIC (0981.HK) and marks an apparent breakthrough for the duo hit by U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. Commerce Department said late Thursday it’s working to obtain more information “on the character and composition” of the chip that may violate trade restrictions.
“The restrictions in place since 2019 have knocked Huawei down and forced it to reinvent itself — at a substantial cost to the (Chinese) government,” the department added. “We are continually working to assess and, when appropriate, update our controls based on the dynamic threat environment and we will not hesitate to take appropriate action to protect U.S. national security.”
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One the U.S. government is trying to get more information about the Huawei chip.
“There’s a number of different methods to try to sort of come to an understanding of what exactly it is that we’re dealing with here,” Sullivan said. “I can’t give you an exact number of days but this is not going to be months down the road. We’re going to want to look at this carefully, consult with our partners, get a clearer sense of what we’re looking at, and then we’ll make decisions accordingly.”
The U.S. sanctions cut Huawei’s access to chipmaking tools essential for producing the most advanced handset models, hammering the company’s business and allowing Apple to take some market share from the national favorite in China.
“If Huawei has the capability to supply and scale its home-grown Kirin 9000S (chips), we see the Mate series phone as an opportunity for Huawei to increase its shipments and regain its market share,” analysts at BofA Global Research said.
Apple supplier Qualcomm (QCOM.O), one of the U.S. companies with the largest China presence, tumbled 7.2% to lead losses among major tech firms.
Lawmakers of both major U.S. parties have been vocal in their concerns about national security risks allegedly created by China’s products, pressuring the Biden administration to get even more aggressive with Beijing.
The wider ban is not surprising and shows how China is trying to limit a Western company’s market access to the nation, said U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher, the chairman of the House panel on China.
“This is textbook Chinese Communist Party behavior – promote PRC (People’s Republic of China) national champions in telecommunications, and slowly squeeze Western companies’ market access,” Gallagher, a Republican, told Reuters.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also shared similar concerns and said, “as the Chinese economy stalls, we can potentially anticipate more aggressive moves against foreign businesses”.
China has curbed shipments from prominent U.S. firms including planemaker Boeing (BA.N) and memory chipmaker Micron (MU.O).
Other suppliers of the iPhone maker including Broadcom (AVGO.O), Skyworks Solutions (SWKS.O) and Texas Instruments (TXN.O) were also lower, falling between 1.8% and 7.4%. The drop in the technology sector weighed on the three main U.S. stock indexes, particularly the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which closed down 0.9%.
In Asia, shares of several Apple suppliers fell on Monday, with TSMC and Tokyo Electron (8035.T) falling 0.7% and 4% respectively.
“This announcement seems to have just refocused investors that the relationship between the U.S. and China is a big risk to current equity prices, particularly in technology,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his ministers on Tuesday he would only reach a trade agreement with India when it benefited the whole of Britain.
Rishi Sunak addressed his top team before travelling to the G20 summit later this week. (File)
London: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his ministers on Tuesday he would only reach a trade agreement with India when it benefited the whole of Britain, addressing his top team before travelling to the G20 summit in India later this week.
“He said negotiations around a free trade deal were progressing and that he would only agree an approach which worked for the whole UK,” his spokesperson told reporters.
India sees a British trade deal as crucial as it aims to become a bigger exporter, while the UK, keen to expand trade opportunities after leaving the European Union, would get wider access for its whisky, premium cars and legal services.
Still to be agreed are issues such as intellectual property rights, rules of origin and an investment treaty, and campaigners urged Britain not to demand any provisions that might undermine India’s generic drugs industry and make its products more expensive.
Fishing boats are anchored at a fishing port in Soma, about 45 km away from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant discharging treated radioactive water into the ocean, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, August 31, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Acquire Licensing Rights
Japan has told the World Trade Organization (WTO) that China’s ban on Japanese seafood after the release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant was “totally unacceptable”, the Japanese foreign ministry said late on Monday.
In a counterargument to China’s Aug. 31 notification to WTO on its measures to suspend Japanese aquatic imports, which started last month, Japan said it would explain its positions in relevant WTO committees and urged China to immediately repeal the action.
Some Japanese officials have signaled the country may file a WTO complaint, which the U.S. ambassador to Japan said last week the United States would support.
Japan will explain the safety of the released water at diplomatic forums, including the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia and G20 Summit in India this month, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Tuesday.
“Nothing is decided about a Japan-China leaders’ meeting,” added Matsuno, Tokyo’s top government spokesperson. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and China’s Premier Li Qiang will attend the ASEAN and G20 summits, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is skipping both conferences.
In an unexpected move, Canada halted talks on a proposed trade treaty with India, just three months after both nations expressed the goal of reaching an initial agreement this year.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India in 2018. (Photo: Reuters)
Canada on Friday unexpectedly said it had paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India, just three months after the two nations said they aimed to seal an initial agreement this year.
Canada and India have been talking off and on since 2010 about a comprehensive economic partnership agreement. The talks were formally relaunched last year.
“Trade negotiations are long, complex processes. And we’ve paused to take stock of where we are,” a government official told reporters ahead of a trip by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to New Delhi next week.
The official, who spoke on the condition he not be identified, declined to give more details.
