ReportWire

Tag: new tariff

  • Global leaders and businesses react to more U.S. tariff swings

    [ad_1]

    SEOUL — Governments and companies around the world scrambled Saturday to determine the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down most of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs and his response with a new round of import taxes.

    The latest twist in the U.S. tariff roller-coaster ride, launched when Trump returned to office 13 months ago and upended dozens of trading relationships with the world’s biggest economy, roiled trade officials from Mexico to South Korea to South America and beyond.

    South Korea’s Trade Ministry called for an emergency meeting Saturday to understand the new landscape. Some specific exports to the U.S., like automobiles and steel, aren’t affected by the U.S. high court decision. Those that are affected will probably now be covered by a new tariff imposed by an executive order Trump signed Friday. Trump announced Saturday morning that he would raise that 10% tariff to 15%.

    In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the checks and balances in the United States, praising the “rule of law” during a visit to a Paris agricultural fair: “It’s a good thing to have powers and counter-powers in democracies. We should welcome that.”

    But he cautioned against any triumphalism.

    Officials were going over the language of bilateral or multilateral deals struck with the U.S. in recent months, even as they braced for new swings and Trump’s swift announcement of new tariffs.

    “I note that President Trump, a few hours ago, said he had reworked some measures to introduce new tariffs, more limited ones, but applying to everyone,” Macron said. “So we’ll look closely at the exact consequences, what can be done, and we will adapt.”

    Mexico braces, adapts

    Mexico’s secretary of the economy, Marcelo Ebrard, urged “prudence” Friday in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. “We have to see where this is going,” Ebrard told reporters. “We have to see what measures [Washington] is going to take to figure out how it is going to affect our country. “

    Amid widespread concern about tariffs in Mexico — the United States’ major commercial partner, with almost $1 trillion in annual two-way trade — Ebrard cautioned: “I tell you to put yourselves in zen mode. As tranquil as possible.”

    Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, when asked about the tariffs, said, “We’ll review the resolution carefully and then gladly give our opinion.”

    Ebrard said he plans to travel to the United States next week to clarify matters.

    Last year, Ebrard noted, Mexico managed to stave off Trump’s threats to impose a 25% across-the-board levy on all Mexican imports.

    However, Mexico has been pushing back against Trump administration tariffs on imports of vehicles, steel and aluminum, among other products.

    Among other impacts, the Supreme Court voided so-called fentanyl tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada. The Trump administration said it imposed those levies to force the three nations to crack down on trafficking of the deadly synthetic opioid.

    About 85% of Mexican exports to the United States are exempt from tariffs because of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The accord extended a mostly free-trade regimen among the three nations, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement.

    The three-way pact is scheduled for joint review starting July 1. That date marks six years since the agreement was signed during the first Trump presidential term.

    In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, along the Texas border, Sergio Bermúdez, head of an industrial parks company, discussed Trump’s plan for a new tariff. Trump, he said, “says a lot of things, and many of them aren’t true. All of the businesses I know are analyzing, trying to figure out how it’s going to affect them.”

    The impact could be felt especially in Juarez: Much of its economy depends on factories producing goods to export to consumers in the U.S., the result of decades of free trade between the U.S. and Mexico.

    The policy swoons in the United States over the last year have made many global business leaders cautious, as they struggle to forecast and see investment take a hit.

    CEO Alan Russell of Tecma, which helps American businesses set up operations in Mexico, has seen his job grow increasingly complicated over the last year — his company’s workload has surged as much as fourfold as it grapples with new import requirements. He worries the last U.S. moves will only make things more difficult.

    “We wake up every day with new challenges. That word ‘uncertainty’ has been the greatest enemy,” said Russell, who is American. “The difficult part has been not being clear what the rules are today or what they’re going to be tomorrow.”

    A ‘good decision’

    Swissmem, a top technology industry association in Switzerland, hailed the Supreme Court ruling as “good decision,” writing on X that its exports to the U.S. fell 18% in the fourth quarter alone — a period when Switzerland was facing much higher U.S. tariffs than most neighboring countries in Europe.

    “The high tariffs have severely damaged the tech industry,” Swissmem President Martin Hirzel said on X, while acknowledging the dust is far from settled. “However, today’s ruling doesn’t win anything yet.”

    Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Mexico City contributed to this report, as did Associated Press writers Tong-Hyung Kim in Seoul and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City. AP writers María Verza and Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City, Samuel Petrequin in London and Jamey Keaten in Lyon, France, also contributed.

    [ad_2]

    Times staff and wire reports

    Source link

  • Airstrikes and insults: Trump’s new Latin America crisis

    [ad_1]

    MEXICO CITY — For decades, Colombia and the United States have been devoted allies, sharing military intelligence, a robust trade relationship and a multibillion-dollar fight against drug trafficking.

    Now that is all at risk as the U.S. ramps up deadly airstrikes off Colombia’s coast and the leaders of both nations trade scathing verbal attacks.

    President Trump called Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter and Colombia’s first leftist president, an “illegal drug dealer.” Petro called Trump “rude” and accused the U.S. of murder, saying an American strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat had killed a Colombian fisherman in Colombian waters.

    Petro has decried the massive buildup of U.S. troops, warships and jets in the Caribbean, which, he charges, aims to force a change of governments in neighboring Venezuela.

    Relations between the nations hit their lowest point in memory Monday as the Colombian government recalled its ambassador to the United States, and Trump vowed to suspend all U.S. aid to Colombia and impose new tariffs on imports from the South American nation.

    “Petro does nothing to stop” drug trafficking, Trump charged on his social media site, “despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”

    The Colombian leader, Trump warned, “better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

    A coca leaf collector, or raspachin, works at a plantation in Catatumbo, Colombia, in 2022.

    (Raul Arboleda / AFP/Getty Images)

    Petro has defended his record in deterring drug trafficking despite rising production in Colombia of coca plants, the raw material in cocaine. He has said the rampant consumption of illicit drugs in the United States and Europe is behind the bloody drug war in Latin America.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. said Sunday that it had blown up yet another boat, this one allegedly associated with a Colombian rebel group. Petro said the boat in fact belonged to a “humble family.”

    The growing binational crisis threatened to further destabilize a region already on edge over the U.S. military strikes. Some analysts said it threatened to embolden the same drug traffickers Trump claims to be targeting.

    “In a fight between the world’s largest drug producer and the world’s largest drug consumer, only organized crime wins,” former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said at a forum in Barcelona, Spain. “As long as we have two presidents who insult each other on Twitter every day, [combating crime] will be more difficult.”

    Colombia is facing its worst security crisis in a decade, with armed groups competing for control over drug trafficking, illegal gold mining and other illicit economies in the years since militants with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, gave up their arms in a peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016.

    If the U.S. ends its military and other aid to Colombia, the effect could be disastrous, said Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst for the Andes region at the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

    The Colombian military, which has long been fortified by U.S. training, weapons and other aid, is so skilled that its members are paid by the U.S. to teach anti-narcotics operations in other parts of the world, she said. “If the United States was truly interested in combating organized crime and drug trafficking,” she said, “why would they alienate the one partner in the region who is capable and willing to help?”

    “The U.S.-Colombia relationship has for many years transcended personal politics because both sides understood how important it was,” Dickinson continued. “Now the wisdom of the relationship that held it together for so long and made it so productive for both countries is being thrown out the window, and we’re losing decades of progress.”

    Relations between the nations have been unraveling since January, when Trump returned to the White House for a second term.

    After Petro refused to receive U.S. military flights of deported migrants, Trump threatened tariffs. Petro at first vowed retaliatory tariffs but backed down and agreed to accept the migrants to avert a trade war.

    More recently, the State Department announced it was revoking Petro’s visa after an appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York where he decried U.S. support for Israel and called for American soldiers to disobey Trump and “obey the orders of humanity.”

    The massing of U.S. forces in the Caribbean has further strained the relationship.

    The Trump administration has stationed roughly 10,000 troops and a fleet of ships and aircraft in the Caribbean, the largest U.S. military buildup in the region in decades.

    Although the force is ostensibly aimed at interrupting the drug trade, it is widely believed to be an effort to drive out Venezuela’s left-leaning autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, who, critics say, has plunged his nation into an economic and political crisis.

    Petro warned against U.S. meddling in Venezuela in a post on X on Monday, saying Washington was after the nation’s expansive oil reserves.

    “The Venezuelan people do not want invasions, blockades, or threats against them,” he wrote. “They do not like dictators, not domestic or foreign.”

    Last month, the Trump administration decertified Colombia as partner in the war on drugs, a move that could cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in annual aid, much of it for anti-drug efforts.

    Petro’s spat with Trump has sparked intense controversy in Colombia, which is starkly divided ahead of next year’s presidential election. (Petro is constitutionally barred from seeking reelection.)

    Petro’s supporters praised him for standing up to a global bully. But his critics said he has imperiled Colombia’s economy. The United States is Colombia’s top trading partner; it sent nearly $10 billion in exports to the U.S. in the first eight months of this year.

    Petro’s provocative attitude with the Trump administration contrasts with that of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, a leftist who has sought to accommodate Trump to avoid punishing tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States. But many worry that Mexico could also be in the Trump administration’s military crosshairs, as it is the major supplier of fentanyl and other drugs to the U.S. market.

    [ad_2]

    Kate Linthicum, Patrick J. McDonnell

    Source link

  • Graffiti-tarnished towers in downtown L.A. remain in limbo

    [ad_1]

    Early last year, vandals breached fencing, climbed dozens of flights of stairs and painted bold, colorful graffiti on the exterior of three unfinished high-rises that make up the abandoned Oceanwide Plaza development.

    The so-called Graffiti Towers — visible from great distances on the 110 Freeway and looming over thousands of visitors attending events across the street at Crypto.com Arena — were expected to be sold in a bankruptcy auction a year ago.

    But the long-running bankruptcy sale of downtown Los Angeles’ most spectacular eyesore drags on with no clear end in sight. Experts blame a confluence of factors, including high interest rates, rising construction costs and delays in attracting viable bidders.

    Construction on what would have been one of the city’s most notable landmarks, with high-rise housing, a hotel and a shopping center, halted in 2019 when Beijing-based conglomerate Oceanwide Holdings ran out of money to pay contractors after spending $1.2 billion on the complex that fills a large city block on Figueroa Street.

    Business leaders have expressed alarm that the graffiti some find artistic will prove embarrassing when global attention is focused on the World Cup next year and the Summer Olympics in 2028.

    Resolution of the Oceanwide Plaza saga also can’t come soon enough for many downtown stakeholders who see the graffitied towers — rising as high as 49 stories — as a dark presence besmirching the city and sending a negative message about the neighborhood.

    “The Graffiti Towers have worldwide infamy at this point,” said Cassy Horton, co-founder of the DTLA Residents Assn. “It’s like this beacon that shines and says, ‘Come create mischief down here and you won’t get in trouble. This is the spot to do it.’”

    A rendering of proposed advertising signs on the Oceanwide Plaza towers in downtown Los Angeles that are now covered with graffiti.

    (HansonLA)

    The graffiti is likely to remain until a new owner takes on the painstaking task of removing it.

    More than a year ago, a federal judge set a Sept. 17 auction of the property, saying there were several potential bidders. The winner of the auction ultimately wasn’t able to come up with the promised purchase price and negotiations commenced with other bidders.

    The real estate broker managing the sale, Mark Tarczynski of Colliers, declined to comment on the status of the sale but told real estate publication the Real Deal recently that two real estate development companies, one from the U.S. and one from abroad, are now competing as bidders. He said he anticipates closing the deal by the end of the year.

    The purchase price, which would be used to pay creditors including general contractor Lendlease and EB-5 visa investors, would just be the beginning of expenses for the new owner. Estimates to complete the project reach $1 billion, even though it is about 60% completed.

    Challenges to get it done include market conditions that are hamstringing other planned real estate developments. Builders complain of high interest rates for borrowing money to finance construction.

    New tariffs are driving up the cost of imported construction materials while raising uncertainty about how long the tariffs may last or what new ones may arise. Labor costs have also been increasing in recent years, and the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have added a destabilizing effect on the construction labor pool, industry observers have said.

    Los Angeles architect Douglas Hanson, who designed the 35-story Circa apartment complex next to Oceanwide Plaza, has an idea to shield people’s gaze from the graffitied towers and bring in some money.

    A skyscraper wrapped in a colorful patterned covering, next to other high-rises

    A rendering of a proposed covering on the east side of Oceanwide Plaza towers in downtown Los Angeles that are now awash in graffiti.

    (HansonLA)

    He suggests rolling down vinyl advertising signs that could be seen on the from the freeway on the west side of the complex and lowering other vinyl coverings on the east side that would display a beach scene or some other art.

    “You can get good money for advertising in that neighborhood,” which allows large commercial displays, Hanson said. Ad revenue would more than pay for the signs, he said.

    The buildings wouldn’t be fully wrapped like a Christo art project, he said. “Just drape them down and leave a little bit of the history of the building behind them.”

    The Oceanwide Plaza site was a sprawling asphalt lot used for event parking when Oceanwide Holdings bought it in 2014 with a vision to build a fancy, mixed-use development that was far bigger in scale than what is typically built in the U.S.

    Oceanwide set to work on the complex, which was intended to house luxury condominiums, apartments, a five-star Park Hyatt hotel and an indoor mall that would include deluxe shops and restaurants. A massive electronic sign on its facade was to bring a flavor of Times Square to Figueroa Street.

    Many of the residents and visitors were expected to be Chinese citizens, but the country’s government implemented tighter controls on money leaving the country in 2019 and the pool of potential condo buyers shrunk.

    [ad_2]

    Roger Vincent

    Source link

  • New 51-story apartment tower in downtown L.A. gets city nod

    [ad_1]

    A residential skyscraper has been approved in the South Park neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, though it’s unclear how soon construction will begin.

    The City Council last week signed off on a proposed 51-story apartment tower at 11th and Olive streets, a few blocks east of Crypto.com Arena and the L.A. Live entertainment district.

    New York developer Mack Real Estate Development declined to talk about the planned tower, but documents filed with the city show a tall tower with 536 rental units and ground floor spaces for bars, restaurants and other retail uses. It would have parking for 581 vehicles both underground and above ground.

    The site at 1105 S. Olive St. is now a surface parking lot.

    When asked when construction of the project might begin, a representative for Mack Real Estate said the company had no comment.

    Even though demand for housing is high in Los Angeles, it’s challenging to construct ground-up multi-unit housing in the current financial climate, urban development consultant Hamid Behdad said.

    Costs have risen and grown more unpredictable on multiple fronts, Behdad said, raising uncertainty for developers about whether they will be able to rent or sell new units profitably after completing them.

    Top hurdles include high interest rates for borrowing money to finance construction. New tariffs are driving up the cost of imported construction materials while raising uncertainty about how long the tariffs may last or what new ones may arise.

    Labor costs have also been increasing in recent years, Behdad said, and the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have added a destabilizing effect on the construction labor pool.

    Some developers who have downtown projects approved but not built are trying to sell them to other developers or investors, he said.

    “Nothing is easy,” Behdad said.

    South Park, though, is one of downtown’s most vibrant neighborhoods where thousands of new residences have been built in recent years, said Nick Griffin, executive director of the privately funded Downtown Center Business Improvement District, a nonprofit coalition of more than 2,000 property owners.

    There is “a demonstrable underlying demand for housing more across the city and region, but specifically in downtown with the occupancy rate at a pretty steady 90% or so,” he said.

    The location of Mack Real Estate’s planned project has already proved desirable to developers, Griffin said.

    “There have already been several significant projects built along that stretch and there are another four large-scale projects within a couple of blocks, so you’re you’re talking about a significant residential hub” that stands to attract new residents and more development, he said.

    Griffin said he hopes developers like Mack Real Estate are getting their projects ready for market conditions to change in the next six months to two years.

    “Financial conditions are going to align themselves at some point in the not too distant future,” he said, “and they want to have their projects teed up and ready to go.”

    [ad_2]

    Roger Vincent

    Source link