China outgrowing 'Factory of the World' tag as reliance on imports dips

President Donald Trump talked tough against Mexico, and then essentially agreed to renew the existing trade deal and called that a victory. If only the China spat could end the same way. It won’t. That’s because the gulf between Beijing and Washington is not just caused by recent rhetoric and tariffs. It also goes beyond national security concerns. The inevitable clash stems from how the American and Chinese economies have evolved over decades. Relative to China, Mexico hasn’t shifted much. It has been and remains mortgaged commercially, diplomatically and culturally to its northern neighbour. The White House is fond of citing the merchandise trade deficit with China that America racks up each year. In 2017, it amounted to $375 billion. Sure, it’s big. But the fixation with that number misses the broader point.

Trump aims to impose tariffs on steel, aluminium imports from EU: Report

President Donald Trump intends to impose steep import duties on steel and aluminium imports from Europe starting Friday, after weeks of talks failed to reach a compromise, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Trade officials from Washington and Brussels had continued discussions to find a solution, such as import quotas, that would convince Trump to extend the exemption for the European Union from the 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.

But The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter saying a last minute deal appeared unlikely, and the tariff announcement could come as early as Thursday.

Trump imposed the tariffs in March to address global oversupply of the metals, but though it was largely aimed at China it hit US allies as well.

Washington exempted Canada and Mexico from the tariffs while negotiations continue to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, and South Korea agreed to quotas instead of tariffs.

Trump aims to impose tariffs on steel, aluminium imports from EU: Report

President Donald Trump intends to impose steep import duties on steel and aluminium imports from Europe starting Friday, after weeks of talks failed to reach a compromise, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Trade officials from Washington and Brussels had continued discussions to find a solution, such as import quotas, that would convince Trump to extend the exemption for the European Union from the 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.

But The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter saying a last minute deal appeared unlikely, and the tariff announcement could come as early as Thursday.

Trump imposed the tariffs in March to address global oversupply of the metals, but though it was largely aimed at China it hit US allies as well.

Bill tabled in US Congress seeks call centre employees to disclose location

Legislation introduced in the US Congress could potentially curtail the competitiveness of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India and other key offshore locations like the Philippines and Mexico.

Introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio, the piece of legislation, if passed, will require call centre employees to disclose their locations and give customers the right to ask to have their calls transferred to customer service agents in the US. The item of legislation also proposes the creation of a public list of companies that outsource call centre jobs and provide preference in federal contracts to firms that have not shipped these jobs overseas.

This, however is not the first time such a proposal has been introduced in the US. In 2013, a similar piece of legislation, which was introduced by Congressman Tim Bishop and supported by many senators, did not see the light of the day.

Bilateral deals could replace NAFTA if pact is not renegotiated soon: US

The top US trade envoy said on Monday that bilateral deals could replace NAFTA if the pact is not renegotiated soon, ramping up pressure on Canada and Mexico, already smarting from President Donald Trump's plan to impose steel and aluminium tariffs.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said political headwinds would increase the longer the negotiations dragged on, warning that time to rework the 1994 trade deal was running "very short."

"We would prefer a three-way tripartite agreement. If that proves impossible, we are prepared to move on a bilateral basis," Lighthizer said, reading from a statement in Mexico City at the end of the seventh round of talks.

Mexico says Trump's unsurprising Nafta threats a negotiating tactic

US President Donald Trump's threat to scrap the Nafta trade pact is little more than a negotiating tactic, aimed at his political base, that should neither scare nor surprise Mexico, the country's foreign minister said on Wednesday as the peso weakened.

In a speech in Phoenix on Tuesday night, Trump reiterated his threats to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying the pact's future looked bleak. Trump has long called the 1994 pact a bad deal that hurt American workers, saying it should be re-negotiated or ended.

Initial talks to re-negotiate Nafta between Mexico, the United States and Canada ended in Washington this weekend with no sign of a breakthrough and further discussions are due in Mexico City in September.

Following Trump's remarks on Tuesday, Mexico's peso weakened more than 1 per cent in early trading on Wednesday before paring losses, as market jitters on the future of Mexican exports to the United States continue to plague the currency.

Videgaray, speaking on local television, sought to brush off the threat, saying Trump's comments were simply a negotiating tactic and Mexico would keep negotiating as well. The comments were not a surprise, nor would they scare Mexico, he added.
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The woman behind the most up-to-date interactive map of Femicides in Mexico

The interactive Femicides in Mexico Map, the most comprehensive and up-to-date of its kind in the country, is – according to its fundraising page – a “citizen-led, civic, independent initiative based on open data which, using geographical coordinates, has been mapping cases of femicide since 2016″. So far, it has recorded 2,355 cases.

The map's creator uses the practical definition of the United Nations model protocol for the investigation of gender-related killings of women, which defines “femicide” as:

the murder of women because they are women, whether it is committed within the family, a domestic partnership, or any other interpersonal relationship, or by anyone in the community, or whether it is perpetrated or tolerated by the state or its agents.

Her sources are newspaper reports and official statements on femicides, and her motivation is simple and clear: to name every single one of the women so that they are not forgotten.

She uses the pseudonym “Princesa” (“Princess”) to conceal her true identity so as to ensure her safety. Princesa says she became aware of community affairs through her mother, now 80 years old. Her mother, originally from the state of Zacatecas but who moved to Mexico City, is a working woman, the granddaughter of revolutionaries, with strong religious beliefs and who fights for the rights of the just and those of workers.

Princesa studied physics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and developed a passion for seismology and tsunamis. She ended up working commerce, but also became involved with maps when she collaborated with the intersectional peace project Nuestra Aparente Rendición (“Our Apparent Surrender”) and with online grassroots groups that track cases of kidnappings. Her dedication and technical knowledge gradually grew, as well as her ability to deal with big data and to use tools for the systematisation of geographical coordinates.

On the Femicides in Mexico Map's Facebook page, she receives messages from the press, politicians, legislators and ordinary people interested in her documentation project, but for her, the most important messages are those from the family members of the victims. Seeing the names of their daughters and the places in which they lost their lives on the map is a way of recognising that they have a name, a history, and that their lives have value, Princesa says, as she recalls some of those messages.
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Mexico shooting: 6 killed, including 2 toddlers, 3 women by armed men

Authorities in southern Mexico say that six people have been killed by armed men in a rural community on the outskirts of Acapulco.

Guerrero state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez Heredia says the victims in San Pedro Cacahuatepec include three women, a 4-month-old baby and a 17-year-old boy. Three children were also wounded when the shooters opened fire Friday on their humble homes. It appeared the victims were part of a single family.

It is an area where the federal government wants to build a dam, but the territory is disputed between two community defense groups. The vigilante-style police groups armed themselves in 2013 and 2014 to fight drug cartels.
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