Xi Jinping gets his way as Trump agrees to truce ahead of G-20
Ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting at the G-20 leaders’ summit, the US and China have agreed on a temporary truce in the ongoing trade war, reported South China Morning Post.
According to the report, this was Xi Jinping’s price for a meeting with Donald Trump.
Details of the agreement are being drawn up by respective sides.
Trump had previously threatened to apply up to 25 per cent tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. If talks go poorly at the summit, this may still happen, but Trump has said that tariffs should start at 10 per cent, said the report.
In the past year, Trump has imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods. At last year’s G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Trump and Xi agreed a three-month truce where neither side would increase tariffs. A similar arrangement is expected to be reached at this year’s G-20.
Bolsonaro’s crew member caught with cocaine
A crew member on a Brazilian Air Force aircraft was caught with 39kg of cocaine by Spanish police during a stopover in Seville en route the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, reported The Financial Times.
It was one of the planes used to fly the Brazilian president.
The discovery is an embarrassment for President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been tough on drug crime and frequently praises Brazil’s armed forces for upholding “the highest principles of ethics and morality.” Bolsonaro is a former army captain.
The crew member appeared in court Wednesday on charges of drug trafficking.
This comes on the same as the visit of former federal Brazilian judge Sergio Moro to the US to meet with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Brazil is a key smuggling route for cocaine produced in the Andes mountains that is headed for West Africa and Europe,
In other news:
Ehud Barak, ex-leader of Israel, will run in new election, The New York Times
Security ramped up as Indonesia court rules on disputed election, Reuters
Australian student arrested in North Korea, reports say, BBC