South Korea has agreed to further open its car market to the United States as the two countries prepare to amend their six-year-old free trade agreement, its top trade negotiator says.South Korea's Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said the United States will end tariffs on South Korean-made pick-up trucks in 2041 instead of 2021.Each American car maker will also be able to export 25,000 additional vehicles to South Korea each year without having to comply with domestic safety regulations. South Korea also will ease emission standards for American cars shipped from 2021-2025, when the Asian country is due to set new import regulations.Kim said South Korea also won an exemption from increased import tariffs on steel products.The third-largest steel exporter to the United States after Canada and Brazil, South Korea was among 12 countries whose exports of steel and aluminum US President Donald Trump recently said would be hit with heavy tariffs. But South Korea's steel tariff exemption is … [Read more...] about Seoul agrees to more open car market to US
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Macron: We won’t negotiate ‘with a gun to our head’ over US tariffs
The EU’s temporary exclusion from punitive US tariffs on steel and aluminium “did not appear satisfactory to us,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after an EU summit on Friday (23 March). “Europe will not waiver,” he said. “By principle, we discuss everything with a country that is a friend and complies with WTO rules,” the French president replied when asked about the looming trade war between Europe and the United States over steel tariffs. “(But) we talk about nothing in principle with a gun pointed at our head,” Macron said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the summit, meant as a show of unity. “The American strategy is a bad strategy” although it comes in response to “a real problem” of overcapacity in steel production and dumped exports from China, Macron said. But “unilateral” reactions are not the answer, the French President emphasised. Door … [Read more...] about Macron: We won’t negotiate ‘with a gun to our head’ over US tariffs
US gunmaker Remington files for bankruptcy
One of America's largest gun manufacturers, Remington Outdoor Co Inc, has filed for bankruptcy protection to carry out a debt-cutting deal with creditors amid mounting public pressure for greater gun control.The company listed assets in the range of $US500 million ($A647m) to $US1 billion and liabilities in the range of $US500 million to $US1 billion in Sunday's filing.Remington, America's oldest gun maker, announced the deal in February to reduce its $US950 million debt in a deal that will transfer control of the company to creditors.The filing comes after a February 14 shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 and spurred an intense campaign for gun control by activists.The massacre inspired hundreds of thousands of young Americans to lead huge US anti-gun rallies on Saturday.In some of the biggest US youth demonstrations for decades, protesters called on lawmakers and President Donald Trump to confront the issue. Voter registration activists fanned out in the … [Read more...] about US gunmaker Remington files for bankruptcy
US family die from gas at Mexico resort
Autopsies indicate an American couple and their two children died from inhaling toxic gas at a rented condo on Mexico's Caribbean coast, but there was no sign of foul play or suicide, Mexican authorities say.The prosecutors' office in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo said on Saturday that "the cause of death was asphyxiation from inhaling toxic gases".It said the type of gas hadn't yet been determined but added that "any violent act or suicide has been discounted".Photos released by the office showed investigators in anti-contamination suits and firefighters with air tanks examining gas connections to a stove in the condo in Tulum.The office said investigators "carried out a physical investigation of the gas connections in the room" and the civil defence office of Tulum would issue a technical report on the findings.US officials identified the family as Kevin Sharp, 41; his wife, Amy Sharp, 38, and their children Sterling, 12, and Adrianna, 7. They were from Creston, Iowa.The … [Read more...] about US family die from gas at Mexico resort
Trump worries Juncker about future of EU-US relations, Poland remains ‘hopeful’
The president of the European Commission has warned that the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency poses risks to relations between the European Union and the United States. Jean-Claude Juncker said on November 11 that Trump risks “upsetting intercontinental relations in their foundation and in their structure”. Juncker also said Trump needs educating on what Europe is and how it works, recalling a statement Trump made which suggested he thought Belgium, the country where the EU’s and Nato’s main offices are, was a city. Meanwhile, Radio Poland online reported that Poland’s leadership remains optimistic about the future of the country’s relations with the United States. Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said: “We are hopeful about the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States”. The head of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party’s parliamentary caucus, Ryszard Terlecki, told Polish … [Read more...] about Trump worries Juncker about future of EU-US relations, Poland remains ‘hopeful’