Thursday Morning Briefing: Donald Trump threatened to hit China with tariffs on “at least” another $300 billion of goods

Highlights

Donald Trump threatened to hit China with tariffs on “at least” another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods but said he thought both China and Mexico wanted to make deals in their trade disputes with the United States. “Our talks with China, a lot of interesting things are happening. We’ll see what happens... I could go up another at least $300 billion and I’ll do that at the right time,” Trump told reporters, without specifying which goods could be impacted.

Donald Trump arrived in Caen, western France and paid tribute to the Allied forces who took part 75 years ago in D-Day. The leaders of France and Britain also paid tribute to the sacrifice of D-Day veterans, who took part in the largest ever seaborne invasion that opened the way for western Europe’s liberation from Nazi Germany.

Exclusive: U.S. pursues sale of over $2 billion in weapons to Taiwan, sources say. Sparking anger from Beijing which is already involved in an escalating trade war with Washington, the United States is pursuing the sale of more than $2 billion worth of tanks and weapons to Taiwan, four people familiar with the negotiations said.

Six undocumented migrants were killed when their car crashed into an irrigation ditch after a police chase in rural South Texas, police said. Five others were seriously injured. The SUV had been packed with more than a dozen undocumented migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico, Nueces County Sheriff J.C. Hooper said in an interview broadcast on local television networks.

World

“It’s no exaggeration to say you are walking over bodies,” says British climber Nick Hollis who has just conquered Everest and completed all Seven Summits of the world - putting him into an elite group of around 500 people globally who have scaled the highest mountains on all seven continents. Hollis says the traffic problems were down to several factors, including poor weather and large numbers of people. But most dangerous, in his view, is the growing count of “incompetent climbers” who move very slowly through technical sections of the route, creating bottlenecks and long delays.

A former nurse was convicted of killing 85 of his patients and sentenced to life imprisonment for the worst killing spree in Germany’s post-war history, multiple local media outlets reported. Niels Hoegel, who injected his patients with lethal drugs and then played the hero by appearing to struggle to revive them, had already been convicted and sentenced for two murders in 2015.

Conservationists target video gamers: Chilli, a gibbon native to Borneo, will soon be jumping from tree to tree in parks from New York to Nairobi as a character in a new augmented reality video game that aims to promote conservation of endangered species. Internet of Elephants, a Kenya-based software company, has developed a computer-generated facsimile of Chilli, a real live primate, and three other animals from the jungles of Asia and Africa.

Japan’s health minister said in response to a petition seeking a ban on requiring women to wear high heels at work that such dress code expectations are “necessary and appropriate” in the workplace. The petition, which has collected 21,000 online signatures and is still growing, was submitted on Monday to the health ministry by Yumi Ishikawa, a 32-year-old funeral parlour worker.

Business

Weapon of choice? China rare earth prices soar on their potential role in trade war

Chinese rare earth prices are set to climb further beyond multi-year highs hit following a flurry of state media reports that Beijing could weaponize its supply-dominance of the prized minerals in its trade war with Washington.

4 min read

U.S. must have access to U.S.-listed Chinese firms' audit documents, lawmakers say

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill to force Chinese companies listed on American stock exchanges to submit to regulatory oversight, including providing access to audits or face delisting. Chinese authorities have long been reluctant to allow overseas regulators to inspect local accounting firms - including member firms of the Big Four international accounting networks - citing national security concerns.

3 Min Read

Ford to close Wales engine plant in 2020 - union

Ford will close its engine plant in Bridgend, south Wales, by September 2020, a trade union said, putting 1,700 jobs at risk in the latest blow to Britain’s car industry. The Bridgend plant built around 20 percent of Britain’s 2.7 million automotive engines last year. However, a contract to supply Jaguar Land Rover ends in September 2020, which would have left the plant just building Ford petrol engines for export.

3 min read

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