YCLOAK

Importers of Iranian oil are facing pressure from the United States to find another energy source or be hit with sanctions.

The Trump administration is threatening other countries, including close allies such as South Korea, with the sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian imports by early November, essentially erecting a global blockade around the world’s sixth-biggest petroleum producer.

South Korea accounted for 14 percent of Iran’s oil exports last year, according to the U.S. Energy Department. China is the largest importer of Iranian oil with 24 percent, followed by India with 18 percent. Turkey stood at 9 percent, and Italy at 7 percent.

A State Department official told reporters this week that the “vast majority” of countries will comply with the U.S. request. A group from the State Department and the National Security Council is delivering the president’s message in Europe. The official added that the group had not yet visited China or India.

President Donald Trump announced in May that he would pull the United States out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, and would re-impose sanctions on Tehran. Previously, the administration said only that other countries should make a “significant reduction” in imports of Iranian crude to avoid U.S. sanctions.

European allies will reluctantly go along to avoid sanctions on their companies that do business in the U.S., said Jim Krane, an energy and geopolitics expert at Rice University. However, China, India and Turkey might be less likely to fully cut off Iranian imports, he said.

Antoine Halff, a researcher at Columbia University and former chief oil analyst for the International Energy Agency, said it’s not unusual for the U.S. government to seek cooperation from other importers of Iranian oil — President Barack Obama’s administration did it during a previous round of sanctions.

“The difference is that there was broad international support for the sanctions then,” while the move to restore sanctions now over Iran’s nuclear program “is a unilateral decision from the United States alone,” Halff said.

The Trump administration is counting on Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members to supply enough oil to offset the lost Iranian exports and prevent oil prices from rising sharply.

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. will be talking in a week or so “with our Middle Eastern partners to ensure that the global supply of oil is not adversely affected by these sanctions.”

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed over the weekend to boost oil production by about 600,000 barrels a day. Iran exported about 1.9 million barrels a day during the first quarter of this year, according to OPEC figures. It is the world’s seventh largest oil exporter.

“It would not be a heavy lift for OPEC to replace Iran’s contribution to world oil markets — Saudi Arabia could probably do it on its own,” Krane said. “Saudi spare capacity protects the U.S. motorist from U.S. foreign policy.”
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President Donald Trump was highlighting his economic policies Thursday by taking part in the ceremonial ground-breaking for a $10 billion Foxconn factory complex that may bring thousands of jobs to a state he barely carried in the 2016 presidential election.

But Trump’s celebration comes amid less-rosy economic news, with Harley-Davidson’s announcement it’s moving some motorcycle production overseas to avoid European Union tariffs that are a product of Trump’s escalating trade dispute with long-standing U.S. allies.

The president was irked by the Milwaukee-based company’s announcement this week and tweeted about it for three straight days, writing that any shift in production “will be the beginning of the end” for the iconic American manufacturer and even threatening retaliatory taxes.

Trump’s presence in Wisconsin was the subject of protests both in Milwaukee, where he spent a rare weeknight away from the White House, and in Mount Pleasant, where final preparations were under way for the ground-breaking.

Chants of “Hey, hey, Ho, ho. Donald Trump has got to go” were heard near the Pfister Hotel, where Trump overnighted and attended a pair of closed-door campaign events before heading to the groundbreaking and tour of an existing Foxconn facility. Gov. Scott Walker and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., were among those joining the president at the fundraisers. 

About 50 people walked from a downtown park to as close as they could get to the roped-off hotel, hoping Trump hears their calls to reunite migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border after the president decide to prosecute everyone trying to enter the U.S. illegally.

As the president hobnobbed with supporters, his wife, Melania, was making her second trip in a week to the southern border to visit detention centers housing migrant children. She toured a Texas center last Thursday.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights organization, said the family separation issue is not unique to border communities. She said it’s also happening in the U.S. interior where deportations have increased.

“The scale of human rights violations that are being inflicted on children and families by the current administration should shake us to our core,” she said.

Protesters were also gathering near the Foxconn Technology Group campus in Mount Pleasant, about 30 miles south of Milwaukee.

Nearly 40 groups representing students, environmentalists, civil rights advocates, teachers, union workers and others have organized an event featuring dozens of speakers, a marching band, singers and musicians who plan to play ominous “Star Wars” music.

Foxconn is the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer and assembles Apple iPhones and other products for tech companies. Based in Taiwan, it chose Wisconsin after being prodded by Trump and others, including Ryan, whose district will include the plant.

The project could employ up to 13,000 people, though opponents say it is costing Wisconsin taxpayers too much.

The ceremonial groundbreaking was supposed to be evidence that the manufacturing revival fueled by Trump’s “America First” policy is well underway. But Harley-Davidson’s announcement, spurred by the trans-Atlantic tariff fight, appears to have turned that on its head.

Walker is counting on a strong economy as part of his case for re-election in November. Wisconsin’s unemployment is at record-low levels and Walker argues that the Foxconn project, the largest economic development deal in state history, shows the state is on the right track.

When the deal, reached with assistance from the White House, was signed last year, Walker said critics could “suck lemons” and “all of us in the state should be smiling, Republican and Democrat, doesn’t matter.”

A year later, opinion polls show Wisconsin voters are split on the project and the state of the economy.

Trump carried Wisconsin by less than 1 point — just under 23,000 votes. He’s underwater in popularity, with only 44 percent of respondents in last week’s Marquette University Law School poll approving of the job he’s doing, while 50 percent disapproved.

Republicans were mostly unified in support of Foxconn, saying it is a once-a-generation opportunity to transform the state’s economy. But most Democrats — including all eight of those running against Walker — are against it, arguing the potential $4.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies was too rich. If paid out — they’re tied to jobs and investment benchmarks — the incentives would be the most paid to a foreign company in U.S. history.

Should Foxconn employ 13,000 workers as envisioned, it would be the largest private-sector employer in Wisconsin.

“Foxconn’s state-of-the-art products will be made in the U.S.A. — proudly in the state of Wisconsin!” Walker tweeted Tuesday, as he tried to shift the focus away from Harley-Davidson.

 
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China defended its trade practices Thursday as being beneficial to the world as it tries to ease pressure from the United States and Europe to abandon what they consider to be Beijing’s protectionist policies.

China’s rapid economic growth “has brought great opportunities to trading partners all over the world,” Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said at a Beijing news conference.

Wang unveiled a report highlighting reforms China has taken since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001.He said Beijing has “carried out every promise” since joining the WTO.

Wang’s defense of China’s business practices come amid threats of a trade war with the United States and arguments by Europe and Washington that China limits access to emerging industries and steals or forces other countries to hand over technology.

Trump’s threat of tariff increases on Chinese goods worth up to $450 billion reflects fears that China’s actions are a threat to America’s technological leadership.Germany and other countries have complained that Beijing prohibits purchases of Chinese assets while Chinese companies engage in a worldwide spending spree.

The dispute with Trump has allowed China, which has the world’s second largest economy, to position itself as a defender of free trade.When asked about possible U.S. plans to limit Chinese investment in its technology sectors, Wang said, “We hope countries concerned can do the right thing and adopt policies that support free trade and investment.”

The U.S. and other trading partners maintain China’s emergence in the smartphone, solar and other technology sectors means it should no longer be afforded protections it was granted as a developing country when it joined the WTO.

China has offered to cut its multi-billion trade surplus with the United States, but has refused to abolish a strategy that its Communist leaders believe is a path to increased global influence and prosperity.

China and the European Union announced this week they will form a group to update WTO rules to keep pace with global economic developments.
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Jared Kushner’s family company is suing a New Jersey city, alleging it forced the delay of a major twin-tower project due to “political animus” toward President Donald Trump.

The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Kushner Cos. claims Jersey City and the city’s redevelopment agency “put politics over principle” when they broke a contract with developers over the planned One Journal Square project, according to a report in the Jersey Journal.

Trump is a Republican. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a defendant in the suit, is a Democrat.

The Kushner Cos. previously threatened a lawsuit in April after the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency said developers were in default because they missed a deadline to begin construction on the project.

Fulop dismissed the lawsuit, saying it amounts to “hearsay nonsense.” He said “it’s not like the Kushners have a great deal of credibility in anything they say” and that “they will do anything to manipulate a situation.”

The lawsuit is seeking to stop the city from ending the project’s contract and declare the notice of default null and void. It calls the default threat a “transparent pretext to enhance Fulop’s status among the electorate of the city.”

Joseph Fiorenzo, the company’s lawyer, said the “outrageous conduct” of city officials “strikes at the very heart of our economic system which has, as its foundation, the freedom of people to organize their affairs by entering into contracts. This is the glue that holds our economic system together.”

The suit also names the city and the redevelopment agency as defendants.

 
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Enslaved on a Thai fishing vessel for 11 years, Tun Lin saw his fellow workers lose their minds one after another, with one fisherman jumping into the sea to end his

life.

Some would start murmuring or laughing to themselves as they worked day and night in Indonesian waters on the cramped boat, often surviving on fish they caught and drinking water leaking from an onboard freezer.

“It was like a floating prison – actually, worse than prison,” the Burmese fisherman, who was sold into slavery, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Samut Sakhon, a Thai fishing hub some 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the capital Bangkok.

The 36-year-old, who was rescued in 2015 after losing four fingers and being stranded on a remote island for years without pay, is now lobbying for fishermen’s rights with the Thai and Migrant Fishers Union Group (TMFG).

Under growing consumer pressure, Thailand has introduced a raft of modern technologies since 2015 – from satellites to optical scanning and electronic payment services – to crack down on abuses in its multibillion-dollar fishing industry.

It is one of a growing number of countries using innovation to deal with modern slavery, from mobile apps in India to blockchain in Moldova, but experts warn against over-reliance on tech as a silver bullet without stronger workers’ rights.

“Technology can be a double-edged sword,” said Patima Tungpuchayakul, co-founder of the Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation, a Thai advocacy group. “It has become an excuse the government is using to justify they have done something, but in practice they don’t use it to solve the problem.”

More than half the estimated 600,000 industry workers are migrants, often from poor neighboring countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar, United Nations (U.N.) data shows.

Tracking Devices

After the European Union threatened to ban fish exports from Thailand, and the U.S. State Department said it was failing to tackle human trafficking, the Southeast Asian country toughened up its laws and increased fines for violations.

It banned the use of workers aged below 18 and ordered fishermen to be given contracts and be paid through electronic bank transfers.

Authorities ordered Thai vessels operating outside national waters to have satellite communications for workers to contact their families or report problems at sea, plus tracking devices to spot illegal fishing.

“We are serious in law enforcement regarding human trafficking and illegal labor cases,” said Weerachon Sukhontapatipak, a Thai government spokesman. “There might not be abrupt change … it will take time.”

Thailand is also rolling out an ambitious plan, using iris, facial and fingerprint scans to record fishermen’s identities to make sure they are on the boats they are registered with and help inspectors spot trafficking victims.

Rights groups meanwhile have tried to use satellites to pinpoint the location of ships that remain at sea for long periods, potentially indicating enslavement.

But human trafficking expert Benjamin Smith said using satellites to tackle slavery at sea was not easy unless there is a lead on where to track in the vast ocean.

“I think people underestimate the size of the ocean and the ability to pinpoint where something as small as a boat is,” Smith from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said. “If you have good information, intelligence, then satellite images can be good … It has to be a small part of a much bigger effort.”

Smith also highlighted difficulties prosecuting cross-border trafficking cases and maritime police funding shortages, adding that continued consumer pressure on firms to clean up their supply chains could be a potent force to help end slavery.

“That’s probably the best way you can start,” he said.

Good News

Fishermen remain at risk of forced labor and the wages of some continue to be withheld, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in March.

To combat slavery, firms must improve workers’ lives, rather than cutting labor costs and recruiting informally to meet demand for cheaper goods, experts say.

“Smaller owners are getting squeezed, and still rely on brokers and agents, who dupe workers and keep them ignorant of their rights and conditions on the boat,” said Sunai Phasuk, a researcher with lobby group Human Rights Watch in Bangkok.

Workers are set to become more vocal with the May launch of the Fishers’ Rights Network, which aims to combat abuses, backed by the world’s largest canned tuna producer, Thai Union, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

“Without enforceable rights at the workplace and the strength that comes from being represented by a union, labor rights violations and the mistreatment will continue,” said Johnny Hansen, chairman of ITF’s fisheries section.

Thailand’s ratification this month of the ILO protocol on forced labor also offers hope. It is the first Asian country to promise to combat all forms of the crime, including trafficking, and to protect and compensate victims.

“We have … committed to changing the law to allow workers to form unions, so we can work together to solve the problems,” said Thanaporn Sriyakul, an advisor to the deputy prime minister. “But the process is long, and it will take time.”

Thailand has also pledged to ratify two other conventions on collective bargaining and the right to organize, which campaigners say would better protect seafood workers.

This would be good news for Lin’s fishermen’s group, which has helped rescue more than 60 people since 2015, but has no legal status as Thai law does not permit fisher unions, leading rights advocates to use other terms, like workers’ groups.

“There are still lots of victims, and I want to help them,” Lin said. “As fishermen who have suffered in a similar manner, we understand each other’s needs and are able to help better.”
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U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as gains in technology, consumer discretionary stocks and General Electric helped Wall Street recover from a sharp sell-off a day earlier on spiraling global trade tensions.

GE rose 8.2 percent, on track for its biggest one-day gain in over three years, after the company said it would spin off its healthcare business and divest its stake in oil-services company Baker Hughes.

Technology stocks rose, after plunging on Monday after reports of possible restrictions on foreign investment in U.S. technology firms. Apple was up 1.8 percent, Amazon rose 1.9 percent and Netflix gained 4.6 percent.

“We’re still in a tug-of-war between daily twists and turns of a potential trade war and the reality of a strong underlying U.S. economy,” Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co said.

Mnuchin turns to Twitter

The benchmark S&P 500 index on Monday saw its worst day in more than two months, dropping 1.37 percent after conflicting messages from Trump administration officials on the proposed foreign investment restrictions.

After initial reports that only Chinese investments would be curbed, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Twitter that restrictions would apply “to all countries that are trying to steal our technology.”

White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro later said only China would be targeted.

Harley-Davidson fell 0.8 percent after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened the company with higher taxes, a day after the company said it would move production of motorcycles, shipped to the EU, to its international facilities.

At 12:57 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 81.61 points, or 0.34 percent, at 24,334.41, the S&P 500 was up 10.83 points, or 0.40 percent, at 2,727.90 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 46.43 points, or 0.62 percent, at 7,578.44.

Oil crude prices rise

Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.27 percent gain in the energy index.

Oil prices jumped over 2 percent as Washington pushed allies to halt imports of Iranian crude.

U.S. homebuilder Lennar jumped about 6.3 percent as strong housing demand helped it report better-than-expected quarterly results.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.89-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 43 new highs and 44 new lows.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the government was completing a study about increasing import tariffs on cars from the European Union and suggested he would take action soon.

“We are finishing our study of Tariffs on cars from the E.U. in that they have long taken advantage of the U.S. in the form of Trade Barriers and Tariffs. In the end it will all even out – and it won’t take very long!” Trump tweeted.

On Friday Trump threatened to impose a 20 percent tariff on all imports of EU-assembled cars, a month after his administration launched an investigation into whether auto imports posed a national security threat.

On Saturday, a senior European Commission official said the EU would respond to any U.S. move to raise tariffs on cars made in the bloc.

The U.S. Commerce Department has a deadline of February 2019 to investigate whether imports of automobiles and auto parts pose a risk to U.S. national security.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last Thursday the department aimed to wrap up the probe by late July or August.

Trump has repeatedly singled out German auto imports to the United States for criticism.

Trump told carmakers at a meeting in the White House on May 11 that he was planning to impose tariffs of 20 percent or 25 percent on some imported vehicles and sharply criticized Germany’s automotive trade surplus with the United States.

The United States currently imposes a 2.5 percent tariff on imported passenger cars from the EU and a 25 percent tariff on imported pickup trucks. The EU imposes a 10 percent tariff on imported U.S. cars.

 
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After beer, the summer barbecue may now be under threat in northern Europe.

A shortage of carbon dioxide that has already drawn warnings from beer makers about potential production problems is also hitting food processing companies. Scotland’s biggest pork producer said Tuesday it would run out of the gas in a week.

Slaughterhouses use carbon dioxide to stun animals before slaughter, and also use it in packaging to increase shelf-life in stores.

The British government prioritizes carbon dioxide for use in hospitals and fire-extinguishers, so companies that use the gas for manufacturing — to make fizzy drinks or process meat, for example — are being supplied with less.

Industrial carbon dioxide is obtained as a byproduct in the production of fertilizers. That means that companies that use the gas, like breweries and slaughterhouses, have no say on how much is produced.

Production is usually lower in the summer because of the hot weather, but a string of problems across the sector have meant that fertilizer makers have shut down more of their plants than usual. In addition, overall production of carbon dioxide is under pressure as the market for the fertilizer ammonium nitrate has weakened, said Nick Allen, head of the British Meat Processors Association.

“If it’s not making much money, you basically don’t carry on producing it. Things are getting tight,” he said.

Allen said that if carbon dioxide is in short supply, “it might well affect the price of meat.” Many major suppliers “will have to make very serious decisions about their levels of production.”

Among smaller businesses, the shortage could hurt farmers. Alex Gordon, the manager of Maidland’s Farm in Scotland, said that the shortage would be detrimental to his business. As slaughterhouses set prices, Gordon worries the amount of money given to farmers “would hit the ground.”

“Farmers could make less money,” he said.

Zoe Davies, CEO of Britain’s National Pig Association, says the shortages could last weeks for some companies but is hopeful that the pig industry will not suffer lasting damage. Davies said no work is being canceled so far, with major farms moving their pigs to other slaughterhouses.

“I don’t think the customer would see any difference,” said Davies.

Even though meat manufacturers predict that carbon dioxide supplies will return to normal levels within the next few weeks, Davies sees the issue as a lesson for the industry: “We have to work out how on earth we got into this situation. Nobody ever imagined a situation where they would lose carbon dioxide completely.”
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson of quitting on the United States by moving more of its manufacturing overseas to avoid hefty new European Union tariffs on its bikes made in the U.S.

In a string of Twitter comments targeting the iconic American manufacturer, Trump contended that “A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never!”

With Harley’s falling U.S. sales, Trump declared, “Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end – they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!”

The U.S. leader said that the company, based in the midwestern state of Wisconsin, had already announced plans last year to move some of its manufacturing from the U.S. to Thailand and now was using the 31 percent tariff the EU is imposing on Harley’s U.S-made bikes as an excuse to further increase overseas production. Parts for the firm’s motorcycles are made throughout the world, including in Brazil, Australia, India, Japan and Mexico.

Harley-Davidson said the EU tax would add $2,200 to the cost of each U.S. bike it sent to Europe, potentially costing the company up to $45 million for the rest of 2018 and about $90 million to $100 million annually in the future. Trump warned that the company “must know that they won’t be able to sell back into U.S. without paying a big tax!”

Trump first vented his ire at the company Monday, saying he was “Surprised that Harley-Davidson, of all companies, would be the first to wave the White Flag” and move manufacturing overseas because of the EU tariffs. He urged the company, whose top officials visited the White House last year shortly after Trump took office, to “Be patient!”

Aside from taxing the Harley imports, the EU is imposing new levies on several iconic U.S. brands, including Levi’s jeans and Kentucky bourbon, all in response to Trump’s imposition of new tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports.

The EU’s top trade official, Cecilia Malmstrom, said Harley’s move toward making its bikes overseas is a result of Trump’s tariffs.

“We don’t want to punish, but that is the unfortunate consequence, that [U.S. companies] will put pressure on the American administration to say ‘Hey, hold on a minute. This is not good for the American economy,'” Malmstrom said.

‘They must play fair’

In his Tuesday tweets, Trump defended his trade battles with the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.

“We are getting other countries to reduce and eliminate tariffs and trade barriers that have been unfairly used for years against our farmers, workers and companies,” he said. “We are opening up closed markets and expanding our footprint. They must play fair or they will pay tariffs!”

Trump said the U.S. is finishing its study of tariffs on cars the EU exports to the U.S. He claimed that the EU has “long taken advantage of the U.S. in the form of Trade Barriers and Tariffs. In the end it will all even out – and it won’t take very long!”

Trump told a political rally Monday night in South Carolina, “I want the barriers taken down, I want our farmers to be able to trade” in Canada and Europe with reduced tariffs.

Since he began campaigning for president, Trump has sought to put U.S. trade interests first, including working to negotiate new trade deals with some of the country’s largest economic partners.  That has included talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, as well as separate efforts to alter existing relationships with the European nations.

China has been the recipient of some of Trump’s strongest words as his administration demanded changes to address the longstanding gap in trade between the two countries.  Those talks have brought threats from both sides of new tariffs that have also helped shake financial markets fearing a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

“They might not be helping us anymore and that would be too bad,” Trump said Monday.  “I’ve been as nice as I can as long as I can, but we got to get some balance and it doesn’t have to be perfect, but there’s got to be some fairness.”

U.S. stock markets plunged Monday on fears of an international trade war, but Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday and European stocks advanced in early-day trading.

 
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