Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the latest U.S. protectionist measures, Argentina endorsing Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, and a new seat of power in the United Kingdom.
Forced Labor Allegations
U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war is back in full swing. On Friday, the White House imposed sweeping tariffs on 60 U.S. trading partners, including China and the European Union, igniting fierce condemnation from foreign leaders. Although Washington claims that the duties—which range from 10 percent to 12.5 percent—are to punish countries for failing to crack down on forced labor, many argue that these allegations are merely a thinly veiled strategy to reimpose levies that the Supreme Court struck down months ago.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the latest U.S. protectionist measures, Argentina endorsing Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, and a new seat of power in the United Kingdom.
Forced Labor Allegations
U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war is back in full swing. On Friday, the White House imposed sweeping tariffs on 60 U.S. trading partners, including China and the European Union, igniting fierce condemnation from foreign leaders. Although Washington claims that the duties—which range from 10 percent to 12.5 percent—are to punish countries for failing to crack down on forced labor, many argue that these allegations are merely a thinly veiled strategy to reimpose levies that the Supreme Court struck down months ago.
“Lacking a legal basis under domestic law to support its protectionist trade policy, the U.S. Trade Representative chose to manipulate an issue of great importance to human rights and workers’ rights movement,” Brazil’s government said in a statement.
Friday’s duties were established under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. They replace a temporary global 10 percent levy that expired at 12:01 a.m. that same day; those tariffs were issued in February mere hours after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump lacked the authority to issue his initial tranche of duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Initial reactions to Trump’s newest tax were overwhelmingly indignant. These tariffs are “completely unjustified,” Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said, adding that Canberra will continue to “argue very strongly” for Washington to remove all duties on Australian goods. Brazil vowed to take the matter to the World Trade Organization, and New Zealand stressed that it would continue diversifying its trading partnerships to reduce its dependence on the United States. “Tariffs are not the way,” New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X on Friday. “They drive up costs and uncertainty for businesses.”
Several governments pointed to their own labor protections to undermine Trump’s claims. “If you compare our labor laws to the ones of the United States, I mean, we have paid vacations, we have very good labor conditions for our employees, so it’s not really grounded,” European Union foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday, accusing Washington of reneging on its trade deal with the bloc.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara similarly condemned the tariffs for being imposed “even though Japan’s industry and trade are in line with international rules.” And the Philippines expressed outrage that the duties were issued just one day after Manila signed a joint administrative order to better address forced labor concerns.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that Beijing “opposes all forms of unilateral tariffs.” The new levies come just two months before Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Milei’s risky gambit. Argentine President Javier Milei flew to São Paulo on Friday to throw his support behind Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, who is set to formally announce his presidential campaign on Saturday. The endorsement underscores Milei’s ambitions to extend Latin America’s recent wave of right-wing electoral wins to the region’s biggest economy.
But publicly backing him could be a risky move. Many Brazilian conservative groups have refrained from supporting the senator while his father, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, serves a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup following his 2022 presidential election loss. The younger Bolsonaro has further fallen from favor after a public spat with his stepmother undermined his already weak standing with women voters and new U.S. tariffs on Brazilian goods revived allegations that the Trump administration is trying to sway the vote in the senator’s favor.
Flávio Bolsonaro had reportedly asked the White House to delay the new 25 percent duties until after Brazil’s election, arguing that they would give the government of incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “precisely the political victory it has been engineering.” But those tariffs went into effect on Wednesday, and local polling now has Lula in the lead with 45 percent of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 37 percent.
No. 10 North. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s commute to work just got a lot shorter. On Friday, the Labour Party leader opened a new government base out of the city of Manchester, more than 200 miles from London. Dubbed “No. 10 North” in reference to the Downing Street location, the former Manchester mayor stressed that the move is part of a wider effort to shift economic decision-making away from the capital.
“It’s not just a new office,” Burnham said. “Through this place, power is going to flow, energy is going to flow, new ideas are going to come through.” He described it as a counterbalance to the London location farther south, and he claimed that it will help bring growth to “every corner of the country.” Yet Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed it as nothing more than a “gimmick” that is “creating another branch of the civil service in a different place.”
Burnham campaigned on a promise to revolutionize the United Kingdom’s power structure. This appealed to many Labour lawmakers, who were looking for change following the disappointing tenure of Keir Starmer, whose time in office was riddled with scandal and far-right wins. Already, Burnham has used his first week as premier to introduce a slew of new measures aimed at improving high costs of living, which include capping bus fares, slashing the sales tax on domestic electricity bills, and cutting business rates for pubs, live music venues, and social clubs.
Khan out at the ICC. Members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) voted on Friday to dismiss chief prosecutor Karim Khan following allegations of sexual misconduct. With 82 votes in favor, 13 against, and 15 abstentions, Khan’s dismissal triggers an immediate search for his replacement at a precarious time for the court’s global standing.
Last month, Khan was temporarily removed from his post after a report by the ICC’s executive body found that he had committed “serious misconduct” with a woman staff member. Khan has denied any wrongdoing, and his legal team has called the process that led to Friday’s vote unlawful. But the United States has capitalized on the scandal to insert fresh doubt on the ICC’s legitimacy, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing the court on Thursday of being filled with “lunatics and crazies.”
Last week, the U.S. State Department vowed to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick,” accusing the body of infringing on the United States’ sovereignty and having a bias against Israel. In 2024, Khan issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders.
What in the World?
Which country did Yemen’s Houthi rebels declare a naval blockade against on Monday?
A. Saudi Arabia
B. Eritrea
C. Israel
D. Egypt
Odds and Ends
With local temperatures reaching record-setting highs, Japan needs a whole new vocabulary to describe its unprecedented weather. In April, the Japan Meteorological Agency asked residents to choose a name for a day whose temperature hits 104 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Locals selected kokushobi (or “cruel heat day”), and just three months later, Japan logged its first official use. “It feels like being in a sauna,” one tourist told local media on Wednesday.
And the Answer Is…
A. Saudi Arabia
Despite recent escalatory actions from both Riyadh and the Houthis, neither is interested in a return to full-scale war, Annelle Sheline writes.
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