The White House has defended Joe Biden's decision to cut short his tour of Asia to resolve the debt-ceiling standoff with Republicans. The US president's meetings with Pacific island leaders and attendance at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue summit in Sydney were both put on hold while he returned to Washington, leading to accusations that it benefitted China. White House adviser Jake Sullivan, while en route to Japan, said that the postponed work could be "done at a later date," but the negotiations over the debt limit and budget could not be put off.
As the Group of 7 summit opens today, global leaders will discuss how to keep the international economy stable amidst growing uncertainty. Two major issues on the agenda are Ukraine and China. However, the most pressing threat to the global economy may be the US economy. With less than two weeks remaining to pay its bills, a default would jolt its own economy and those of the other G7 countries. In an attempt to address the issue at home, President Biden has cancelled the second part of his planned trip, which included visits to Papua New Guinea and Australia. Analysts warn that fears of an unreliable and dysfunctional America will be revived in that region where the US has only recently started to rebuild trust and momentum.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is running for re-election and recently spoke with the Associated Press about his plans for the future. He highlighted economic development and his response to natural disasters throughout the state. He also defended his approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic and abortion rights in the state. Beshear's Republican opponent will be Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who won the Republican primary. Cameron is the first Black nominee for either party for governor in Kentucky. Beshear supports President Biden's re-election bid.
The Group of Seven meeting, set to begin on Friday, will see Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appeal to the seven wealthiest democracies to scrap nuclear arms and work towards “a world without nuclear arms”. The strength of his case will be challenged by the security situation in the region, with Japan’s neighbours, North Korea, China and Russia being the possessors of about half of the world's nuclear warheads. The US has recently brought more assets close to Japan and South Korea in a bid to increase deterrence to counter the rising nuclear threats around the world; G-7 statements have highlighted other concerns over non-proliferation, including the rising atomic ambitions of Iran. Critics argue that the US is pulling the group towards an increase in nuclear weapons capability when Kishida is appealing for disarmament. Leaders are therefore expected to try for a balance between disarmament and countering nuclear threats.
US President Joe Biden is set to meet with South Korean and Japanese leaders during the upcoming G7 leaders summit in Japan, according to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. A trilateral meeting will be attempted between the leaders.
Leaders of the G7 countries – the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Canada – face several challenges as they gather in Hiroshima. The global economic outlook is unstable, while Russia continues its actions in Ukraine and China expands its economic and strategic growth. The G7 will need to address several issues, including enlisting middle countries such as those in Africa, and addressing China without creating undue confusion. Moreover, with concerns around nuclear proliferation and use re-emerging, the monitoring architecture of nuclear arsenals needs to be maintained to avoid future use of nuclear weapons. Finally, as global temperatures continue to rise and heatwaves become deadlier, coordinated responses and the regulation of cryptocurrency will become increasingly important.
Montana has become the first US state to enact a total ban on TikTok, with the law coming into effect in January 2024. In addition to barring TikTok from operating in the state, the law also prohibits its download. Tech companies have expressed doubts that the ban will be possible to impose, while the state's American Civil Liberties Union described the law as "excessive government control". TikTok, which has over 1 billion users globally, including 150 million in the US, has faced privacy concerns and alleged links to the Beijing government.
Montana has banned the sales and use of TikTok state-wide, becoming the first state to do so. Governor Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law on 12 May, stating that the law would "protect Montanans' private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party." The bill imposes fines of $10,000 per day on any mobile store making the app available and on TikTok itself if it operates the app within the state. Lawsuits challenging the ban are expected, with the American Civil Liberties Union accusing Gianforte of violating the First Amendment.
Micron Technology is set to receive around $1.5bn in government incentives from Japan to manufacture next-gen memory chips. The company intends to use the cash, which will mark the arrival of EUV equipment to the country for the first time, to introduce a facility to fabricate DRAM chips with plans to launch the more advanced one-gamma production in late 2024. The incentives form part of Japan's move to bolster domestic semiconductor production, something that would provide a backup to Taiwan amid growing tensions between China and the US. Mini-app Rapidus, meanwhile, plans to make 2-nanometer chips by 2027.
European shares are expected to rally on the news of progress in U.S. debt ceiling negotiations. Wall Street and Asian stocks were lifted by the news that an agreement has been reached for direct discussions between President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy. Smaller, focussed negotiation teams were also agreed on, helping some analysts feel Western nations have moved closer to an advanced stage in discussions. European macro indicators will be in short supply, meaning that US indicators — including Philly Fed survey, jobless claims, existing home sales and data relating to China's post-COVID recovery — will be strongly watched.
Former business secretaries attack Sunak’s lack of industrial strategy
Financial Times
23-05-18 04:33
Three former UK business secretaries from different parties, Lord Mandelson, Sir Vince Cable and Greg Clark, have accused Chancellor Rishi Sunak of having neither an effective nor visible industrial strategy. Clark said Sunak had never even referred to the subject. Mandelson said the lack of enthusiasm had resulted in a confused policy, while Cable said it had been discontinued due to "ideological zealotry". Senior government insiders admitted the policy was not contained within a single document and was a "comms issue". The role of the state in economies recently has highlighted a difference between European and US approaches.
Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet privately to discuss a range of issues, including strengthening cooperation between their countries, at the G7 summit cycle, a gathering of major industrialised nations, with Kishida keen to discuss deterrence and response capability for China’s Indo-Pacific assertiveness. With China claiming Taiwan should be under its rule, discussing efforts to respond to nuclear threats from North Korea may pose a diplomatically difficult path of discussion for the Japanese prime minister, who comes from Hiroshima, where the US dropped the first nuclear bomb in 1945.
Joe Biden's re-election 2024 campaign is planning to retain the key battleground states he won in 2020, while also trying to make gains in states he lost including North Carolina and Florida. Re-election campaign chief, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, emailed interested parties to say the Democrats will plan early investments to keep Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and New Hampshire, while also targeting Georgia and Arizona. The email did not specifically address former president Donald Trump, but referred to Democrats "prevailing over the MAGA extremist agenda once again". Biden's presidential campaign strategy generally focused on painting former president Trump and his supporters as a direct threat to American political values. National Democrats remain firmly behind Biden, who will face only token opposition in the party's presidential primary from self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr.
President Joe Biden's re-election campaign is optimistic about his chances in the 2024 election despite polls indicating lacklustre support for the 80-year-old incumbent. Campaign manager Julie Rodriguez said that Biden will aim to repeat his 2020 victories in Arizona and Georgia, while not conceding Florida, which has voted Republican in recent elections. Rodriguez said that the president and vice-president will also invest early in states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, while looking to expand into North Carolina and Florida.
Anti-abortion campaigners and pro-life religious groups are moving to the forefront of the battle over abortion, hoping that the new wave of laws in Republican states will trump state laws. Activists who sway legal opinions warn that any effort to retreat from national abortion restrictions would be a serious mistake, and Kellyanne Conway believes a 15-week limit on abortion is an effective way to put Democrats on defense on the issue. Two-thirds of Americans say they oppose the decision to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, and despite abortion restrictions becoming more prevalent, the pro-choice lobby is seen as powerful and a key issue for many voters in the Democratic party. Trump, as a candidate, has not yet given his opinion on where he will draw the line on federal legislation concerning abortion since the Supreme Court ruling overturning the right to an abortion.
From Ukraine war to China’s rising power: 5 reasons this G7 matters
CNN
23-05-18 08:48
The leaders of the world’s most advanced democracies will meet in Hiroshima today to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and emerging threats from China. The meeting’s location has placed nuclear arms at the top of the agenda, with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum looming close by. The museum reminds visitors of the risks of nuclear war with dozens of exhibits, including timepieces stopped at 8.16am, the exact timing of the atomic bomb that was dropped on the city in August 1945 by a US Army Air Force B-29 bomber. Global risk monitors, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, states that the Doomsday Clock, an annual indicator of how close the world is to nuclear disaster, now stands at 90 seconds to midnight, an unprecedentedly dangerous rating; Russia’s war on Ukraine is cited as a major cause, together with Chinese weapons building, and a North Korea testing nuclear capable missiles.
The Biden administration's new foreign policy doctrine, outlined by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, has a number of flaws that could ultimately weaken US global leadership, according to The Economist. The doctrine fuses domestic prosperity, defence and climate change under a framework of a greater government role in society and an emphasis on national security. However, the combination of state-led industrial policies and protectionism underlying the plan may end up undermining the country's international strength, the magazine argued. The policy of balancing the management of the US-China relationship with a militarily cautious approach reflects a belief that establishing "strategic maturity" can make America safer and keep the world on a virtuous path, but this is flawed, as the US economic influence is far from in decline and its involvement in global economic rules is essential, warned the magazine.
Papua New Guinea will sign a defence cooperation agreement and maritime surveillance pact with the US, said Prime Minister James Marape. The deal follows agreements signed between China and Papua New Guinea in April, which included a memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative. The US plan would see American troops gain access to PNG ports and airports in return for access to satellite surveillance. Joe Biden's administration has recently been placing more importance on relations with the Pacific, over concerns about China’s increasing aggression in the region.
The Australian government is pumping AUD50m ($36.8m) into critical minerals refineries, rare earths mining and battery plants to diversify supply chains. The funding will split between seven projects in Western Australia, three in New South Wales and three in Queensland. The projects will receive funding under the critical minerals development program, an initiative focused on the electric vehicle lithium-ion battery sector and supply chain materials for advanced manufacturing in aerospace, medicine, energy and defence, Resources Minister Madeleine King said.
On the podcast The Bottom Line, Steve Clemons interviews Jason Miller, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, and Faiz Shakir, former campaign manager for Bernie Sanders, on their respective candidates' chances in the upcoming US presidential election. Miller argues that Trump's anti-establishment message will resonate with millions of voters across the political spectrum, while Shakir contends that Trump's candidacy will only serve to increase support for presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
