News of world trade

EU to present Mercosur trade deal 'in coming days'

30-06-2025 13:01 European Commission will present EU states with the final legal version of a trade deal with South American nations "in the coming days," says spokesperson.

LABOUR RIGHTS

Workers' rights in 'free fall' globally, says trade union report

02-06-2025 19:01 International Trade Union Confederation highlights "profound deterioration" in workers' rights in its annual rights index.

TRADE WARS

Trump says he will double steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%

31-05-2025 10:35 US President Donald Trump says will double steel and aluminium import tariffs to 50% from next week.

TRADE & COMMERCE

Lula and Xi to ink new deals as Brazil shrugs off Trump’s trade threats

13-05-2025 08:51 Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and China’s Xi Jinping are set to ink new trade-related agreements in Beijing on Tuesday.

ARGENTINA-CHINA RELATIONS

Chinese business interests await gesture from Milei towards Xi

01-05-2025 09:18 Over-enthusiasm for the United States has damaged links with China, hampering political moves towards investment and trade agreements. A presidential trip to the Asian power is the key to smoothing the acrimony.

by Eugenia Muzio

Geopolitcs & trade

Xi is trying to turn world against US as Trump cuts trade deals

29-04-2025 11:03 Beijing officials are racing to turn foreign governments against the United States inside a 90-day window Trump has granted all nations — except China — to strike trade deals during a tariff reprieve.

EU-MERCOSUR TRADE DEAL

EU hopes Trump tariffs can nudge Mercosur deal past finish line

17-04-2025 09:10 Spectre of transatlantic trade war is fuelling hopes of a silver lining in Europe: that the long-awaited EU-Mercorur free-trade deal could get a final green light.

GEOPOLITICS & DIPLOMACY

Trump’s China trade war is forcing Latin America to pick a side

15-04-2025 14:02 Intensifying battle between world’s two largest economies has left governments grappling with the reality that their days of doing big business with Beijing without serious blowback from Washington are numbered.

As I see it

Trump has China in the crosshairs

12-04-2025 05:41 The 19th century belonged to the United Kingdom, the 20th to the United States. And the 21st?

by James Neilson

Global politics – Analysis

Trump, Milei and how to lose the trust of markets and voters

12-04-2025 05:37 Trump stepped back from the edge, at least momentarily, even though he is keeping his finger on the trigger.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

EURO TRADE PLANS

EU races to expand two-trillion-euro trade network as US links sour

11-04-2025 13:49 The European Union is racing to clinch trade deals with countries around the world in an effort to diversify away from an increasingly protectionist United States.

EU-MERCOSUR TRADE DEAL

Trump’s tariffs may speed EU–Mercosur deal, says Orsi

11-04-2025 10:09 Uruguay’s president sees US protectionism pushing Europe to compromise on stalled trade pact

TRUMP'S TARIFF WAR

Strength in numbers: Latin America urges unity in face of Trump tariffs

09-04-2025 17:38 Latin American leaders at CELAC summit in Honduras call for a united front to tackle US President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught.

WORLD ECONOMY

Trump's trade representative says tariffs 'bearing fruit'

08-04-2025 12:33 Top US trade official Jamieson Greer says several countries – including Argentina, Vietnam and Israel – have offered to reduce sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

'BLACK MONDAY'

Market panic deepens as Trump stands firm over tariffs

07-04-2025 09:45 Global stock market rout deepened on Monday and fears of recession rose after China retaliated against US President Donald Trump's tariffs and Europe calibrated its response.

TRADE WARS

Trump tariffs everyone, with rate on China set to soar above 50%

03-04-2025 00:24 US President Donald Trump announces steepest US tariffs in a century, unnerving investors who see a trade war ahead.

TRADE WARS

Trump tariffs threaten Latin American steel industry

01-04-2025 15:18 US president’s new tariffs, designed to protect American consumers, will put Latin America's steel industry on the ropes

INTERVIEW / IRISH AMBASSADOR

Irish eyes are on the future, says Dublin’s man in Buenos Aires

15-03-2025 07:16 Ireland’s Ambassador to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, Gerard McCoy, marks St. Patrick’s Day with a review of diplomatic relations, Argentina’s Irish community and bilateral trade.

by Michael Soltys

BILATERAL TRADE

Trump says he is open to a trade deal with Argentina

04-03-2025 15:39 US President Donald Trump responds positively to question speculating over likelihood of US-Argentina free-trade deal.

Global trade

Trump escalates global trade war, sparking tit-for-tat tariffs

04-03-2025 12:27 Confirmation of the levies lays to rest doubts Trump would actually follow through on his repeated threats to upend global economic ties to counter what he casts as imbalanced trade.

Foreign relations & diplomacy

Trade war puts Milei’s Trump-first foreign policy to the test

14-02-2025 10:48 Javier Milei has spent his presidency cozying up to Donald Trump. But Argentina’s suddenly vulnerable position on tariffs demonstrates that not even friends are clear of Trump’s trade ire.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Milei would leave Mercosur if needed for US-Argentina deal

22-01-2025 15:09 President Javier Milei says he would leave Mercosur if necessary to cement a free-trade agreement with the United States.

US-ARGENTINA RELATIONS

Trump and Milei: An ideological match, but can they work together?

18-01-2025 06:32 The ideological romance between the presidents of Argentina and the United States has already matured. But will it ripen?

Hidrovía Paraná-Paraguay

Paraná-Paraguay waterway a focal point for global security policy

10-01-2025 13:44 Ongoing tussle involving major dredging companies seeking to participate in Milei government's tender. Hidrovía Paraná-Paraguay is a naval highway for the trafficking of illicit drugs to the rest of the world.

GLOBAL LITHIUM TRADE

Stubbornly resilient lithium supply remains hurdle to recovery

08-01-2025 10:06 Lithium prices have plunged since late 2022 on oversupply and slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicle demand. Analysts see a surplus this year, although they forecast it will be smaller than in 2024.

Economy and U.S

Biden says prolonged US port strike would be ‘man-made disaster’

03-10-2024 11:14 UF President Joe Biden pressures US port employers and shipping lines to restart talks with striking dock workers.

MERCOSUR TRADE DEALS

EFTA euro nations eye Mercosur deal before year-end

22-03-2024 15:00 Parliamentary representatives from European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) stop in Buenos Aires as part of regional tour focusing on efforts to secure free-trade deal with the Mercosur bloc.

by James Grainger

GEOPOLITICS & DIPLOMACY

G20 finance ministers meet on world economy hit by crises, conflicts

28-02-2024 12:55 G20 finance ministers will meet Wednesday in Brazil, seeking ways to shore up a global economy whose nascent recovery is threatened by a raft of conflicts and crises, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.