Donald Trump Wants EU to Punish China and India

Tried as he may, Donald Trump couldn't fulfill his pledge to end the war in Ukraine on "day one" of becoming US president. 

(But then, he was just being disingenuous and always hyperbolic; he was never genuinely serious about wanting peace).

Now, he has called on the European Union to hit China and India with tariffs of up to 100% to force Russian president Vladimir Putin to cease and desist in Ukraine. 

(Another BS! Why won't the US cease and desist supplying weapons to Ukraine? That'll end the war soon enough!)

Trump made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials on Tuesday discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia, a source familiar with the discussions has told the BBC. 

However, as per my understanding, the EU treat tariffs in a different way to sanctions and only impose them after an investigation typically lasting months to establish a legally sound justification. 

The bloc have so far only imposed tariffs in the context of the Ukraine war on Russian and Belarusian fertilisers and farm products. The justification for the measures was to prevent creating a dependency that could be exploited and to avoid harm to EU fertiliser producers. 

"So far, there is no discussion on possible tariffs neither on India...nor with China", one EU diplomat said. 

It has been said such tariffs are risky and could be too broad; it is easier to sanction specific entities and open the door to delist them if they end their business with Russia.  

I guess Trump should know better. He may love tariffs but the Europeans are only enamoured with sanctions! 🤣🤣🤣

Chinese-made aircraft are set to spread their wings further in Southeast Asia after Air Cambodia announced an order for ten C909 passenger jets, with an option to purchase ten more from the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) on Tuesday. 

And Capital A, the investment holding company of AirAsia, on Wednesday, claimed to be in active discussions to buy the C919.

In fact, in July, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke disclosed that AirAsia and the soon-to-launch Air Borneo had both expressed interest in the Chinese jet, aligning with Kuala Lumpur’s ambition to diversify fleet sourcing and strengthen strategic links with Beijing. 

Even Irish low-cost giant Ryanair are flirting with the idea of adding the Chinese narrowbody twinjet to their fleet, which is currently dominated by aircraft from the Boeing 737 Next Generation (737NG) and 737 MAX families. 

Most notably, Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary said in March that "if it was cheap enough, 10 or 20% cheaper than an Airbus aircraft, then we’d order it".