International Glance
China announced on Friday it would hit about $60 billion worth of U.S. exports with new tariffs in response to President Donald Trump’s decision this week to escalate potential trade penalties on Beijing, compounding concern in the business sector that there is no end in sight to the growing conflict.
China said it was taking the action “because the U.S. side has repeatedly escalated the situation despite the interests of both enterprises and consumers,” according to an informal translation from a China Ministry of Commerce statement. “China has to take necessary counter-measures to defend the country's dignity and the interests of the people, defend free trade and the multilateral system, and defend the common interests of all countries in the world.”
Less than two months after a landmark U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew back to the city state on Friday and said North Korea’s continued work on weapons programs was inconsistent with its leader’s commitment to denuclearize.
Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of an Australian archbishop convicted in criminal court of covering up the sexual abuse of children by a priest, taking action after coming under mounting pressure from ordinary Catholics, priests and even the Australian prime minister.
