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Worldnews

In First 100 Days, Trump Takes Hawkish Stance On China To New Heights

The US president’s hefty tariffs have resulted in an effective trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies. Taipei, Taiwan – When United States President Donald Trump began his first term in 2017, he set about implementing Washington’s most hawkish economic policy toward China in decades. In the first 100 days of his second term, Trump has taken Washington’s confrontation with Beijing to greater heights still, laying out a staunchly protectionist trade agenda that has led to a de facto trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies. US tariffs on most Chinese goods have risen to 145 percent – with the rate rising to 245 percent on some items – while loopholes that previously allowed Chinese exporters to evade pre-existing tariffs have been closed. China has imposed tariffs of 125 percent on most US goods in response, in addition to other retaliatory measures such as export controls on critical minerals and tighter limits on the number of Hollywood films shown in Chinese cinemas. Trump’s trade war picks up from where he left off in his first administration, shaped by a longstanding belief that China and other countries have taken advantage of their trade relationship with the US. “It’s more or less a continuation in terms of goals and direction, maybe with more force, more determination. ⁠He has been treating China as an enemy and not as a friend,” Zhiwu Chen, a finance professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera. The US trade deficit in goods and services reached $918.4bn in 2024, with the deficit in goods hitting a record $1.2 trillion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In Trump’s worldview, China, the US’s third-largest trade partner after Mexico and Canada, is among the worst exploiters. “Trump believes that China has gotten a free ride during the era of globalisation and exploited the US consumer,” Dennis Wilder, a former White House official and senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues, told Al Jazeera. “He wants to balance trade to create good jobs for Americans, and he will seek Chinese investment in the US to create good blue-collar jobs. He wants US firms to have far more ability to sell in China.” Trump launched his first trade war with China in 2018 in response to what he claimed were unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft by Chinese firms. Over the next two years, his administration imposed tariffs on $300bn of Chinese goods, most of which remain in place five years on. While campaigning for re-election last year, Trump made it clear that he would hit China with even steeper tariffs if returned to the White House. While Trump’s anti-China trade posture since January has come as no surprise, the scope and erratic on-again, off-again nature of his tariffs have taken observers aback, said Jeffrey Moon, who served as the assistant US trade representative for China under former US President Barack Obama. “Trump was surprised that he was elected in 2016 and was not prepared to take office. In 2025, however, Project 2025 gave him a detailed playbook that included reciprocal tariffs and that he began executing in his inaugural address,” Moon, who heads the consultancy China Moon Strategies, told Al Jazeera, referring to a political roadmap drafted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative US think tank. Most of Trump’s original tariffs were kept in place and even expanded on by former US President Joe Biden, but where the Biden administration painted US-China competition as an ideological battle between democracy and authoritarianism, Trump is motivated by a different set of values, Wilder said. “As has become obvious in the second term, Trump is a geoeconomic, not a geostrategic president,” he said. “Trump does not seek the demise of President Xi or seek to decouple from the Chinese economy unless China is unwilling to give the US what he considers a fairer deal in economic relations,” Wilder added, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping. In recent weeks, Trump and White House officials have openly said they want to negotiate with China and lower the 145 percent tariff rate, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called “unsustainable”. Trump has said his administration is in active negotiations with Beijing on trade. Chinese officials have insisted that any such talks have yet to begin. Ray Wang, a Washington, DC-based analyst who focuses on US-China economic statecraft, said Trump’s strategy of maximising pressure on China could backfire and push Beijing towards further “decoupling” from the US economy. “Facing embargo-level tariffs and intensifying hawkish rhetoric, Beijing is unlikely to engage in meaningful negotiations, thereby complicating efforts to address the very economic concerns the policy aims to resolve,” Wang told Al Jazeera. Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney, said Chinese manufacturers may increasingly look to other countries to insulate themselves from the US economy. “For China, this presents both risks and opportunities: while its exporters to the US face immediate pressure, Beijing’s broader push for market diversification – to ASEAN, Africa, and Latin America – gains new urgency and traction,” Zhang told Al Jazeera. As the US-China trade war lumbers on, Trump has also set his sights on US trade with other countries generally. Over the past 100 days, Trump has hit Mexico and Canada with separate rounds of on-again, off-again tariffs. On April 2, he expanded the trade war to more than 180 countries and territories with the announcement of so-called “reciprocal tariffs” of between 10 and 49 percent. Trump subsequently paused the tariffs for 90 days in anticipation of country-by-country negotiations, but he has continued to push China’s trading partners to close loopholes for US-bound exports. “The difference [from his first term] is that Trump’s China strategy is part of a worldwide economic strategy. For example, as he cuts new trade deals with Japan, South Korea, Singapore, etc, he will want to make sure that they are not helping China sidestep fairness in US-China trade,” said Wilder, the former White House official. Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said Trump’s end goal is to rewrite the longstanding “Washington consensus” supporting free trade and market liberalisation to one shaped in his image. “The Trump administration is changing the nature of its economic and security partnerships and essentially its relationship with the entire world. That’s not directed specifically at China,” Thompson told Al Jazeera. “This is really about Trump’s perception that the US has been taken advantage of and hasn’t benefitted from globalisation, and, frankly, reflecting the American voters’ perception of the same thing.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Futbol

Osasuna Appeal Over Barcelona Player Dismissed

Osasuna's appeal over Barcelona defender Inigo Martinez's eligibility to play against them has been dismissed. Martinez did not join up with the Spain squad for the recent international break because of a knee injury. Fifa rules prohibit a player from playing for his club within five days - unless he has the national FA's permission - if he has not linked up with his country when called up. Barca's 3-0 win over Osasuna in La Liga, rearranged from 8 March after the death of club doctor Carles Minarro Garcia, came the day after the international window ended - and four days after Spain's Nations League match with the Netherlands. Martinez played the full 90 minutes against Osasuna on 27 March and the Basque club launched an appeal to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) a day later. However, the RFEF's competition committee deemed there was no infringement by Barcelona, as the player's withdrawal process was carried out correctly and in accordance with the regulations. Osasuna plan to file a second appeal with the RFEF's appeal committee. Barcelona are four points clear at the top of La Liga while Osasuna are 13th.

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Worldnews

Barcelona Vs Inter UEFA Champions League: Start Time, Team News, Lineups

Barcelona hosts Italian giants Inter Milan in the opening leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal. Who: Barcelona vs Inter Milan
What: UEFA Champions League semifinal, first leg
Where: Olympic Stadium, Barcelona
When: Wednesday at 9pm (19:00 GMT) Follow Al Jazeera Sport’s live text and photo commentary stream. With eight UEFA Champions League titles between them, Barcelona and Inter Milan begin their battle for the right to enter another final when they square off in the opening leg of their semifinal showdown on Wednesday night. Barcelona, who have only lost a single match in 2025, will host Inter at the Olympic Stadium, with the two-leg series then moving to Northern Italy next Tuesday, May 6 for the return fixture at the famous San Siro venue. Here is all to know before the semifinal opener between two of Europe’s football superclubs: The teams last played on October 12, 2022, in a Group C fixture at the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The teams drew 3-3 with Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele – who, incidentally, scored the game-winning goal for PSG against Arsenal in the other Champions League semifinal on Tuesday – putting the Catalans ahead in the first half, before a frantic five-goal second stanza ensued, culminating with Robert Lewandowski scoring the equaliser in stoppage time to split the points. Barcelona defeated last year’s UEFA Champions League runner-up Borussia Dortmund 5-3 on aggregate in their two-leg quarterfinal. Inter Milan booked their place in the last four of the tournament with a thrilling 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich at the San Siro on April 16, the Nerazzurri winning the closely fought series 4-3 on aggregate. Manager Hans Flick will be without star striker Lewandowski, who is still recovering from a leg injury. In his absence, Ferran Torres is expected to lead the line again for Barca, just as he did in the Copa del Rey final win over Real Madrid last Saturday. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny will hold his place in the starting XI, despite the availability of first-choice keeper Mar-Andre ter Steg, who is still working his way back to peak fitness after a long recovery from knee surgery. Inter will be without key defender Benjamin Pavard, who was injured in their 1-0 loss to Roma on Sunday. Pavard was instrumental to Inter’s success against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals, scoring what ultimately turned out to be the game-winner for the Nerazzurri in the second leg at San Siro. Offsetting the huge loss of Pavard is the return of striker Marcus Thuram, who had missed the last three games with injury. The French international is strongly tipped to start against Barcelona. Barcelona possible starting XI: Szczesny; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Martin; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Torres Inter Milan possible starting XI: Sommer; De Vrij, Acerbi, Augusto; Darmian, Frattesi, Calhanoglu, Barella, Dimarco; Martinez, Thuram The teams have played on 12 prior occasions: Barcelona most recently won in 2015, while Inter Milan last tasted victory in 2010. The winner of this semifinal heads to Germany on May 31 for the Champions League final. European football’s largest annual showpiece will be played at the 75,000-capacity Allianz Arena in Munich. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Futbol

Goalkeeper Andre Onana was at fault for two goals as a last-gasp Lyon equaliser put Manchester United's Europa League quarter-final tie in the balance at the halfway stage. United went behind after 25 minutes when under-pressure Onana failed to get a strong enough hand to Thiago Almada's wide free-kick. In the final seconds of the first half Leny Yoro equalised with his first goal for United by reacting quickly to Manuel Ugarte's volley and diverting the ball into the bottom corner. The visitors thought they had won late on when substitute Joshua Zirkzee headed home Bruno Fernandes' looping cross in the 88th minute. But, with the last play before the final whistle, Onana spilled Georges Mikautadze's shot and Rayan Cherki tapped in on the rebound. United host Lyon in the second leg at Old Trafford next Thursday (20:00 BST). Have your say on Man Utd's performance Attention was always going to be on Onana who was labelled "one of the worst keepers" in Manchester United history by Lyon substitute Nemanja Matic on Wednesday. Ex-United midfielder Matic had been responding to comments by Onana who said his side are "way better" than their French opponents. Onana was booed every time he touched the ball inside Groupama Stadium, even if he had little to do before Lyon's opener. With Lyon's first goal the 29-year-old reacted late to Almada's cross, having to wait to see if a Lyon player would divert the ball, and was caught out when the free-kick kept its line. The ball bounced just before the Cameroonian and then skidded through his hands before hitting the net. For the second Onana was unable to gather a shot which, although was hit with power, was straight at him, and Lyon's Cherki was gifted a late leveller. It means since the start of last season Onana has made eight errors leading to goals in all competitions, the most of any keeper playing for a Premier League club. With the Red Devils 13th in the Premier League table, their only realistic hope of qualifying for European football next season is through the Champions League spot afforded to the Europa League winner. For large periods they looked well-organised, motivated and were probably the better team in Lyon. But, as has often been the case this season, United were hampered by poor finishing. In the first half Rasmus Hojlund skewed a Patrick Dorgu cutback well wide, while Bruno Fernandes had a shot deflected over and Casemiro struck an overhead kick straight at the goalkeeper. In the second period, an Alejandro Garnacho strike from a Dorgu cross was tipped over and Casemiro headed a corner just wide. United forwards Hojlund and Garnacho both appeared to lack confidence. Hojlund has now scored just one goal in his past 25 United appearances in all competitions, while Garnacho has one from his past 28. Ruben Amorim will hope both will be able to turn their form around in time for the second leg. The Portuguese manager was able to bring on Kobbie Mainoo as a late substitute. The English midfielder had been out with a muscle injury since February.