Talk World

  The punch-line finally landed this week: the “$900 billion victory” that Donald Trump bragged about with Tokyo and Seoul has turned into the most expensive pratfall in modern diplomacy. Let’s rewind. Two months ago the White House rolled out what it called “historic trade deals” with Japan and South Korea. The fine print was eye-watering: Seoul pledged to plough US$350 billion into American projects. Tokyo topped it with US$550 billion . Total headline figure: nine-hundred-billion dollars —more than the GDP of Saudi Arabia. But the contract language was straight out of a mob movie: Any profit, America keeps 90 percent ; the Asian partner gets 10 percent . Washington—not the investors—picks the sectors. The money had to arrive “up-front,” in cash, no strings attached. In other words: you bring the wallet, we pick the restaurant, and by the way we’re keeping the leftovers. South Korea’s national-security adviser, Cho Tae-yong, answered first. “We can’t,” he said bluntly. Seoul’s e...

Donald Trump spent the evening sounding like a jilted lover on social media: China, he wailed, has tightened its choke-hold on rare earths again. In retaliation, he vowed to slap 100 % tariffs on every Chinese product that still reaches American shelves. Translation: he’s losing his cool, because Beijing just hit back—hard. Here’s what happened. Washington and Beijing had agreed to meet in Frankfurt on 10 November to talk trade. The customary choreography calls for both sides to smile, lower the temperature, and arrive with goodwill gestures. Instead, Team Trump decided to manufacture leverage. On 14 October, the United States will begin charging any Chinese-owned, Chinese-built or Chinese-flagged vessel a “port fee” of US $1 million per call—or US $1,000 per dead-weight ton, whichever is higher. Carriers whose fleets are more than 50 % Chinese-built will pay the full million; smaller shares ratchet down to US $750 k or US $500 k. The message was classic Trump: cancel the fee if you wa...