Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
President Donald Trump will unveil a new US Iran strategy on Friday and is expected to withdraw backing from the Iran nuclear accord, undermining a landmark victory of multilateral diplomacy.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump would unveil a broad plan to counter Iran at 12:45 pm (1745 GMT). She did not elaborate, but Trump is expected to declare to Congress that retaining the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement is no longer in the US national interest.
This in itself does not mean the deal will collapse. US lawmakers will have 60 days to decide whether they want to “snap back” the sanctions Washington has suspended.
But it will mark a clear break with America’s allies, who have pleaded with Trump to respect the accord, and a fierce blow to the multilateral international order.
The agreement was signed between Iran and six world powers Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US — at talks coordinated by the European Union.
UN nuclear inspectors say Iran is meeting the technical requirements of its side of the bargain, dramatically curtailing its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
So, while US officials still insist that “America First” does not mean “America Alone,” on this issue they are starkly isolated. The other signatories all back the deal.
“This is the worst deal. We got nothing,” Trump thundered to Fox News on Wednesday. “We did it out of weakness when actually, we have great strength.”
Trump, whose address to this year’s UN General Assembly was a hymn to national sovereignty, has been railing against the Iran deal since before he was elected.
Allies pleading
In office, he has chafed at being required under US law to re-certify Iran’s compliance with the accord every 90 days, declaring that Tehran has broken it “in spirit.”
Now, as he prepares to roll out a broader US strategy to combat Iran’s expanding power in the Middle East, he feels the time has come to turn his back on the deal.
Right up until the last minute, America’s closest allies have urged Trump to think again.
After his nationalist UN speech, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned that the deal “doesn’t belong to one country… it belongs to the international community.”
US allies have not been convinced by the argument that the deal fell short because it left Iran free to develop ballistic missiles and sponsor proxy militias in its region.
“Mixing everything means risking everything,” a French diplomatic source told AFP. “The existential threat is the bomb. The nuclear deal is not meant to solve Lebanon’s problems.”
Europe fears not only that Iran will resume the quest for the bomb but that the US is relinquishing its leadership role in a stable, rules-based international system.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May called the White House to impress upon it her government’s “strong commitment to the deal alongside our European partners.”
In parallel, her foreign minister, Boris Johnson, told his US counterpart Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “that the nuclear deal was an historic achievement.”
“It was the culmination of 13 years of painstaking diplomacy and has increased security, both in the region and in the UK,” he argued.
But the US administration barely acknowledged the calls, and European diplomats in Washington privately complain that their message is not getting through.
‘We will see’
One Western diplomat said that once Trump “decertifies” the deal their efforts will
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump would unveil a broad plan to counter Iran at 12:45 pm (1745 GMT). She did not elaborate, but Trump is expected to declare to Congress that retaining the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement is no longer in the US national interest.
This in itself does not mean the deal will collapse. US lawmakers will have 60 days to decide whether they want to “snap back” the sanctions Washington has suspended.
The agreement was signed between Iran and six world powers Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US — at talks coordinated by the European Union.
UN nuclear inspectors say Iran is meeting the technical requirements of its side of the bargain, dramatically curtailing its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
So, while US officials still insist that “America First” does not mean “America Alone,” on this issue they are starkly isolated. The other signatories all back the deal.
“This is the worst deal. We got nothing,” Trump thundered to Fox News on Wednesday. “We did it out of weakness when actually, we have great strength.”
Trump, whose address to this year’s UN General Assembly was a hymn to national sovereignty, has been railing against the Iran deal since before he was elected.
Allies pleading
In office, he has chafed at being required under US law to re-certify Iran’s compliance with the accord every 90 days, declaring that Tehran has broken it “in spirit.”
Now, as he prepares to roll out a broader US strategy to combat Iran’s expanding power in the Middle East, he feels the time has come to turn his back on the deal.
Right up until the last minute, America’s closest allies have urged Trump to think again.
After his nationalist UN speech, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned that the deal “doesn’t belong to one country… it belongs to the international community.”
US allies have not been convinced by the argument that the deal fell short because it left Iran free to develop ballistic missiles and sponsor proxy militias in its region.
“Mixing everything means risking everything,” a French diplomatic source told AFP. “The existential threat is the bomb. The nuclear deal is not meant to solve Lebanon’s problems.”
Europe fears not only that Iran will resume the quest for the bomb but that the US is relinquishing its leadership role in a stable, rules-based international system.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May called the White House to impress upon it her government’s “strong commitment to the deal alongside our European partners.”
In parallel, her foreign minister, Boris Johnson, told his US counterpart Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “that the nuclear deal was an historic achievement.”
“It was the culmination of 13 years of painstaking diplomacy and has increased security, both in the region and in the UK,” he argued.
But the US administration barely acknowledged the calls, and European diplomats in Washington privately complain that their message is not getting through.
‘We will see’
One Western diplomat said that once Trump “decertifies” the deal their efforts will
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