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
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Africa next week, the State department said Thursday, in his first visit to the continent since President Donald Trump entered office.
Tillerson will travel to “N’Djamena, Chad; Djibouti, Djibouti; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Nairobi, Kenya; and Abuja, Nigeria,” between March 6 and 13, department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced Thursday.
The visit follows a scandal which erupted when President Donald Trump allegedly branded African nations “shithole countries” in January.
Tillerson will meet with leaders in each country, along with African Union leadership based in Addis Ababa.
“He plans to discuss ways we can work with our partners to counter terrorism, advance peace and security, promote good governance, and spur mutually beneficial trade and investment,” Nauert added.
During a November meeting with African Union ministers in Washington, Tillerson outlined only general policy goals regarding the continent. Meanwhile, so far, Trump has shown little interest in Africa.
Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama traveled to Ghana six months after taking office with a message that Africa’s destiny is in the hands of its own people.
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