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  • Oil firms slightly as Trump policies continue to drag on prices

    Oil prices edged up on Thursday after Saudi Arabia's state oil company raised its March crude prices sharply, but the gains barely dented the previous day's slide in benchmark Brent crude.

    Brent crude futures rose 28 cents, or 0.4%, to $74.89 a barrel by 0952 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 35 cents, or 0.5%, at $71.38.

    Oil prices had plunged by more than 2% on Wednesday as a large build in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles signalled weaker demand while investors also weighed up the implications of a new round of U.S.-China trade tariffs, including duties on energy products.

  • Could Trump’s tariffs lead to trade rerouting?

    There has been much debate over whether Trump's threat of high tariffs on some of his closest trade partners was a negotiating tactic. The events of the past few days could lead to multiple interpretations. It could be argued that the tariffs on the US' regional neighbours would have been far too damning for all parties, making a deal the most likely outcome. Stephen Buzdagan, a senior lecturer in international business at Manchester Metropolitan University, explained that the tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China would likely have led to "unintended consequences for the US by increasing the cost of inputs, decreasing the size of overseas markets and raising costs for US consumers, as the UK economy experienced post-Brexit". Critics of trade barriers often suggest that they can lead to trade rerouting, rather than halting it altogether. The US and Canada, for example, have repeatedly alleged that Mexico is a "backdoor" to cheap illegal Chinese goods in North America. Economic consultancy TS Lombard's chief China economist Rory Green highlighted that Mexico is the "third-largest transhipper of Chinese goods to the US behind only Vietnam and Thailand".

  • Trump says Israel would hand over Gaza after fighting, no US troops needed

    U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Israel would hand over Gaza to the United States after fighting was over and the enclave's population was already resettled elsewhere, which he said meant no U.S. troops would be needed on the ground. A day after worldwide condemnation of Trump's announcement that he aimed to take over and develop the Gaza Strip into the "Riviera of the Middle East", Israel ordered its army to prepare to allow the "voluntary departure" of Gaza's residents. Trump, who had previously declined to rule out deploying U.S. troops to Gaza, clarified his plans in comments on his Truth Social web platform. "The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting," he said. Palestinians "would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region."

  • Trump aides defend Gaza takeover proposal but walk back some elements

    Barely two weeks in the job, Trump shattered decades of U.S. policy on Tuesday with a vaguely worded announcement saying he envisioned transforming Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East" where international communities could coexist after nearly 16 months of Israeli bombardment devastated the coastal strip and killed more than 47,000 people, according to Palestinian tallies. At a White House briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt hailed his Gaza proposal as historic "outside of the box" thinking but stressed that the president had not committed to putting "boots on the ground" in the territory. She declined, however, to rule out the use of U.S. troops there. At the same time, Leavitt walked back Trump's earlier assertion that Gazans needed to be permanently resettled in neighboring countries, saying instead that they should be "temporarily relocated" for the rebuilding process. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said the idea was for Gazans to leave the territory for an "interim" period of reconstruction and debris-clearing.

  • Global fury builds over Trump’s plan to turn Gaza into the Middle East ‘Riviera’

    European countries joined Arab nations Wednesday in rebuking a shock announcement by United States President Donald Trump that he wants to take control over Gaza and forcibly displace its inhabitants to neighboring countries including Jordan and Egypt. Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, said that the proposal to move the Palestinians out was “unacceptable” and against international law; in France, a government spokesperson said Paris is “fully opposed to the displacement of populations” and called Trump’s proposal “dangerous” for regional stability; and in the U.K., Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Palestinians “must be allowed home” to rebuild.

  • Behind the Curtain: Trump’s wild Middle East vision

    There are two ways to view President Trump's epic, historic, shockingly unexpected declaration Tuesday evening that the U.S. should seize, control, develop and hold "a long-term ownership position" in war-destroyed Gaza. It was a wild bluff — or bluster — to gain leverage in the Middle East. It's like threats of trade tariffs against Canada and Mexico — all-consumingly controversial, yet instantly ephemeral. This strikes most Republicans as the right interpretation. The other: It fuses several Trump obsessions — his hope for a grand Middle East peace deal, his belief Gaza will be a hellhole for decades to come, and his genuine intrigue about developing the seaside land. U.S. officials tell us Trump's words were premeditated, and mirror ideas he floated to some staff and family members privately.

  • Trump is serious about shaking up the Middle East, even if his Gaza plan isn’t

    But even if his plan is a nonstarter, which it almost certainly is, it’s not because that was the intent all along. Rather, it is because he doesn’t fully understand, or perhaps care, about the history of the region, the complexities of intra-Palestinian relationships, the potential implications for US allies, or, most importantly, the emotional connection most people have to their home. From his perspective, the only way to reduce long-term US financial obligations in the Middle East, which are largely tied up in security support, is to gut Gaza and start over from the ground up. If the United States doesn’t take the lead in doing that, then the long-term costs associated with having to protect Israel, for example, will continue indefinitely. A single Iron Dome interceptor missile, for instance, costs upwards of fifty thousand dollars, for which the United States provides most of the financing. And the United States gives over $1.4 billion annually in mostly security aid to both Jordan and Egypt.

  • Trump’s tech ties with the Middle East: Video

    With the United Arab Emirates’ Hussain Sajwani investing $20 billion in US data centers, CNN examines how US policies impact tech industries in the Middle East.

  • MBS Torn Between Trump and Saudi People on Potential Israel Deal

    The Saudi response was swift — reiterating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s demands for an independent Palestinian state as part of any normalization agreement and rejecting the “infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people” or “attempts to displace” them from their land. But the president’s musing about moving 2 million Palestinians to a “good, fresh, beautiful piece of land” — which critics argue would amount to ethnic cleansing — and suggestion that US troops could be sent to the territory are putting the prince in a tough spot. Saudi Arabia’s young population has reawakened to the Palestinian cause amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and their reaction to such a move — along with that of millions of Muslims in the region and around the world — could lead to instability.

  • Saudi Arabia’s former spy chief blasts Trump’s Gaza proposal for ‘ethnic cleansing’

    “What came out of Mr. Trump is not digestible. I respectfully decline to add more disrespectful comments to that, but it is a fantasy to think that ethnic cleansing in the 21st century can be condoned by world community that stays on its behinds and does not respond to that,” Prince Turki told CNN. “If he does come [to Saudi Arabia], he will get an earful from the leadership here about the unwisdom of what he is proposing and the downright unfairness and injustice that is really signified and totally placed in this proposal of ethnic cleaning from not only Gaza but what is happening in the West Bank,” Prince Turki said. Prince Turki also slammed Itamar Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu’s national security minister until the Gaza ceasefire deal was reached, as “the ultimate ethnic cleanser in Palestine.”