Major  trade wars since the 19th century


By AFP

April 8, 2025


The 25th US president, William McKinley, seen here on a 1956 US Treasury note, is an inspiration for Trump's protectionist policies - Copyright AFP Hector RETAMAL

As the world reels from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs onslaught, here is a look back at some major trade wars since the 19th century:


– 19th century Opium Wars –



In the mid-19th century, two conflicts over the opium trade, which became known as the Opium Wars, pitted China against the British Empire.

The first began in 1839, when Britain launched a military expedition to force China to open its market to Indian opium sold by British merchants.

Britain won the clash in 1842, with success going beyond opium as China was forced to give up the region of Hong Kong, open five ports to world trade, and limit its customs tariffs to five percent.

In the second Opium War, from 1856-1860, Britain allied with France, and again the imperial power came out on top, forcing China to open up eleven additional ports to foreign trade and maintain diplomatic relations with the West.



– 1890: McKinley offensive –



In 1890, William McKinley — then a Republican lawmaker, later a US president — saw through a new law that slapped an average tariff of nearly 50 percent on imports into America.

While the tax hike boosted the development of tinplate production in the US, for example, it also caused prices to soar.

In elections that same year for the US House of Representatives, Republicans suffered big losses, losing their majority to the Democrats. Two years later, the incumbent Republic president was dumped by voters in favour of a Democrat.

McKinley’s unpopular law was repealed in 1894.

He nevertheless went on to become US president in 1897. He was assassinated in 1901, months after winning a second term.

Trump often mentions as McKinley as inspiration his protectionist policies.



– 1930: Smoot–Hawley Act –



The Smoot-Hawley Act, named after the two US politicians behind it, imposed tariffs of nearly 60 percent on over 20,000 imported agricultural and industrial products.

Trade partners, led by Canada, retaliated with taxes on US exports, which fell by more than 61 percent between 1929 and 1933.



– 1960s: Chicken war –



In the early 1960s, France and Germany jointly decided to tax the import of US chicken, produced at industrial scale.

The United States retaliated with taxes on a series of products, particularly on certain utility vehicles, which remain taxed to this day.

The so-called Chicken War ran from 1961 to 1964.



– 1985: Pasta war –



This dispute began in 1985 when president Ronald Reagan, in a bid to protect US industry, raised tariffs on pasta imports from Europe .

Europe responded with taxes on US imports of nuts and lemons.

The standoff lasted nine months before the United States and the European Economic Community (EEC) — as the EU was then known — reached an agreement.



– 1989-2009: Beef hormone dispute –



In 1989, the EEC banned imports of beef treated with growth hormones.

After challenging the measure at the World Trade Organization (WTO), which ruled in their favour, the United States and Canada, the countries most affected, imposed 100-percent tariffs in 1999 on a range of European goods, from French Roquefort cheese to Italian truffles.

In a compromise deal inked in 2009, these taxes were eventually suspended, and European import quotas for high-quality, hormone-free beef were gradually increased, leading to a final agreement in 2019.



– 1993–2012: Banana war –



In 1993, the EU granted preferential customs regimes to the former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, to the detriment of bananas produced by US multinationals in Latin American countries.

These countries filed a complaint with the WTO, which condemned the EU several times, and Latin American countries were authorised to apply retaliatory measures.

An agreement was signed in 2012, allowing for a reduction in import tariffs on bananas from 11 Latin American countries and the end of actions taken by these countries against the EU.



– 2002: Bush vs. EU –



In 2002, US President George W. Bush imposed three-year surcharges of up to 30 percent on 10 categories of products including flat-rolled steel, machine wires and welded tubes.

These measures, intended to boost the US steel industry, affected nearly 29 percent of imports.

The EU filed a complaint with the WTO and published a list of US products it threatened to tax by up to 100 percent.

At the end of 2003, Bush opted to lift the tariffs.

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PAPER TIGER SABRE RATTLING

US will not let China disrupt Panama Canal: Pentagon chief

By AFP
April 8, 2025


US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned in Panama on Tuesday that the United States would "not allow" China to "jeopardize" the functioning of the Panama Canal 

- Copyright Panamanian Presidency/AFP Handout

María Isabel Sánchez, with Juan Jose Rodriguez

The United States will not allow China to jeopardize the operations of the Panama Canal, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned during a visit to the Central American nation on Tuesday.

Hegseth is the second senior US official to visit Panama since President Donald Trump took office in January vowing to “take back” the US-built canal to counter what he sees as China’s disproportionate influence over the waterway.

“Today, the Panama Canal faces ongoing threats,” Hegseth said in a speech at a police station located at the entry to the shipping route.

“The United States of America will not allow communist China or any other country to threaten the canal’s operation or integrity,” he added.

The United States built the more than century-old canal and handed it over to Panama in 1999.

A Hong Kong company called Panama Ports operates two ports at either end of the canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, through which five percent of all global shipping passes.



– ‘Wonder of the world’ –



The Trump administration has put immense pressure on Panama to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, which Washington sees as a threat to US national security.

“I want to be very clear. China did not build this canal. China does not operate this canal. And China will not weaponize this canal,” Hegseth said, calling it a “wonder of the world.”

Speaking alongside Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino, Hegseth said the US and Panama together would “take back the Panama Canal from China’s influence” and keep it open to all nations, using the “deterrent power of the strongest, most effective and most lethal fighting force in the world.”

He claimed that China’s control of critical infrastructure in the canal area gave Beijing the power to conduct spying activities across Panama, making Panama and the United States “less secure, less prosperous and less sovereign.”

The Chinese Embassy in Panama issued a statement refuting Hegseth’s claim that Beijing interferes in the operations of the canal.

“China has never taken part in the management or operation of the Panama Canal, nor has it interfered in issues” concerning the waterway, the statement said, calling on Washington to halt “blackmail” and “plundering” of Panama and other countries of the region.

It labeled Hegseth’s comments “not at all responsible or founded” and said the United States “has orchestrated a sensationalist campaign based on the ‘China threat theory’ so as to undermine cooperation between China and Panama.

“China has always respected Panama’s sovereignty with regard to the canal,” the embassy said.

The Panama Ports concession to operate Balboa port on the Pacific side of the canal and Cristobal port on the Atlantic side was first granted in 1997 and renewed for another 25 years in 2021.

But faced with Trump’s repeated threats to seize the canal, Panama has put pressure on CK Hutchison, the parent company of Panama Ports, to pull out of the country.

In January, it began an audit of Panama Ports to determine if it was honoring its concession contract.

On the eve of Hegseth’s visit Panama’s comptroller announced that the audit had revealed “many breaches” of the contract and said Panama did not receive $1.2 billion it was owed from the operator.

In March, CK Hutchison announced an agreement to sell 43 ports in 23 countries — including its two on canal — to a group led by giant US asset manager BlackRock for $19 billion in cash.

A furious Beijing has since announced an antitrust review of the deal, which likely prevented the parties from signing an agreement on April 2 as had been planned.

Hegseth’s visit to Panama comes two months after that of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Shortly after that visit Panama announced it was pulling out of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s landmark global infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative.

Hong Kong firm did not uphold Panama Canal ports contract: Panama audit

By AFP
April 7, 2025


Panama Ports, a subsidiary of logistics giant CK Hutchison, won the concession to operate Balboa port on the Pacific side of the canal and Cristobal port on the Atlantic side in 1997 - Copyright AFP/File MARTIN BERNETTI

The Hong Kong firm in charge of two ports at either end of the Panama Canal — which sparked US President Donald Trump’s threats to seize the waterway — has flouted the terms of its contract, according to Panamanian audit results released Monday.

The audit found “many breaches” of the concession awarded to a subsidiary of logistics giant CK Hutchison to operate the two ports, and concluded that Panama did not receive $1.2 billion it was owed under the contract.

The subsidiary, called Panama Ports, benefited from many tax exemptions and also had irregularities in a previous audit that was used to justify an extension of the concession first awarded in 1997, said state comptroller Anel Flores.

“This is a very delicate issue,” Flores told reporters, adding that he would file a complaint with prosecutors in the coming days over the unpaid concession fees.

The release of the audit results came hours before US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was set to arrive in Panama, which has come under strong pressure from Trump to reduce Chinese influence on the US-built canal.

The United States has said it is a threat to its national security — and the region as a whole — for a Hong Kong company to operate ports at either end of the canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, through which five percent of all global shipping passes.

But Flores denied that the announcement of Panama Ports failing to honor the concession contract had anything to do with the Hegseth visit.

“This is an autonomous act by Panama,” Flores said.

However, some analysts had predicted that this audit would in fact purport to show irregularities, so that Panama could strip the Chinese company of the contract and thus appease the Trump administration.

“It comes as a surprise to no one that the audit turns up alleged irregularities, since the idea was to have some kind of legal justification strong enough to cancel the concession,” Euclides Tapia, a professor of international relations, told AFP.

The state comptroller’s office is an autonomous body that examines how government money is spent.

It began the audit of Panama Ports in late January to determine if it was honoring the concession contract, after Trump threatened to take over the canal, by force if necessary.

Faced with Trump’s repeated threats, the Central American country in turn has put pressure on CK Hutchison to relinquish its control of the ports.

In March, the firm announced an agreement to sell 43 ports in 23 countries — including its two on the interoceanic Panama Canal — to a group led by giant asset manager BlackRock for $19 billion in cash.

A furious Beijing has since announced an antitrust review of the deal, likely preventing the parties from signing an agreement on April 2 as planned.

Panama Ports, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison, won the concession to operate Balboa port on the Pacific side of the canal and Cristobal port on the Atlantic side in 1997.

The concession was renewed for another 25 years in 2021.

Inside Europe’s last ‘open-outcry’ trading floor


By AFP
April 8, 2025


The near 150-year old tradition takes place in a circle of red-leather benches 

- Copyright AFP SAUL LOEB

Pol-Malo LE BRIS

In an era where computer algorithms automate trading at breakneck speeds, a dwindling number of London’s metal traders still conduct business in-person by shouting orders across Europe’s last so-called open-outcry trading floor.

The near 150-year old tradition takes place in a circle, or pit, of red-leather benches — called the “Ring” — where the daily global prices of copper, nickel, aluminium and other metals are set at the London Metal Exchange (LME).

Seconds before the frantic trading begins, a trader rushes in, puts on a tie as per the obligatory dress code, and heads towards one of the booths circling the Ring.

Then, sheets of pencilled figures and stock market orders are handed out.

Once the bell rings, signalling the start of trading, no-one is allowed to trade online or use mobile phones. They can only communicate with the outside world via landline phones.

The five minutes of trading per metal is “a bit like playing poker”, said Giles Plumb, a trader at financial services firm StoneX, who has run its copper portfolio for 21 years.



– ‘Flurry of activity’ –



It starts off calm, with seemingly unbothered traders sitting quietly.

As the minutes tick by, “you try not to look at your watch, to make it look like you don’t have an order to place”, Plumb told AFP.

But as the final seconds of the allotted time approach, the Ring erupts.

“There’s this big flurry of activity,” Plumb said, as traders jump up from benches and begin shouting.

They stand up and lean towards the person — almost exclusively a man — they’re making a deal with, making sure to keep one heel glued to the seat — another rule of the Ring.

“To be good, you’ve got to be aware of who’s doing what around you, you need to quickly process information and you have to be clear and audible,” Plumb said.

“By now, I can tell people’s voices and I know who’s doing what even without looking at them.”

Behind them, brokers speak to clients on landlines, some holding one phone to each ear, repeating orders while taking new ones.

Despite the tumult, Plumb says the sessions are “less aggressive, less competitive” than when he began his career.

At its peak, he explained, the “pit would be full of 22 brokers, 300 people, huge wall of noise. So you could barely hear yourself think”.



– ‘The battle is lost’ –



Now, only eight companies and a few dozen people still participate in these age-old sessions, as online trading killed off most of the world’s open-outcry markets.

The London Metal Exchange and its open-outcry tradition began towards the end of the 19th century, pausing only during World War I and again during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The LME wanted to shift entirely to electronic trading in 2021, but faced pressure from its remaining traders to keep the tradition alive.

The exchange compromised by keeping one of its two daily in-person sessions, as long as more than six members are willing to participate.

“Those wanting to trade in the Ring continue to do so, but these days most of the LME’s trading takes place electronically,” the exchange said in a statement.

There is no longer any reason to continue open-outcry trading, explained Thierry Foucault, professor of finance at HEC Paris business school.

Electronic trading is “technically superior and allows for greater market liquidity, as well as lower intermediation costs”, he told AFP.

In some cases it has persisted for good reason, he said, “particularly in highly specialised markets”, like metals, where the number of expert operators is very limited.

However, “over time, the battle is lost”.

US takes aim at Zuckerberg’s social media kingdom

By AFP
April 9, 2025


Mark Zuckerberg (C), seen here attending the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, is expected to take the stand as Meta goes to trial over antitrust claims - Copyright POOL/AFP Shawn THEW

Alex PIGMAN

Barring any eleventh-hour intervention, social media juggernaut Meta will stand trial next week facing serious US government allegations that it abused its market power to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp before they could become competitors.

By moving forward, the trial in a Washington federal court dashes any hopes from Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg that the return of Donald Trump to the White House would see the government let up on the enforcement of antitrust law against Big Tech.

The Meta case is being made by the Federal Trade Commission, the powerful US consumer protection agency, and could see the owner of Facebook forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, which have grown into global powerhouses since their buyout.

The case was originally made in December 2020, during the first Trump administration, and all eyes were on whether Trump would soften his stance against Big Tech during his second stint in the White House.

Zuckerberg, the world’s third-richest person, has made repeated visits to the White House as he tries to persuade the US leader to choose settlement instead of fighting the trial, a decision that would be extraordinary at this late stage.

FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson downplayed such possibilities, telling The Verge: “I think that the President recognizes that we’ve got to enforce the laws, so I’d be very surprised if anything like that ever happened.”

Zuckerberg’s lobbying efforts have included Trump inauguration fund contributions and overhauled content moderation policies favoring Republicans.

Even so, “I’m not sure Trump is persuaded that Zuckerberg is worthy of redemption,” said George Hay, an antitrust law professor at Cornell Law School.

While a White House intervention remains technically possible, it would require both presidential and FTC agreement that the case lacks merit, he added.

The Meta lawsuit represents just one of five major tech antitrust actions initiated by the US government recently. Google was found guilty of search market dominance abuse last August, while Apple and Amazon also face cases.

Zuckerberg, his former lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg, and a long line of executives from rival companies will be taking the stand over a trial that will last at least eight weeks and kicks off on Monday.



– ‘Really scary’ –



Central to the case is Facebook’s 2012 billion-dollar purchase of Instagram — then a small but promising photo-sharing startup designed for mobile phones that now boasts two billion active users.

An email from Zuckerberg cited by the FTC reveals the concerns: “The potential impact of Instagram is really scary and why we might want to consider paying a lot of money for this.”

The FTC argues Meta’s $19-billion WhatsApp acquisition in 2014 followed the same pattern, with Zuckerberg fearing the messaging app could either transform into a social network or be purchased by a competitor.

Meta’s defense will argue that substantial investments transformed these acquisitions into the blockbusters they are today, bearing little resemblance to their original versions.

They’ll also highlight that the FTC initially approved both transactions and shouldn’t be permitted a redo.

Recent court setbacks for the FTC — including failed challenges to Meta’s Within acquisition and Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard merger — may strengthen Big Tech’s position.

Judge James Boasberg, who will decide and preside over the case, has already cautioned that the FTC “faces hard questions about whether its claims can hold up in the crucible of trial.”

Author of explosive Meta memoir to star at US Senate hearing


By AFP
  April 9, 2025


Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has cozied up to US President Donald Trump since the Republican was elected 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Samuel Corum

The former Facebook employee behind a scathing book about parent company Meta will testify Wednesday before US senators keen to establish whether the social networking giant ever collaborated with the Chinese government.

Former global policy director Sarah Wynn-Williams has alleged the company explored the possibility of breaking into the lucrative Chinese market by appeasing Beijing’s government censors.

Meta communications director Andy Stone told AFP the company “ultimately decided not to go through with the ideas we’d explored.”

The company’s family of apps is currently blocked in China.

Wynn-Williams’s testimony at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing will focus on Meta’s foreign relations moves and on what its executives have previously told Congress.

Of particular interest at Wednesday’s hearing, headed by Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, is whether Wynn-Williams contradicts what Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has stated under oath during past congressional hearings.

Wynn-Williams’s book, “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism,” was released on March 11 and became a hot seller despite Meta winning an arbitration court order barring the author from promoting the work or making derogatory statements about the company.

Her book recounts working at the tech titan from 2011 to 2017 and includes claims of sexual harassment by longtime company executive Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and ally of President Donald Trump who took over as head of Meta’s global affairs team this year.

Meta took the matter to arbitration, contending the book violates a non-disparagement contract signed by Wynn-Williams when she worked with the company’s global affairs team.

Stone said Wynn-Williams was “fired for poor performance and toxic behavior,” having made a series of allegations that the company investigated and found to be unfounded.

“Careless People” ranks second on a New York Times bestseller list of nonfiction books, with another title highly critical of Meta close behind.

“The Anxious Generation,” which paints a dark picture of social media’s effect on children, is currently fourth on the Times bestseller list, a year after its release.

Japan to sell more rice reserves as prices soar

By AFP
April 9, 2025

The shortages have been driven by factors including poor harvests caused by hot weather and panic-buying prompted by a "megaquake" warning last year 

- Copyright AFP Kazuhiro NOGI

Japan will sell more rice from its emergency stockpile through July in an attempt to stabilise soaring prices, the agricultural minister said Wednesday.

After rice prices nearly doubled year-on-year, the government began auctioning its stockpile last month — the first time since it was started in 1995.

“In order to stabilise rice prices that have soared, the government will sell off its reserve rice every month until this summer” when newly harvested rice enters the market, agricultural minister Taku Eto said.

The shortages have been driven by factors including poor harvests due to hot weather in 2023 and panic-buying prompted by a “megaquake” warning last year.

Record numbers of tourists have also been blamed for a rise in consumption.

And some businesses are thought to be keeping their inventories and waiting for the most opportune time to sell.

The government has so far released around 210,000 tonnes of rice.

The next auction of 100,000 tons will take place in the week of April 21.

The retail price for five kilograms of rice in the last week of March was 4,206 yen ($29), up 104.5 percent year-on-year.

Japan is aiming to boost its rice exports almost eightfold to 350,000 tonnes by 2030, the government said last month.

Rice consumption in Japan has more than halved over the past 60 years as diets have changed to include more bread, noodles and other energy sources.

The new target is part of a long-term national policy to boost overseas rice shipments and make farming it more efficient as the country’s ageing population shrinks.

Rice also appears to have been a factor in US President Donald Trump’s hefty tariffs of 24 percent on Japanese imports into the United States.

The White House has accused Japan of imposing a 700-percent tariff on US rice imports, a claim that Eto was quoted as calling “incomprehensible”.

Thailand revokes visa of US academic charged with royal insult


By AFP
April 9, 2025


A sign is displayed outside the Criminal Court during a protest against article 112, Thailand's lese majeste royal defamation law

 - Copyright AFP Pedro UGARTE

Thailand’s immigration authorities revoked the visa Wednesday of a prominent American scholar detained a day earlier on royal defamation charges, his lawyer said.

Paul Chambers, who has spent over a decade teaching Southeast Asia politics at a Thai university, had his bail request rejected Tuesday by a court in Phitsanulok province after reporting to police to answer a charge of lese-majeste.

His case is a rare instance of a foreigner falling foul of strict laws which shield King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family from any criticism and can lead to decades-long prison sentences.

“The immigration police just came into the detention centre earlier this afternoon,” said Wannaphat Jenroumjit, who is with the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) and representing Chambers.

The Thai military filed a complaint against Chambers earlier this year over an article linked to a think-tank website which focuses on Southeast Asia politics.

“Urgent! Lawyers have been informed that immigration police have revoked the visa of Paul Chambers,” TLHR posted on X.

The organisation said it will appeal the visa revocation decision within 48 hours and continue efforts to secure Chambers’ release.

Wannaphat told AFP she had submitted a second bail request on Tuesday and was awaiting the court’s decision.

She said Chambers was “not confident but remains hopeful” in the Thai justice system.

Chambers told AFP last week he felt “intimidated” by the situation, but was being supported by the US embassy and colleagues at his university.

The US State Department said Tuesday it was “alarmed” by the arrest.

Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, a researcher at Amnesty International who campaigns for the release of political prisoners, said the visa revocation was meant to “intimidate” Chambers.

“They found his work threatening, so revoking his visa means he can no longer remain in Thailand and continue his work,” he told AFP.

“The visa revocation is meant to send a message to foreign journalists and academics working in Thailand, that speaking about the monarchy could lead to consequences.”

He added that the chances of Chambers being granted bail looked grim, given a “pattern” in which people charged under lese-majeste laws are rarely granted bail.

International watchdogs have expressed concern over the use of the laws — known as Article 112 — against academics, activists and even students.

One man in northern Thailand was jailed for at least 50 years for lese-majeste last year, while a woman got 43 years in 2021.

In 2023, a man was jailed for two years for selling satirical calendars featuring rubber ducks that a court said defamed the king.

Greek general strike hits transport and commerce


By AFP
April 9, 2025


Greek unions called for a 24-hour strike against the high cost of living 

- Copyright AFP Pedro PARDO

More than 15,000 people took to the streets in Greece on Wednesday in the second 24-hour general strike this year, calling for higher wages to match the rising cost of living.

Transport ground to a halt as air traffic controllers joined the action, while rail and public transport as well as island ferry services were hit.

Schools, courts, banks and public offices were also shut as part of the demonstrations.

The action came as the new sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump come into effect. They include a 20-percent levy on the European Union, of which Greece is a member.

In Athens, police said more than 10,000 people gathered near parliament as part of public- and private-sector union action against the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Protesters shouted “salary increases”, “injustice is suffocating us” and “down with New Democracy” — Mitsotakis’s party.

Public sector union ADEDY blamed the “exorbitant prices” on “the cartels that operate freely in the energy sector but also in various products and services”.

Increasing housing costs were the result of “anarchic tourist development”, it added, pointing the finger at the government.



– ’10 years of stagnation’ –



In Greece’s second-largest city Thessaloniki, some 5,000 people turned out to protest.

“We can’t live decently with these salaries that we receive,” shopworker Eleni Iaonnidou, 27, told AFP.

“When we spend nearly 50 percent of our salary on rent, how can we live?”

“My pension is not even enough for 20 days a month,” said Kostas Papaioannou, 69. “We’re asking for something very simple: to be able to meet the basic needs of our life.”

ADEDY said there had been “10 years of stagnation” and that salaries had only increased by four percent this year and one percent last year.

Private sector union GSEE wants the reinstatement of collective agreements cancelled during the financial difficulties of the last decade and “real increases to counter the high cost of living”.

Although Greece saw high economic growth of 2.2 percent last year, salaries remain low despite rising taxes and inflation that hit 3.5 percent in the middle of last year.

Faced with mounting public anger, the government pushed up the minimum wage from to 880 euros ($972) a month from April 1, a 6.4-percent jump from 830 euros.

In February, huge protests marking the second anniversary of Greece’s worst rail tragedy turned violent, as masked youths threw petrol bombs and rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

Argentina braces for 24-hour strike as it awaits news on IMF loan


By AFP

April 9, 2025


Argentina's President Javier Milei faces another general strike in response to austerity measures - Copyright AFP DANIEL DUARTE

Philippe BERNES-LASSERRE

Argentina is bracing for fresh austerity protests Wednesday, with a 24-hour general strike slated to start at midnight against President Javier Milei, who remains focused on Washington and a new IMF loan.

Thursday’s labor action will be the third general strike in budget-slashing Milei’s 16-month-old presidency, and was called by unions to protest his brand of “chainsaw” austerity.

Milei had famously wielded a live chainsaw during his presidential campaign to symbolize the cuts he would make to the bureaucracy and social spending.

In office, he has slashed subsidies for transport, fuel and energy, fired tens of thousands of public servants and shuttered entire government departments.

The measures have reduced inflation and resulted in Argentina’s first budget surplus in over a decade, but also tipped the country into recession and millions more people into poverty in the first months of Milei’s government — though official data shows the numbers improving.

“The cost (of austerity) for vulnerable sectors is infinitely higher than is suggested by the monthly inflation index,” Hector Daer, secretary general of the CGT labor movement, said ahead of the strike.

The action is set to paralyze trains and planes, and shutter schools and banks.

Argentina has one of the world’s highest annual inflation rates, but Milei’s measures are credited with bringing it down from 211 percent in 2023 to 66 percent.

Unions say the positive macroeconomic figures bely the average Argentine’s loss of purchasing power.

Ahead of Thursday’s work stoppage, Buenos Aires is set to play host Wednesday to a weekly protest by pensioners — one of the groups hardest hit by Milei’s cuts — backed by labor unions and other social movements.

On March 12, 45 people were injured when a similar demonstration — joined by football fans — turned violent.

Argentina has sought a $20 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, adding to an existing $44 billion it already owes.

Milei says the money will allow his government to pay off its debts to the central bank and help “exterminate” inflation — a key goal as the mid-term legislative campaign approaches, with his party seeking to increase its representation in Congress.

The IMF on Tuesday announced it had reached a preliminary loan agreement with Argentina, which must now be approved by its executive board.

A final decision could come “in the coming days,” according to the lender.

Argentine Congress backs inquiry into Milei crypto scandal

By AFP
April 8, 2025


Argentine President Javier Milei's involvement in the cryptocurrency $LIBRA will face a congressional inquiry - Copyright AFP/File Luis ROBAYO

Argentina’s Congress on Tuesday backed the creation of a commission of inquiry into a cryptocurrency promoted by President Javier Milei that soared then crashed, losing investors hundreds of millions of dollars.

The libertarian president hailed the $LIBRA meme coin as a “private project” aimed at “stimulating the growth of the Argentine economy, by financing small businesses and Argentine entrepreneurs.”

“The world wants to invest in Argentina. $LIBRA,” he wrote on the social network X on February 14, in a post he deleted hours later after the currency crashed.

Industry experts have called the operation a “rug pull” — a scam where developers unveil a crypto token, attract investors, then quickly cash out.

$LIBRA went from boom to bust all in the space of a day.

After Milei’s apparent thumbs-up, it soared in value but then plummeted 90 percent within two hours.

Milei later claimed he “did not know the details of the project.”

On Tuesday, the lower house voted by 128 members in favor to 93 against and seven abstentions to launch an inquiry into the currency, which moved more than $4.5 billion and caused investors to lose approximately $250 million.

MPs also approved a resolution to summon Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Justice Minister Mariano Cuneo Libarona, among other senior officials, to testify over the affair.

A judge has been tasked with investigating Milei’s connection to $LIBRA amid allegations that he was complicit in fraud, consorted with criminals or was in breach of his duties.

Race to save Sweden’s 17th century warship in preservation project


By AFP
April 9, 2025


Workers install a new metallic support structure around the 17th-century warship Vasa at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm - Copyright AFP Jonathan NACKSTRAND

A Swedish museum has launched a massive four-year project to preserve the sagging hull of the Vasa, a majestic warship that sank nearly 400 years ago and is now one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions.

Experts have begun putting in place a complex metal structure to support the hull, which more than 60 years after its salvage has begun to sag in the Stockholm museum custom-built for it.

“Today we put in a part of the new support structure, one cradle, and it’s needed because the ship needs better support, because the old one from 1961 doesn’t cut it anymore,” said project leader Peter Rydebjork, showing off the new structure around the 17th century warship.

Due for completion in 2028, in time to mark the 400th anniversary of the shipwreck, the cost of the project is estimated at up to 17.7 million euros ($19.5 million).

Originally intended to sail to the southern Baltic, the three-masted Vasa — a symbol of a rising Swedish kingdom — sank only a few hundred metres into its maiden voyage in 1628.

After just fifteen minutes at sea, it capsized and sank in Stockholm’s harbour due to a design flaw. The incident claimed the lives of several dozen crewmembers.

Well-preserved in the cold mud and low-salinity waters of the Baltic for more than three centuries, the Vasa was brought to the surface in 1961 after a delicate salvage operation.

Since then, the ship, which is largely intact, has been exhibited at the popular Vasa Museum.

But preserving the wreck is complex: the wood has shrunk over the years and the hull is sagging due to gravity.

It is also listing to one side.

Rydebjork said the old support structure “doesn’t really do the work that it should be doing, because the Vasa needs to be supported in the right places.”

“The new support structure will actually support the ship where it’s strongest on the inside,” he added.

The first phase of the project involves stabilising the exterior of the wreck, while a second phase will stabilise the interior.

A third and final phase will right the ship so it no longer lists.

PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL

From Freddy Kruegers to Peaky Blinders: a look at Ecuador’s drug gangs

THE BIGGEST CRIMINAL GANG IS THE STATE

By AFP
April 9, 2025


Ecuadorean Army soldiers stand guard outside of the Carondelet presidential palace in Quito on April 8, 2025. - Copyright AFP Abdul BASIT

Ecuadorans go to the polls on Sunday under the shadow of surging drug violence and a troubling explosion in the number of local gangs and mafias.

A flood of cocaine from Colombia and Peru through Ecuadoran ports has drawn a who’s who of mafias from Albania to Italy to Mexico to this once-safe Andean nation.

But it has also created a plethora of homegrown groups with striking names and ferocious reputations.

“Los Freddy Kruegers” cause nightmares in the streets, “The Ugly Women’s Headquarters” run jails and “The Peaky Blinders” try to rule the waves of a key coastal zone.

Together they and numerous other groups terrorise citizens through campaigns of extortion, kidnap and murder.

In January and February, Ecuador recorded more than one death every hour, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.

The mafias “have been gaining space; it is complex to combat them,” admits Guayaquil’s police commander, Pablo Davila.

The situation has put security at the center of Sunday’s presidential runoff between incumbent Daniel Noboa and leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez.

One merchant remembers the day a bomb exploded in her restaurant in Guayaquil, the economic and crime capital of the country.

“They said they were from the mafia. They demanded $15,000 not to kill us,” the woman, who asked not to be named for her safety, told AFP.

Many local gangs have teamed up with much larger cartels from Mexico and Colombia, as well as Albanian and Italian mafias.

But the local gangs have also fractured and proliferated as they look for their own ever-bigger piece of the pie.

“The war is over territory. There aren’t known leaders like before. Everyone wants their independence,” said the head of one gang on condition of anonymity.

The situation is causing serious headaches for Ecuadoran security services, who must now gather intelligence and act against an ever-changing panoply of actors.

Security expert Carla Alvarez compares the situation to the chaos of 1990s Colombia.

“We see an association of small, less rigid groups. This already happened in Colombia in the 1990s after the death of Pablo Escobar,” she said.

In Ecuador, hierarchies began to break in 2018 when one of the largest organizations split.

The death of “Choneros” leader Jorge Luis Zambrano in 2020 left a power vacuum.

The impact is now felt even in relatively safe Quito, once a haven from drug violence, but increasingly on the front lines.

There, restaurant employee Marianela receives threats and extortion via WhatsApp. “I block them,” she said.

But there is no ignoring the violence on the streets of her Martha Bucaram neighborhood.

Police and military regularly appear, hunting for weapons and drugs. “There were about two dead here on the corner,” she said, recalling a recent shootout.

Carolina Andrade, a municipal security secretary, admits that without the security presence of hard-hit Guayaquil, the capital is seen as “a safe space to come and hide.”

As new alliances and actors emerge, there may be worse to come.

Multiple smaller gangs are now trying to join “larger organizations to have greater presence, legitimacy, and territorial control,” Andrade said.