Month: August 2018

Iran’s official IRNA news agency is reporting that China’s state-owned petroleum corporation has taken a majority share of the country’s South Pars gas project after French oil and gas company Total announced it would pull out because renewed U.S. economic sanctions against Iran.

The Saturday report quotes Mohammad Mostafavi, an official in Iran’s state oil company, as saying CNPC now owns 80 percent of the shares in the $5 billion project, having bought shares from Total.

CNPC originally had about 30 percent of shares in the project.

The renewal of U.S. sanctions took effect on Tuesday.
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France deems unacceptable a European Commission proposal to exclude French ports from a rerouting of a strategic trade corridor between Ireland and mainland Europe after Brexit, the government said.

At the moment much of Ireland’s trade with the continent goes via Britain in trucks. However, with less than eight months to go until Britain leaves the European Union, there is still little clarity on its future trade relations with the bloc and on the nature of the Irish Republic’s border with the British

province of Northern Ireland.

The new route put forward by the commission would connect Ireland by sea with Dutch and Belgian ports, including Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. French ports such as Calais and Dunkirk would be bypassed.

“France and Ireland maintain important trade channels, both overland via Britain and via direct maritime routes. The geographical proximity between Ireland and France creates an obvious connection to the single market,” French Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote to the EU’s transport

commissioner in a letter dated August 10.

“Surprisingly, the commission proposal in no way takes this into account. This proposal therefore is not acceptable to France.”

At stake are jobs, millions of dollars’ worth of port revenues and possibly EU infrastructure funding.

Borne said that French ports had the necessary resources to ensure they could handle the likely increase in trade flows, hinting at concerns about congestion in ports such as Calais, France’s busiest passenger port.
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By most indicators, the U.S. economy is doing well. An achievement that President Donald Trump has boasted about on many occasions. But whether Americans see it that way, may depend on which side of the political aisle they’re on. This report by White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara explores partisanship and the American economy.
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The White House issued a proclamation Friday evening officially announcing the doubling of steel tariffs on Turkey, slated to go into effect Monday.

Earlier Friday, the Turkish lira suffered its worst one-day loss in a decade after President Donald Trump announced the United States would hike metals tariffs, prompting investor confidence to slump.

Trump announced the doubling of aluminum and steel tariffs in a tweet Friday morning, citing bilateral strains.

Ties between the countries have been strained, as Washington is urging Ankara to release Andrew Brunson. The American pastor is currently held under house arrest on terrorism charges. The White House dismisses the charges as baseless and accused Ankara of hostage taking. Turkey wants Brunson to stand trial.

The Brunson dispute triggered the collapse in the Turkish currency as investors feared U.S. financial sanctions. All week the lira has been under pressure, which accelerated with the failure of diplomatic talks in Washington this week.

‘Just the stick’​

U.S. patience with Turkey is seen to have ended, experts say.

“Most of the actors in the Washington scene think that carrots just don’t work with Turkey, just the stick,” said political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.

Friday saw the lira falling more than 15 percent, bringing the decline to more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed supporters in the provincial city of Bayburt.

“We will not lose the economic war,” Erdogan said Friday. “Turkey will fight economic hitmen just as it fought the coup plotters.”

The Turkish president alleged Western powers are seeking to oust him from power through the creation of a financial crisis, after failing to so during a 2016 coup attempt.

“Some countries have engaged in behavior that protects coup plotters and knows no laws or justice,” he said. “Relations with countries who behave like this have reached a point beyond salvaging.”

Analysts suggest Erdogan could have Washington in mind, given Ankara is demanding the extradition of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for masterminding the botched 2016 military take over.

Erdogan’s claim of a Western political plot against him sparked alarm in investors and prompted an acceleration in the currency sell-off.

Ankara is under pressure to adopt orthodox steps to protect the lira by aggressively increasing interest rates to rein in double-digit inflation, a move Erdogan has publicly opposed.

Adding to investors’ concerns, Erdogan pledged a continuation of his debt-fueled construction policy to boost the economy, which is blamed for Turkey’s rampant inflation and has added to currency weakness.

‘A national struggle’

The Turkish president Friday dismissed such concerns and called for people to defend the currency.

“Those who have dollars, euros or gold under their pillows should go and exchange them into (Turkish) lira. This is a national struggle. This will be my nation’s response to those who have declared an economic war,” Erdogan said during a rally of supporters.

The drop in the lira has put increasing pressure on Turkish banks, given that many companies have borrowed heavily in foreign currency. Corporate foreign currency loans are around $250 billion, much of which is due to be repaid in a year.

“I don’t think foreign banks will be willing to lend to Turkish banks. There are so many rumors percolating that large companies are going bankrupt,” said analyst Yesilada. “I am afraid there will be a bank run in Turkey, people rushing to withdraw their deposits.”

The Turkish president his indicated possible support from Beijing and Moscow, but analysts are skeptical given the scale of support the Turkish economy needs.

But the souring in U.S.-Turkey relations could give new strength to Russia-Turkey ties, already a source of concern among Turkey’s Western allies.

“There are historical and geopolitical reasons for limits with relations with Moscow, limits I think we’ve reached,” said international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. “But if the United States can’t handle relations with Turkey … then a further deepening of relations with Moscow is an option. It may be not the best, but it is an option.”
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A threat of more U.S. sanctions has sent the ruble tumbling to its weakest since mid-2016 but authorities are not expected to leap to the currency’s defense after weathering a similar storm in April, analysts said.

The ruble crashed to 67.67 versus the dollar on Friday, losing more than 6 percent of its value in just one week, as the United States said it would impose fresh sanctions against Moscow.

The ruble’s slide was akin to its drop in April when, also battered by sanctions from Washington, it lost 12 percent in just a few days.

Lack of action

The lack of action by authorities back then is convincing market players now that they will not intervene this time either.

“When we think about what has happened in April, when sanctions were introduced and we saw a similar reaction in the ruble … this is not a move in the ruble that would make policy makers extremely worried,” said Tilmann Kolb, an emerging market analyst at UBS Global Wealth Management in Zurich.

Liza Ermolenko, an economist at Barclays in London, said that given the central bank refrained from intervening in the market in April, it is clear that a more sudden and deeper drop in the ruble would be required to make it step in now.

The authorities have made few public comments on the latest falls, which started on Wednesday, when the U.S. State Department announced a new round of sanctions that pushed the ruble to two-year lows and sparked a wider sell-off over fears Russia was locked in a spiral of never-ending sanctions.

Last intervention in 2014

On Friday the central bank said it had tools to prevent risks to financial stability, without specifying what they were.

The central bank, which last intervened in the market and raised rates to save the ruble from tanking in 2014, described the ruble’s drop on news about more U.S. sanctions as natural reaction.

As in April, the central bank has reduced its daily buying of foreign currency for state reserves this week to lift extra pressure from the ruble, which has fallen by around 15 percent versus the dollar so far this year.

“Authorities do not set a goal of avoiding a ruble drop at the moment. That’s why they won’t do anything,” said Pyotr Milovanov, currency trader at Metallinvestbank in Moscow.

Analysts say the other possible option to support the ruble would be a hike to the key interest rate, now at 7.25 percent, but this also seems to be off the table for now.

Rate hikes?

“At this stage we don’t expect policymakers to resort to rate hikes,” Ermolenko from Barclays said.

Kolb from UBS said he would “expect a bigger reaction if we got perhaps towards 70 (rubles per dollar) but this also depends on how we get there, if at all.”

“I wouldn’t expect Russian policymakers to use their available tools to support the ruble at current levels,” he said.
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Chinese state media on Thursday accused the United States of a “mobster mentality” in its move to implement additional tariffs on Chinese goods and warned that Beijing had all the necessary means to fight back.

The comments marked a ratcheting up in tensions between the world’s two largest economies over a trade dispute, which is already affecting industries including steel and autos and is causing unease about which products could be targeted next.

Beijing late on Wednesday said it would slap additional tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion worth of U.S. imports, in retaliation against news the United States plans to begin collecting 25 percent extra in tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods beginning August 23.

“The two countries’ trade conflict, which is merely push and shove at the moment, is likely to escalate into more than just a scuffle if the U.S. administration cannot marshal its mobster mentality,” state newspaper China Daily said in an editorial.

“China continues to do its utmost to avoid a trade war, but in the face of the U.S.’s ever greater demand for protection money, China has no choice but to fight back,” it said.

So far, China has now either imposed or proposed tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. goods, representing the vast majority of its annual imports of American products. Big-ticket U.S. items that are still not on any list are crude oil and large aircraft.

“China has confidence in protecting its own interests [and] has many means,” state broadcaster CCTV said on its early-morning news show.

Another commentary, written by China Institute of International Studies research fellow Jia Xiudong and published in the overseas edition of the People’s Daily newspaper, said the United States was trying to “suppress China’s development.”

China should consider “unconventional methods” such as the stimulus plan used by Beijing during the global financial crisis if needed to sustain economic growth, the Global Times newspaper, a tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said in a commentary.
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New York’s city council on Wednesday dealt a blow to Uber and other car-for-hire companies, passing a bill to cap the number of vehicles they operate and impose minimum pay standards on drivers.

The city of 8.5 million is the biggest app-ride market in the United States, where public transport woes and astronomical parking costs have helped fuel years of untamed growth by the likes of Lyft, Uber and Via.

But that growth has brought New York’s iconic yellow cabs to their knees. Since December, six yellow cab drivers have committed suicide. Those deaths have been linked, at least in part, to desperation over plummeting income.

The bill stipulates a 12-month cap on all new for-hire-vehicle licenses, unless they are wheelchair accessible, as well as minimum pay requirements for app drivers — regulated by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC).

It makes New York the first major city in the United States to limit the number of app-based rides and to impose pay rules for drivers.

A recent TLC-commissioned study recommended a guaranteed income of $17.22 an hour for drivers — $15, plus a supplement to mitigate against rest time.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat, vowed to sign the bill into law, proclaiming that it would “stop the influx of cars contributing to the congestion grinding our streets to a halt.”

“More than 100,000 workers and their families will see an immediate benefit from this legislation,” de Blasio said.

Around 80,000 drivers work for at least one of the big four app-based companies in New York, compared to 13,500 yellow cab drivers, according to the recent TLC-commissioned study.

The increased competition has slashed the value of yellow cab taxi licenses, from more than $1 million in 2014 to and less than $200,000 today.
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China and Germany defended their business ties with Iran on Wednesday in the face of President Donald Trump’s warning that any companies trading with the Islamic Republic would be barred from the United States.

The comments from Beijing and Berlin signaled growing anger from partners of the United States, which reimposed strict sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, over its threat to penalize businesses from third countries that continue to operate there.

“China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions and long-armed jurisdiction,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

“China’s commercial cooperation with Iran is open and transparent, reasonable, fair and lawful, not violating any United Nations Security Council resolutions,” it added in a faxed statement to Reuters.

“China’s lawful rights should be protected.”

The German government said U.S. sanctions against Iran that have an extra-territorial effect violate international law, and Germany expects Washington to consider European interests when coming up with such sanctions.

The reimposition of U.S. sanctions followed Trump’s decision earlier this year to pull out of a 2015 deal to lift the punitive measures in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program designed to prevent it from building an atomic bomb.

Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said meanwhile the country had nothing to be concerned about, a report on his official website said in an apparent reference to the imposition of the U.S. sanctions

“With regard to our situation do not be worried at all. Nobody can do anything,” Khamenei said recently, the website reported. “There is no doubt about this.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, speaking in a meeting with North Korea’s foreign minister, said that America could not be trusted, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

“Today, America is identified as an unreliable and untrustworthy country in the world which does not adhere to any of its obligations,” Rouhani said.

Tuesday’s sanctions target Iran’s purchases of U.S. dollars, metals trading, coal, industrial software and the auto sector.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States.”

Europeans withdraw

European countries, hoping to persuade Tehran to continue to respect the deal, have promised to try to lessen the blow of sanctions and to urge their firms not to pull out. But that has proved difficult: European companies have quit Iran, arguing that they cannot risk their U.S. business.

Among those that have suspended plans to invest in Iran are France’s oil major Total, its big carmakers PSA and Renault, and their German rival Daimler.

Danish engineering company Haldor Topsoe, one of the world’s leading industrial catalyst producers, said on Wednesday it would cut around 200 jobs from its workforce of 2,700 due to the new U.S sanctions on Iran, which made it very hard for its customers there to finance new projects.

The chief executive of reinsurance group Munich Re said it may abandon its Iran business under pressure from the United States, but described the operation as very small.

Turkey, however, said it would continue to buy natural gas from Iran.

“Simplistic idea”

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by an Iranian newspaper as saying that a U.S. plan to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero would not succeed.

U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that they aim to pressure countries to stop buying oil from Iran in a bid to force Tehran to halt its nuclear and missile programs and involvement in regional conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

“If the Americans want to keep this simplistic and impossible idea in their minds they should also know its consequences,” Zarif told the Iran newspaper. “They can’t think that Iran won’t export oil and others will export.”

Rouhani hinted last month that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, if the U.S. attempted to stop the Islamic Republic’s oil exports.

Trump responded by noting that Iran could face serious consequences if it threatened the United States.

“The Americans have assembled a war room against Iran,” Zarif said. “We can’t get drawn into a confrontation with America by falling into this war room trap and playing on a battlefield.”

Iran has dismissed a last-minute offer from the Trump administration for talks, saying it could not negotiate while Washington had reneged on the 2015 deal to lift sanctions.

In a speech hours before the sanctions were due to take effect on Tuesday, Rouhani rejected negotiations as long as Washington was no longer complying with the deal.

“If you stab someone with a knife and then you say you want talks, then the first thing you have to do is remove the knife,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
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