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"Fair trade" or America First?

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- "Fair trade" has been a frequently invoked theory by the United States in pressuring its trade partners including China for concessions, and a most deceptive one.

In a word, the U.S. version of "fair trade" is just a thin, frail layer of paint to whitewash over the headstrong pursuit of its "America First" policy.

The core of U.S. "fair trade" is its so-called "reciprocal" opening, which demands that all countries apply identical tariff levels and offer identical market access with that provided by the United States.

Tariff increase having negative impact on American companies in China

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-China tariff disputes are having a negative impact on businesses of American companies in China, according to a survey jointly conducted by AmCham China and AmCham Shanghai.

The United States increased additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent earlier this month, and has threatened to raise tariffs on some 300 billion dollars' worth of Chinese imports yet to be hit.

Russian hi-tech firm develops 1st super-computer based on domestic processor

INNOPOLIS /Tatarstan/, May 23. /TASS/: The Bruk Institute of Electronic Control Computers within Avtomatika Group (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) has developed jointly with RSC Conglomerate the first super-computer based on the Russian Elbrus-8S eight-core processor. Avtomatika Group unveiled its super-computer at the ‘Digital Industry of Industrial Russia’ conference on Thursday.

Russia ready for dialogue on normalization of relations with Ukraine

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Russia is interested in normalizing relation with Ukraine and is ready for dialogue with it, speaker of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house Valentina Matviyenko said on Thursday.

"We are interested in and are ready for dialogue, including between the parliaments, but it should be a serious and meaningful dialogue on the basis of mutual respect. We will not accept any conditions for the beginning of such dialogue," she said.

China says door open to trade talks, but slams tech controls

BEIJING (AP) — China held the door open to resuming talks in the tariff war with Washington on Thursday, but lashed out at limits on access to key technologies that it said might hurt global supply chains.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China hopes to restart the talks that broke down earlier this month after the U.S. hiked tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports, but only if the conditions are deemed fair.

World shares sink as US-China spat takes center stage

SINGAPORE (AP) — World stock markets fell sharply Thursday as traders focused on tensions between the U.S. and China and braced for the impact of their tariff hikes.

Private surveys, meanwhile, showed continued weakness in the eurozone economy in May, with a slowdown in manufacturing and services.

France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.7% to 5,286 and the DAX in Germany was down 1.8% at 11,948. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 1.5% to 7,226, after lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s latest Brexit offer and called for her resignation.

Senior German diplomat in Tehran for nuclear deal talks

BERLIN (AP) — A senior German diplomat headed Thursday to Tehran to press Iran to continue to respect the landmark nuclear deal, despite the unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. and increasing pressure from Washington.

Tensions have soared in the Mideast recently as the White House earlier this month sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region over a still-unexplained threat it perceived from Iran.

US gives Turkey two-week ultimatum to cancel S-400 deal

23 May 2019; MEMO: Informed sources said that Turkey has two weeks to decide whether to complete S-400 deal with Russia or risk US penalties, which would include cancelling deal of 100 F-35 jets, US media reported on Wednesday.

By the end of the first week of June, the CNBC reported, Turkey must cancel a multibillion-dollar deal with Russia and instead buy US-made Patriot missile defence system.

Turkish Cargo growing despite global shrinkage

ANKARA; 23 May 2019; AA: Turkish Cargo, a subsidiary company of Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines, continued its growth in the first quarter of this year, despite shrinkage in the global air cargo sector, the company said Thursday.

"Turkish Cargo managed to increase its sold cargo tonnage by 11.6% year-on-year, according to World Air Cargo Data (WACD)," it said in a statement, despite a global shrinkage of 3.1% across the air cargo sector in the first three months of 2019.

Trump walks out on Democrats as impeachment talk heats up

23 May 2019; AFP: Donald Trump erupted in fury Wednesday at unrelenting probes into his links to Russia, as the top Democrat in Congress accused the president of a "cover-up" that could be an impeachable offense.

A livid Trump abruptly shut down a White House meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, announcing he could not deal with them on policy until "phony investigations" are brought to a close.

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