The Guardian (August 4)
“The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has held crisis talks and the country’s president, Karin Keller-Sutter, has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff.” Roughly one-sixth of Switzerland’s exports go to the U.S. and prior to the phone call “negotiators believed they had secured a 10% tariff on exports.” Instead, Switzerland now confronts “one of the steepest US duties – only Laos, Myanmar and Syria had higher figures, at 40-41%.”
Tags: 10%, 39%, Cabinet, Crisis talks, Exports, Keller-Sutter, Laos, Myanmar, Negotiators, Phone call, Plunged, Shock, Stock market, Swiss, Tariff, Trump
LA Times (March 13)
“Myanmar has lost its luster for U.S. investors, who say the military has relinquished little power and Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government has failed to loosen the grip that army generals and their cronies retain over key industries.”
Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Cronies, Elected, Generals, Government, Key industries, Luster, Military, Myanmar, U.S. investors
Council on Foreign Relations (September 7)
“Congress, again, should take the lead” in Asia. “Not only has the White House paid relatively little attention to growing crises in mainland Southeast Asia but those crises are quickly spiraling out of control.” There is an opportunity “for Congress, rather than the White House, to develop a tough approach to the growing climate of repression in Cambodia” and solve other issues like the crisis affecting the persecuted Rohingya fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh.
Tags: Asia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Congress, Crises, Lead, Myanmar, Opportunity, Repression, Rohingya, Trump, U.S.
New York Times (September 22)
The U.S. should ease sanctions on Burma. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged this course and Burma has made real achievements. “Myanmar’s democratic progress has been substantial….Still, there is reason to be on guard against backsliding toward authoritarianism.”
Tags: Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar, Sanctions, U.S.
