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[000:00:00;00] a veto. how and why did soon become so obsessed with this law, we were giving them a tool to hold for corrupt individuals and human rights abusers accountable. they're gonna rip this deal apart if they take the white house of 2025. what is the world hearing? what we're talking about ply, american today, you'll weekly take on us politics and society. that's the bottom line.

i, i had there, i'm the stars the attain. this is counting the cost on al jazeera, the weekly look at the wealth of business and economics. this week, the push to counter china and asia. u. s. president joe biden launch is the indo pacific economic framework. so what's in the new pot, and will it help build washington's relations in the region? also this week, ukraine's economy as running on fumes, the u. u. s and the g 7 of come to the nation's aid with billions of dollars, but is it enough to keep the country running and a wealth of mineral resources and africa? minors are increasingly looking to the continent. has the wild scrambles for metals . so well, africa, mining industry, you see a boom from the war in ukraine. ah, on the u. s. has lacked a defined economic plan with the under pacific region since former president, donald trump, quit a multinational trans specific trade agreement,

back in 2017. now president joe biden is attempting to re engage the region that's increasingly come under china's influence. bible has launched a new trade deal with 12 countries that represent 40 percent of the world's economy . that's almost $35.00 trillion dollars in global output. it includes estrella, india, japan, south korea, new zealand, along with 7 southeast asian countries. but the u. s. didn't ask, tie one which is seen by china as part of its territory to join the new trade deal . the indo pacific economic framework for prosperity or i path aims to increase trade links in the region, strengthen a global supply chains, promot infrastructure investment and clean energy, and establish new rules on tax and anti corruption. but it doesn't include any tariff reductions and the founding countries will still need to negotiate what standards they wish to abide by how they'll be enforced and how to consider potential future members. the initiative comes less than 5 months after the china led regional comprehensive economic partnership went into force linking 15 asia

pacific economy isn't the world's largest trade block. most of the country is which signed up for the u. s. lead framework already belong to the block with china on. meanwhile, beijing has criticized the u. s. pack does an attempt to create a closed club. this is what the chinese foreign ministry of spokesperson had to say . you lose your mom, you would die cheerful. talk joe, to whatever the name of the regional cooperation framework it should promote free trade instead of engaging in protectionism in disguise. it should contribute to the world's economic recovery rather than destabilizing the industrial chain. it should promote open cooperation garden instead of geopolitical confrontation with the u. s . should earnestly act in compliance with the rules of free trade 3. now, biden has also held a summit with the so called quad group, where the leaders of the u. s. and japan, india, and a straightly unveils and in the pacific maritime surveillance plan and pledged $50000000000.00 an infrastructure investment. now to discuss all of that,

i'm joined by n press to see the se, asia experts and associates director at global council. that's the strategic advisory business fun. he joins us now from london. young, thanks so much for your time today. and now i pass isn't a free trade agreement. we're not talking about power of production will necessarily opening up us market. so what does it actually do? look to you, right? it's not a free trade agreements. and the main purpose is more to put for the countries in integrate in to seek to align on things like technology, standards and regulation. and for these countries to make real commitment to improve conditions on things like supply chain resilience on clean energy, infrastructure corruption and, and labor and competition policy. and it's more about the technology standards and coming together to, to, to align regulations. so that all sounds like it would potentially require

countries to change role as at home or other incentives for them to do that. so exactly, so that's the point. that's one of the, one of the issues with this agreement in a lot of these countries do probably not see eye to eye on a lot of the things. and so the complication is that they might not come to an agreement in terms of incentive. so you're right, there's no incentives in terms of better access to, to do, to the american market for lobby's countries. but that's not to say that they might not become that in the future. obviously, it might become something more tangible, perhaps motor free trade agreement. but something more tangible in the future it not is not something about these countries. countries like the nom in, denise, i would like to miss out. so i think it's important to note that this is more about what is actually in the agreement. it also has a lot of symbolic value. it's a sign that us wants to become more economic involved in the region. just something pretty much all of these countries have called for for a long time and which hasn't been doing. and it wants them to, wants us to become more of that account to, to, to,

to time has influence and for them to be able to, to balance out for, for instance, $4040.00 countries into solving face and region. and being able to play both you i've, i'm trying to get them loaded. labrat, you can argue. so speaking of countering trying to influence, i notice that it obviously experience taiwan. now, given taiwan roll is a leading manufacturer of semiconductors, for instance, how meaningful would any agreement on say supply chains be given that taiwan is not being included? yeah, so 1st on the exclusion of so on that was probably not a big surprise. the us has been pretty clear that he wants to focus its relationship with someone, but actually i think a lot of these countries and they said especially as well would have been. ready uncomfortable being in a group, including time on that is so clearly set out to count to chinese influence. and i still think you've had some importance. obviously it's, it's a negative that one is not included. but you still have countries like south korea and japan, which obviously are huge semiconductor manufacturers themselves. not just now, but we'll all to be in the future. so in that sense, it could,

it could really have an impact. so well, if this was about the u. s. trying to restructure it's engagement with the region to count to china, to, to show its strength. why not just rejoined the trans pacific partnership for t p p. and so i think they're mainly domestic constraints that are holding us back from, from lead, from joining the new c p p. p. if you look at the economic agenda is both the trump administration, the by the space. and it's been very focused on our strength thing, the american manufacturing base. it's been about building america and it's been about buying american. and if he joined the new launch free trade agreements, which will open up and already they open american economy. and i think, and that is something that could potentially road the manufacturing base, which has been a key speaking point me key issue in domestic debate. and obviously that could potentially be highly unpopular. and it's not something you really win elections on

. but you have the midterms coming up later this year and that's, that's a sensitive issue and hope young. so i want to ask you though about how this might affect china. because i was looking at the list of the countries who signed up to i passed and a huge number of these countries are also part of the world's biggest trade lock with china. will this actually have any kind of an impact on beijing's influence? in that case, and so it's actually interesting, that's if you look at the and if you look at the, the statement when they announced the deal. it was made a point that this, that this group comprised the 40 percent world to the team i sent for chinese members is only 30 percent. the, even though it's not a free trade agreement. and i assume the us still wanted to make a point. the thing, this is the big more important and it could become a free trade agreement in the future. and but to your question, i think i think the fact that some of these countries in the region cambodia laws and did not join tell you that the company didn't want to be part of it. and i've

already opted to, to, to not be included. and the other countries sitting a bit on defense wanted more your involvement at, they've still opted to join and that tells you something about that. it actually has a future and build something that can be real. so yes, i want to get your thoughts finally on the u. s. perspective on the whole region. it's obviously sensitive region, both for trade and security, which do you think is trumping the other, especially now given the war in ukraine and biden's, most recent comments on taiwan and security still is still trumped everything. and not just because domestic politics is constraining the americans from, from being like nominally involved. but that is ultimately what they, what they come back to. it's about protecting ceiling. it's about protecting, and it's about protecting too long and other allies in the region. so security, it's probably more important for the american, even though they,

they can afford to, to show that they also want to, to be more economically involved to date. and all of that very much related one to the other young process, the se, asia expert joining us from london. thank you so much for your time, and thanks for having me. the, let's turn now to ukraine, buildings and bridges destroyed farmland, tons of battlefields and ports blocked from exporting grain and goods. ukraine's economy is in ruins, as a result of russia's invasion, and he desperately needs money to pay salaries, finance, public services, maintain infrastructure, president, audi muse, lensky appealed to well need. is that the? well, jeff nomic for him and doubles to increase funding and help rebuild his shattered country after the war ends. the european union has pledged more than $10000000000.00 and financial. it's just 24 hours after the u canyon president made his appeal. the group of 7 leading economy. so g 7 has pledged almost $20000000000.00. while the u. s. approved an additional $40000000000.00 and

military humanitarian and economic aid, bringing the total u. s. assistance to ukraine's almost 54000000000 dollars this year. that's the largest package of foreign aid passed by congress and at least 2 decades. but the ukrainian government estimates the country needs an additional 5000000000 dollars each month to cover essential services and pay for the salary. the well, bank says the economy is set to shrink by as much as 45 percent this year. now you can export $4500000.00 tons of agricultural produce per month, but grant exports have more than half of this month. customers, revenue, the significant part of the government's tax take. it also crashed to around a quarter of their pre war level. the direct damage to ukraine's infrastructure alone is estimated at more than $94000000000.00. and the overall reconstruction effort is expected to cost. at least 600000000000. now, in addition to the aid packages, the u. s also says it will suspend tariffs on ukrainian steel for one year,

citing the damage that russia and ukraine has done to the industry. ukraine is the 13th largest steel producer and exploits at least 80 percent of its production. and the you will lift import duties on ukrainian goods, including industrial and agricultural products for a year. well, joining us now from london, is it again? yes, lip service. she is a senior economist at oxford economics. again, you thank you for joining us on counting the cost today. it really feels like ukraine's economy in itself has become a bit of a frontline of its own. what you're reading is how kids is handling things. well indeed, yeah, ukraine striking the war on, on all fronts. military social, economic, the economy has constructed by about 45 percent in the 1st month, which is well, basically nearly housing. and there are signs, however, that the economy is adjusting since then. so from april on awards, and there are signs of economies just thing and some regions have been liberated,

though usually the military response has been quite remarkable. and they cannot make one as well. both the monetary and fiscal response has been quite professional and unable to stability, financial stability, stability off currency. and, but there are challenges, of course, because there are huge costs involved both weather related to the collapse in revenue, but also the additional expenditures required it required for the width cell. so this estimate of needing what $5000000000.00 every month, just for salary is an essential services. how far will all the aid go? especially given that we don't actually even know how long this wall will last. yeah, that's a very good question and is a big amount of money. i mean, $5000000000.00 the estimate of $5000000000.00 per month includes the fiscal deficit and dead service cost. so it's not just the, you know, that, but the daily costs related to social spending and et cetera,

but also did that service cost. and it's split around around 3000000000 deficit we've seen so far in about one and a half to 2000000000. that service costs, and in so far the and the mounts that have been pledged by the international community and, and partners are bigger than what has been coming in. and so for example, in march there was 3000000000 in april 2. it's very little. there was less than a 1000000000, and in march in may again. so far there's been a scale up that is about 2800000000 received. but it's certainly short been assured to 5000000000 that is necessary. and as a result the central bank had to switch on the money printing machine, essentially, and monetized are the deficits. and it doesn't like doing that. and it can, it is already putting pressure on the currency and will be potentially decreasing

inflationary pressures. well, given that the world itself is potentially staring down the barrel of a recession, given the pandemic, given what they've now committed to ukraine at, what's your reading then on whether the west can actually even afford any of this right now? well, i think these amount to certainly of, for the bull, and, you know, we're seeing a lot of numbers in the media like a 40000000000 package from the u. s. or 19000000000 package from the g 7 and 9000000000 from the you. we need to understand that the real cash is much smaller. so from the us, we're speaking about a 1000000000 and it can be stretched over several years, according to the law. again, it's not clear over what period of time you plans to allocate 9000000000 euros. still, you know the amount not as big as we're hearing and it is affordable. and also

ukraine has been asking for an international partners reach countries in particular to use their as d r, a location that was given for and basically overcoming the corporate crisis and recession and. and there is about 295000000000 and allocated into in as the are in i'm have reserve currency to the reach countries which has not been used. so you bring has been long being for it is part of that money to be allocated to ukraine. that's very interesting because we have seen this huge show of solidarity from the west. do you think that to some extent we're seeing an even bigger rift being driven between east and west, say, between the western russia and china, not only politically but also economically here? well economically, obviously sanctions are having a huge impact. and russia is becoming more and more isolated. so,

and clearly, yes, it hasn't served well for russia's place in the world economically. and it will see it exports of gas and oil also reduced by the you even beat gradually with china. you know, china is playing a balancing game. china has not taken a very clearly pro russian stance. it is still realizing that it's very much integrated to comically with the west. oh, very interesting indeed. we'll see how this all continues to play out of guineas. that's over there, a senior economist at oxford economics. thank you for sharing your insights with you on counting the cost. thank you for reaching out. well from battery is to semiconductors, 'cause and mobile phones, minerals such as copper nichol, vital parts of, most of the products that many of us use every day. but they've suddenly become much more expensive and red because of the war in ukraine and sanctions on russia

disrupting supply chain. many mining companies scrambling for new alternatives, and now looking to africa. so that's going presidents or i'm a person says his country's voice to take advantage of this growing demand for platinum. group metals from africa, producers, half of the world's palladium, at least 75 percent of the welts, platinum, almost 90 percent of the wilds radio. that is also a major cold producer, but up to $2.00 trillion dollars worth of mental reserves remain unexpected. and the government aims to increase investment and it's mining sector to fold, to create more jobs and more foreign exchange. and it's not just south africa. the continent produced almost $1000000000.00 tons of minerals with $406000000000.00 in 20. 19 about 63 percent of the. well, it's couple production came from the democratic republic of congo, the d. r, fee and one the other? well largest producers if tangela months and other metal used in electronic equipment together,

they produce half the wilds output. 11 african countries are the main produces of metals, including gold, ion titanium is inc, and copper with gonna the continents largest producer of gold and botswana is the continent largest diamond producer. while joining us now from london is henry saunderson. he is the executive editor at benchmark mineral intelligence. that's a price reporting agency and consultancy focused on the metal supply chain. henry, thanks so much for joining us here on out of there today. should african countries be looking at this as a huge opportunity? yeah, they all are here, there's 2 cars off because with pretty much all the math book and minerals that we need to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy. and that's because batteries, they're all working out now help us to capitalize on this opportunity. henry, given the security situations and a number of these countries, just how reliable all these supply chains, you know, in a matter like cobalt which is used in electric vehicles. teresa supply chain is

highly concentrated from democratic republic of congo, gets truck out of the country to africa. and then it goes to china. we came out supply chain come under stress on our floods in durban. so that's an example of concentrated supply chain that perhaps needs to be done by the time be pulling the action last year. now saying they want to look the cobalt in time. yes, we could see that supply chain which is what we need, right? you don't want to rely on one country, one single supply chain, and we given the amount of opportunity that we're talking about here for both african governments and perhaps some other axes here. is there a greater risk of it? say labor law is all good labor practices might be flouted or that we might see increase political risk in some scenarios. mean a lot of your ryan in mining activities across the continent in which i mentioned, you know, that being concerns about people getting paid, you know,

the right wages about child labor that you know, there's also about to which i think the reference b, which is going to kind of sort of graphite, the tesla. there's also concerns about an insurgency. so they're all sorts of political risks. labor, low risk that are going on. these do need to be tackled for africa to become a part of the supply chain. because the other end, the customer, the comment has they wants to know that their supply chain is audited and meet standards. i mean, s g standards which are becoming more important sort stopped gap while the war and ukraine rages on or is this potentially a longer term shift? i think because i've got these minerals, this is the longest time shift and we've seen china, you know, the last 2 years very heavily invest in africa. and even recently it's been chinese

invested by assets in africa. and i guess the question is weston mining companies and companies going to china and we've seen that happen already. and if they do that, and i saw that by the chinese side of the supply chain on the west side by chain depend on africa from a longer term perspective. but we're seeing western invest will come back to some of these countries. but you know, it's at the beginning stages. all obviously then have foreign policy implications going forward as well. so do you see this is part of the new scramble for africa from the west. again. i think the west has woken up. definitely. countries like the d. b, that's pretty much tiny back man. i think now the west is where, you know, way does that, can you know, my so the co vote is controlled by, by chinese companies. you know, we need to engage with these countries and these are these countries. i'm the big problem for the west, but a lot of west and mining companies left. you know, left countries like the d. c. or, you know,

be able to split shoes because they became quite risk. and in a way that investors with telling them not to get, not to get engaged, but now i think by companies and government. so looking again, africa realizing, you know, we have to be that we have to be party supply chain. so this is the problem. but i think demand for these minerals is, is increasing rapidly, and we don't want, you know, trying to control a lot of the supply chain if i didn't. yeah, it is a sort of scramble guy on henry sanderson. they're the executive editor at benchmark mineral intelligence. thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us on counting the cost. thanks. 70. now, the cloth spinners and scientists and bangladesh has been working together to revive a special fabric dr. muslin was made for royalty, but the technique for producing it was last for more than a century. now it's back thanks to a red cotton plant, tons of reports now from the ryan guns. this rare cotton planned his native to

bangladesh and for more than a century was believe to be extinct. but now it's been growing on farms to revive trade in the fine carbon as scientists who lead to such for the plan saves it as fit as not found in other spaces. looking couple took us around 5 years to find the genetic match for this cotton plant. we collected 39 variants of cotton plant samples from different parts of bangladesh. eventually, we found a dna much of the footie carpet cotton from the compazine region near darker. now new generations of weavers are re learning this one's forgotten craft, but it's not been easy. um i was initially i was skeptical of my ability, but eventually after many months of steady training and encouragement, we managed to learn and create the 1st muscle of sorry, after 5 months of hard work and presented it to the prime minister. it was

a proud moment for us. the fabric is so light and find that plights have described it as will been the air spinners using traditional odin whales and hand drawn loan have to work for longer to produce muslims than other hand made fabric. wanting to close could take 8 hours by 2 people to make the acquiring, at least 6 to 7 months to make a full and sorry, the work is highly demanding. requests extreme compensation and attention to detail . men in bangladesh, blame its former british colonial rulers for killing of the muslim living industry by the late 19th century to make way for their own textile trade. but they're excited. it's returning and hasn't been looked ovalo left us and we are very proud to be part of this great endeavor as the world will now get to know about our centuries old fame and heritage. since we're reviving this craft again in this day and age is, i'm a little my love. many hope the revival of muslim will be welcomed by the was hi,

fresh, an industry that once helped turned again, just delta and to one of the most prosperous parts of the globe. oh, that's our so for this week do get in touch with us by tracing me atmosphere. he attend to use the hashtag agency. when you do or drop us an email, counting the cost at al serra dot net is our address. that is also more for you online at al jazeera dot com, forward slash ctc. that'll take you straight to our page, which has individual reports, links an entire episode b to catch up on on. that's it for this edition of counting, the cost imus dulls the attack. and the whole team here, thanks for joining us. the news on al jazeera ah short films of hope and inspiration, a series of short personal stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds.

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