the history was written and it became theory is here the, the students and the totally the timeless journey. the hello i'm, adrian said again, and this is counting the cost on al jazeera. you'll, we can look at the world of business and economics. this reach, teetering on the edge of a trade war. the us in china is tit for tat terrace. a ratcheting up the comic tension between the 2 nations passed. could they reach a deal?

so the fuse that dispute, the future of the us as main farm aid agency, hangs in the balance. but why does donald trump want to shut down usaid and how that affects millions of vulnerable people around the world. and trump us holt at a to south africa over a controversial landlord. he's also sides of the nation's nonce against israel, and it's more on concepts, is humanitarian assistance being weaponized they was seen as a restrained response to donald trump. thomas against china, beijing is retaliatory duties on a $14000000000.00 worth of us imports of come into effect. that's off of donald trump. recently, front of the opening salvo and a trade dispute trumpet, slap additional 10 percent targets on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of chinese imports. but despite the tit for tat measures, tension between the world's 2 largest economies appears for the movement to be under control, leaving room for negotiation. so could the 2 nations strike a deal?

or could they headed to a full blown trade? we'll, we'll discuss that with guess shortly. but 1st, katrina year reports from aging to us. president donald trump started his 2nd tendon office by continuing his trade war against china and china is fighting back on february the 1st the trumpet, ministration added an extra 10 percent terrace. to old chinese impulse aging retaliated swiftly imposing its own you duties. 15 percent on coal and liquefied natural gas. 10 percent on crude oil find the equipment and some vehicles analyst describes the move as restrained. the levies apply to less than 10 percent of china's annual inputs from the us aging says it was forced to defend its national interest while you drive, going to drive me or you trade and 10 wars have no winners. what is needed are not more tariffs and they are long. we urge to us to cracked its action and the stop

weaponized in trait issues. but the other measures introduced him at the targeted pain china could inflict in future it's sanctions to us companies including pvh cool, which owns calvin klein. and tyson export controls when crucial risk of minerals, one of which is tungsten and metal used in munitions. and on the vehicles, aging has also launched an anti trust approach into google. and there are reports. it has other us check phones in its sites, including apple. china was caught off guard when donald trump imposed have on billions of dollars worth of chinese imports in 2018. it's since built up and shop and it's policy to get the shooting back at the us and strategically strengthen its position. working to reduce its reliance on the us market, the aging has expanded trade tires with countries in the middle east, africa, and southeast asia. it's also prioritize the technology sector, decreasing dependents on american hardware and making strides in artificial

intelligence. trump wants to reduce washington's trade deficit with china, which is a record 295000000000 dollars last year. and he also wants it to do more to stem the tide of sentinel to the us. but what chinese presidency agent team wants is not an extended travel, but to do a deal. and he's been working hard to reinforce his position when the time for negotiation comes, katrina you out a 0 to counting the cost aging. john gong is a professor at the university of international business and economics. he joins us now from badging. john, what do you make a basic things while the modest response could it's target actually do an economic damage to the us? well, our to we was your phrase that this is actually a very moderate response. i will say a mass of response only affecting less than 10 percent of chinese export from united states. and it really doesn't have much of an impact on the us economy at

all. i think that leaves a lot of room for negotiation. actually i was hoping that that they can reach some kind of a deal just like what canada and mexico have done before the deadline of the chinese title being king, which is february 10th. but unfortunately, all of the to be those kind of have a talk. yeah. a niece according to china's for administrative. and also it doesn't seems to be the case that they have reached an agreement yet. but i'm still hopeful that they can reach some kind of a compromise. i think the chinese side would like to have a, a kind of a deal or, and coal so does present. trump is a famous for making deals. so hopefully we have some do as you say at the time that we're speaking, the true leaders haven't yet spoken that may have changed by the time people watch our discussion here. but how long do you think china is willing to exercise this restraint? i think so, you know, honestly, i think one thing, uh,

we know that during the 1st trade war, ink, 2018 is that escalation of the trade war uh would be the nobody's interest. i think we rather resolve this issue as opposed to sort of escalating to a higher towers one i other that's not a good some hours i think of uh, you know, trying to really would like to reach a deal. but having said that, i would also argue that, that a little bit of a higher iris is something that the chinese sort of we really expect to be preparing for for some time and corporate china being engaged in the export business. we probably put as well some time. and then also a good point now that 40 percent property 40 percent of american exports to be a chinese export 3 high stage, actually related to american companies or foreign companies operating in china. so that's the case and a little bit of a higher power,

se 10 percent total just being in place indefinitely. is something entirely bearable, i think, from trying to size. as you say, you hope that a deal will be done even if that's not done in the next few days or weeks. and we do somehow get into a trade war, who needs who, the most here, who has the most to lose from a full blown trade for. i think it's the most of the, most of the party that's going to most americans, consumers of we know that the question about who is after they've paid for this time, i just have a lot to do with the demand. and that's the study of these products being sold, united states, and we know that the demand less than somebody's actually quite low. meaning that was the higher prices. uh, you know, imagine that she was still gonna buy the, uh, so uh, essentially, uh, the terms will be passed on to the american consumers and they're paying for it. but then you also point out there's another factor here, present, trump is all. so i'm trying to rely on tariffs being part of

a long term solution to the tax revenues for financing the federal government is really believing in the case that the, you know, part of the federal budget should be coming from the parents. and then off the pressure when it's types of money to be coming from a hot well going to china is one of the largest trading upon us. was united states trying to have some august the trace suntrust was the united states. so i would imagine that no matter what we do here, what about how much you know, you go, we tried to make an agreement, where's the white house eventually they'll be so tired of single being imposed to so as the trunk that by shrinking can produce income taxes on american people. this somebody has to be coming from somewhere, and i was actually got a phone call that will be coming from china's exports united states. and this is something that i don't mean it's going to pay for american people any. so if that's the case of, it's just kind of a very difficult to read,

should you wish low charles and, and if that's the case, you know, we just stay was a john, as we know china's economy at the moment, struggling with its own issues, can't afford to have a full blown trade. well, with the united states, do you think china is leaders will be keen to of the that to the risk any impact upon the chinese economy? well, let me pull things into perspective on, you know, american x, x supposed to be united states accounts for about no less than 50 percent of total transact sports. so that significance as a way to reduce to since 2018 when it 1st grade was started, the 2nd about over $400000000000.00 exports. as i said, a lot of them actually asked, which was american companies. and a lot of them actually also associated was importing components from other countries. yeah. what's the value added out of that? i suppose it's not going to be for me bit and thoughts and also uh, you know,

many chinese copies of preparing for this. so trying to find ways to get around these high towers. so if you come back to us and them, i say we just, that is gonna have some negative impact on trying us economy. but the really pack is not that it's not that big. anyway. there's a, i think there's a re investment bank report saying that coming out recently saying that the america market is, is about having the impact of the bombing at 1.5 to 2 percent. you the beach on china. and i think it's way more less than that. so in the end, the day, if we don't think about the tuesdays scenario that this is entire form you've got and daughter exports are nice. they just totally gone. um, i think of, you know, the ultimately that's only going to be about a little bit about one percent of trying us to be. and if that's something the american side wants spend most of us, you know, we just knocked off one percent of charles to the big,

big deal professor. it's been really good to talk to you john manufacturing day for being with us on counting the cost. thank you. to us president donald trump, a slap 25 percent tariffs on oil, steel, an hourly, many of imports. it has pushed to reshape the international trade in order. he says, the initials in response to domestic produce as being, quote, pummeled by both friend and foe alike trumps. as the towers will apply to all countries without exemption. the us imported maybe $50000000000.00 worth of steel, natalie minium last year. canada is its biggest supply, followed by mexico, brazil, south korea, germany and japan trumps the latest cars that you to take effect in march and are expected from returning to 3 measures from affected countries. and trump has impose the 1st round of sanctions against a ryan. and since his return to the white house reviving his maximum pressure campaign on the nation, it aims to drive tat ron's oil exports down to 0 and stopping ation, obtaining

a nuclear weapon that you measure has targeted funds, ships and individuals affiliated with companies already sanction of the for the president drove by them, but trump says he's still open to negotiations with iran. lebanon has a new governments. after 2 years of political deadlock, the cabinet faces the daunting task of implementing reforms. they did to unlocked funding from international donors 11 and continues to struggle with a severe economic crisis at a scrambling to rebuild neighborhoods damaged by israel's latest attacks. donor countries have conditioned aid on the appointment of a cabinet that will reform the dysfunctional states and side line the. the group has ball now for supporting peace agreements in columbia to fighting the spread of h. i v. and you can the funds provided by the us agency for international development of benefits and millions of vulnerable people. world wide usa plays an important role in advancing washington's foreign policy interests and soft power.

fox, president, trump, and critics including billy in the long musk alleged that it's rife with fraud. a waste of money under it's spending thousands, a line with us interest. trump wants to shut it down, but it's taking a series of decisions that have left the agency in limbo. now the impact of that has already been felt with many essential programs now for us and will not custom sharif reports. an agency central to american foreign policy is on the verge of being dismantled. the us agency for international development for us a, as in preston, donald trump, he wants to file most of the independent agencies workers, and merch it with the state department us and we're getting them out for more than 6 decades. usaid has been

a pillow for us soft power providing humanitarian aid or the one the agency with around 10000 because most of them are overseas is on the front line. so for efforts to find the famine reduced poverty, provide shuttle walter education, health care, and fight climate change. the united states has the world's largest donor of international aid, disposing close to $72000000000.00 in 2023. usaid and the state department shown to administer most to face. nearly 2 thirds of the funds are concentrated in georgia. you ratio and africa in the us this folder and a bunch of amounts to less than one percent of its gd, be much lower than other donations. the few of the agencies closure has left many concerned. we are concerned about the potential impact of the

decision by the united states government to suspend some of its funding for each of the n t b programs in african countries for 90 days. usaid also has its critics club loomed, accuse the agency of funding programs design, tip top of foreign governance, many of them welcoming it's closure. we're talking about people in organizations paid from a broad life whose job is to toppled the hon. gary and government in the end we always get here. the man in charge of shrinking the federal government on the like to bill and that type who, you know, musk claims us aid is a criminal organization and it's time for it to be shut down for the moment. usaid workers have been put on administrative leave. it's like to focus on the 2 challenges, but as the uncertainty goes, they don't fuse the agency that is created by presidential executive order. in 1961

and a safe congress lives is likely to shut down the same way, but not the executive order. from the consumption, i'll just see the counting, the cost a date on mask isn't stopping with usa, the i'm elected head of the newly created department of government. the efficiency of those is going out to several other departments and taking drastic measures to comp government spending. these include trying to get rid of thousands of federal workers accessing the treasury department's payment systems. within a months of its inception, the task force claims of save more than $1000000000.00 of to come spring several diversity equity and includes no d. e. i. initiatives within federal agencies must cause proposed cops of 2 trillion dollars from the 7 truly in federal budget, which i'm come to is principal outcome the reality associates

a consulting firm specializing an international development on post conflict resolution. he's also a former acting deputy administrator of usa. he joins us now from alexandria in the us state of virginia. jim. good to have you with us. want us to donald trump and 8 on bhaskar have against usaid. oh, that's a great question. uh, i think the u. s. capital right now is in some term while about the future of the u. s. foreign aid program. it seems to me that there are 2 basic questions that the president and evolving mosque are raising. the 1st question is sure to the united states of america have a for an aide program overseas. and then the 2nd question there, raging is, if we are going to change the us for an a program run by the us agency for international development. what system should we use to change it?

and in my opinion, as a former usa, i the official, the president and he long most far did wrong on both of the questions or raising. okay, in what way are they tied wrong? so 1st of all, they seem to have the sense that you asked for an aide is not in the interest the form. busy is the interest of the united states of america, and that's a critique that certainly as well as a long time usa id officer. that's a critique. i've heard many times since we are poor people in the united states. why should we spend the money here? why are we just giving all this money away overseas? and of course, as this program has operated since president john kennedy, started it over 60 years ago. what happens with us for an a is it helps people in need, but it also supports the long term strategic interest of the united states. that's

not a c for. so in my view, the president is looking at this, the way someone would look at it, who builds casinos for a living, or rather than understanding that by building partnerships with people in africa, asia, in the middle east live in america. the us for a program is building america's security and the increases the impact of u. s. foreign policy. i think they have the analysis did wrong, and it's not just pouring money away. is the, i mean, the billions that a spent in a come back to many us businesses. you know, that's, that's a very interesting point. very good question. of course, we send enormous amounts of food to starving people overseas, and that's who is grown by us, foreigners. so frank white, a lot of this, uh, what's called us for an aide, is initially paid to foreigners in iowa or illinois or kansas. but that's really

uh, you know, the fact that a few dollars comes back to the united states is not the key point. in my view, the, the leaders of us, i the, the people that created this employment of u. s. foreign policy. understood very well that us national security is enhanced if people overseas in africa items in the middle east, in asia, in latin america. if people overseas have a chance for a decent living, if they have hope for their children's future, if they have a reasonable diet and reasonable income, they are less likely to be attracted to extremist ideas and less likely to oppose western ideals of democracy. so does the president have the power to just shut it down and what's something about $40000000000.00

a year allocated from the federal budget to $4.00 and $8.00. what if you don't shut it down? what happens to that money? what does it go? yeah, that's a great question and i said earlier that, so i thought the president you on mosque were wrong on 2 counts. number one, i don't think they understand the value of us a id to america's national security. the other question i said was, i think they're approaching it wrong, you know, uh, every, in the us system of government, every time a new president is elected, there is naturally a reasonable thing of what our national priorities are. that's what the election is all about. and the professional technical staff who work at a federal agency. why do you actually id their agriculture experts, their health care experts, their education expert, they understand the full well the policies are going to change. i've been through my show 3 presidential transitions. and in each case,

these technical professionals that us, the heidi, they went for the new administration to enunciate its priorities and then they naturally realign us for an a programs with the priorities or the incoming administration. but instead of the president and you on mass running a systematic analysis of what needs to be changed into us for an a program as they have done this, sort of like a mafia takeover. this should be done. this analysis should be done in conjunction with the united states congress, which appropriate the money for the us, for an a program. and instead there's this sort of a sort of a smash and grab approach, like, uh, some gang of thieves attacking a wal mart store or something where it's really an appalling way to take

a look. and what are the programs are working or not jim? it's been really good still to you. i'm counting the cost manufacturing data being with us. thank you. appreciate your interest in this important issue. this among the president trump's raft of executive orders is one to create a solver and well funded. while he kept the details to a minimum, trump has directed his treasury and commerce departments to come up with a plan within 90 days, silver and well funds are created from a country's budget surplus. reserves are typically used to invest in stocks and bonds to infrastructure and technology, but the us government operates at a deficit, depriving trump the means by which silver and investors are traditionally funded. the president suggests of the wealth fund could be used to buy the video app, tick tock. its chinese owners have been given 75 days to sell on national security grounds will face a band in the us. now there are more than 90 such funds globally. managing over

a trillion dollars in assets, the biggest include no way china, saudi arabia, an abu dhabi us. and donald trump is halted a to south africa after years of growing tension between the 2 nations, his executive order criticized a controversial land. expropriation law had accused the nation of racial discrimination against white farmers. but his list of reasons also include concerns of a south africa's foreign policy. trump decided pretoria as well and bringing accusations of genocide against israel before the international court of justice. he's also accused the nation of closing up to us geo political rivals, including iran. but south africa's president says his nation will not be bullied. so from a post that says that trump has misunderstood the intention of the expropriation law that he signed last month. it allows lambs seizures without compensation, under certain circumstances, land ownership continues to be a contentious issue in south africa with most private farm land,

still owned by white people. so 2 years after the end of a past 8, south africa as received $8000000000.00 in aid from the u. s. over the past 2 decades. funding efforts to find the h i. v and aids tracking, surely as, as the founder of the institute for security studies, i think tank focusing on human security in africa. he's also the author of the book, fate of the nation, which addresses south africa's future from political, economic and social perspectives. and he joins us now from munich, kentucky with a set jackie, just how important is us a to south africa right now. what's going to be the impact of this, this freeze on, on a, to south africa. i'm going to yes, so show that to get to about $450000000.00 us dollars from pitfall, particularly on dealing with people of a sharpie, age and song. so that's, that's about 17 percent of all of our money that goes from age ivy age spinning. so

it's a significant chunk. now there's been a 90 day, um, uh, conversation grunted on that. so the front of your immediate to come to a bunch of that, that certainly is going to help me, but i'm still there for what i have to find alternative means providing the treatment to age. so i think 7 and a half 1000000 shut africans that are in effect of is a being weaponized here. what is it? the trump ones from south africa? i think that what is behind this is much more shut africa's position on gauze. all the actions that sort africa has taken with regard to a genocide, um and issues around and finish up with the china. you know, so that's, it goes from a member of the bricks alliance and has taken in certain ways quite some and too many combustor in a number of our foreign policy orientations as so we find shows in sort of

trumps across his way and comes to, to the issue, so i think that the actual fact um, this is a reaction against what the american c as of the asylum, click empty us foreign policy orientation. of course, what is important to understand is that earlier this year, the african national congress, the governing party, is lost, its majority and knowledge, and the alliance with a number of parties, some of which were much more sympathetic to the united states. so i started, i forget a separate way as being punished for a government that no longer is really has got the what that is no longer pursuing its uh, uh, from products of product prodigies which were decidedly pro chinese pro russian church has been really good to talk to your own comes in the cos manufacturing dates of being with us. thank you very much. i a, i'm, that's

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