Sugar: it’s so quintessentially Cuban that even a young, machete-wielding Fidel Castro used to hack away at the cane stalks vital to the Caribbean island’s economy.
Now, the long-time world leader in sugar production is importing the stuff for the first time, and in large amounts, from France after another bad harvest.
Sugar used to account for the vast majority of Cuba’s exports. But the fall of its big brother, the Soviet Union — a key, hungry customer — changed everything, as did a lack of investment in seeds, fertilizer and pesticides.
To wit: in the early 1990s, Cuba produced about eight million tons of sugar a year. A decade later, it stopped reaching two million a year.
Back then, sugar accounted for almost 75 percent of Cuban exports. In 2015, it was only 13 percent, with other products like nickel and tobacco making up some of the difference.
The 2017-2018 harvest suffered badly after Hurricane Irma ravaged the country, followed by a long rainy season.
So Cuba is importing sugar from France.
New Delhi, Aug 22: Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said today that he was more concerned about the rising trade deficit than the falling rupee, and called for efforts to push exports.
He also said that there is a constituency which benefits from strong rupee but it needs to be put on the back foot.
“I don’t believe in strong rupee… It will be very difficult for the government to try and push up the rupee,” Kumar said at an event organised by industry body CII.
“There is a constituency that benefits from strong rupee…The constituency should be put on back foot,” he added.
The rupee on August 16 had slumped to a life-time low of 70.32 on strong demand for the US dollar.
Kumar further said that economic policy making should not focus only on fiscal deficit number, arguing that large economies like USA, China and European Union do not give much importance to fiscal deficit.
“We must shift debate out of fiscal deficit. Countries like USA, China and European Union don’t give (importance) to it… We need to move from that single, one number (fiscal deficit).
“Nobody is playing by rules, so we should learn to play as it suits our requirements,” Kumar insisted.
He said however that some revenue expenditure can be just be brought to zero.
The main worry, he added, is trade deficit.
“I think it will be much better to try and push exports,” he noted.
Kumar argued that under the current circumstances, tightening fiscal and monetary policy at the same time would be asking for trouble.
He also suggested that India should not boast of being a big economy while negotiating trade deals as the country’s per capita income is still low.
He said Niti Aayog will soon come out with development agenda for ‘New India 2022’.
“We would like Planning Departments of State governments to work as State Niti Aayog,” he said.
Replying to a query, Kumar said nearly all states (excluding four) have signed MoU with the Centre for implementing Ayushman Bharat Healthcare Scheme.
“I met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, she is also willing to come on board,” he said.
Washington, Aug 3: The Trump administration is considering to increase the proposed tariff of 10 per cent on import of Chinese products to 25 per cent, a top trade negotiator has said.
Such a move would more than double its proposed tariff on import of Chinese products worth USD 200 billion.
“The bottom line is the president is going to continue to hold China responsible for their unfair trade practices. This has gone on for long enough and he is going to do something about it,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at her daily news conference yesterday.
On June 18, Trump had directed US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify USD 200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 per cent, in response to China’s decision to cause further “harm” to US workers, farmers, and businesses by imposing retaliatory duties on US goods.
This process was initiated on July 10.
“This week, the president has directed that I consider increasing the proposed level of the additional duty from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. The 25 per cent duty would be applied to the proposed list of products previously announced on July 10,” Lighthizer said.
He said the Trump administration continues to urge China to stop its “unfair practices”, open its market, and engage in true market competition.
“We have been very clear about the specific changes China should undertake. Regrettably, instead of changing its harmful behaviour, China has illegally retaliated against US workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses, he alleged.
Lighthizer said the increase in the possible rate of the additional duty is intended at providing the Trump administration with additional options to encourage China to change its “harmful” policies and behaviour, and adopt policies that will lead to fairer markets and prosperity for all of Americans.
“The United States has joined forces with like-minded partners around the world to address unfair trade practices such as forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft, and we remain ready to engage with China in negotiations that could resolve these and other problems detailed in our Section 301 report,” he said.
Sanders said the United States would like to see the playing field level.
“The president, as both he and about 15 members of his administration have said repeatedly, we’d like to see the unfair trade practices stop,” she said.
“But until that happens, the president is going to hold their feet to the fire. He is going to continue to put pressure on China and he is not going to sit back and allow American industries and American workers to be taken advantage of,” Sanders asserted.