Washington — The US will make several trade announcements in the next 48 hours, treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, ahead of a US deadline on Wednesday to finalise trade pacts.
“We’ve had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals,” Bessent said in an interview with CNBC. “So it’s going to be a busy couple of days.”
President Donald Trump said the US would start delivering tariff letters from 4pm GMT on Monday.
The letters would not necessarily provide an ultimatum, according to Bessent.
“It’s just ‘thank you for wanting to trade with the United States of America. We welcome you as a trading partner, and here’s the rate, unless you want to come back and try to negotiate’,” he said. Reuters
Istanbul mayor’s lawyer denies ‘fabricated charges’
Ankara — The lawyer for Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who like the mayor is in jail under an expanding crackdown on Turkey’s opposition, said on Monday he faces “entirely fabricated” charges meant to criminalise the right to a legal defence.
Mehmet Pehlivan, who had already been detained for a day in March, has been held since last month on charges of membership of an unspecified criminal organisation.
A probe into the main opposition party, Imamoglu’s CHP, was expanded well beyond Istanbul at the weekend, and dozens were detained. CHP leader Ozgur Ozel criticised the arrests and was promptly investigated for his remarks.
The arrest in March of Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, sparked the biggest street protests in a decade, and a sharp sell-off in Turkish assets. The lira slipped again on Monday after the weekend detentions. Reuters
Houthis claim attack on Greek bulk carrier off Yemen
Athens — Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants claimed responsibility on Monday for a drone and missile attack on a Greek-operated bulk carrier in the Red Sea, saying the ship had sunk.
Sunday’s attack off southwest Yemen was the first such incident reported in the vital shipping corridor since mid-April. Reuters
US secretary of state to attend Asean meeting
Washington — US secretary of state Marco Rubio will visit Malaysia later this week to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian Nations in his first visit to the Indo-Pacific region as America's top diplomat, the state department said in a statement. Rubio will travel on July 8-12 and will take part in meetings in Kuala Lumpur with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), whose ministers are gathering there, the state department said.
Rubio will seek to firm up US relationships with partners and allies in the region, who have been unnerved by President Donald Trump’s global tariff offensive.
The trip is part of a renewed US focus on the Indo-Pacific and represents an effort by the Trump administration to look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have so far consumed much of its attention. Reuters
Paris wants 80% workshare in Franco-German jet
Berlin — France has told Germany it wants a workshare of about 80% in the joint Franco-German fighter jet FCAS, a defence industry source said, backing up a report by respected German defence publication Hartpunkt.
The project, with an estimated volume of more than €100bn, has been plagued by delays and infighting over workshare and intellectual property rights between France and Germany as well as their respective national industries.
France’s Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra — the latter two representing Germany and Spain, respectively, are involved in the scheme to start replacing French Rafale and German and Spanish Eurofighters with a fifth-generation fighter jet from 2040. Reuters
Typhoon Danas kills two people in southern Taiwan
Taipei — Typhoon Danas lashed southern Taiwan with record winds and strong rain early on Monday, killing two people and injuring more than 500 in a rare hit to the island’s densely populated west coast.
Taiwan is regularly struck by typhoons but they generally land along the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific.
Business and schools were shut along the west coast with the storm reaching winds of about 220km/h as it tore through the southwestern county of Yunlin after making landfall along Taiwan’s southwestern shores late on Sunday. Reuters
Japan to export navy destroyers to the Philippines
Tokyo — Japan will export used navy destroyers to the Philippines to strengthen its deterrence against China’s maritime expansion, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, as the two US allies increase co-operation to counter Beijing.
The export plan involves six Abukuma-class destroyer escorts in service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force for more than three decades, the Japanese daily said, citing multiple unnamed government sources.
Defence ministers Gen Nakatani and Gilberto Teodoro agreed to the destroyer export when they met in Singapore last month, the Yomiuri said, adding that the Philippine military will inspect the ships this summer as part of the final preparations. Reuters
Blackstone gambling firm Cirsa valued at €2.52bn
Madrid — Blackstone's gambling company Cirsa confirmed on Monday the share price of €15 in an oversubscribed initial public offering (IPO) that floats at least 18% of the capital and values the whole company at €2.52bn.
The IPO, whose planned terms were announced on June 30, is the first in Spain since travel tech company HBX Group raised €725m in February in a deal that valued it at €2.84bn at the time.
Cirsa operates casinos and gambling platforms in Spain — where it is the largest casino operator — Italy and Morocco, as well as in Latin America. It entered Portugal and Puerto Rico last year.
The maximum offering size, including the over-allotment option, which if exercised in full would take the free float to 20.7%, was set at €521m, or 34.8-million shares, the company said in a regulatory filing. Reuters
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