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Saudi Arabia Renews Commitment to Supporting Flexible Food Production

Eng. Mansour Al-Mushaiti, Saudi Deputy Minister of Environment, meets Dr. Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Eng. Mansour Al-Mushaiti, Saudi Deputy Minister of Environment, meets Dr. Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Renews Commitment to Supporting Flexible Food Production

Eng. Mansour Al-Mushaiti, Saudi Deputy Minister of Environment, meets Dr. Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Eng. Mansour Al-Mushaiti, Saudi Deputy Minister of Environment, meets Dr. Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has affirmed its commitment to implementing its declared strategic policy to achieve food security and support flexible and effective food production to adapt to the challenges of water scarcity.

This comes as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the 43rd session of its General Conference on Tuesday, under the title: “Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment, and Better Life”, with a number of important issues on the agenda, including the role of trade in securing diverse foods to ensure global food security in times of crisis.

The conference also sheds light on climate change and food prices, in addition to promoting and developing technological and digital innovations in the agricultural fields, in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development.

Eng. Mansour Al-Mushaiti, Saudi Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, met with the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Alvaro Lario, on the sidelines of the conference, to discuss aspects of cooperation between the Kingdom and IFAD, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

Addressing the conference on Tuesday, Al-Mushaiti stressed that his country attached great importance to cooperation with regional and international organizations and institutions to achieve common goals related to agricultural and food systems.

He also pointed to the Kingdom’s strategies, initiatives and programs to promote sustainable agricultural development, raise the efficiency of water management and preserve natural and environmental resources.

According to Al-Mushaiti, the Saudi Agricultural Development Fund provided lending that exceeded 70 percent of the capital costs of agricultural projects, stressing that the lending rate jumped from 500 million riyals ($133.3 million) in 2015, to reach 7 billion riyals ($1.8 billion) in 2022, highlighting the growth of agricultural investments in Saudi Arabia.

The deputy minister presented some of Saudi Arabia’s achievements in the agricultural sector. He said that those were reflected in the value of the agricultural domestic product, which reached 100 billion riyals ($26.6 billion) in 2022, recording its highest contribution in the Kingdom’s history.

He added that Saudi Arabia registered high rates of self-sufficiency in many agricultural crops, especially those that rely on modern technologies and integrated water management.

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China Hits Back at US and Will Raise Tariffs on American Goods from 84% to 125%

An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
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China Hits Back at US and Will Raise Tariffs on American Goods from 84% to 125%

An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

China announced Friday that it will raise tariffs on US goods from 84% to 125% — the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world's two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown.

While US President Donald Trump paused import taxes this week for other countries, he raised tariffs on China and they now total 145%. China has denounced the policy as “economic bullying" and promised countermeasures. The new tariffs begin Saturday.

Washington's repeated raising of tariffs “will become a joke in the history of the world economy,” a Chinese Finance Ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the new tariffs. “However, if the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end.”

China’s Commerce Ministry said it would file another lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the US tariffs.

“There are no winners in a tariff war,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, according to a readout from state broadcaster CCTV. “For more than 70 years, China has always relied on itself ... and hard work for development, never relying on favors from anyone, and not fearing any unreasonable suppression.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday said China stands firm against Trump’s tariffs not only to defend its own rights and interests but also to “safeguard the common interests of the international community to ensure that humanity is not dragged back into a jungle world where might makes right.”

Wang made the remarks when he met Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Beijing. Wang said China will “work together with other countries to jointly resist all retrogressive actions in the world.”

Trump's on-again, off-again measures have caused alarm in stock and bond markets and led some to warn that the US could be headed for a recession. There was some relief when Trump paused the tariffs for most countries — but concerns remain since the US and China are the world's No. 1 and No. 2 economies, respectively.

“The risk that this escalating trade war tips the world into a recession is rising as the two largest and most powerful countries in the world continue to punch back with higher and higher tariffs,” Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital markets, wrote Friday. “No one truly knows when this will end.”

Chinese tariffs will affect goods like soybeans, aircrafts and their parts and drugs — all among the country's major imports from the US Beijing, meanwhile, suspended sorghum, poultry and bonemeal imports from some American companies last week, and put more export controls on rare earth minerals, critical for various technologies.

The United States' top imports from China, meanwhile, include electronics, like computers and cell phones, industrial equipment and toys — and consumers and businesses are likely to see prices rise on those products, with tariffs now at 145%.

Trump announced on Wednesday that China would face 125% tariffs, but he did not include a 20% tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production.

White House officials hope the import taxes will create more manufacturing jobs by bringing production back to the United States — a politically risky trade-off that could take years to materialize, if at all.