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France Not Considering Soccer World Cup Boycott over Greenland for Now

President Donald Trump is presented with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize by FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
President Donald Trump is presented with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize by FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
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France Not Considering Soccer World Cup Boycott over Greenland for Now

President Donald Trump is presented with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize by FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
President Donald Trump is presented with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize by FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)

France's sports minister says her country is not currently thinking about boycotting the soccer World Cup in the United States amid growing tensions related to Donald Trump's quest to control Greenland.

“At the moment we are speaking, there is no desire from the ministry to boycott this major, much-anticipated competition," sports minister Marina Ferrari told reporters on Tuesday evening. "That said, I am not prejudging what might happen.”

Ferrari added that she wants to keep sports separate from politics, The AP news reported.

“The 2026 World Cup is an extremely important moment for all sports lovers,” she said.

With the tournament kicking off in June in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the US president's ambitions to wrest control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark has the potential to tear relations with European allies.

In France, leftist lawmaker Eric Coquerel said the opportunity of a boycott by France, a two-time winner of the men's World Cup, should be considered.

“Seriously, can we really imagine going to play the footie World Cup in a country that attacks its ‘neighbors,’ threatens to invade Greenland, undermines international law, wants to torpedo the UN," he asked in a message posted on social media.

“The question seriously arises, especially since it is still possible to refocus the event on Mexico and Canada,” he wrote.

France lost to Argentina in the final of the World Cup in 2022.

No boycott by Scotland after 28-year wait In the UK, the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, said boycotting the World Cup was not the right option for Scotland, which will feature at the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

“Without being flippant, we have boycotted the World Cup proactively since 1998 and I’m not entirely sure that’s a route that we want to go down again,” Flynn said.

“Instead I think we need serious and committed international dialogue with our allies on the European continent."

On Tuesday a number of MPs called for the home nations to boycott the World Cup. England and Scotland have qualified for the showcase event, while Wales and Northern Ireland are in the playoffs.

 

 

 

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Business

Safran to Open Landing Gear Plant in Morocco

Safran Group logo is seen in this illustration taken July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Safran Group logo is seen in this illustration taken July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Safran to Open Landing Gear Plant in Morocco

Safran Group logo is seen in this illustration taken July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Safran Group logo is seen in this illustration taken July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Safran Landing Systems, a subsidiary of French aerospace group Safran, signed a deal with Morocco to set up a landing gear factory near Casablanca worth 280 million euros ($332 mln) to supply the Airbus A320, Safran Chair Ross McIness said.

The new plant will help Safran support the production pace of the Airbus A320 family and prepare the next generation of short and medium-haul aircraft, McIness said at the deal's signing ceremony chaired by Morocco's King Mohammed VI at the Royal Palace in Casablanca.

The plant is a step forward in Morocco's plan to strengthen its position in global aerospace industry supply chains, Moroccan industry minister Ryad Mezzour said on the same occasion.

The factory, set to be one of the largest of its kind, is expected to start production in 2029, Safran's communications said.

In October, Safran signed deals with the Moroccan government to set up a new engine assembly line for Airbus jets and a new maintenance and repair plant in Midparc, an industrial zone near Casablanca dedicated to aerospace manufacturers.

With 150 firms, Morocco's aerospace sector employs 25,000 people. Its exports rose to 29 billion dirhams ($3 billion) in 2025 from 26.4 billion dirhams a year earlier.

Business

China to Scrap Tariffs for Most of Africa from May

Visitors walk past illuminated lantern displays ahead of Lunar New Year in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Visitors walk past illuminated lantern displays ahead of Lunar New Year in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
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China to Scrap Tariffs for Most of Africa from May

Visitors walk past illuminated lantern displays ahead of Lunar New Year in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Visitors walk past illuminated lantern displays ahead of Lunar New Year in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Beijing's scrapping of tariffs for all but one African country will start May 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday, according to state media.

China already has a zero-tariff policy for imports from 33 African countries, but Beijing said last year it would extend the policy to all 53 of its diplomatic partners on the continent.

China is Africa's largest trading partner and a key backer of major infrastructure projects in the region through its vast "Belt and Road" initiative.

From May 1, zero levies will apply to all African countries except Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

China claims the democratic island as its own and does not rule out using force to take it.

Many African countries are increasingly looking to China and other trading partners since US President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs worldwide last year.

Xi said the zero-tariff deal "will undoubtedly provide new opportunities for African development", announcing the date as leaders across the continent gathered in Ethiopia for the annual African Union summit.

The announcement came as Africa’s top regional body hosted its annual summit in Ethiopia this weekend to discuss the future of the continent of some 1.4 billion people.

Business

Trump to Roll Back Some Tariffs on Steel, Aluminum

A worker in the coal fields at US Steel's Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, Pa., on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh's Public Source via AP)
A worker in the coal fields at US Steel's Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, Pa., on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh's Public Source via AP)
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Trump to Roll Back Some Tariffs on Steel, Aluminum

A worker in the coal fields at US Steel's Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, Pa., on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh's Public Source via AP)
A worker in the coal fields at US Steel's Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, Pa., on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh's Public Source via AP)

US President Donald Trump plans to scale back some tariffs on steel and aluminum goods, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Officials in the Commerce Department and US trade representative’s office believe the tariffs are hurting consumers by raising prices for goods including pie tins and food-and-drink cans, the FT report said.

Voters nationwide are worried about prices, and cost-of-living concerns are expected to be a major factor for Americans heading into the November midterm elections.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 30% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the rising cost of living, while 59% disapproved, including nine in 10 Democrats and one in five Republicans.

Trump hit steel and aluminum imports with tariffs of up to 50% last year and has repeatedly used levies as a negotiating tool with a range of trading partners.

The Trump administration is now reviewing a list of products affected by the levies and plans to exempt some items, halt the expansion of the lists and instead launch more targeted national security probes into specific goods, the FT report added.

Trump recently touted his economic record in Detroit, aiming to refocus attention on US manufacturing and his efforts to tackle high consumer costs as the White House seeks to show it is addressing the economic anxieties gripping US households.

The US Commerce Department last year hiked steel and aluminum tariffs on more than 400 products including wind turbines, mobile cranes, appliances, bulldozers and other heavy equipment, along with railcars, motorcycles, marine engines, furniture and hundreds of other products.

Prices Sink in Markets

Aluminum prices sank to a one-week low on Friday after the report Trump may trim some import tariffs.

On the London Metal Exchange, the benchmark three-month aluminum contract slipped more than 1.18% to $3,063.50 a ton by 0740 GMT, while the most-active contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 1.76% to 23,195 yuan ($3,355.27) a ton.

The metal has also recently received support from South32, an Australian company, which announced that it would place the Mozal aluminum plant in Mozambique, under care and maintenance next month.

Traders said the removal of tariffs would help ease the flow of aluminum into global markets, but the decision’s impact on supply and demand is limited.

On Friday, the price of aluminum dropped as trading has slowed in China since the Shanghai Futures Exchange will be closed from February 15 for the nine-day Lunar New Year break and reopen on February 24.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange tumbled 2.24% to 100,380 yuan a metric ton.

In return, the three-month benchmark copper price rose slightly by 0.02% to $12,878 per ton, still hovering below the $13,000 level.