Oman, Tanzaina Set up Joint Investment Fund

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan attends the signing of several MoUs on Monday, June 13, 2022. (Oman News Agency)
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan attends the signing of several MoUs on Monday, June 13, 2022. (Oman News Agency)
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Oman, Tanzaina Set up Joint Investment Fund

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan attends the signing of several MoUs on Monday, June 13, 2022. (Oman News Agency)
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan attends the signing of several MoUs on Monday, June 13, 2022. (Oman News Agency)

Oman and Tanzania have set up a mutual investment fund that aims to invest in several sectors, including agriculture, fishing and mining, the Sultanate's Foreign Minister, Badr al-Busaidi, announced on Monday.

Busaidi expected the volume of bilateral trade exchange to increase in the future as both countries have signed several memoranda of understanding in the fields of economy, investment, tourism and energy.

Oman and Tanzania signed on Monday six MoUs, covering the fields of energy, tourism, natural resources, higher education and vocational training, as well as national museums.

The MoUs were signed on the sidelines of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s current visit to Oman.

A trilateral MoU was also signed between the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) and the Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC).

Private sector MoUs were also signed between the Oman Airports Management Company and Kilimanjaro International Airport, the Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL) and the Association of Tanzania Oil and Gas Service Providers (ATOGS), the Al Bashayer Meat Company and the National Company for Live Animals and between the Oman Food Investment Holding Company (OFIC) and the Tanzanian Horticultural Association.

A deal was also signed between the Oman Investment Authority (OIA) and the Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA).

It aims to bolster bilateral investments and financial sustainability and develop a strategy to boost the historical and economic ties between the two countries.

Hassan held talks with male and female entrepreneurs from both countries to discuss ways to bolster economic and investment cooperation and increase trade exchange.

This came on the sidelines of the Omani-Tanzania Business Forum, which was organized by the OCCI on Monday.

She underscored the importance of exerting efforts from both sides to increase the volume of trade exchange and investment and urged Omani businessmen and women to invest in the fields of agriculture, minerals, tourism and fisheries.



Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Mexico won't be required to pay tariffs on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade until April 2, but made no mention of a reprieve for Canada despite his Commerce secretary saying a comparable exemption was likely.

"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd."

Earlier on Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the one-month reprieve on hefty tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada that has been granted to automotive products is likely to be extended to all products that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

Lutnick told CNBC he expected Trump to announce that extension on Thursday, a day after exempting automotive goods from the 25% tariffs he slapped on imports from Canada and Mexico earlier in the week.

Trump "is going to decide this today," Lutnick said, adding "it's likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services."

"So if you think about it this way, if you lived under Donald Trump's US-Mexico-Canada agreement, you will get a reprieve from these tariffs now. If you chose to go outside of that, you did so at your own risk, and today is when that reckoning comes," he said.

Nonetheless, Trump's social media post made no mention of a reprieve for Canada, the other party to the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Lutnick said his "off the cuff" estimate was that more than 50% of the goods imported from the two US neighbors - also its largest two trading partners - were compliant with the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Lutnick's comments "promising" in remarks to reporters in Canada.

"That aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials, but I'm going to wait for an official agreement to talk about Canadian response and look at the details of it," Trudeau said. "But it is a promising sign. But I will highlight that it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place."

Lutnick emphasized that the reprieve would only last until April 2, when he said the administration plans to move ahead with reciprocal tariffs under which the US will impose levies that match those imposed by trading partners.

In the meantime, he said, the current hiatus is about getting fentanyl deaths down, which is the initial justification Trump used for the tariffs on Mexico and Canada and levies on Chinese goods that have now risen to 20%.

"On April 2, we're going to move with the reciprocal tariffs, and hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we'll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation," Lutnick said. "But if they haven't, this will stay on."

Indeed, Trudeau is expecting the US and Canada to remain in a trade war.

"I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future," he told reporters in Ottawa.