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Global Alliance for Railway Project to Link Eastern and Western Saudi Arabia

Officials speak at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Municipal Investment Forum on Tuesday (Yazid Al-Samrani)
Officials speak at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Municipal Investment Forum on Tuesday (Yazid Al-Samrani)
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Global Alliance for Railway Project to Link Eastern and Western Saudi Arabia

Officials speak at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Municipal Investment Forum on Tuesday (Yazid Al-Samrani)
Officials speak at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Municipal Investment Forum on Tuesday (Yazid Al-Samrani)

Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistics Eng. Saleh Al-Jasser unveiled on Tuesday an international coalition led by a Chinese company, with 11 other international firms, to complete the design of the railway Landbridge Project that will connect the eastern and western parts of the Kingdom.

The minister pointed to the presence of 22 investment opportunities, including four regional airports, to be offered to the private sector.

He made his comments at the second edition of the Municipal Investment Forum (Furas), which was held in Riyadh and attended by a number of ministers and officials.

He noted that partnership and cooperation with the municipal and housing system, and the national strategy for transportation and logistics included investments exceeding 600 billion riyals ($160 billion).

Speaking during the same event, Majid Al-Hogail, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, announced the adoption of the Municipal Investment Portal (Furas) as a unified national portal for offering real estate investment opportunities with Saudi government agencies.

Al-Hogail added that municipal investments were related to five programs of Vision 2030, including privatization, housing, quality of life, serving the guests of Rahman, and financial sustainability.

Eng. Khaled Al-Falih, Minister of Investment, talked about the distribution of investment opportunities according to the National Investment Strategy, which was estimated at 12.4 trillion riyals ($3.3 trillion).

He explained that 20 percent of investments went to the real estate sector at a value of 2.5 trillion riyals ($666 billion), while 14 percent for transportation and logistics services, at a value of 1.7 trillion riyals ($453 billion), followed by tourism (9 percent), with a value of 1.1 trillion riyals ($293 billion).

Bandar Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, stated that the National Strategy for Industry enables Saudi Arabia to embrace advanced industries with high economic value, revealing efforts to increase the number of factories from 12,000 to 36,000 in the next stage.

On the sidelines of the event, Al-Hogail attended the signing of three agreements, including an executive program agreement for bilateral cooperation between his ministry and South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The forum featured more than 5,000 investment opportunities, suitable for all segments of investors, including entrepreneurs, owners of small and medium enterprises, and large investors in various economic activities across Saudi cities.

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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)
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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.