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Saudi Arabia Produces First Locally-Manufactured N95 Mask

First Saudi manufactured mask produced with the support of SABIC’s polymer portfolio. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
First Saudi manufactured mask produced with the support of SABIC’s polymer portfolio. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Produces First Locally-Manufactured N95 Mask

First Saudi manufactured mask produced with the support of SABIC’s polymer portfolio. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
First Saudi manufactured mask produced with the support of SABIC’s polymer portfolio. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Mais Company for Medical Products (SMMP) has announced producing the kingdom’s first fully manufactures N95 masks from polypropylene manufactured in SABIC, in cooperation with the Dimas Nonwoven Fabrics Company.

This announcement takes the kingdom a step closer towards localizing medical personal protective equipment.

The product has obtained the necessary approvals after meeting the requirements of the Food and Drug Authority.

SABIC’s polymers portfolio is organized largely around the automotive, foam/lightweight and pipe segments, helping find the right alternatives to replace traditional materials, such as wood, cotton or glass, used in a vast array of consumer and industrial products.

Yousef al-Benyan, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, underscored the company’s keenness to support national industry and achieve objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to maximize local content and empower strategic industries through its national initiative “Nusaned.”

The company works in an integrated manner with industrial institutions throughout the kingdom to provide innovative and sustainable solutions by developing raw materials that are used in the manufacture of highly used products and raising their quality and efficiency, he explained.

“The local production of these masks represents a key step in the field of localizing medical products, which would contribute to enhancing prevention and raising levels of public health.”

He pointed out that the “Nusaned initiative works with a wide base of local entrepreneurs and manufacturers in the field of localizing strategic industries and transferring the technologies necessary for these industries.”

A team from SABIC visited Dimas and Mais plants and shed light on the initiatives’ efforts to produce the first raw materials to manufacture the N95 mask from local materials.

The success of this step reflects the importance of joint cooperation between the private and public sectors to support local products and localize industries in the field of personal and health protection equipment.

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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.