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Morocco, World Bank Sign Agreement to Strengthen Human Capital

A woman walks past shops in the ancient Moroccan city of Fez on June 8, 2022. (AFP)
A woman walks past shops in the ancient Moroccan city of Fez on June 8, 2022. (AFP)
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Morocco, World Bank Sign Agreement to Strengthen Human Capital

A woman walks past shops in the ancient Moroccan city of Fez on June 8, 2022. (AFP)
A woman walks past shops in the ancient Moroccan city of Fez on June 8, 2022. (AFP)

The World Bank approved last week $500 million to help strengthen human capital and resilience in Morocco.

Minister Delegate in charge of the Budget Fouzi Lekjaa and World Bank Director of Operations for the Maghreb and Malta Jesko Hentschel signed the agreement on Monday, which represents the first tranche of the approved loan.

This budget support program seeks improvements in the protection against health risks, human capital losses during childhood, poverty in old age, and climate change risks, the bank stated.

Lekjaa said in press statements on this occasion that the agreement will enable the kingdom to undertake reforms launched by King Mohammed VI.

He said that the bank’s support indicates that this large and credible reform gives legitimacy to government action to make this challenge a success by 2025 and ensure providing the conditions of a dignified life for all Moroccans.

Hentschel, for his part, stressed that the bank considers the reform of social protection in the Kingdom “very innovative, ambitious and integrated.”

The proposed financing is based on three pillars, the first of which includes measures to bolster physical and human resources to improve health services for all beneficiaries, enroll up to 11 million self-employed workers and their dependents and integrate up to 11 million people currently enrolled in Medical Assistance Scheme into the compulsory health insurance.

The second pillar includes measures to implement the family allowance program and expand coverage of pension plans.

It provides for adopting decrees and other legislation to ensure proper governance, identification and targeting of health and social protection reforms.

The third pillar focuses on improving resilience to natural disasters and climate risks, including strengthening institutional and coordination framework for disaster and climate risk management, establishing coordination committees of key stakeholders, and improving risk transfer mechanisms such as agricultural insurance.

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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.