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Kuwait’s Al-Ghais Takes Role as OPEC Secretary General

Haitham Al-Ghais (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Haitham Al-Ghais (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Kuwait’s Al-Ghais Takes Role as OPEC Secretary General

Haitham Al-Ghais (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Haitham Al-Ghais (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Kuwait’s Haitham Al-Ghais assumed on Monday his new role as Secretary-General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), following the late outgoing chief, Mohammad Barkindo.

Al-Ghais affirmed his determination to work for the advancement of the international organization, especially considering the concerns surrounding the global energy market.

In an interview with KUNA on Sunday, Al-Ghais affirmed that he has aspirations and ideas that he will present in coordination with all OPEC member states.

Al-Ghais said that his ideas are aimed at advancing the organization and facing future challenges, the most important of which is maintaining the balance and stability of oil markets.

Al-Ghais is the first Kuwaiti to hold the position of OPEC chief, having been elected by acclamation for a three-year term.

He said the unanimous selection of him by OPEC’s 13 member countries reflects Kuwait’s position and comes as a result of hard and determined work spearheaded by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Oil, and Minister of State for Council Affairs Dr. Muhammad Al-Fares.

Al-Ghais has extensive experience extending over nearly 30 years in the field of global oil markets and the oil industry and has a wide presence and participation in many international oil conferences and forums.

Furthermore, Al-Ghais assumed the position of Governor of Kuwait with OPEC (2017-2021) and chaired the joint technical committee between the organization and countries outside it, which is responsible for monitoring production and studying the conditions of oil markets according to the production reduction agreement signed between the countries contributing to the (OPEC+) agreement.

After he stepped down as Kuwait’s OPEC governor in June 2021 he was appointed as Deputy Director of International Marketing at the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

Moreover, he headed the OPEC Internal Audit Committee, and he has various contributions within the organization, as well as at the level of the organization’s board of governors, various committees, special works and cooperation with countries outside OPEC.

Also, prior to his participation and contributions in OPEC, he was included in the global marketing sector of the KPC in various sales departments, and headed the regional offices of the Corporation in Beijing and London, and was the Director of the Research Department of the Petroleum Corporation and Deputy Managing Director of Global Marketing.

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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.