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Saudi Arabia Approves Energy Supply Law

Saudi Arabia approves the energy supply system to enable the efforts of restructuring the energy sector. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia approves the energy supply system to enable the efforts of restructuring the energy sector. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Approves Energy Supply Law

Saudi Arabia approves the energy supply system to enable the efforts of restructuring the energy sector. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia approves the energy supply system to enable the efforts of restructuring the energy sector. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday the Energy Supply law, which complements the sector’s legislative system based on the best international practices.

In this regard, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman noted that the law “aims to enable the efforts of restructuring the energy sector, in order to contribute to boosting the sector performance, achieving national goals and ensuring the optimal uses of energy.”

He continued: “These structural and organizational developments necessitated revolutionizing the energy sector. They also required keeping pace with the best practices related to energy allocation and governance procedures, in order to achieve the highest value for the national economy.”

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman noted that the energy supply system came in response to the need to expand the scope of participation, and raise the level of coordination between the relevant authorities, taking into account the strategic priorities of the various sectors, in an effort to continuously update the privatization goals and standards.

The minister stressed that the new law would contribute to reaching the goals of energy mix, boosting energy efficiency, promoting localization and raising local content rates. In addition, the law seeks to support the implementation of the circular carbon economy approach and promote the effective greenhouse gas management.

According to the new law, a privatization committee will be formed under the chairmanship of the minister, and will include representatives from the relevant authorities and ministries, including the ministries of energy, finance, communications and information technology, economy and planning, industry and mineral wealth, and investment, in addition to two experts in hydrocarbon affairs.

The committee will study and review the executive regulations of the system and approve energy distribution standards proposed by the ministry to achieve the best use and the highest value for the Kingdom’s national economy.

The committee will work to promote local content and the circular carbon economy, and manage greenhouse gasses, in accordance with the strategies adopted by the Higher Committee for Hydrocarbon Affairs and the Higher Committee for Energy Mix Affairs.

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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.