In the News, 2020: ASIA & OCEANIA

The U.S. and China, with the world’s two largest economies, have been embroiled in an escalating trade war for the past year. President Trump, who accuses China of unfair trade practices, has imposed $250 billion worth of tariffs (taxes on imports) on Chinese goods coming into the U.S. China has countered with $110 billion of tariffs on American products going to China. At home, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been consolidating his power, and an end to term limits means he could rule for life.

Although the 2019 summit meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fell apart without a deal, Trump continues to seek better relations with nuclear-armed North Korea. In June 2019, Trump and Kim met again in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. But North Korea continues to conduct missile tests and has so far refused to give up its nuclear weapons.

After 18 years of fighting the Taliban, a radical Islamic group, the U.S. has recently tried negotiating a peace plan to end the war in Afghanistan and enable the U.S. to withdraw its troops. But the Afghan government is weak, and the country remains unstable. The Taliban, ousted from power early in the war, continues to battle American and Afghan forces and to control large swaths of Afghan territory.