Simmering U.S.-China trade frictions have stirred up a furious debate among American farmers who are already facing increased tariffs from Beijing on a wide range of products from pork to fruit and nuts.

 

In the Chinese capital, Beijing, however, discussion of the topic is muted by comparison. Chinese state media are publishing lengthy articles about how China will stand its ground, with some even arguing it’s time for Beijing to teach America a lesson.

Consumers are watching the dispute closely. Some are concerned about the impact the trade tensions could have, but most that VOA spoke with were convinced they could weather the storm by buying products from other countries and sources.

 

At an open-air market in downtown Beijing, U.S. imported fruits and nuts are now still competitively priced. But when tariffs start to hit, they are likely to cost even more. One vender VOA spoke with said he is already weighing his options.

 

“I can just stop buying U.S. goods and stop selling products from America,” he said. “I can just buy goods from China. Chinese should eat products made in China.”

Tit for tat tariffs

The United States has said it will place tariffs on more than 1,300 Chinese goods if Beijing does not take steps to further open its markets, address American concerns and do more to protect intellectual property rights.

 

Chinese authorities have repeatedly voiced confidence they are prepared to fight to the end if Washington goes ahead with its tariffs, but neither side knows for certain just how broad an impact either country’s tariffs could have.

 

Both Beijing and Washington are working to minimize the impact on their own economies while working to appear tough and resolved, but tough actions can produce unintended consequences.

 

The Trump administration has already been scrambling to assure U.S. farmers they will be taken care of in the event that trade actions impact their livelihoods.

Even though China has yet to follow through on its pledge to place a 25 percent tax on soybean imports, the threat has begun to hit the price of soybeans and animal feed for pigs and poultry. And because of that, there are concerns the measure aimed at punishing American farmers in areas where political support for Trump was strong could also impact farmers and consumers in China as well.

 

Chinese officials issued a statement last week arguing that would not happen.

Price movement

 

Xiao Guoying, a researcher with the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture under the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that a minor price hike would be unavoidable if a trade war is launched.

 

But he also believes that businessmen in China and the United States are smart and will find ways around the tariffs.

 

“Suppliers still have to find markets to sell their soybeans, even if it means a price cut,” Xiao said. “If global demand and supply [of soybean] remain stable, there won’t be a major price fluctuation.”

 

In Beijing, most residents that VOA spoke with said they hoped the two sides will find a way to work the dispute out. If not, some warned that it is consumers that will end up footing the bill.

 

Miss Wang Chongyun works in the financial sector. She likes to vacation in San Diego and is a fan of Michael Kors’ products. She hopes the two countries sit down and talk soon.

 

If not, the dispute “will have an impact on the Chinese economy and that has an impact on the public’s interests,” she said. “With higher tariffs and prices, we’ll have to spend more.”

 

Ways to cope

Others, however, argue that it is foreign countries that need China more. And hence, any tariffs doomed to fail.

 

“If they [other countries] want to make money here, they have to work together with China because there are a lot of Chinese,” said one young woman.

 

Few that VOA spoke with knew what Washington is demanding or even the huge gap in access that exists between Chinese companies operating in the United States and the gridlock American and other foreign firms face trying to compete in China.

 

One man surnamed Hou, who works in the service sector, sees the trade dispute as an opportunity for China to stand up. He said China still has many weaknesses, but it also needs to improve itself and can’t always be bossed around by the United States.

 

“China’s domestic industries no longer lag behind and it can make whatever its people need,” Hou said. “There’s no need to rely on the U.S., take sports apparel, for example, there are plenty of domestic brands to choose from.”

 

 

 
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​A group from the U.S. and Japan is trekking to a remote Pacific island jungle to document what is considered one of the most important wreck sites of World War II.

Three members of a WWII research organization and a Japanese aviation expert plan to visit the site in Papua New Guinea where American fighters shot down a Japanese bomber carrying the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack on Wednesday.

That’s the 75th anniversary of the death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

Yamamoto’s death came after U.S. code breakers learned of his planned tour of Japanese bases in the Solomon Islands on April 18, 1943. U.S. fighters intercepted the admiral’s plane and shot it down.

Historians credit Yamamoto with devising the Pearl Harbor attack, which killed more than 2,400 people and drew the U.S. into the war.
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French President Emmanuel Macron says he convinced President Donald Trump not to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and limit the airstrikes.

Macron spoke to France’s BFM television Sunday, marking one year in office, and two days after France joined the U.S. and Britain in airstrikes targeting Syria’s chemical weapons sites.

“Ten days ago, President Trump was saying ‘The United States should withdraw from Syria,’ We convinced him it was necessary to stay for the long term,” Macron said.

Macron also said he told Trump that it was necessary to limit the airstrikes in Syria, suggesting Trump wanted to go further.

“We also persuaded him that we needed to limit the strikes to chemical weapons sites after things got a little carried away over tweets,” Macron told interviewers.

The White House has so far not responded to Macron’s interview. But Trump has yet to say exactly what the United States’ future plans in Syria are, other than warning of another harsh response if the country’s government again uses chemical weapons against civilians.

Macron said there is proof the Syrian regime used poison gas in Douma and that missile strikes were necessary to give the international community credibility. He also said Russia is complicit.

“They have not used chlorine themselves but they have methodically built the international community’s inability to act through diplomatic channels to stop the use of chemical weapons.”

Macron told BFM that France has not declared war on President Bashar al-Assad, but that it was necessary to show the Syrian leader that using poison gas on civilians will not go unpunished.

 
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Barbara Bush, the wife of one U.S. president and the mother of a second, is in failing health and has decided to seek “comfort care” rather than further medical treatment.

The office of her husband, former president George H.W. Bush, said Sunday the 92-year-old former first lady made the decision following a recent series of hospitalizations and after consulting with her family and doctors.

The statement did not specify what she has been treated for recently, but CNN reported she suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and congestive heart failure.  In years past she has been hospitalized for Graves’ disease, a thyroid condition, and bronchitis, a respiratory ailment.

“It will not surprise those who know her that Barbara Bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health, worrying not for herself – thanks to her abiding faith – but for others,” the statement said.  “She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving.”

President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement Sunday evening that “the president’s and first lady’s prayers are with all of the Bush family during this time.’

Barbara Bush, often known for her outspoken remarks and self-deprecating wit, was the U.S. first lady from 1989 to 1993 when her husband was the country’s 41st president.  He is 93 years old and also has been in failing health in recent years.

Barbara Bush is the mother of former President George W. Bush, the country’s 43rd president and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

She is one of only two first ladies who was also the mother of a president. The other was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, the nation’s second president, and mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president.

The Bushes married on Jan. 6, 1945. They had six children and have been married longer than any presidential couple in U.S. history.

While in the public eye, Barbara Bush was always a fierce advocate of her husband and children. As recently as 2016, she campaigned for her son Jeb, who was seeking the presidency of the United States.

As first lady, she made her main focus literacy and became involved in a number of reading organizations. She established the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy decades ago, promoting reading skills across America, particularly for young children.

She’s known for her white hair and triple-strand fake pearl necklace.

Her brown hair began to gray in the 1950s, while her 3-year-old daughter Pauline, known to her family as Robin, underwent treatment for leukemia and eventually died in October 1953. Barbara Bush later said dyed hair didn’t look good on her and credited the eventual all-white color to the public’s perception of her as “everybody’s grandmother.”

 

Her pearls sparked a national fashion trend when she wore them to her husband’s inauguration in 1989. The pearls became synonymous with Bush, who later said she selected them to hide the wrinkles in her neck. The candid admission only bolstered her common sense and down-to-earth public image.

She was also known for her quick temper and sharp tongue.

Barbara Bush kept her sarcasm under wraps in public, though one noted slip came in 1984 when her husband was running for re-election as vice president with President Ronald Reagan. Their Democratic challengers, Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro, questioned whether wealthy people like the Bushes could relate to average Americans. An irritated Barbara Bush told a reporter that Ferraro was a “$4 million — I can’t say it — but it rhymes with rich.” Bush later said she meant “witch” and apologized. Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate representing a major U.S. political party,  accepted the apology. She died in 2011.

Barbara Bush also came under intense criticism was for her remarks after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The Bushes had toured relocation centers in Texas, where a number of victims had relocated. After the visit, the former first lady remarked that many of the poor people she had seen were faring better than before the storm hit.

“What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas,” Barbara Bush said in a radio interview. “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway,” she said, “so this is working very well for them.”

Barbara Pierce Bush was born June 8, 1925, in Rye, New York. Her father was the publisher of McCall’s and Redbook magazines. Along with her memoirs, she is the author of C. Fred’s Story and Millie’s Book, based on the lives of her dogs.

 
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A storm system stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes has buffeted the central U.S. with heavy snow, tornadoes, rain and hail, forcing flight cancellations, creating treacherous road conditions and killing at least three people, including a sleeping 2-year-old Louisiana girl.

In the Upper Midwest, all flights were grounded most of Saturday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as heavy snow made it difficult to keep runways clear and planes deiced. Nearly 470 flights were canceled before crews were able to open one runway shortly after 10 p.m., according to a spokesman. Blizzard conditions also forced the airport in South Dakota’s biggest city, Sioux Falls, to remain closed for a second straight day.

The Minnesota Twins home game against the Chicago White Sox was snowed out Saturday, marking the first back-to-back postponements of baseball games in the stadium’s nine seasons. Sunday’s game was also called off because of the storm, which by Saturday night had buried Minneapolis under more than 13 inches of snow (33 centimeters). The Yankees and Tigers were rained out Saturday in Detroit.

Authorities closed several highways in southwestern Minnesota, where no travel was advised, and driving conditions were difficult across the southern half of the state. The National Weather Service predicted that a large swath of southern Minnesota, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, could get up to 20 inches of snow (51 centimeters) by the time the storm blows through on Sunday.

“It’s a cool experience for me, the best Minneapolis experience,” Niko Heiligman, of Aachen, Germany, said as he braved the snow Saturday to take a walk along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. “I’m only here for the weekend, so I guess that’s how it goes. There’s snow and it’s cold. So it’s good.”

The storm is expected to persist through Sunday in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan before moving into New York state and New England.

Up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of snow had fallen by early Saturday in parts of northern Wisconsin, with another 14 inches (36 centimeters) expected by Sunday evening. Winds of up to 55 mph (88.5 kph) caused blowing and drifting snow, along with ice shoves in Green Bay.

The National Weather Service also warned of potential coastal flooding along Lake Michigan in Wisconsin and Illinois, where Chicago residents were warned that waves could reach as high as 18 feet (5.5 meters).

Snow and wind gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph) were whipping through parts of South Dakota for a second straight day Saturday, causing blizzard conditions that made travel all but impossible. While the blizzard warning was lifted in the western part of the state, it remained in effect for much of southern and eastern South Dakota. 

No travel was advised in Sioux Falls, where police said the blowing snow made it hard to see anything. Several inches of snow fell in various parts of the state, including 18 inches (46 centimeters) in the eastern South Dakota city of Huron.

The storm and powerful winds knocked out power to thousands of customers in Michigan, which was expected to get more snow and ice through the weekend.

Two storm-related deaths occurred early Saturday. In Louisiana, winds downed a tree onto a mobile home in Haughton, killing a sleeping 2-year-old girl inside, according to the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office. In Wisconsin, a woman was killed when she lost control of the minivan she was driving on a slippery highway and struck an oncoming SUV near Lewiston. Three passengers in the minivan and the SUV driver were hospitalized.

On Friday, a truck driver from Idaho lost control of his rig on snow-covered Interstate 80 near Chappell in western Nebraska and slammed into a semi that had become stranded, according to the Nebraska State Patrol. He died at the scene.

In Arkansas, a tornado ripped through the tiny Ozark Mountain town of Mountainburg on Friday, injuring at least four people and causing widespread damage. Video showed uprooted trees, overturned cars, damaged buildings and downed power lines. Powerful winds also damaged several buildings at the University of Central Arkansas, though no injuries were reported there.

The storm made its mark in Texas, too, where hail the size of hen eggs fell on areas south of Dallas and Fort Worth, according to meteorologist Patricia Sanchez. In Austin, fire officials said strong winds helped spread the flames after lightning struck two houses that suffered heavy damage.

 
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The United States, Britain, and France on Saturday conducted military strikes on Syria’s chemical weapons facilities to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent attack last week in Douma, Syria. The attacks were also aimed at reducing Syria’s ability to use the banned weapons in the future. From Washington, D.C., VOA’s Jill Craig talks to residents and tourists to find out what they think.
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Gun rights supporters gathered in Atlanta and dozens of other U.S. state capitals Saturday at a time when many Americans are pressing for tougher restrictions on weapons.

According to a early Associated Press count, more than 135 people attended the rally in Atlanta, and more were arriving. Most of them were armed, and some held signs as they listened to speeches. A few people wearing “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts made videos but didn’t interact with the ralliers.  

About 400 people, as estimated by an AP reporter, attended the rally in front of Delaware’s statehouse to support the right to keep and bear firearms. Some of those participating on Dover’s legislative mall openly carried rifles and handguns. Others carried American flags and flags reading “Don’t Tread on Me.”

In all, a group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans said organizers had permits for gatherings in 45 states. They encouraged supporters to bring unloaded rifles in states where it’s legal.

The rallies came less than three weeks after hundreds of thousands marched in Washington, New York and elsewhere to demand tougher gun laws after the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17.

Daniyel Baron helped organize the Delaware rally. The former Marine said he feared the current gun-restriction efforts were a precursor to eventual prohibition of all gun ownership.
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