4 February 2025 – The Indonesian government has significantly reduced the mining quotas for nickel ore for 2025 and 2026. At the same time, Indonesia wants to examine possible new controls on nickel. President Trump suspends tariffs against Mexico and Canada for a month after preliminary deal – is Europe now his focus?
New US tariffs against Mexico and Canada suspended for a month
After the Mexican government agreed yesterday on a provisional deal with US President Donald J. Trump to suspend new tariffs for a month, it was announced a few hours later that the Canadian government would now also seek a deal with the United States in this regard.
Mexico and Canada had previously pledged to tighten their border controls with the United States. Among other things, Mexico had announced the deployment of 10,000 National Guardsmen as additional border guards.
Within a month, the three governments want to agree on a long-term deal to avert tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada.
Trade deficit with European Union next in Trump’s focus?
At a meeting with media representatives in the Oval Office on Monday, President Trump expressed his displeasure with the European Union’s behavior towards American goods – especially cars and agricultural products from American production – and put the trade deficit with the EU at 350 billion US dollars per year.
“In all cases, they all wanna make deals.”
President Trump accused the EU of wanting to make a deal with the United States, but that he would expect a lot from the Europeans in return. Especially with regard to the huge trade deficit between the two economic areas. The United States is regarded as the EU’s most important trading partner and Germany in particular, which is clearly ahead in terms of exports and trade deficit. This is a construction site that the new German government will probably find at the top of its list of priorities.
Indonesian nickel ore mining quotas significantly reduced
The Indonesian government has announced that the mining quotas for nickel ore for 2025 will be reduced by around 20 million wmt or around 10% compared to the previous year. For 2026, a reduction in nickel ore quotas of around 20% compared to 2024 is expected.
Government to review possible new controls on nickel
The Director General (Dirjen) of Minerals and Coal (Minerba), Tri Winarno, had also announced that he wanted to examine exports of processed nickel products, such as nickel pig iron or nickel matte, more closely. According to media reports, he referred to the existing export ban on nickel ore and the possibility of also considering export controls on processed nickel products.
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