The post immediately followed one in which Trump said his first of “many” executive orders on Jan. 20 would impose tariffs of 25% on all products from Mexico and Canada. Such a move would end a regional free trade agreement.
Trump is set to be inaugurated as the next U.S. president on Jan. 20. He cited illegal immigration and illicit drug trade as reasons for the tariffs.
“I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail,” Trump said.He claimed that contrary to promises, Beijing did not impose the death penalty on such drug dealers.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is an addictive drug that’s led to tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year in the U.S.
Reducing illicit supplies of the drug, precursors of which are mostly produced in China and Mexico, has been an area in which Washington and Beijing have agreed to cooperate.
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“Drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” Trump said. “Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”
Trump had threatened tariffs of 60% on Chinese goods while campaigning for president.
A 10% tariff on China is lower than the 20% to 30% that markets expected, Kinger Lau, chief China equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”He expects China will cut rates, increase fiscal stimulus and moderately depreciate its currency in order to counter the economic impact of increased duties.
The U.S. is China’s largest trading partner on a single country basis, according to China customs data. The Asian country’s largest regional trading partners are the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union.
In this image provided by the U.S. Army, soldiers, from the 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade out of Fort Bragg N.C., conduct live fire testing at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Dec. 14, 2021, of early versions of the Army Tactical Missile System.
John Hamilton | U.S. Army via AP
Moscow signaled to the West that it’s ready for a nuclear confrontation after Ukraine was given permission to attack Russian territory — and appeared to quickly act on that greenlight — using U.S.-made long-range missiles.
Kyiv appeared to waste little time after reportedly being given the go-ahead by Washington Sunday to use U.S.-made ATACMS missiles against specific targets. Ukrainian news outlets reported early Tuesday that the missiles had been used to attack a Russian military facility in the Bryansk border region.
Russia then confirmed the attack, with the Ministry of Defense stating that Ukrainian forces had “struck a facility in [the] Bryansk region” using six ballistic, American-made ATACMS missiles. The ministry claimed air defense missile systems had shot down five of the missiles, and damaged another.
“Its fragments fell on the technical territory of a military facility in the Bryansk region, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished. There were no casualties or damage,” the ministry said.
CNBC was unable to independently verify the reports and Ukraine’s leadership has not yet commented on the attack. The Kyiv Post news outlet cited a national security official as confirming the strike in Bryansk had been carried out, although he did not indicate which weapons had been used.
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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to the attack, accusing the West of wanting to escalate the conflict.
“The fact that ATACMS were used repeatedly tonight in the Bryansk region is, of course, a signal that they [in the West] want escalation. And without the Americans, it is impossible to use these high-tech missiles,” Lavrov said at a press conference at the G20 summit, according to comments reported by TASS and translated by Google.
The Kremlin has repeatedly warned the West against allowing Ukraine to use its long-range weapons to attack Russia directly. Moscow upped the ante Tuesday as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving its updated nuclear doctrine, shifting the parameters on when Russia can use nuclear weapons.
The updated document, outlining the conditions in which Russia can use nuclear weapons, now states that any aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state, if it’s supported by a nuclear power, will be considered as a joint attack.
The doctrine also stated that Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event of a critical threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity (and that of its ally, Belarus) and that the launch of ballistic missiles against Russia would be seen among the conditions that could warrant a response using nuclear weapons.
The Kremlin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked on Tuesday whether Russia would consider the use of American non-nuclear missiles by the Ukrainian military as an attack by a non-nuclear state with the support of a nuclear state.
“You will be able to read the paragraphs yourself, but in general it also states that the Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression with the use of conventional weapons against it or the Republic of Belarus, which creates a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity,” Peskov told reporters.
“Aggression against the Russian Federation by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered a joint attack.”
Is Russia bluffing?
Heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and its allies in the West, come as Russian forces are seen to be making considerable gains in eastern Ukraine, looking to seize as much territory as possible before President-Elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
It’s widely expected that Trump will push Moscow and Kyiv into peace talks that will be favorable to Russia, forcing Ukraine to concede occupied land to its neighbor as a price for peace.
Trump has already signaled that U.S. military aid for Ukraine will end when he returns to office and some Republican officials are reportedly unhappy at the Biden administration for giving Ukraine permission to use ATACMS.
The graphic above shows the long-range U.S. ATACMS missile system components. The U.S. will allow Ukraine to use American-supplied longer-range weapons to conduct strikes inside Russian territory.
AP
There are also doubts that the limited number of ATACMS Ukraine is believed to have been given by the U.S. will be enough to change the dial in the war, which reached its 1,000-day mark on Tuesday.
“The impact may be more political, albeit with a narrowing window of opportunity,” Matthew Savill, the military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute defense think tank, said in comments Monday.
“The Ukrainians need to convince the incoming U.S. administration that they are still worth backing — in President Trump’s transactional view, a ‘good investment’. And they will want to convince him to link his and U.S. credibility to a ‘winning’ outcome, not a major compromise that sees the U.S. ‘lose’. However, the signs are not positive on this front, with criticism overnight from amongst the Trump campaign of what they may see as a Biden attempt to tie Trump’s hands,” he said.
LISBON — Samsung’s foray into smart rings isn’t concerning the boss of the product category’s pioneer, Oura — in fact, Tom Hale says he’s seeing a boost in business.
“I’m sure that a major tech company making an announcement saying: ‘Hey, this is a category that matters. It’s going to be something that’s big.’ I think it’s probably helpful,” Hale told CNBC in an interview this week.
“In terms of the impact on our business, it has made zero impact. If anything, our business has gotten stronger since their announcement.”
In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Hale discussed Oura’s plans for new areas of insight it wants to give users, how he is thinking about new devices and the company’s intentions for international expansion.
Oura’s flagship product is the Oura Ring 4, a device known as a smart ring. It is packed with sensors that can track some health metrics, allowing Oura app users to learn more about the quality of their sleep or how ready they are to tackle the day ahead.
Founded in Finland in 2013, the company has been called a pioneer by analysts in the smart ring space. Oura said it has sold more than 2.5 million of its rings since it launched its first product. CCS Insight forecasts Oura will end the year with a 49% market share in smart rings.
Competition is starting to rear its head in the space. The world’s largest smartphone maker Samsung made its first venture into smart rings this year with the Galaxy Ring, which some analysts say has put the device category on the map and popularized it with a broader audience.
Hale is keen to position Oura as a “health company and a science company from the get-go,” with the aim of its product being “clinical grade.” Oura is seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its ring to be used for diagnostics, although Hale declined to provide too many further details.
He did say that Oura’s focus on health and science is what sets it apart from competitors.
“If you’re actually thinking [of] yourself as a healthcare company, it is very different in many ways and different postures you might take towards data privacy. ... So instead of being like a tech company where data is some sort of oil to be extracted and then used to create some kind of advantage of network effects, we’re really a healthcare company where your data is sacrosanct,” Hale said.
Oura’s business model relies on selling the hardware, as well as on a $5.99 monthly subscription service that allows users to get the insights from their ring. Oura says it has nearly 2 million subscribers.
“We look more like a software company than we do look like a hardware company. And I think that’s a function of the business model, and the fact that it’s working. Our subscribers are continuing to pay,” Hale said.
Oura eyes nutrition as next ‘pillar’
Oura takes the data gathered by the ring to provide insight to its users, focused on a person’s levels of sleep, activity and readiness to take on the day.
Hale said the company is now testing out nutrition, with users able to take a picture of their meal and log it into the Oura app. Also in the nutrition space, he highlighted Oura’s recent acquisition of Veri, a metabolic health startup that can take data from continuous glucose monitors — small devices inserted into a person’s arm — to give insight into someone’s blood sugar levels. Hale says that this, combined with Oura’s food tracking feature, could tell a user how certain meals affect their glucose levels.
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Many glucose monitors today are invasive and need to be inserted into the skin. Some observers see a non-invasive glucose monitor on wearable gear as something that could be transformative — but Hale warns this is a difficult goal to achieve.
“The idea that a wearable [device] will get there, I think, has definitely been a Holy Grail, and like the Holy Grail, they may never find it, because it’s a very difficult problem to solve with any kind of accuracy,” Hale said.
“Never say never. Certainly, technology continues to advance and all the capabilities continue to advance,” he added.
New hardware and AI
While Oura only sells rings currently, Hale sees the company developing new products in the future. He declined to elaborate.
“I think we’ll undoubtedly see other Oura-branded products, beyond the ring,” he promised.
He also said the company hopes to work with other devices as well, even if they are not Oura’s own hardware.
Like many hardware companies, such as Apple and Samsung, Oura is looking at ways it can use the advancing capabilities of artificial intelligence to give users more personalized insights. Smartphone makers have spoken about so-called “AI agents,” which they see as assistants that are able to anticipate what a user wants.
Oura is testing out an AI product called Oura Advisor in a similar vein.
“Think of it as the doctor in your pocket that knows all the data about you,” Hale said.
