US slaps 25% tariffs on Japan and S Korea; Marco Rubio to face ASEAN | East Asia Tonight (Jul 8)

US slaps 25% tariffs on Japan and S Korea; Marco Rubio to face ASEAN | East Asia Tonight (Jul 8)

is East Asia Tonight. Good evening. I’m Lopez with tonight’s top stories. Asian countries taking the brunt of a new tranch of tariff threats from the US president. Even as deadline to reach trade deals is pushed back to early August. Washington not sparing longstanding treaty allies. Japan and South Korea both slammed with weights of 25% in addition to punishing levies on pillar industries like steel and automobiles. America’s optim but on a mission to assuage anxieties. Marco Rubio heads for his first meeting of ASEAN’s foreign ministers. Recent China braces for the landfall of the weakened tropical storm 2 days after it carved a path of destruction through Taiwan. [Music] And also on this bulletin, much of the developed world facing a demographic crisis. East Asia no exception to that. But for those who know how, in Hong Kong, there is money to be made. [Music] A key US allies Japan and South Korea to seek more talks with Washington to soften the impact of marketkedly higher tariffs of 25% after they were amongst 14 nations singled out by Donald Trump. The American president has sent out letters to these countries threatening to reimpose rates first announced in April. Mr. Trump hinting he could shift that deadline again. I would say firm. No, I would say firm, but not 100% firm. If they call up and they say, “We’d like to do something a different way,” we’re going to be open to that. But essentially, that’s the way it is right now. You as you see, we have these beautiful letters that the president has signed. This one is to the president of the Republic of Kore Korea original signature on that. The White House displayed one of those letters in which the president warned South Korea against retaliation with levies which would trigger, he warned, an equal response from the United States. 14 letters have been sent out threatening tariff rates of 25 to 40%. On the top end, 40% for Lao. That’s down from 48% when President Trump first announced reciprocal tariffs. The new rates are generally lower or very close to initial numbers. 40% for Myanmar, 36 for Thailand and Cambodia. Asian nations dominate the list, 35% for Bangladesh, and 32 for Indonesia. 25% for Japan and South Korea, as we mentioned, and Malaysia as well. Japan and South Korea together accounting for more than 7% of America’s total trade. The August 1st deadline marks the latest delay to tariff policy under Mr. Trump. The White House rejecting suggestions that trading partners would not take the letters seriously due to shifting deadlines. They will take the letters seriously because they have taken the president seriously and that’s why the president’s phone I can tell you rings off the hook from world leaders all the time um who are begging him to come to a deal and this administration is working hard to ensure those deals are in the best interest of the American people. And Kate Fischer joins us live from Washington DC. Kate, of course, Japan and South Korea longstanding treaty allies with the United States, but those are uh security alliances, not necessarily on trade. Yeah, this is particularly gling though for Japan and South Korea, I think, given the fact that they do have these long-standing alliances with the US and also because both countries have made significant manufacturing investments in the United States and both countries signed successful trade deals with President Trump during their first term. But this term things seem to be different. those letters sent to both countries. Uh in the letters, the wording from Donald Trump saying that 25% tariffs are far less than what we need to eliminate the trade disparity with your country. He is particularly angry with Japan, for example, over auto and rice uh exports. R he’s angry that Japan won’t allow rice US rice exports into its country. and he’s doesn’t like the amount of cars that Japan import into the United States. The car issue is the same with South Korea. Uh 1.5 million cars came into the US from South Korea last year. 1.4 million from Japan. So these major exports from those countries, car, steel, and electronics are the real sticking points that have so angered President Trump. All right, Kate. Of course, China will be looking very closely at these 14 countries. China itself has reached a truce with the United States. It has until next month to reach a deal to ward off even more punishing tariffs. How will these latest developments have an impact on talks between Beijing and Washington? Well, I don’t think it’s going to be all that encouraging to the Chinese given it’s kind of a revival of this very aggressive stance from uh President Trump. Yes, there was that kind of truce that has been agreed between China and the US to reduce the tariff rate from that huge 145% uh down. But as you say, it’s temporary. It’s a pause. Uh and just over the weekend, Donald Trump retaliating to a statement from the BRICS summit which were being held in Brazil. Of course, China, a member of that governmental organization. Uh Donald Trump saying that any country aligned with bricks uh and their sentiment. Uh they they released a statement uh condemning these tariffs. Well, Donald Trump in retaliation said he would be slapping a 10% minimum tariff on any country aligned with it. And of course, China is a member of that group. So certainly uh publicly uh the war of words is ramping up again when it uh comes to China. And obviously Donald Trump and his uh trade advisers have a lot on their plate right now. many countries to do deals with in this short amount of time and there are of course only a handful of people in the administration who can actually strike these deals with the country with the each country. Oh, thanks Kate Fisher there from Washington DC. Meanwhile, Japan’s prime minister describing as deeply regrettable the 25% tariff rate that could hit early August. While he has pledged to continue talks to reach a mutually beneficial deal, Shikra Ishiba is sticking to his position of making no move that could compromise national interests. The move coming at a tricky time for the prime minister. His government is facing an upper house election with recent polls suggesting that his ruling coalition possibly could fail to retain its majority which experts say could complicate any trade negotiations. But there are some who remain optimistic. My colleague Tan Sui speak spoke to an former national security adviser to Japan. She started by asking him how he sees these moves by Mr. Trump as impacting an alliance that’s more than 70 years old. There are couple of hiccups always and this trade tariff issue is one of those materials which creates uh hiccups. the companies who have been exporting uh items over to US markets would have to suffer but overall the US Japan relations have been kept and maintained stably. Uh our alliance has uh been working quite well. The tariff rates is one contentious issue. Even during the tariff negotiations for the last four months or so, the Japanese companies have started to invest in US market. Setting up production bases in US. We consider that the views of the Trump administration should you see be a wakeup call for us that we should realize the threat of China. When he started off trade war with China, quite knowledgeable people considered that Trump is not that crazy. So his administration created a good balance between uh US and China, introduced many institutions uh which would give warnings to the US public that they should be cautious about uh simple engagements, trade engagements, a variety of intellectual engagements with China. But this time when second uh Trump administration started, people were bewildered of what he wants to do because it started off raising tariffs to all around the world large and small countries. This has given us a question what he wants to do. He might uh compensate the uh tax reductions. He might simply uh increase the negotiating capabilities for US. He might uh compensate the defense budget for US’s friends and allies by raising tariffs. We don’t know. And Mr. Trump can be a reformer. But we are not certain yet whether he is a a real good reformer we need or he is uh simply destabilizing the world. Our neighbor South Korea also hit with that 25% tariff rate. It plans to intensify trade talks with the United States. For more CNA’s Lumians joins us live from Soul. Junuk, what’s the local reaction been to Mr. Trump’s notification letter? Well, the first reaction inside the presidential office and across other government ministries here was one of surprise because I think the announcement caught many here offguard in a way because it was made public through social media for everyone to see. But then after that there was also this sigh of relief that now South Korea has more time for negotiations. Now first let’s listen to what the presidential spokesperson Kongyu Jang said at a briefing this afternoon. Now early this morning the government put out a statement saying that there was going to be a meeting on this with the relevant U ministries led by Kimyong Bong the senior presidential adviser for policy. Now there at the meeting he said that South Korea now had you know three more weeks and it was very important for the South Korean government to make utmost efforts to negotiate and reach a deal with the United States. But having said that he also told them said at the meeting that the national interests came first and it was very important that South Korea um you know get their national interests out there first and trying to get the swift negotiations done with the United States. And he also said that South Korea had to look to different ways um and also see how it can diversify its exports market so that it is less reliant on specific countries like the United States. But you know the South Korean stock market ended higher um today amid this cautious optimism that this deadline now offers more room for negotiations. And you know, President Trump did say that the date August 1st was firm, but not 100% firm. And that apparently also lifted the investor sentiment here in South Korea. All right. Yuk. Trade Minister Yo Han K has said he wants to speed up negotiations. But any kind of result must be because South Korea can offer something in terms of concessions to the United States. What can South Korea offer? Well, definitely the talks are not going to be easy. I mean, the trade minister yo um Hungu is in Washington to negotiate with the United States on this. And there’s now even possible, you know, a talk of a possible summit between the US and South Korea as early as this month before that deadline expires. But there are analysts here saying that South Korea does have some leverage and there are things that South Korea can offer the United States which might help lower the tariffs imposed on South Korea. Now for example um South Korea could highlight areas of cooperation like in ship building. Now South Korea’s ship builders are one of the world’s leaders in building you know defense ships and other advanced vessels. And since President Donald Trump wants to revive the US ship building industry, um there are analysts saying that the two countries could work together and in fact the US has said that he wants to work with the South Korean ship builders and leverage on their advanced technology. So this could be, you know, one way that South Korea could try to negotiate with the United States. And also Alice, you’re saying that South Korea is trying to get this message across that this EGM government really just came into office now slightly over a month. And so it is doing its utmost to reach a deal with um Washington um and that is going to be beneficial for both sides because you know if South Korea’s economy um is imposed with those tariffs then it will be badly affected and it is going to have a negative impact on the economic growth policy that this president has emphasized since it came into office in June. Now, apart from that meeting this afternoon by uh Kimyong Bomb, the senior presidential adviser for policy, there was also another meeting that was hosted by the trade ministry and that was with the associations and companies related to this issue. And at that at the end of that meeting, apparently the companies were stressing how the issue of the US tariffs were weighing heavily on their operations and were urging the South Korean government to reach a deal by August 1st to ease their uncertainty. So definitely going to be tough, but many analysts here say, you know, there is time and hopefully South Korea will be able to play its cards right and have some kind of deal with the United States. All right, thanks at CNA’s Limon. So there live from S. Still ahead on East Asia tonight, fast fashion giant Shien files for an IPO in Hong Kong reportedly to put pressure on UK regulators to approve its planned London debut. Samsung Electronics expected second quarter operating profits to fall by more than half. We’ll tell you why in just a moment. Stay with us. [Music] It’s time for your business update with Roland Lim. Roland, earlier we heard Yuno commenting markets actually going up in South Korea. How are other markets reacting to these uh this latest Trump tariff development? Yeah, Asian markets are actually on the rise as investors look to the bright side of the tariff threats, assessing that there’s now more time to negotiate details. South Korea’s Cosby leading the gains in the region despite facing a 25% tariff rate starting on August the 1st. Japan facing similar measure with the Nicay 225 also higher by 0.26%. The stocks in greater China also posting solid gains. Pledges to regulate price wars by Chinese companies saw solar makers as well as tech shares lead the markets higher. Hong Kong shares also snapping a three-day losing streak on optimism that Trump will sweeten his tariff deals with key trading partners. In the currency space, we’re seeing a slightly different reaction after the US dollar gained ground overnight. But the dollar index is lower in Asian trade. Asian currency started the day lower, but they are now trading mixed. Now, Shien has confidentially filed for an IPO in Hong Kong in a bit to accelerate a drawn out listing process and in part to pressure the UK regulator into approving a London listing. The Financial Times says the fast fashion giant filed a draft prospectus last week with the Hong Kong Exchange seeking the blessings of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The submission enables Hong Kong and mainland Chinese regulators to assess the IPO application, raise their questions to Shiin, and prepare it for regulatory approval privately. This will be Shiin’s third attempt to go public more than 18 months after it first filed for a US IPO back in late 2023. Now, Xiin had filed for a London IPO 18 months ago, but it failed to secure regulatory approval as UK and Chinese regulators failed to agree on language use in the prospectus risk disclosure section. Experts say the confidential filing may pressure the UK regulator into compromising on its risk disclosure requirements and to allow for what could be the biggest IPO on the London market. The Shien was valued at some 66 billion during the preIPO fundraising round back in 23 and experts are doubtful if it would achieve that valuation. Now, Samsung Electronics expects a more than 50% on-year drop in profits in the second quarter, hurt by US curbs on advanced chip exports to China. Now, South Korea’s largest company has signaled that its second quarter operating profit will more than half the $3.3 billion US missing analyst expectations. The firm had been struggling to capture demand from AI leader Nvidia, falling behind competitors like SKHix and Micron. Shares of the tech giant down more than half% at the close. Samsung Electronics at 61,400 a piece. Brazilian President Luis Inasio Lula D Silva has hit out at President Trump’s threat to impose an additional 10% tariff on members of the bricks block. Mr. Trump sees the block as anti-American, a charge Mr. Lula denied, stressing that the group was not formed to confront anyone. China, one of the original founding members, said that the block’s cooperation does not target any specific country and reiterated its stance against a trade war. [Music] The BRICS leaders avoided any mention of trade in local currencies as they concluded their summit in Brazil. But in the past, the block has raised questions about the US dollar’s dominance, even as the greenback witnessed a sharp decline this year, logging its worst start since 1973. So, is the dollar’s decades long reign at risk? Well, CNA’s Olivia Mazuki takes a look. DDOLization is a term that’s been floating around for some time now. One definition by JP Morgan says it entails a significant reduction in the use of dollars in world trade and financial transactions decreasing national institutional and corporate demand for the greenback. The bricks led by original members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are among the nations looking to reduce their exposure to the dollar. The American currency has dominated for decades because it is highly liquid, trades freely, and is seen as stable in uncertain times. And in many cases, it is the best way to do business. Imagine this, a Brazilian farmer selling coffee beans to a Japanese buyer. The farmer will not want yen and the buyer will not have real, so they use dollars instead. Streamlined by the global Swift payment system. This makes international transactions faster and cheaper. But the dollar is being dented by President Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policies along with his budget bill, which is expected to add trillions of dollars over the next decade to America’s already giant debt. Global investors no longer expect the US economy to outperform the rest of the world, and so they’ve dumped the dollar. The greenback is sitting at a three-year low and just marked its worst start to a year since 1973. The dolorization discussion is getting more serious. It is certainly a compelling proposition that the dollar should be losing its dominance because the US has uh um used the dominance of the dollar in ways that have not necessarily been good for the rest of the world because every US monetary policy action, every US policy shift ends up having implications for the rest of the world. And sometimes those are not very uh good implications. But in addition, the US has weaponized the dollar by using um its dominance to impose financial sanctions on a lot of rivals and even against some uh traditional uh allies. More alternatives are emerging. The BRICS block has created financing options that reduce reliance on traditional institutions such as the World Bank and IMF. It’s proposed a digital system known as bricks pay and it continues to pursue bilateral agreements to conduct trade in member currencies. For example, 95% of Russia China trade now bypasses the dollar entirely. But globally, ddollarization is not an imminent reality. I’d say now the dollar is still going to predominate in global commercial transactions for the next few years, but its role is likely to decline. We’re providing an opportunity for China, for Europe, for other countries to start to provide a potential alternative to the dollar for many of these transactions. Um, that can be a good thing. I mean the decline in the value of the dollar enhances our competitiveness in global trade. Of course it also increases the cost of imports right. So the world desperately wants to diversify away from the dollar. The harsh reality though is that in an international monetary system you do need currencies that every country can coordinate on. And given the weaknesses in practically every other country either in terms of their financial market structure, their economic dynamism or their institutional framework, there really isn’t a viable alternative out there. So in an absolute sense, the dollar may have lost some of its dominance. But in fact, in a relative sense, it remains at top the entire world of currencies with all the other currencies essentially battling it out for second, third, fourth, and additional places. So this is not really a story about American exceptionalism but really a story about financial fragilities, economic weakness and institutional weaknesses in the rest of the world. That’s why the US dollar is expected to remain dominant perhaps for more decades. It makes up 54% of all export invoicing, 57% of forex reserves and 88% of global forex trading. King Dollar’s crown may be slipping, but it’s still a long way from falling off. For CNA explains, I’m Olivia Marsuki. And that’ll do it for business. Back to you, Wu. And thanks for that, Ro. And still ahead on East Asia tonight, but some asset members are amongst US President Donald Trump’s first branch, first tranch of tariff letters. While some duties are higher, some are lower. speaking a little bit about the impact on the region in just a moment of those terrorists. [Music] Well, this is East Asia tonight and these are the headlines. Asian countries taking the brunt of a new trunch of terrorist threats from the US president as a deadline to reach trade deals is pushed back to the 1st of August. Washington’s long-standing allies Japan and South Korea to push for further negotiations with the US to soften the impact of marketkedly higher tariffs at 25%. Southeast Asian nations also falling under Mr. Trump’s tariff radar. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visiting Malaysia for an ASEAN meeting to reaffirm the US commitment to this region. [Music] And Marco Rubio making his first trip to Asia as America’s top diplomat stepping into a region rattled by threats of steep tariffs. The US Secretary of State will be in Malaysia this week for ASEAN meetings and bilateral talks. You need to give reassurance on continued commitment from Washington strengthening partnership with ASEAN while stepping up cooperation with current ASEAN chair Malaysia. All ASEAN foreign ministers except Myanmar’s will attend this meeting. Top diplomats from other key regional powers also will make their attendance there including China’s Wangi. The Trump administration imposing up to 40% on several Southeast Asian nations. Mr. Rubio could face challenges on this visit. Vietnam is the only country in the region that has reached an agreement with the US, although details on that are still sketchy. Malaysia, which is facing a potential 25% tariff on its goods, says it will continue engaging constructively with the United States to get a deal that it sees as balanced and mutually beneficial. Indonesia’s top regula negotiator will be meeting with US trade representatives in Washington today, stressing that Jakarta still had room to negotiate the rate of 32%. Meanwhile, Thailand’s finance minister expressed shock at its rate of 36%. Despite lastditch negotiation efforts, the kingdom is preparing a backup plan. The minister expressing confidence as he readies for a trip to the US with a proposal to cut duties on 90% of American goods. And CNA’s Leong Mit tells us where ASEAN stands on President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. Basically, ASEAN rejects any form of disruptive economic measures, but generally Asan as a block will not resort to taking retaliatory measures. Now earlier I spoke to Singapore based geopolitical expert Prof. Joseph Leiao who told me that ASEAN has never come under such strong economic pressure. Even in the past during past financial crisis there was a varying degree of implications across the block. Under Trump tariff 2.0 the impact is blanket. So in Prof Leo’s words the stars have now aligned for Assean to unite and do more to counter these measures. And indeed we’ve been seeing some of these measures playing out uh throughout the year. Earlier in February I was in Joho uh where the economic ministers had met and they uh had also pushed forward plans to integrate Assean’s economy. There was also bigger push for Assean to expand its economic partnership so as to diversify. Direct negotiations have begun either by way of sending delegations to Washington or forming task forces to do just that. And for more insights, we’re joined by Go Tingong. He’s assistant professor of economics at Singapore Management University. Professor Go, you just heard my colleague there. He was saying that he spoke to an expert who said the stars are aligned for ASEAN countries to finally get aligned on an issue. But what we are seeing instead of alignment is each country trying to reach bilateral deals with Washington. So yes, right now there’s a lot of bilateral deals that are being discussed between US and the individual member states. We saw that US they have sent out 14 letters six of which was addressed to Assean member states and we saw that right now Vietnam has already secured a deal with with the US but whether a deal is is good or bad is relative right so right now Vietnam has a tariff rate of 20% is that good or bad right so if only time will tell if if our if our neighbors the the neighboring countries they were to get a deal that’s like maybe 10 15% then Vietnam’s 20% somewhat seems a bit time and vice versa. So when that happens, it will create a sort of um secondary mistrust between the different ASA member states and I think that will be a challenge uh for the different ASEAN member states to really be able to to unite um to come together to to come up with a better deal that’s stronger for for all member states because end of the day individually um individual countries they do not have a lot a lot of bargaining power at at a discussion table but um only If ASA members are able to unite and come together, only then would they be able to come out with the best deal for ASEAN. Uh, Professor Go, uh, several points I want to pick up on there, but let’s start with, uh, in fact, I probably need some explanation myself. So, you’re saying, did Vietnam get a good deal with its inprincipal agreement of 20% on terrorists, not including the trans shship? We’ll get to that. So it’s good 20% if your neighbors have 46%. Because then uh it’s more competitive to ship through you to the US than say through Indonesia or Thailand. So there is vested interest for other governments not Vietnam in ASEAN to find their own deals. So I win, you lose. You’ve got a superpower that is setting us up essentially in a lose- lose win or zero sum game. You can only win if you lose and the alternative to that is being united and that we keep seeing but that we also do not see. Why is that so in Assean? The the thing about ASEAN is something that has really helped ASEAN stay firm and strong together over the past decade since ASA has been formed is is the way we make our decisions. We base it on a consensus based mechanism and what that means is basically all ASEAM members have to agree to something before we can proceed to do do that thing that we agree upon and many of times so long as you have at least one member state disagrees with the plan then we will not be able to proceed with that and that might have been one reason why as to it it makes it a lot harder to come up with a a common front when it comes to making deals with with other nations. All right, let’s leave aside unity for for the moment. Now, if you’re a country uh needing to make a deal with Mr. Trump right now, what you can look at is the two deals in in principle that have been reached, the UK and Vietnam, the truce reached with China, and then now you’ve got these 14 countries that have been singled out for these very specific tariff rates. If we look at all these, is there a pattern that you can see that if you were negotiating, you need to pay attention to right now? Yes. So I think right now there’s a very clear pattern um that that we are able to observe is many of these countries that have been um the 14 countries that have been selected who received this letters. Um these countries in particular they have large trade imbalances with the United States. So because of that it something that if you are negotiating a deal with the US you need to pay particularly close attention to is that the US is is right now they are very concerned with moving manufacturing back to their nation and that’s the reason why they are targeting this nations with very high trade imbalances. So that is something that you need to be be particularly uh pay attention to. So if you want to make a good deal potentially you want to have a lower tariff you need to potentially consider tactics that’s not just revolving around tariffs but potentially talking about investing or some sort of moving manufacturing to US things like that. All right. uh and something else we have in common. So we look at the UK for example uh it’s trying to to get a carve out on uh levies on steel which are would be punishing up to 50% if the UK does not get this carve out but Mr. Trump has demanded that it make sure that China stays out of that particular supply chain. And on Vietnam, uh they’ve got a potential 40% levy as opposed to 20% if they’re found guilty of serving as a conduit for another country trans shipping through Vietnam, thus getting lower levies. So the theme we can see so it’s not just trade imbalance but the need to keep China out of the supply chain are those two themes we can see running through Mr. Trump’s mind. Exactly. So I think that the trans shshipment um that is mentioned is a common theme um is very targeted because you can just have a a standard tariff u on the country but he explicitly mentioned additional tariffs or in Vietnam’s case the base tariff rate is 20% but if they found that is any trans shshipment uh through Vietnam in order to avoid a higher tariff rate from another country it will then be subjected to 40%. And this is very targeted um towards China and particularly so during President Trump’s first term in office. Um trans shipment has been one of uh a strategy that has allowed many of the goods that’s exported to the US to avoid some of the tariff that has been implemented in this first. So because of that we can see that now with this new um tariff rates that’s being implemented the new trade use has been implemented um there’s one part on tariff the other part is that it’s definitely being targeted towards China. All right, a final question here, Professor Go. Uh, for any country that wants to cut itself from from say allowing China to use it as a way in which to export into the United States on lower levies, they also face the wroth of China. So right now, every country needs a balance to take a position between the United States and China as on trade more than it might have had to do in the past. Uh so again back to your call for the need to unite and to align as a single front because together ASEAN can take greater pressure. Could this uh are you upbeat that this might be the inflection point when ASEAN really sees and I use this word not likely this is an existential crisis time to unite. Final question. Oh I think that’s a great point. So right now Asean we have always been very reliant on trade right China has been Asean’s top trading partner for the past 14 15 years and since co Assean has now been China’s top trading partner for the past four five years um at the same time we also need to ensure that the relationship with us is strong because um US has been one of the top FDIs um investors in ASEAN so in order individually countries as individual member states it’s it’s hard to come up with a good deal on have a good marketing power at the negotiation table. So again, I would like to reemphasize on the importance for the different ASA member states to come together especially during the foreign minister meeting um in Malaysia this week to really come to a have talk front to to ensure that we can get a best deal for and thanks Professor Gingong there speaking to us from Singapore Management University. and China bracing for heavy rain and winds as tropical storm Danas looms over its eastern seabboard backing winds of around 80 km per hour. Danas is expected to make landfall in Chyang province today before moving inland to Tiangi province. Dana are said to bring torrential rain to parts of Changang and Tiangi province which could cause significant rises in river levels. Authorities closely monitoring the path of the storm. They have dispatched a team to Changang to assist with local response efforts. Passenger ships in the port city of Titro have been suspended with more than 100 trips canled. The storm tore through Taiwan as a typhoon on Sunday night, killing at least two people and injuring more than 600. Residents in southwest Taiwan left picking up the pieces in the aftermath with parts of the island still flooded and without electricity. Recovery efforts are ongoing. Power has been restored to around 60% of the 700,000 homes that lost electricity during the peak of the storm. Major energy supplier has described damage to its power grid as the worst in decades. Meanwhile, international and domestic flights have reopened. The island’s high-speed rail also resuming operations after partial suspension. At least one person has died and more than two dozen are missing after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods along the Nepal China border. At least 18 people are missing in Nepal and 11 are still unaccounted for on the Chinese side. A massive surge of water at the Bakoshi River along the Himalayan mountain valley has washed away the Mitari Bridge. It’s widely touted as a friendship bridge linking Nepal and China. Several newly imported vehicles housed at a nearby port also swept away. Search and rescue operations are underway, but they’ve been hindered by high flood waters and adverse weather conditions. Authorities have warned residents to be on high alert for rising water levels. What’s ahead on this bulletin? Seeing the silver lining of Hong Kong’s demographic shift with the elderly population projected to significantly increase in the years ahead. Australian [Music] Prime Minister Anthony Albanzi has confirmed he will be making a trip to China this weekend as Beijing looks to build on partnerships in artificial intelligence, the green energy as well as the digital economy. Mr. Albanesei earlier said he will determine Australia’s policy when asked if the country would be open to expanding the free trade deal with Beijing to include artificial intelligence. His trip comes after China is our largest trading partner suggested a review of the 10-year old agreement hoping to boost ties in agriculture and mining and exploring growth in areas in new technologies. This would be Mr. Albanesey’s second visit to China since being reelected in May. He will stop over in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chungdu. Does not come as a surprise. China and Vietnam have agreed to boost trade and investment ties after Chinese Premier Lee Tang met Vietnamese Prime Minister Famin on the sidelines of the bricks summit in Brazil. Both countries repeated their commitment to maintaining frequent high level exchanges and deepening cooperation not just in the economy, trade and investment but also in science, technology and innovation. Hanoi called on Beijing to prioritize and accelerate cooperation on railway connectivity, adding that Vietnam would start building a new rail link connecting both countries in December. The agreement comes days after Washington inked a trade pact with Hanoi. Under that deal, all Vietnamese exports of the US will face a 20% tariff, or that is lower than the initial 46% threatened by the US president in April. There will also be a 40% levy on trans shipments through Vietnam from third countries, although details on that have not been revealed. The Southeast Asian nation also agreed to import American products with a 0% tariff. Now, Hong Kong became a superaged society in 2024. Over the next two decades, the number of residents aged 65 and above is projected to double. But there is a silver lining amid this demographic shift. CNA’s May Wong reports taking down one target before moving quickly to another. Cedric Lamb picked up airsoft shooting 5 months ago. The 66-year-old is determined that his lifestyle will not be defined by his age. After and another life, new life we will enjoy. [Music] Airsoft shooting is not just a sport that’ll help the seniors with their hand eye coordination, but it also gives them a space to make new friends and also to pick up on a new activity. But more importantly as well, one of the senior participants actually told me it’s a much cooler sport because it makes him feel like he’s a Hong Kong movie star. By 2043, almost 40% of the population or one in three persons will be aged 65 and above. This dramatic demographic shift will bring a range of consequences and there’s a silver lining. Officials say those aged 60 and above spent about 342 billion Hong Kong dollars or some 44 billion US last year, accounting for 11% of the city’s GDP. By one estimate, the figure could more than double by 2046, reaching 700 billion Hong Kong dollars. The city wants to harness the silver power, but there’s one challenge. Last year, Hong Kong authorities reported the employment rate for those aged 65 and above was just 13.6%. That’s low when compared to other regional economies such as Singapore, which is at 31.7%. To unlock the full potential of the elderly market, boosting their employment rate is essential. Most of them actually demand for a more flexible um contract, more flexible work arrangement like working part-time, working just a few hours per day and also accommodate to their lifestyle. So we do believe that this kind of flexible work arrangement has to be put in place to improve the employment rate of elderly to tap into their potential and boost their silver economy. more job matching and also uh understand the skills that the elderly have and try to match with the job opportunities. This is where we should go but not only limiting the opportunities to only those lowskilled jobs. Another key challenge lies in a lack of targeted efforts by businesses to tap into the growing potential of the elderly consumer market. A lot of times you can understand the business owners are very much wanting to be focused on direct returns. So uh we’ve always been saying you know they have been very good in making or creating products and earning money from the millennials or from the C generation from the younger people. For some of our corporations they really have to look into uh what the Hong Kong people u are actually needing what they love and what they really want. What kind of products what kind of services are you providing to the Hong Kong aged citizens? Is that quality good? They cannot wait. They will have to prepare. Okay. Rather than As Hong Kong elderly like Cedric line up their sights for the coming shift, the question is, will Hong Kong be on target too? May Wong, CNA, Hong Kong. That’s Tuesday’s edition of East Asia Tonight. Headlines anytime at cna.asia, plus on Facebook and YouTube. [Music]

Donald Trump pushes deadline to Aug 1 with a warning to countries – do not retaliate; the US Secretary of State heads to Malaysia for an ASEAN gathering. Also on East Asia Tonight: Japan says it will not compromise national interest to please the US; investors are looking on the bright side of the latest tariff threats; Shein files for a Hong Kong IPO; and how airsoft shooting is targeting Hong Kong’s silver economy.

00:00 Headlines
01:20 US tariffs hit Japan, South Korea
08:00 Makio Miyagawa on tariffs and the US-Japan alliance
16:47 Market impact of tariffs
17:56 Shein files Hong Kong IPO
26:50 Marco Rubio makes first Asia trip
38:45 China braces for Tropical Storm Danas
40:04 Nepal mudslide
43:08 Airsoft shooting and Hong Kong’s silver economy