AFP

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called on Russia Thursday to rapidly open Ukraine’s ports to permit the export of millions of tonnes of stockpiled grain.

“They should be acting immediately to open up those ports and they should end this war,” Vilsack told reporters at the United Nations.

“This is serious thing, we shouldn’t be using food as a weapon,” he said.

The United Nations has been deep in talks between Moscow, Kyiv and Ankara for weeks on how to open up the Black Sea, where the Russian navy has created a blockade around Ukraine, to commercial cargo ships to carry the grain to global markets.

Such an agreement would also permit Russian fertilizer, now blocked by sanctions, to return to the global market.

With grain prices soaring internationally and key importers in the Middle East and Africa facing supply shortfalls, Moscow has demanded that economic sanctions on it be lifted in exchange for allowing the exports.

Vilsack said US and European sanctions do not apply to grains and fertilizers.

Addressing the ongoing talks on the issue, Vilsack said he hoped that Russia would “take this thing seriously and that they’re not just doing this to create an image.”

He urged Moscow “to make sure that they are negotiating in good faith about the reopening of the ports and they do so quickly. Because the need is immediate.”

Vilsack said a US proposal to build silos in Poland to receive Ukrainian grain was to reduce the possibility of spoilage before the grain can transported to markets.

On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara is ready to host a four-way meeting with the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine to organize the export of grain through the Black Sea. 

Under the plan, safe corridors for grain exports from Ukraine could be established without de-mining in the Black Sea, he said.

“If Russia answers positively, there will be a four-partite meeting in Istanbul,” Cavusoglu said.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

Talks at the World Trade Organization went deep into overtime on Thursday with key holdout India talking up the prospects for a landmark deal spanning food security, fishing and combating Covid-19.

With ministers struggling to conclude agreements on each separate issue, countries were going round the clock making trade-offs which, they hope, could see several measures go through in a grand bargain.

Ministers from the global trade body’s 164 members have been negotiating face-to-face since Sunday at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva, in their first such conference since the December 2017 flop in Buenos Aires.

They added a fifth day of talks to try to break the deadlock — and prove the organisation can play a role in tackling big global challenges.

Some delegations have accused India of being intransigent on every topic under discussion at the WTO — where decisions can only pass with the agreement of all 164 members.

But Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal sounded upbeat as the talks ploughed on into the evening.

“India is convinced that this will turn out to be one of the most successful ministerials that the WTO has seen in a long time,” he told reporters.

“We are very confident that the progress made… and the positivity with which everybody is engaged truly is a matter of celebration for the world.

“I’m sure that that spirit will help us cross the hump.

“We have taken some solid decisions… subject to a few issues being sorted out.”

– EU targets ‘positive outcomes’ –

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis later told AFP negotiations were ongoing and “quite complicated” because there were “major issues to handle”.

“We are in a complicated geopolitical situation and also the views across different work streams are quite divergent,” he said.

“We need to address those divergences but I would say we’re working towards positive outcomes and hopefully we’ll be able to reach such positive outcomes.”

Ministers have been trying to secure deals on curbing harmful fishing subsidies; temporarily waiving Covid-19 vaccine patents; food security; agriculture; e-commerce; the WTO’s response to pandemics; and reform of the organisation itself.

Countries hit a brick wall late Wednesday trying to secure each separate deal on its own merits, so they spent the night horse-trading to try to keep them all afloat in some format.

Giant trays of sandwiches kept delegates going after they finished all the fruit juice in the building.

“They’re looking at a broad package: what can be achieved, trade-offs in different areas,” a Geneva trade official told reporters.

“We’re into the real bargaining.”

– Fisheries exemption –

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who took over in March 2021, has hinged her leadership on breathing new life into the sclerotic organisation.

The former foreign and finance minister of Nigeria is hoping to pull off a coup by finalising a long-sought deal on curbing harmful fishing subsidies.

Negotiations towards banning subsidies that encourage overfishing and threaten the sustainability of the planet’s fish stocks have been going on at the WTO for more than two decades.

Several sources close to the discussions said the draft agreement on the conference’s flagship issue has been heavily watered down.

India has been pushing for a 25-year exemption — far longer than many countries are comfortable with.

“India has always been a reluctant trading partner,” said Harsh V Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London university’s India Institute.

“India has been notorious when it comes to signing free trade agreements,” he told AFP.

– E-commerce wrangle –

On waiving Covid-19 vaccine patents, a source said the deal needed yet more time.

Ministers have also been arguing over whether to extend the moratorium on imposing customs duties on electronic transactions, in place since 1998.

But India and South Africa say it has a negative impact, with Pakistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka also sceptical.

WTO deputy director-general Anabel Gonzalez said there were “intense negotiations” going on in a packed room discussing e-commerce.

“It’s difficult, but I am hopeful,” she said.

The United States told an earlier meeting that the moratorium had supported the growth of digital commerce, which had provided an “economic lifeline” during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Geneva trade official.

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A massive interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and promises of more to come are fueling warnings that the only offramp from the searing price hikes engulfing American families is a full-blown recession.

The Fed remains hopeful it can slow activity and demand, cooling the blistering pace of inflation, without derailing the world’s largest economy. But skepticism is growing about the chances of success.

The central bank hiked the benchmark borrowing rate on Wednesday by three-quarters of a point, the biggest increase in nearly 30 years, and indicated a similar move is possible in July. 

The super-sized rate increase came as the Fed faces intense pressure to curb soaring gas, food and housing prices that have left millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet and sent President Joe Biden’s approval ratings plunging. 

The central bank has raised the key rate 1.5 points since March, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ongoing Covid-related supply chain issues combine to send prices up at the fastest pace in more than four decades.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said recession is not the goal, but bringing down inflation “expeditiously” is “essential” since that is vital to a healthy economy.

But Kathy Bostjancic, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, warned that “it becomes very difficult to thread that needle.” 

The Fed will need a Goldilocks scenario where “a number of things fall into place and at the right time,” she told AFP.

The healthy US labor market and strong consumer demand, helped by a beefy stockpile of savings, are working in the Fed’s favor and could support activity even as the economy cools.

In the wake of the Fed decision, mortgage rates rocketed to their highest level in 13 years, with the average for a 30-year, fixed rate home loan reaching 5.78 percent.

Drivers still face gas prices at the pump of more than $5 a gallon, although for the first time in days, the national average fell on Wednesday, down from Tuesday’s record.

“My colleagues and I are acutely aware that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing and transportation,” Powell told reporters after the rate hike was announced.

– Higher unemployment –

With the shift towards prioritizing the aggressive tightening of lending conditions — which policymakers see rising to 3.8 percent next year — the best the Fed might be able to hope for now is a “softish” landing, which would include higher joblessness.

The economy has continued to create jobs: the unemployment rate in May was 3.6 percent, just a tick above its pre-pandemic level, and there are nearly two job openings for every unemployment person, compared to 1.3 pre-Covid.

The Fed chief said “a 4.1 percent unemployment rate with inflation of well on its way to two percent, I think that would be a successful outcome.”

But he stressed that “events of the last few months have raised the degree of difficulty” in achieving the soft landing, and it likely will “depend on factors that we don’t control.”

But a half-point increase in the jobless rate can signal the start of a recession.

Diane Swonk of Grant Thornton, a long-time Fed watcher, called the central bank’s outlook “fanciful.”

– Rising risks –

Steve Englander of Standard Chartered Bank and a former Fed economist does not expect a recession — usually defined as two quarters of negative growth — and said unemployment may not have to increase by that much to achieve the Fed’s goals.

But the central bank will have to shrink demand, and “it’ll be painful, even if it’s not a technical recession.”

“The risk of a recession is rising and it’s rising sharply,” he told AFP.

But it is a risk the Fed is willing to take since it has made fighting inflation the priority.

Bostjancic said a softish landing is still possible, but without tough action to contain prices, the US could face stagflation — lower or negative growth with high inflation — last seen in the 1970s and 80s.

“The Fed is worried that if they don’t take care of inflation, now, it’s going to linger and be a problem many years into the future,” she said.

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Ferrari unveiled Thursday plans to turn 80 percent of its production into all-electric or hybrid cars by 2030 in a major shift for an iconic brand renowned for its powerful combustion engines.

“Electrification is a way to improve performance,” new chief executive Benedetto Vigna said as he unveiled a four-year strategic plan at the brand’s historic Maranello site in northern Italy.

The 2022-2026 plan will be driven by the launch of new products — including Ferrari’s first 100 percent electric car, set to be presented in 2025.

“Ferrari’s first all-electric car will be 100 percent a sports car,” commercial director Enrico Galliera told AFP.

“We will develop an electric car that will deliver the same emotions as when you drive a (traditional) Ferrari,” he pledged, without revealing any technical details.

The Italian luxury carmaker plans to expand the Maranello plant and create a third production line for hybrid and electric vehicles.

Under the plan, some 60 percent of its production would be all-electric or hybrid models by 2026, rising to 80 percent by 2030.

Other upcoming new products include Ferrari’s first SUV, “Purosangue” (Thoroughbred), which will be unveiled in September, with deliveries from 2023.

Including the all-electric offer, another 15 new launches are expected between 2023 and 2026, Vigna said.

Ferrari, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, broke results records in 2021, delivering 11,155 cars — up 22.3 percent  — and generating revenue of 4.3 billion euros (up 23.4 percent).

It said Thursday it was setting an ambitious target for revenues. The 6.7-billion-euro ($7-billion) goal for 2026 is well above this year’s estimated revenue of around 4.8 billion euros.  

Vigna did not give many details of the new Purosangue, other than that it will be a sports car and will have a V12 engine, a trademark of the mythical brand.

But he said: “I am confident it will exceed all expectations.”

He emphasised its exclusivity, saying it would make up on average fewer than 20 percent of total deliveries.

Under the previous strategic plan unveiled in 2018, Ferrari had also promised the launch of 15 cars — a target Vigna said had been reached.