06/03/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | MAR 6, 2025

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Trump hails ‘reclaiming’ of Panama Canal

YouTube set to dodge Australian social media ban SYDNEY: Australia’s plan to exempt YouTube from a world-leading teen social media ban is “illogical” and a “mockery”, rival tech giants Meta and TikTok said yesterday. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year unveiled landmark laws that will ban under-16s from social media by the end of 2025. While popular platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram face heavy fines for flouting the laws, Australia has proposed an exemption so children can use YouTube for school. TikTok’s Australian policy director Ella Woods-Joyce said YouTube had been handed a “sweetheart deal” that gave it an unfair advantage. “Handing one major social media platform a sweetheart deal of this nature – while subjecting every other platform in Australia to stringent compliance obligations – would be illogical, anti-competitive and shortsighted. “The government’s arguments citing unique educative value do not survive even the most cursory of closer examinations,” she added in a submission to a government agency. It would “further entrench Google’s market dominance”, she said, referring to YouTube’s parent company. Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – made similar arguments against the exemption. “This proposed blanket exception makes a mockery of the government’s stated intention, when passing the age ban law, to protect young people,” Meta said in its own submission. “YouTube has the very features and harmful content that the government has cited as justifying the ban.” Both firms argued they produced video content that was virtually indistinguishable from YouTube’s. The ban is set to come into effect by December 2025. – AFP Musk fails in bid to block OpenAI becoming for-profit business SAN FRANCISCO: A US judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk’s request to prevent OpenAI from becoming a for-profit business in a loss for the tycoon amid his feud with Sam Altman. US district court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk and his xAI startup failed to prove an injunction against OpenAI was necessary as the case heads to trial. Musk sued in California federal court to stop OpenAI from transitioning from a nonprofit to a for-profit business, arguing the startup violated antitrust law and betrayed his trust in their mission as a co-founder of OpenAI. The judge wrote that, while Musk did not prove the need for an injunction, she is prepared to expedite a trial on that claim later this year. The ruling leaves OpenAI free to continue its transition from nonprofit to for-profit enterprise. Musk’s injunction bid argued that OpenAI’s co-founders “took advantage of Musk’s altruism in order to lure him into funding the venture”, according to court documents. – AFP

legal status of its contract to operate the ports after the local attorney general determined the contract “unconstitutional”. CK Hutchison, controlled by billionaire tycoon Li Ka-shing, has businesses in areas as varied as infrastructure, retail and telecom. The sale of the ports unit does not include any interest in Hutchison Port Holdings HPH Trust, which operates ports in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and South China, or any other ports in China, the conglomerate said in the statement. Sixt said the transaction was the result of “a rapid, discrete but competitive process” during which CK Hutchison received numerous bids and expressions of interest. JPMorgan in a report said while selling the Panama business is “understandable”, the deal is nevertheless a “surprise” given most of CK Hutchison’s other ports are not in regions directly exposed to Sino-US geopolitical tension. – Reuters

However, the conglomerate will receive more than US$19 billion following repayment of some shareholder loans. The size of the proceeds would be similar to CK Hutchison’s entire Hong Kong market value prior to yesterday’s share rally. The remainder of Hutchison Ports is owned by Singapore’s PSA International. About 12,000 ships used the Panama Canal last year that connects 1,920 ports across 170 countries. Its position is strategic for the US as more than three-quarters of vessels passing through originate in or are bound for the United States. “I would like to stress that the transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports,” CK Hutchison co-managing director Frank Sixt in a statement. The conglomerate had been waiting for Panama Supreme Court to make a final ruling about the

o CK Hutchison to sell majority stake in ports unit to BlackRock-led group

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has hailed a deal led by BlackRock to buy most of the US$22.8 billion (RM101 billion) ports business of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison which includes assets along the Panama Canal. The deal will give the US consortium control of key Panama Canal ports amid White House calls to remove them from what it claims is Chinese ownership. On the first trading day after the deal’s announcement, CK Hutchison stock soared nearly 25%. “My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” Trump told the US Congress. “Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the US

Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals.” The deal with the BlackRock-led consortium includes 90% of Panama Ports Company, which has operated the Balboa and Cristobal ports at each end of the canal for over two decades, CK Hutchison said. In total, the consortium, which includes Terminal Investment and Global Infrastructure Partners, will control 43 ports comprising 199 berths in 23 countries, the conglomerate said. The conglomerate’s stock rose as much 24.7% yesterday, outpacing a 1.7% rise in Hong Kong’s broader Hang Seng Index. Its price is now the highest since Aug 1, 2023. The sale involves CK Hutchison’s 80% stake in Hutchison Ports with an equity value of US$14.21 billion.

Trump is applauded by Vice-President JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (left) as he arrives to deliver his address to a joint session of Congress in Washington. – AFPPIC

‘Tariffs will bring a little disturbance to US economy’

WASHINGTON: The US economy is set to experience some “disturbance” from tariffs, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, as trade tensions flare after he imposed sweeping levies on Mexico, Canada and China. Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress came after he pushed forth with tariff hikes on the three countries over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. This drew a sharp rebuke from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and retaliatory levies. China responded too with countermeasures, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum

“I think he’s going to work something out with them. “Somewhere in the middle will likely be the outcome, the president moving with the Canadians and Mexicans, but not all the way.” On Tuesday, Trump also took aim in his speech at the European Union and countries including Brazil, India and South Korea over what he called “unfair” practices. He said reciprocal tariffs tailored to US trading partners would “kick in” on April 2. Businesses have warned that higher import costs could raise prices for consumers. – AFP

everything from avocados to the lumber crucial for building US homes, snarling supply chains for key sectors like automobiles. Canadian energy resources face a lower rate. Trump also inked an order on Monday to increase a previously imposed 10% tariff on China to 20% – piling atop existing levies on various Chinese goods. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, told Fox Business on Tuesday that Trump could dial down hefty levies on Canada and Mexico this week, while maintaining pressure on China.

similarly promised pushback. “Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs. They’re about protecting the soul of our country,”Trump said on Tuesday. “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that. It won’t be much,” he added. Earlier on Tuesday, a furious Trudeau accused Trump of trying to cause the collapse of Canada’s economy to make it easier for the US to annex his country, and blasted Washington for targeting a close ally while“appeasing”Russia over Ukraine. Trump’s 25% duties on Mexican and Canadian imports affect