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UK wins tariff-free US access for medicines

to adopt fully electric cars, with consumers preferring hybrids. Some analysts believe concerns over fuel prices, heightened by the war in the Middle East, could spur more consumers in Japan to switch to EVs from petrol and diesel vehicles. Tesla Japan has focused heavily on improving staff quality, including training for sales advisers, around 70% of whom have been in their roles for fewer than six months, Hashimoto said. That has helped cut the time it takes new hires to make their first sale, he added. During the first quarter of this year, Tesla sold roughly half of last year’s total volume in Japan, he said. – Reuters Oil giants eye US Gulf deepwater stake, sources say LONDON: European energy majors TotalEnergies and Shell are among companies eyeing a majority stake in one of the US Gulf’s most promising sites, three sources with knowledge of the process said, as interest in North American energy prospects rises due to the Middle East conflict. London-listed BP is also interested, two of the people and a fourth one said, as is Spain’s Repsol, a fifth person said. Chevron is also expected to consider a bid, two of the people said. Two of the owners of the Shenandoah offshore field kicked off a sale process for their stakes in recent days, offering possible buyers 51% of the project, three of the people said. The selling duo are Blackstone-backed Beacon Offshore Energy, the operator of the field, and HEQ Deepwater, which is owned by Quantum Capital Group and Houston Energy. The rest of the holding is with Israel’s Navitas Petroleum. Initial bids are expected to be filed in coming weeks, the sources said. Other parties that may be drawn into the process include large Middle East and Asian energy producers, said a sixth person with knowledge of the process. Not all the parties may end up bidding, and the deal valuation will depend on factors including how much of Shenandoah is ultimately sold and what happens with oil prices, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were private. Total, Repsol, BP, Beacon, Quantum, Blackstone and Shell declined to comment. An HEQ representative declined to comment. “Chevron regularly evaluates its business opportunities and portfolio. We do not disclose our business development strategies,“ a Chevron spokesman said. Shenandoah is an ultra deepwater field, with oil and gas situated in reservoirs around 30,000ft deep. Such exploration is regarded as technically challenging, with pressure around 20,000 pounds per square inch, but is seen as having some of the greatest potential in the US Gulf region, industry experts say. Shenandoah began production in July, and Beacon reported in October that four phase-one wells were achieving targeted production of 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The potential value of US oil and gas assets has benefitted from the war due to both the rising price of oil and the fact that they are far from the conflict zone and can be delivered worldwide, one of the sources said. – Reuters

o London accepts pricing changes and spending increases to support drug exports LONDON: Britain has finalised a US-UK pharmaceutical trade deal, setting out tariff-free access for UK-made medicines to the US in return for paying higher prices for new medicines. The agreement, reached as part of a wider US-UK trade accord signed last year, commits Washington to a zero tariff on pharmaceuticals exported from Britain for at least three years. The British government has said the deal would make Britain the only country with tariff-free access for medicines to the US market. British Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said in a statement on Thursday that the partnership would support Britain’s world leading pharmaceutical sector while protecting high-skilled jobs, adding that it demonstrates the strength of the US-British economic relationship. Pharmaceuticals account for about a fifth of British goods exports to the US by value, according to government data. Announcing the arrangement, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said President Donald Trump is seeking to ensure that trading partners pay their “fair share” for innovative medicines so that US patients are not disproportionately bearing research and development costs. The Trump administration said later on Thursday it will impose tariffs of up to 100% on branded pharmaceuticals imported into the US unless manufacturers agree to government drug pricing deals or commit to Power-hungry data centres – warehouse-like facilities that power AI tools from chatbots to image generators –- are springing up worldwide, and the sector is growing particularly fast in Asia. Microsoft president Brad Smith met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at her office yesterday to announce the investment. Smith said in a statement that it was a “response to Japan’s growing need for cloud and AI services”. Businesses in Japan, the world’s fourth-largest TOKYO: Tesla plans to expand in Japan to at least 60 stores as it seeks to become the country’s biggest imported car brand by as early as next year, the head of its Japan business said yesterday. Expanded store and service centre coverage and investment in training over the past two years have helped drive Tesla’s sales growth in Japan, said country manager Richi Hashimoto, even as electric-vehicle adoption in the country remains modest. The Elon Musk-led company’s expansion in Japan comes as battery-powered car sales have slowed heavily in the US and other key markets globally, increasing the importance of regions where electric vehicle penetration remains low.

Pharmaceuticals account for about a fifth of Britain’s exports to the US by value, underscoring sector importance. - PEXELS PIX

and tariff agreements. Britain has also said the deal shields medical technology exports from additional tariffs and includes assurances it would receive mitigations under a proposed US “most favoured nation” drug pricing policy, which seeks to bring US medicine prices closer to those in other developed countries. The pharmaceuticals provisions were negotiated separately from the wider US-British trade deal signed by Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer in June 2025, with the two sides unveiling the outline terms in December. In a separate statement on Thursday, Britain said the deal would see closer cooperation between its Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration, including work towards aligning medical device regulation to help speed patient access to new technologies. – Reuters

making their products domestically. The published text of the arrangement by the British government showed the deal will require changes to the appraisal framework at NICE, the UK body that assesses the cost-effectiveness of National Health Service medicines, including higher cost-effectiveness thresholds for new drugs. Under the deal, Britain also pledged to increase medicines spending from 0.3% of GDP to 0.35% by 2028 and 0.6% by 2035, the statement said. Britain will raise the net price paid by the NHS for new medicines by 25% from April 2026, with the increase applying to drugs launched after the agreement takes effect, according to the terms of the agreement. It also showed that it makes the tariff exemption conditional on major UK pharmaceutical companies entering into and complying with separate US government pricing

Microsoft to invest US$10b for Japan AI data centres TOKYO: Microsoft said yesterday it will invest US$10 billion (RM40 billion) in Japan over the next four years to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centres and related infrastructure. economy, are keen to get ahead in the fast moving AI field. But data centre expansion there is constrained by limited space and relatively expensive electricity. agencies, and to train one million engineers in cooperation with telecom and tech giants NTT and NEC.

A rush to build data centres in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in India and Southeast Asia, has sparked concerns over the facilities’ environmental impact. That includes increased demand on electricity grids that are often reliant on fossil fuels, and on local water supplies used to cool the hot servers inside.

The US tech giant will collaborate with Japan’s SoftBank Group and Sakura Internet to expand domestic tech infrastructure, it said in a press release. It follows a US$2.9 billion two-year investment Microsoft announced in 2024 to bolster the country’s push into AI and strengthen its cyber defences. The investment unveiled yesterday also includes funds to enhance cybersecurity partnerships with Japanese government “We want to aim to become the number one imported car brand, possibly as early as next year,“ Hashimoto said at an event to mark the launch of Model Y L in Japan, outlining the company’s mid- to long-term goals in the country. The US EV maker, which sold just over 10,000 vehicles in the country last year, began taking orders yesterday in Japan for the Model Y L, a six seater geared towards families, as it seeks to broaden its appeal beyond early adopters. At present, Tesla has 35 stores and 14 service centres in the country and plans to more than double its service network to about 30 locations, Hashimoto said. Tesla’s stores are designed to offer test drives, a strategy aimed at easing driver concerns –

On Tuesday, the Microsoft announced plans to invest more than US$1 billion in cloud and AI data centre infrastructure and operations in Thailand over the next two years. – AFP Tesla eyes Japan’s top imported-car spot as it expands store, service network

particularly among those used to driving petrol powered cars – about switching to EVs. “Simply increasing stores to sell cars doesn’t make customers buy,“ Hashimoto said, adding that drivers’ concerns are often resolved immediately once they drive a vehicle. Foreign car sales in Japan have long been dominated by German luxury brands, according to data from the Japan Automobile Importers Association. Mercedes-Benz was the top-selling foreign brand in 2025 with nearly 51,000 vehicles sold, followed by BMW, Volkswagen and Audi. Despite EV launches by automakers including Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan and China’s BYD, Japan remains one of the slowest major markets