U.S. President-elect Donald Trump chose Rep Elise Stefanik to serve as his Ambassador to the United Nations.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep Elise Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations.

“Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Mr. Trump said in a statement on Monday (Novermber 11, 2024) announcing his pick.

Nikki Haley, who challenged Mr. Trump for the GOP nomination, was among those who previously held the role in his first term.

Ms. Stefanik, 40, who serves as House Republican Conference Chair, has long been one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies in the House, and was among those discussed as a potential vice presidential choice.

It was the third group of companies and institutions in China added to the U.S. blacklist, after two rounds in which the Trump administration cited 37 entities it said were involved in China’s repression in Xinjiang.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that Beijing and Washington must find a way to “get along” in a message to US president-elect Donald Trump, state media reported.

Trump’s crushing presidential victory ushers in a new era of uncertainty in the United States and the world, and heralds a possible shift in US-China relations, frayed in recent years by tensions over everything from trade to the status of self-ruled Taiwan.

In his first message to Trump since the former president secured a second term, Xi said “history has shown that China and the United States benefit from cooperation and suffer from confrontation”, state broadcaster CCTV said.

CCTV did not specify how the message was conveyed.

“A stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship is in the common interest of both countries and is in line with the expectations of the international community,” Xi said.

He called for Washington and Beijing to “strengthen dialogue and communication” and “properly manage differences”.

The two countries must “find a correct way… to get along in this new era, to benefit both countries and the world”, Xi said.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng also sent a message to vice president-elect JD Vance, CCTV said.

Both Republican Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had pledged to get tougher on Beijing.

But Trump upped the ante, vowing to slap 60 percent tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the United States.

The president-elect aims to “restore some level of balance in the US-China trade”, Yun Sun, a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center, told AFP.

“Given his arts of ‘maximum pressure’ before striking a deal, I do expect him to impose the tariff,” she added.

‘Mutual respect’

On Thursday Beijing warned that there would be “no winners” in a trade war, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning saying it would not be “conducive to the world”.

Xi and Trump have previously met four times, and the former president has touted his “very strong relationship” with the Chinese leader.

He has also claimed he would be able to talk Xi out of an attack on self-ruled Taiwan with threats of 150 percent tariffs.

Analysts had said the election outcome would be a key focus of this week’s gathering of top lawmakers in Beijing, aimed at ironing out a stimulus plan to boost China’s struggling economy.

Chief among the concerns will be how Beijing responds to Trump’s expected huge tariff hike, which asset managers PineBridge Investments have suggested could hit $500 billion worth of Chinese exports.

“We expect the Chinese government to respond with limited retaliation and more domestic policy support to the economy, to partially offset the negative impact,” Tao Wang, Chief China Economist at UBS Investment Research, told AFP.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer touched upon a range of topics, including defence and regional security, during his congratulatory phone call with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump after a “historic” election victory.

Also Read: ‘Whole world loves Modi’: Trump in a post-victory conversation with PM Modi

During the call on Wednesday (November 6) evening, both leaders agreed to work towards strengthening the “incredibly strong” U.S.-U.K. special relationship and committed to ensure the bilateral ties continue to thrive.

“The Prime Minister offered his hearty congratulations and said he looked forward to working closely with President-elect Trump across all areas of the special relationship. From defence and security to growth and prosperity, the relationship between the U.K. and U.S. was incredibly strong and would continue to thrive for many years to come, the leaders agreed,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Mr. Starmer is said to have also reflected on the situation in the Middle East and “underscored the importance of regional stability”. They went on to discuss their recent meeting at Trump Tower when Starmer was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

“The leaders fondly recalled their meeting in September, and President-elect Trump’s close connections and affinity to the United Kingdom and looked forward to working with one another,” Downing Street added.

The phone call came after a heated first exchange between Mr. Starmer and the newly elected U.K. Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch in the House of Commons.

The Conservative Party chief challenged the Labour leader over his party volunteers having flown in to support the campaign of Trump’s Democrat rival Kamala Harris.

“I am very sure that President Trump will soon be calling to thank him for sending all of those north London Labour activists to campaign for his Opponent,” Ms. Badenoch taunted.

“It is absolutely crucial that we have a strong relationship – that strong, special relationship, forged in difficult circumstances — between the U.S. and the U.K.. We will continue to work, as we have done in our four months in government, on issues of security, our economy and global conflict,” Mr. Starmer responded.

Earlier, Mr. Starmer had been forced to stress that any party activists in the U.S. during the election campaign were there as volunteers on their own time.

Ms. Badenoch also raised the risk of increased tariffs on U.K. exports by the new Trump administration, which would threaten the country’s manufacturing sector and urged him to revive UK-US free trade agreement (FTA) talks, which the previous Biden regime had cancelled.

Meanwhile, Mr. Starmer is in Budapest on Thursday for a summit hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban where Trump’s victory and its implications on Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are expected to dominate the agenda.

The European Political Community (EPC), which holds these summits every six months, was set up in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a chance for the European Union (EU) to meet wider partners including non-members such as the UK and Turkiye to discuss key security challenges affecting Europe.