How the G77 group of developing nations helped advance the cause of climate justice under Pakistan’s presidency 

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Updated 27 December 2022
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How the G77 group of developing nations helped advance the cause of climate justice under Pakistan’s presidency 

  • The “loss and damage” climate compensation fund was secured at COP27 in Egypt in November
  • FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says he is proud the mechanism was secured under Pakistan’s chairmanship 

NEW YORK CITY: Developing countries made history at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh in November when they secured a new “loss and damage” fund to support victims of climate disasters. 

This key breakthrough, which encourages wealthy nations to provide financial assistance to developing countries grappling with the climate crisis, was hailed as a historic victory, crowning a decades-long struggle. 

“This is a significant achievement,” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan’s foreign minister, told Arab News in an exclusive interview in New York City, having just concluded his country’s G77 presidency and passed the torch to Cuba. 

“This is something that climate activists have been struggling for for 30 years and I am proud of the fact that it was under Pakistan’s chairmanship of the G77 that we managed to achieve that aim.”




Flood waters submerged one-third of the country, covering an area equivalent to the size of the UK. (AFP)

Pakistan, as the 2022 chair of the G77 group of 134 developing nations, has led the charge in the global fight for climate assistance to the developing world. 

Many of these countries contribute relatively little to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet are themselves often the most vulnerable to climate catastrophes, such as rising sea levels, prolonged heat waves, desertification, ocean acidification, extreme weather, bush fires, loss of biodiversity, and crop failures.

Prior to COP27, Islamabad had succeeded in putting the issue of “loss and damage” on the summit agenda. This was no easy feat. 

For decades, wealthy, industrialized countries, which produce the most greenhouse gas emissions, resisted the idea of such a fund, citing fears of continuous demands for compensation on the part of the low-income countries. 

Their change of heart was likely influenced by Pakistan’s own unprecedented climate disaster. 

Between June and October, intense monsoon rains resulted in catastrophic flooding, which many scientists and Pakistani officials believe was the result of man-made climate change. 

Flood waters submerged one-third of the country, covering an area equivalent to the size of the UK. More than 1,400 people were killed and thousands more injured. Around 33 million people were directly impacted, including 6 million left destitute. 




Around 33 million people were directly impacted, including 6 million left destitute. (AFP)

The floods destroyed 1.7 million homes, 12,000 km of road, 375 bridges, and 5 million acres of crops, costing Pakistan an estimated $40 billion in damages, while amply demonstrating why a loss and damage fund was so urgently needed. 

Indeed, Pakistan is responsible for less than 1 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and yet, like many vulnerable nations, predominantly in the global south, appears to be carrying the burden of man-made climate change. 

“Success is always the result of compromise,” Bhutto Zardari told Arab News.

“And I feel that we’ve managed to achieve some common ground through the language incorporated in loss and damage. 

FASTFACTS

• The G77 is a coalition of 134 developing countries at the UN designed to promote its members’ collective economic interests and enhanced joint negotiating capacity.

• The “loss and damage” fund, under which wealthy nations provide financial support to those impacted by climate disasters, was secured at COP27 in Egypt in November.

• Pakistan, which suffered catastrophic flooding this year linked to man-made climate change, has led the charge on loss and damage during its G77 presidency.

“We need to look at this, not just as the developed world needing to give compensation or reparations to the developing world, but as a more practical approach, a more realistic approach, that we have to work together.

“The global south and the global north have to work together. The developing world and the developed world have to work together. 

“Climate justice, climate catastrophe, knows no boundaries, does not care whether you’re rich or poor, whether you contributed to climate change much or you didn’t. 

“It is devastating lives in Pakistan. It is devastating lives here in the US, where recently you had Hurricane Ian. In China, the heat wave. Drought and forest fires in South Africa. In Europe, floods. 

“Wherever we look we see climate catastrophes catching up to us and we have to work together to address this issue. 

“Obviously, there are different perspectives. The developing world feels that their carbon footprint is smaller, they haven’t contributed as much as the developed world has to the crisis.

“They haven’t benefited in the same way the developed world has from industrialization. And therefore we have to find the middle ground between the two to address this issue.”




“Climate justice, climate catastrophe, knows no boundaries,” said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani Foreign Minister. (AFP)

Pakistan is a founding member of the G77, which was established in 1964 and is the largest intergovernmental grouping of developing countries in the UN system. It provides a platform for developing nations to advocate their common economic interests within the international body. 

Islamabad had assumed the presidency of the group — its third tenure since the group was founded — armed with a list of priorities it intended to address. 

The UN has repeatedly stressed that global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of climate change, and a lack of progress on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals are disproportionately falling on the shoulders of the world’s poorest.

The discrepancy in vaccination rates around the world alone was a shocking illustration of the widening gap between low-income and rich nations. 

According to Our World in Data figures, as of July 2022, just 15.8 percent of people in low-income countries were fully vaccinated, compared with 55 percent in lower-middle income countries, 73.5 percent in high-income countries, and 78.7 percent in upper-middle income countries.




Many have had to rely on food aid to survive. (AFP)

Closing these chronic gaps between rich and poor and recalibrating the strategic power dynamic has been the raison d’etre of the G77 since its creation.

“The agenda, or the aspiration of the G77, is exactly that. We represent the aspirations of the developing world,” said Bhutto Zardari. “It is one of the largest forums at the UN.

“To say at the end of our one-year term that we managed to fundamentally alter the dynamics between the developing world, the global south and the global north, would not be correct. There is a lot of work to be done.

“But I do believe we’ve managed to highlight some of these discrepancies, some of these predictions and particularly within the context of COP27, the success of G77 to get loss and damage onto its agenda goes a long way to address this discrepancy.” 




Almost a third of Pakistan was submerged when Monsoon rains caused flooding, including Dera Allah Yar town in Balochistan province. (AFP)

Beyond the climate crisis, the pandemic, and regional conflicts, developing nations have also borne the brunt of inflationary pressures resulting from the war in Ukraine, which have caused food and fuel prices to skyrocket over the course of the past year.

Combined, these challenges have hampered the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals — a collection of 17 interlinked objectives formulated in 2015 to serve as a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet to be achieved by 2030.

“I believe as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and a whole host of other factors, including the Ukraine war, we have not been able to make the necessary progress on SDGs,” said Bhutto Zardari. 

“If we do want to achieve that goal then it requires quite an ambitious reform agenda that would endorse many of the suggestions of Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, who also calls for reforms of international financial institutions in order for us to be able to deliver on SDGs.”

To overcome these concurrent crises, restore economies, achieve the SDGs, and address the “unequal and unjust” international economic system, Bhutto Zardari used his G77 presidency handover speech on Dec. 15 to call for emergency measures and structural changes. 

These include mobilizing urgent humanitarian support for more than 50 countries in economic distress, providing emergency food supplies through the UN to the 250 million people who are food insecure, boosting food production and supplies to moderate prices, and facilitating farmers’ access to seeds, fertilizers and finance. 

Bhutto Zardari also urged the international community to ensure developing countries had sufficient access to energy, to mobilize $1 trillion per year to invest in sustainable infrastructure, and for “systemic and structural reforms” to address the inequalities of the international financial system.




“We will continue our services but we need more donations and more funds so that we can scale up our services,” said Ayaz Hussain, Health specialist, UNICEF. (Supplied)

Loss and damage was a rare point of policy convergence in South Asia and a demonstration of developing nations wielding collective strength when they have common cause. “I think we were very successful in creating that consensus,” Bhutto Zardari told Arab News. 

“Time and time again, the G77 has come together to take unanimous decisions, consensus decisions. Every meeting that we chaired here has had an outcome document. 

“I don’t think it would have been possible to insist on loss and damage being part of the agenda or ultimately agreeing to get the loss and damage fund in financial arrangements… without consensus and unity across the board at G77. 

“In the past year, we managed to sustain that consensus and it’s incredibly encouraging.”

He added: “The art of diplomacy, of politics, is being able to find mutual ground. I am a strong believer. I think the politics domestically in my country and internationally tend to be politics of division. 

“I tend to believe that there’s far more that unites us than divides us. And we should seek common ground, areas in which we can work together, rather than find areas where we disagree.” 


Four dead, dozens injured in Russia drone strikes on Kharkiv

Updated 15 sec ago
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Four dead, dozens injured in Russia drone strikes on Kharkiv

  • The attack late Thursday targeted residential and office buildings in Kharkiv
  • Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes them to agree to a ceasefire
Kyiv: Russian drone strikes killed at least four people and injured more than 30 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, authorities said Friday.
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes them to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of costly fighting.
The attack late Thursday targeted residential and office buildings in Kharkiv, causing several blazes, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram.
“Russian drones attacked one of the districts of Kharkiv. As a result of strikes at residential buildings and an administrative building, four fires broke out,” the emergency service said.
The city’s mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram that as of Friday morning, “unfortunately, there are already four dead,” with a fourth body “unearthed from under the rubble” in addition to three earlier fatalities.
Ukraine’s state emergency service and Oleg Synegubov, governor of the wider Kharkiv region, said 35 people were wounded in the attack, while Terekhov put the figure at 32.
Six other people were injured in the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kyiv, according to local authorities who blamed Moscow.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Sergiy Lysak said on Telegram that 13 drones had been “destroyed” in the region.
“Due to the massive drone attack, there is damage in Dnipro and its suburbs,” he said.
One killed in Russia
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Friday that air defense alert systems intercepted and destroyed 107 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 34 over the Kursk region and 30 over the Oryol region.
An attack by Ukrainian drones in a village in the Bryansk region killed one and left another injured, governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said in a Telegram post on Friday.
“As a result of the attack by Ukrainian drones, two residents of the village received shrapnel wounds. Unfortunately, one man died,” he wrote.
The attacks came as Russia’s top economic negotiator visited Washington for talks on improving ties.
Trump is pushing for warmer relations with Moscow, reaching out to President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials in the hope of brokering a ceasefire in the three-year Ukraine war.
Washington had said last month that both Kyiv and Moscow agreed separately to “develop measures for implementing” a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure.
But attacks have continued and both sides have complained to the United States about strikes hitting their energy sites.
Kyiv called on Washington to strengthen sanctions on Moscow for “violating” agreements made at talks in Saudi Arabia last month.

South Korea court ousts impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol

Updated 35 min 58 sec ago
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South Korea court ousts impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol

  • Millions of Koreans watched the court hand down its verdict live on television
  • Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days

SEOUL: South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday unanimously upheld President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his disastrous martial law declaration, stripping him of office and triggering fresh elections after months of political turmoil.

Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested on insurrection charges as part of a separate criminal case.

Millions of Koreans watched the court hand down its verdict live on television, with the country’s main messaging app KakaoTalk saying that some users were experiencing delays due to a sudden surge in traffic.

“Given the serious negative impact and far-reaching consequences of the respondent’s constitutional violations... (We) dismiss respondent President Yoon Suk Yeol,” acting court President Moon Hyung-bae said while delivering the ruling.

Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days. Authorities will announce a date in the coming days.

The decision was unanimous, and the judges have been given additional security protection by police. Outside the court, AFP reporters heard Yoon supporters shouting death threats.

Yoon’s actions “violate the core principles of the rule of law and democratic governance,” the judges said in their ruling.

Sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree “violated the political neutrality of the armed forces.”

He deployed troops for “political purposes,” the judges said.

“In the end, the respondent’s unconstitutional and illegal acts are a betrayal of the people’s trust and constitute a serious violation of the law that cannot be tolerated,” the judges ruled.

Opposition party lawmakers clapped their hands as the verdict was announced, calling it “historic,” while lawmakers from Yoon’s party filed out of the courtroom.

Yoon is the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.

After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, while public unrest swelled.

Police raised the alert to the highest possible level Friday. Officers encircled the courthouse with a ring of vehicles and stationed special operations teams in the vicinity.

Anti-Yoon protesters gathered outdoors to watch a live broadcast of the verdict, cheering at many of the lines and holding hands. When Yoon’s removal was announced, they erupted into wild cheers, with some bursting into tears.

“When the dismissal was finally declared, the cheers were so loud it felt like the rally was being swept away,” Kim Min-ji, a 25-year-old anti-Yoon protester, said.

“We cried tears and shouted that we, the citizens, had won!”

Yoon, who defended his attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces,” still commands the backing of extreme supporters.

Outside his residence, his supporters shouted and swore, with some bursting into tears as the verdict was announced.

This year, at least two staunch Yoon supporters have died after self-immolating in protest of the controversial leader’s impeachment.

A police official said that one person had been arrested in the vicinity of the court, with others trying to destroy police buses with batons.

Embassies — including the American, French, Russian and Chinese — have warned citizens to avoid mass gatherings in connection with Friday’s verdict.

The decision shows “first and foremost the resilience of South Korean democracy,” Byunghwan Son, professor at George Mason University, said.

“The very fact that the system did not collapse suggests that the Korean democracy can survive even the worst challenge against it — a coup attempt.”

South Korea has spent the four months since the martial law declaration without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in — only for him to be later reinstated by a court ruling.

The leadership vacuum came during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.

This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies.

Since December, South Korea has been “partially paralyzed — it has been without a legitimate president and has been challenged by natural disasters and the political disaster called Trump,” Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said.

Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid.

Acting president Han Duck-soo will remain at the helm until the new elections are held.


Rubio tries to reassure wary allies of US commitment to NATO as Trump sends mixed signals

Updated 04 April 2025
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Rubio tries to reassure wary allies of US commitment to NATO as Trump sends mixed signals

  • “President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” the top US diplomat tells NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels
  • America's allies needed Rubio's reassurance as US firepower ensures that NATO’s ability to deter Russia is credible

BRUSSELS: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration’s new envoy to NATO are seeking to reassure wary members of the US commitment to the alliance.
Rubio on Thursday decried “hysteria and hyperbole” in the media about US President Donald Trump’s intentions, despite persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant.
Rubio and newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker are in Brussels for a meeting of alliance foreign ministers at which many are hoping Rubio will shed light on US security plans in Europe.
“The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio told reporters as he greeted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte before the meeting began. “And some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted.”
“President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” Rubio said. “We’re going to remain in NATO.”
“We want NATO to be stronger, we want NATO to be more visible and the only way NATO can get stronger, more visible is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability,” he said.
Whitaker said in a statement that “under President Trump’s leadership, NATO will be stronger and more effective than ever before, and I believe that a robust NATO can continue to serve as a bedrock of peace and prosperity.” But he added: “NATO’s vitality rests on every ally doing their fair share.”

Concerns about US commitment to allies
Despite those words, European allies and Canada are deeply concerned by Trump’s readiness to draw closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sees NATO as a threat as the US tries to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, as well as his rhetorical attacks and insults against allies like Canada and Denmark.
Rubio and Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen met on the sidelines of the meeting. They didn’t respond to a shouted question about Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark which Trump has his eye on, but they smiled and shook hands in front of US and Danish flags.
Trump’s imposition of new global tariffs, which will affect allies, have also added to the uncertainty and unease.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot warned that NATO’s unity is “being tested by the decisions taken and announced yesterday (Wednesday) by President Trump.”
Asked about concerns among European allies about a possible US troop drawdown and the importance of getting clear messages from the Trump administration, Rutte said: “These issues are not new. There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe.”
Indeed, the Trump administration hasn’t made its NATO allies aware any plans that it might have. But several European countries are convinced that US troops and equipment will be withdrawn, and they want to find out from Rubio how many and when so they can fill any security gaps.
“We need to preempt a rapid retreat, but we’ve had nothing precise from the US yet,” a senior NATO diplomat said before the meeting, briefing reporters on his country’s expectations on condition that he not be named.
In Washington, the chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee criticized “mid-level” leadership at the Pentagon for what he branded as a misguided plan to “reduce drastically” the number of US troops based in Europe. The US Defense Department hasn’t made public any such proposal.
“They’ve been working to pursue a US retreat from Europe and they’ve often been doing so without coordinating with the secretary of defense,” US Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said at a hearing with US European Command and US Africa Command military leadership.
It wasn’t immediately clear what “mid-level bureaucrats” Wicker was talking about.
Rutte’s dilemma
NATO’s secretary-general is in a bind. European allies and Canada have tasked him with keeping the United States firmly in NATO. Around 100,000 US troops are stationed in Europe along with the Navy’s 6th Fleet and nuclear warheads. US firepower ensures that NATO’s ability to deter Russia is credible.
This means he can’t openly criticize Trump, who is commander in chief of the United States, NATO’s biggest and best-equipped armed forces.
What is clear is that US allies must ramp up defense spending even more than they already have since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, so that they can defend Europe with less American help and keep Ukraine’s armed forces in the fight.
“The US expects European allies to take more responsibility for their own security,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said, which means that “European NATO countries rapidly have to strengthen the European pillar of NATO and have to increase their defense spending.”
Since US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned last month that American security priorities lie elsewhere — in Asia and on the United States’ own borders — the Europeans have waited to learn how big a military drawdown in Europe could be and how fast it may happen.
In Europe and Canada, governments are working on “burden shifting” plans to take over more of the load, while trying to ensure that no security vacuum is created if US troops and equipment are withdrawn from the continent.


Trump defiant as tariffs send world markets into panic

Updated 04 April 2025
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Trump defiant as tariffs send world markets into panic

  • Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting, “It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing”
  • “Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” says commerce chief amid howls of protest even from some Republicans

WASHINGTON: Wall Street led a global markets bloodbath Thursday as countries around the world reeled from President Donald Trump’s trade war, while the White House insisted the US economy will emerge victorious.
The S&P 500 dropped 4.8 percent in its biggest loss since 2020. The tech-rich Nasdaq plummeted 6.0 percent and the Dow Jones 4.0 percent.
Shock waves also tore through markets in Asia and Europe in the wake of Trump’s Wednesday announcement, while foreign leaders signaled readiness to negotiate but also threatened counter-tariffs.
Trump slapped 10 percent import duties on all nations and far higher levies on imports from dozens of specific countries — including top trade partners China and the European Union.
Separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars also went into effect and Canada swiftly responded with a similar levy on US imports.
Stellantis — the owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat — paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.
Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting to reporters as he left for a weekend at his Florida golf resorts, that stocks will “boom.”

 

 

The 78-year-old president says he wants to make the United States free from reliance on foreign manufacturers, in a massive economic reshaping that he likened to a medical procedure.
“It’s what is expected,” he said of the market reaction. “The patient was very sick. The economy had a lot of problems.”
“It went through an operation. It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing.”

Trump ‘knows what he’s doing’

Amid howls of protest abroad and from even some of Trump’s Republicans, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged patience.
“Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” he said on CNN. “You’ve got to trust Donald Trump in the White House.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick leaves after doing a television interview outside the White House on April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP) 

But China demanded that the tariffs be immediately canceled and vowed countermeasures, while France and Germany warned that the EU could hit back at US tech firms.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified.”
The 27-nation EU and other countries also sought to negotiate as they refrained from immediate retaliation.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for “frank discussion on the substance with the Americans.”
Beijing said it was “maintaining communication” with Washington over trade issues, and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic planned to speak with US counterparts on Friday.
However, Brazil’s president vowed to take “all appropriate measures.”
Gold — a safe-haven investment — hit a new record price, oil fell and the dollar slumped against other major currencies.
The head of the World Trade Organization, which helps manage global trading, warned the upheaval may lead to contraction of “one percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year.”

 

 

’You can’t fight the US’

Trump is brushing off warnings about triggering a global economic slowdown and politically damaging price rises at home.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell broke ranks with Trump, slamming tariffs as “bad policy.”
“Preserving the long-term prosperity of American industry and workers requires working with our allies, not against them,” he said.
It remains unclear to what extent Trump is using the tariffs shock to engage in negotiations on trade deals — or whether he really intends to try to force all competitors to play by US rules.
He said he would negotiate “as long as they are giving something that is good.”
But earlier, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN that the president made it clear that “this is not a negotiation.”
And Lutnick also struck a hard line, saying, “You can’t really fight with the United States.”
“You’re going to lose. We are the sumo wrestler of this world.”

Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly.”
That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.
The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan.
For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including on another key ally, Britain, which will come into effect on Saturday while the higher duties will kick in on April 9.
 


‘Frightening’: US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash

Updated 04 April 2025
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‘Frightening’: US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash

  • Trump has unveiled a sweeping 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners, set to take effect on Saturday
  • The list covers about 60 partners including the European Union, China, India and Japan

WASHINGTON: From European wines to industrial tools, global tariffs launched by US President Donald Trump this week promise to sweep through the world’s biggest economy, impacting everyone from restaurant owners to industrial manufacturers.
For Brett Gitter, who makes his quality control instruments in China-based factories, Trump’s planned tariff hike on goods from the country marks a further price surge to potentially startling levels for customers.
“I add a surcharge at the bottom of every invoice to cover the expense of the tariff,” he told AFP.
“The bottom of the invoice now is going to say 54 percent,” he added, referring to a new rate hitting Chinese imports starting next Wednesday.
All of this stacks on an existing 25 percent rate Chinese imports already faced before Trump returned to the presidency, he said, although he tried to absorb some of the earlier duties.
“That’s a lot,” he added. “That’s going to alarm people.”
This week, Trump unveiled a sweeping 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners, set to take effect on Saturday.
He declared that foreign trade practices have caused a “national emergency,” imposing levies to boost his country’s position.
Additionally, “worst offenders” that have large trade imbalances with the United States will face even higher rates come April 9.
The list covers about 60 partners including the European Union, China, India and Japan.
Gitter said his customers, who are American manufacturers too, will have to decide if they want to foot the higher bill.
“Other countries that have similar types of product have added tariffs too,” he said.
“Where does my product made in China fit, and how bad does it take a hit compared to other competitors?“

Andrew Fortgang, who runs three restaurants and a wine shop in Oregon, worries about Trump’s additional 20 percent tariff on European Union imports — specifically, wine.
The rate is also taking effect April 9.
“Probably 25 percent of our revenue is from imported wine,” he told AFP, noting that the steep tariff will bite.
For these sales to vanish would be “really frightening,” he said.
Beyond that, “everything from oil, to mustards, cheeses, and meats, they are just not fungible, they are not made here,” Fortgang said. “It’s going to add up.”
While he expects he would be forced to pass on some costs to consumers by hiking menu prices, high inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic have weighed on customers.
“You’ll kind of reach a tipping point,” he said, “on how much you can raise prices.”
US Wine Trade Alliance president Ben Aneff called the plan “a disaster for small businesses.”
“Restaurants really rely on large margins in order to effectively subsidize the rest of their business,” he said, adding that consumers will likely see higher prices.
“We import about $4.5 billion worth of (wine) from the EU and US businesses make almost $25 billion from those imports. There is no plug for that hole,” he told AFP.
Others in the food and beverages sector have already been hit by Trump’s multiple waves of tariffs.
Bill Butcher, a craft brewer in Virginia, earlier saw a shortage of glass bottles for his beers when metals tariffs took effect in March — as industry giants pivoted away from aluminum cans to avoid added costs.
Now, he awaits suppliers’ verdict on how much the incoming tariffs on European goods will add to costs for the grains and hops needed in his brews.
“It’s just a lot of uncertainty and chaos in our supply chain,” he said.

Gitter, whose business is based in New Jersey, has tried “many times” to relocate production to the United States.
“There’s a lack of infrastructure in the US to support what we do,” he said.
The printed circuit boards used in his instruments, for example, require chips made in East Asia.
Will Thomas, whose company transforms coils of steel into metal products, added: “We import from necessity, not desire.”
While he is not hard hit by Trump’s partner-based tariffs this week, earlier 25 percent duties on steel and aluminum imports have eaten away at his profits.
“I’m hoping this is not another nail in the coffin for foreign supply,” Thomas said.
“I would just like the leaders of the countries to be able to sit down and work things out.”