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China is moving to strengthen its alliances with other countries as a counterweight to President Donald Trump’s trade war, presenting a united front with Latin American leaders a day after China and the U.S. agreed to a 90-day truce in their tariffs stalemate.China’s leaders have positioned the world’s second-largest economy as a reliable trade and development partner, in contrast to the uncertainty and instability from Trump’s tariff hikes and other policies.On Monday, Beijing and Washington announced their breakthrough on tariffs after weekend talks in Geneva, Switzerland, where they agreed to cut sky-high import duties on both sides for 90 days to allow for negotiations.Still, Beijing’s ire over the trade war remains apparent. Speaking to officials from China and Latin America on Tuesday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing’s stance that nobody wins a trade war and that “bullying or hegemonism only leads to self-isolation.”Having moved to defuse antagonisms with the U.S., Xi said China stands ready to “join hands” with Latin countries “in the face of seething undercurrents of pure political and bloc confrontation and the surging tide of unilateralism and protectionism.”“There are no winners in tariff wars or trade wars,” Xi said, reiterating a phrase China has used repeatedly when referring to Trump’s policies.When Trump began raising tariffs on Chinese products during his first term in office, China retaliated by diversifying its purchases of key farm products, such as soybeans and beef, away from U.S. suppliers. Brazil and other Latin American countries have benefited from that strategy.Also Tuesday, the head of the World Trade Organization appealed to Japan to fight disruptions to world commerce from Trump’s fast-changing tariffs and other policies.“Trade is facing very challenging times right now and it is quite difficult,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the Geneva-based WTO, told Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba while on a visit to Tokyo.Japan, as “a champion of the multilateral trading system” must help maintain, strengthen and reform the WTO, the Japanese Foreign Ministry cited her as saying.Japan is among many countries yet to reach a deal with the Trump administration on hikes to U.S. tariffs, including those on autos, steel and aluminum.The WTO played a pivotal role in past decades as the U.S. and other major economies crusaded for the more open markets that facilitated the growth of global supply chains, many of which are anchored in China.By dismantling many protectionist barriers to trade, it has aided the ascent of Japan and China, and many other countries, as export manufacturing hubs.Since taking office for a second time, Trump has prioritized higher tariffs to try to reduce U.S. imports and compel companies to locate factories in the United States, doubling down on a trade war that he launched during his first term.The realities of Trump’s global trade offensive overshadowed an initial burst of optimism over the China-U.S. deal among investors, as rallies in stocks and oil prices faded on Tuesday.Speaking to the China-CELAC, or Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Forum, Xi, the Chinese leader, announced plans to build closer ties with Latin America through political, economic, academic and security exchanges.He promised to boost imports from the region, to encourage Chinese companies to increase their investments, and said Beijing plans to expand cooperation in clean energy, 5G telecommunications and artificial intelligence. He also announced a new 66 billion yuan ($9.2 billion) credit line to support Latin American and Caribbean financing.China’s trade with the region has been growing rapidly, exceeding $500 billion for the first time last year, as it imported more farm products such as soybeans and beef, energy resources such as crude oil, iron ore, and critical minerals.Beijing’s investments in the region through Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, have included installing 5G networks and building ports and hydropower plants.Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced Monday that his country would formally join the BRIin a vote of confidence after several Chinese projects in Latin America hit snags in recent months.In other pledges, Beijing plans to invite 300 members from Latin American political parties to China annually for the next three years and facilitate 3,500 government scholarships and various other types of exchanges.Five Latin American countries will receive visa exemptions for travel to China, with more to follow, Xi said. It was not immediately clear which countries would become visa exempt. Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo. Simina Mistreanu, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Square, the popular business technology platform known for its Point of Sale (POS) systems, has launched a new device designed to allow sellers to ring up various kinds of purchases and perform other tasks without carrying around the extra weight of bulkier hardware. The Square Handheld, with a screen that is slightly bigger than a cellphone, is less than an inch thick, thin enough to fit in your back pocket. Handheld card readers currently on the market are bulkier, requiring sellers to use lanyards or handstraps to carry them around. The Square Handheld frees up hands for a more seamless integration into the user’s workflows. The device supports a full range of payment options, includes a camera and barcode scanner, and is designed to last. The device is IP54-rated, meaning it can handle water splashes and dust. Users can further protect the device by purchasing a case, offered on the Square online shop and developed in partnership with Belkin. [Photo: Square] At a product event in New York City last week, businesses that have already trialed the Square Handheld discussed both the devices functionality and the connection to customers that the device helps facilitate. Staff at Cisco Brewers, originally established in Nantucket, Massachusetts, use the Square Handhelds barcode scanner to verify customers IDs. Other restaurant owners say the device makes placing orders easier. Its tremendously helpful to place orders instantly at each table instead of waiting at a counter and entering multiple tables orders at once, said Trevor Ledergerber, owner of La Mediterranee, in Berkeley, California, via a press release. Sellers also say they appreciate the connection it creates between businesses and clientele. Maricia Du Plessis, owner of Pollys Cafe in Brooklyn, says that the device operates as a conversation starter as well as being convenient. It helps to be able to be superclose to our customersquite literallyand connect more deeply with them and really understand who they are and what drives their behavior and how we can observe them over time, Du Plessis said. The device is supported by Squares Point of Sale app, which features seven different modes of functionality, including Bar mode, Quick Service mode, and Retail mode, with the option to expand and customize features as a business grows. The Square Handheld includes customer profiles that businesses have already made with Square, and according to a press release, it can fit into any in-store workflow and is especially suited to restaurants and retailers. “Square Handheld fuses Squares industry-leading design with powerful commerce software to deliver a dynamic device that empowers sellers to keep pace with the breakneck speed of modern business, said Thomas Templeton, head of hardware for Block, Square’s owner, in a press release. The device is currently available for $399 on Squares online store, with the accompanying Belkin SheerForce cases available for $39.
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E-Commerce
In recent years, Khan Academy founder Sal Khan has been most visible promoting the organization’s AI learning assistant, Khanmigo. But a second nonprofit he founded, called Schoolhouse, focuses on connecting students with their peers for human-centered educational interactions. Since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Schoolhouse has connected students with trained and certified volunteer tutors, often around their own age, who help them understand a variety of academic subjects. Now, through a pilot with the College Board, these tutors also help students prepare for the SATs. “It was a very utopian idea that frankly a lot of people were very skeptical ofthat you could attract volunteers, and vet them, and train them, and give high-quality tutoring at scale for free to other folks,” says Khan, who is also CEO of Schoolhouse. “But we built that first prototype, summer of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, and it worked.” As of Tuesday, Schoolhouse is publicly launching a new program called Dialogues, which connects students aged 14 to 18 via Zoom to respectfully discuss a variety of often-controversial cultural and political topics. Developed with experts in civil discourse, the program offers students discussion guides on subjects like immigration, gun control, climate change, universal basic income, and artificial intelligence. Ultimately, though, it relies on students to engage respectfully and learn from one another. “It’s not a debate,” Khan says. “You don’t have to convince the other person, but you do want to be able to give your point of view in a thoughtful way, and you want to be able to listen and be able to understand the other side’s point of view.” During sessions, students are identified only by their first names and last initials. While video is optional, Schoolhouse reports that about 75% of students in the pilot opted to keep their cameras on. After each conversation, students complete surveys reflecting on their experiences. Dialogues offer not only insights into differing perspectives but also teach students how to maintain respectful, productive conversations. “I often end up being the one who sort of leads the question, as in answers first,” says Claire, a participant in the program. (Schoolhouse requested that Fast Company only identify student participants by their first names, in keeping with Dialogues privacy practices.) “And I’ve learned how to do that in a way where I’m not running over the other peoplewhere we really share our own different thoughts, and we dig a little bit deeper.” Sample data shown here [Image: Schoolhouse] More than 600 students have participated in the pilot phase, holding over 2,000 Dialogue sessions. Participants can also start Dialogues clubs through Schoolhouse to help organize sessions. Its our dream that one day, Dialogue Clubs will be just as common as Debate Clubs, Khan wrote in a blog post. Students can also receive official portfolios from Schoolhouse documenting their participation and peer feedback. By connecting students across geographic regions, Dialogues expose them to viewpoints and ideas they may not encounter in their everyday lives. [Image: Schoolhouse] “In my daily life, I really thought I met a lot of different people, and I was kind of tapped in with a bunch of different areas of the community,” says David, a participant. “But once you go into Dialogues, you realize that there’s a lot more breadth to the world around you.” Zoom offers a more intimate, one-on-one setting than typical internet message boardswithout the cost and complexity of travel. “We had two American students talking to two Chinese students in China about free speech,” Khan says. “I don’t know how you pull that off in person without some super-expensive exchange program.” Several collegesincluding the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, MIT, Vanderbilt University, Columbia University, Colby College, Northwestern University, and Washington University in St. Louishave said they will officially consider Dialogues portfolios as part of admissions applications. Students who volunteer to tutor through Schoolhouse can also build similar portfolios. Khan says his team has, with student permission, shared transcripts and recordings of Dialogues with school officials to help them understand the program, and the response has been positive. “Their consensus is, this is incredible,” he says. “Like, these are kids that we would want to accept.”
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