Russia's Yandex rebounds from loss to post Q2 profit growth
Yandex said its board of directors would consider a management proposal to pay dividends for the first half of 2025 of 80 roubles per share.
($1 = 81.1500 roubles)
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Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Trump's sharp India criticism on tariffs, Russia oil corner Modi as rift deepens
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox - Any expectation of the camaraderie that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoyed with US President Donald Trump during the latter's first term in office – united in part over the common threat of China – has all but evaporated. India underestimated just how transactional Mr Trump would be in his second term in power, as he has made little distinction between friends and adversaries. Ties have unpredictably and quickly gone south as Mr Trump has torn into India over its long-standing ties with Russia and the slow pace of negotiations for an India-US trade deal. The strain in US-India ties is a challenge for Mr Modi, who also faces domestic calls not to cave into Mr Trump's demands on trade and oil imports from Russia. India has benefitted from cheap Russian energy imports, which the US leader claims is helping to fund Russia's invasion of Ukraine . Mr Trump's vow to 'substantially raise' tariffs on Indian exports to the US from the already substantial 25 per cent because of New Delhi's Russian oil imports, is an indication of his administration's priorities in achieving broader geopolitical goals, say analysts. 'This (oil sanctions) is obviously a pressure tactic the US is using on Russia to get an outcome of its choice in the Ukraine war. We are collateral damage,' Mr Ashok Malik, a partner at the Asia Group business consultancy, told The Straits Times. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore More train rides taken in first half-year, but overall public transport use stays below 2019 levels Singapore BlueSG needs time to develop software, refresh fleet, say ex-insiders after winding-down news Asia Cambodia-Thailand border clash a setback for Asean: Vivian Balakrishnan Singapore 'She had a whole life ahead of her': Boyfriend mourns Yishun fatal crash victim Singapore Doctor hounded ex-girlfriend, threatened to share her intimate photos, abducted her off street Asia Trump's transactional foreign policy fuels 'US scepticism' in Taiwan Business Women on corporate boards give firms a competitive advantage, says Australian Governor-General Singapore CEO of sports car distributor accused of offences including multiple counts of false trading 'I think things are very challenging at this juncture. It is the most challenging in a long, long time,' Mr Malik said. Mr Trump came into power promising he would end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office. But a long-term ceasefire has not materialised, and Russia has instead intensified its strikes on Ukraine, much to Mr Trump's frustration. India-Russia-US nexus 'India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits,' Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Aug 4. 'They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA.' Mr Trump has lumped Russia and India together, calling them 'dead economies' in another Truth Social post on July 31, despite the fact that India is the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP after the US, China and Germany. India has a longstanding relationship with Russia dating ba ck to the Cold War, and is the among the largest importer of Russian oil along with China . It imported about 1.75 million barrels a day from January to June 2025, up 1 per cent from a year ago, according to Reuters. On Aug 4, the Ministry of External Affairs called the US President and European Union 's targeting of India for buying Russian oil 'unjustified and unreasonable.' 'India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,' the MEA said in a statement. 'India's imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by the global market situation. However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. ' The European Union had imposed sanctions on Russian-backed Indian refiner Nayara and banned the import of refined oil made from Russian crude. In particular, New Delhi called out the United States for its continual imports from Russia of 'uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals.' Mr Trump is not the first US president to disapprove of India's ties with Iran and Russia. But previous US leaders like Mr Joe Biden and Mr Barack Obama chose to look the other way due to the strategic calculation of India's importance as a fast-growing economy a nd as a counter to China in America's Indo-Pacific strategy. In any case, India's ties with Russia are also not what they were once, as Russia has drawn closer to China and Pakistan, while India has grown closer to the West. The South Asian giant has also been diversifying its defence weapon purchases to include products from the US and Israel. But that doesn't mean India can walk away from the Russia relationship as desired by Mr Trump, according to Mr Nandan Unnikrishnan, a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank. 'We need warm relations. India is a growing economy; it is going to consume natural resources and Russia is a country that has every element in huge abundance. We will end up buying a lot of resources,' he said. US-India tariff negotiations Mr Trump is also frustrated that a trade deal with India to his liking has so far not materialised. He has used tariffs to force countries that have a trade surplus with the US into what he claims is a more reciprocal bilateral trade relationship. The US is India's largest export market, with exports reaching US$86.51 billion (S$111.37 billion) from April 2024 to March 2025. India's imports from the US were US$45.33 billion for the same period, according to Indian government figures . While both countries are still locked in negotiations, New Delhi has refused to grant the concessions that the Trump administration is seeking, including the opening up of heavily protected agriculture and dairy sectors to US imports. More than 60 per cent of the Indian population depends on these two sectors for their livelihoods in some form or another. Farmers have opposed opening up of the agriculture and dairy sectors , arguing they would not be able to withstand competition from US agriculture. Unlike US farms, India's farms are small, fragmented and hardly mechanised . In another post on Truth Social on July 30 , Mr Trump criticised India for imposing the most 'strenuous and obnoxious' tariffs in the world. India's refusal to give in to Trump for now may also be seen as a recognition that it is not just trade interests which are at stake. 'Trump has not only unleashed a trade war but is also deploying commercial instruments for geopolitical ends,' India's former foreign secretary Shyam Saran wrote in The Indian Express newspaper on Aug 4. 'These actions threaten India's core interests and its ability to follow a policy of strategic autonomy, which every government, irrespective of its political colour, has remained wedded to since Independence,' he said. 'We should not treat the current disruption in India-US relations as just a trade dispute. It is much more than that.' Mr Modi's response to Mr Trump's belligerent language, which has pushed the Indian prime minister into a corner domestically, took a nationalistic tone. 'The world economy is facing instability and uncertainty. In such times, countries are focusing solely on their own interests. India, too, is on the path to becoming the world's third-largest economy and must remain alert to its own economic priorities,' Mr Modi said in his constituency of Varanasi on Aug 2, even before Mr Trump's latest escalation. 'At a time when the world is going through uncertainty, let us take a pledge to sell only Swadeshi (made in India) goods from our shops and markets. Promoting made-in-India goods will be the truest service to the country.' Political watchers noted that it would be very difficult for the Indian Prime Minister to give any large concessions in the trade deal, given the growing anger within India towards Mr Trump. Even the right-wing Hindu nationalist ecosystem, which has been very supportive of the US president, is angry at what it perceives as a series of other slights to India. This includes Mr Trump's statements on how he engineered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, after the neighbours were embroiled in a military conflict over a terror attack in Kashmir, and Mr Trump's subsequent hosting of Pakistan's Army chief Asim Muneer in the White House. 'Mr Modi doesn't have much space to manoeuvre on the trade deal. The economic and political costs of accepting US demand are something this government will find difficult to swallow,' said Dr Biswajit Dhar, a trade expert and former professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. 'We have to wait and watch. What the Trump administration has done is push India into a corner.'
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Trump says drop in energy prices will prompt Putin to ‘stop killing people'
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox US President Donald Trump said the drop in energy prices was due to increased production, and he expected further declines. WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Aug 5 said declining energy prices could pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war in Ukraine. 'If energy goes down enough, Putin is going to stop killing people,' Mr Trump said in an interview on CNBC. 'If you get energy down, another U S$10 (S$13) a barrel, he's going to have no choice because his economy stinks.' Mr Trump last week set a deadline for Aug 8 for Mr Putin to move to end the war in Ukraine or face tougher US sanctions. His administration has also been pressuring India and China to stop buying Russian oil. Mr Trump told CNBC that the drop in energy prices was due to increased production, including by the Opec countries and others, and he expected further declines. 'If you notice Opec and Opec+, they're drilling more because I think they want me happy,' he said. Opec+ agreed on Aug 3 to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, the latest in a series of accelerated output hikes to regain market share, as concerns mount over potential supply disruptions linked to Russia. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore More train rides taken in first half-year, but overall public transport use stays below 2019 levels Singapore BlueSG needs time to develop software, refresh fleet, say ex-insiders after winding-down news Asia Cambodia-Thailand border clash a setback for Asean: Vivian Balakrishnan Asia Philippines, India shore up ties amid China tensions, US tariff risks Singapore 'She had a whole life ahead of her': Boyfriend mourns Yishun fatal crash victim Singapore Doctor hounded ex-girlfriend, threatened to share her intimate photos, abducted her off street Asia Trump's transactional foreign policy fuels 'US scepticism' in Taiwan Singapore CEO of sports car distributor accused of offences including multiple counts of false trading The move marks a full and early reversal of Opec+'s largest tranche of output cuts plus a separate increase in output for the United Arab Emirates amounting to about 2.5 million bpd, or about 2.4 per cent of world demand. Eight Opec+ members held a brief virtual meeting, amid increasing US pressure on India to halt Russian oil purchases – part of Washington's efforts to bring Moscow to the negotiating table for a peace deal with Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund last week slashed its forecast for Russian economic growth to 0.9 per cent for 2025 , from its previous forecast in April of 1.5 per cent growth. REUTERS
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
Trump to hike India tariffs within 24 hours, eyes pharma and chip duties next
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on Indian goods 'over the next 24 hours' in response to New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil. Trump announced a 25 per cent duty on India's exports to the US and has threatened repeatedly to increase that rate to punish the country for buying Russian energy, an effort to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. 'We settled on 25 per cent but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil,' Trump said on Tuesday (Aug 5) in a CNBC interview. 'They're fuelling the war machine. And if they're going to do that, then I'm not going to be happy.' Trump has escalated his fight with India over trade, unilaterally imposing a tariff rate after months of negotiations failed to secure a deal. He accused New Delhi of refusing to ease access for American goods and criticising its membership in the Brics group of developing economies. The US president has also set an Aug 8 deadline for Russia to reach a truce with Ukraine, with the administration threatening so-called secondary sanctions on countries that purchase energy from Moscow. Ukraine's allies say those purchases prop up Putin's war effort. Trump in the interview said that if energy prices went down it would undercut Putin's ability to continue his invasion of Ukraine – now in its fourth year. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'If energy goes down low enough, Putin's going to stop killing people,' Trump said. 'If you get energy down another US$10 a barrel, he's going to have no choice, because his economy stinks.' The Indian government has indicated it intends to continue talks with the US in hopes of securing lower tariffs. It has also called Trump's threat over energy purchases unjustified. India is considering ramping up natural gas purchases from the US and increasing imports of communication equipment and gold. In the same interview, Trump also said US tariffs on semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports would be announced 'within the next week or so,' as the administration prepares to target key economic sectors in its effort to remake global trade. 'We'll be putting an initially small tariff on pharmaceuticals, but in one year – one and a half years, maximum – it's going to go to 150 per cent and then it's going to go to 250 per cent because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country,' Trump said. 'We're going to be announcing on semiconductors and chips, which is a separate category,' he added. The Commerce Department has been investigating the semiconductor market since April to set the stage for possible tariffs on an industry that's expected to generate nearly US$700 billion in global sales. Under Trump, the US has already imposed levies on imports of cars and auto parts as well as steel and aluminium. Levies on imported chips threaten to sharply increase costs for large data centre operators including Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta Platforms and that plan to spend billions of US dollars on purchases of advanced semiconductors needed to propel their artificial intelligence businesses. The president has also threatened debilitating tariffs on the drug industry in an effort to force manufacturing back to the US. Trump recently demanded major suppliers of medicines drastically cut costs or face additional, unspecified penalties. The world's largest drugmakers, including Merck and Eli Lilly, operate scores of manufacturing sites across the globe. Nearly 90 per cent of US biotech companies rely on imported components for at least half of their approved products, according to the Biotechnology Innovation Organisation. The sectoral tariffs on pharmaceuticals, metals and other industries stem from trade investigations that can last about nine months and are imposed on national security grounds under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. It's seen as stronger legal footing than the emergency powers Trump used for his country-specific levies, which face court challenges. Those so-called reciprocal tariffs are slated to go into effect on Thursday. BLOOMBERG
