Photos of Britain's Starmer and India's Modi sealing a major trade agreement
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San Francisco Chronicle
12 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump announces 90-day negotiating period with Mexico as 25% tariff rates stay in place
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will enter a 90-day negotiating period with Mexico over trade as 25% tariff rates stay in place, part of the rush of trade activity Thursday before President Donald Trump plans to impose a broad set of global import taxes starting Friday. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that his phone conversation with Mexican leader Claudia Sheinbaum was 'very successful in that, more and more, we are getting to know and understand each other.' The Republican president had threatened tariffs of 30% on goods from Mexico in a July letter, something that Sheinbaum said Mexico gets to stave off for the next three months. 'We avoided the tariff increase announced for tomorrow and we got 90 days to build a long-term agreement through dialogue,' Sheinbaum wrote on X. The leaders' morning call came at a moment of pressure and uncertainty for the world economy. Nations are scrambling to finalize the outlines of a trade framework with Trump in order to avoid him simply imposing higher tariff rates that could upend economies and governments. Trump reached a deal with South Korea on Wednesday, and earlier with the European Union, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. His commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Fox News' 'Hannity' that there were agreements with Cambodia and Thailand after they had agreed to a ceasefire to their border conflict. Among those uncertain about their trade status were wealthy Switzerland and Norway. But even the public announcement of a deal can offer scant reassurance for an American trading partner. EU officials are waiting to complete a crucial document outlining how the framework to tax imported autos and other goods from the 27-member state bloc would operate. Trump had announced a deal Sunday while he was in Scotland. 'The U.S. has made these commitments. Now it's up to the U.S. to implement them. The ball is in their court," EU commission spokesman Olof Gill said. The document would not be legally binding. Trump said as part of the agreement with Mexico that goods imported into the U.S. would continue to face a 25% tariff that he has ostensibly linked to fentanyl trafficking. He said autos would face a 25% tariff, while copper, aluminum and steel would be taxed at 50% during the negotiating period. He said Mexico would end its 'Non Tariff Trade Barriers,' but he didn't provide specifics. But Trump appeared to have soured on that deal, which is up for renegotiation next year. One of his first significant moves as president was to tariff goods from both Mexico and Canada earlier this year. U.S. Census Bureau figures show that the U.S. ran a $171.5 billion trade imbalance with Mexico last year. That means the U.S. bought more goods from Mexico than it sold to the country. The imbalance with Mexico has grown in the aftermath of the USMCA as it was only $63.3 billion in 2016, the year before Trump started his first term in office.
The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
Josh Hawley says he had ‘good chat' with Trump after dustup over stock trading bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Josh Hawley is brushing off President Donald Trump's quip that he's a 'second-tier' senator after the Republican's proposal to ban stock trading by members of Congress — and the president and vice president — won bipartisan approval to advance in a committee vote. The Missouri Republican told Fox News late Wednesday that it's 'not the worst thing' he's ever been called and that he and the president 'had a good chat' clearing up confusion over the bill. The misunderstanding, Hawley said, was that Trump would have to sell his Mar-a-Lago private club and other assets. 'Not the case at all,' Hawley said on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.' It was the second time in many days that Trump laid into senators in his own party as the president tries, sometimes without success, to publicly pressure them to fall in line. Earlier, Trump tore into veteran GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa over an obscure Senate procedure regarding nominations. In a social media post, Trump called Hawley a 'second-tier Senator' who was playing into the hands of Democrats. Trump added: 'I don't think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the 'whims' of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!' Stock trading bans gain support Stock trading by members of Congress has long been an issue that both parties have tried to tackle, especially as some elected officials have become wealthy while in elected office. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, it was disclosed that lawmakers were trading as information about the health crisis before it became public. Insider trading laws don't always apply to the types of information lawmakers receive. Hawley's legislation with the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, sailed out of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, after his support delivered a bipartisan vote over the objections of the other Republicans, who have majority control. GOP senators had been working with the White House on the stock trade bill, and some supported a broad carve-out to exclude the president from the ban, but it failed, with Hawley joining Democrats to block it. Trump also complained that Hawley joined with Democrats to block another amendment that would have investigated the stock trades of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker emerita, and her spouse. Paul Pelosi has been a much-watched trader, but the California lawmaker's office said she personally does not own stock. Hawley said after his conversation with Trump that the president 'reiterated to me he wants to see a ban on stock trading by people like Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress, which is what we passed.' The senator also suggested the Democratic leader should be prosecuted, but it's not clear on what grounds. Pelosi supports Hawley's bill Pelosi has said repeatedly that she's not involved in her husband's work on investments, strongly supports the bill and looks forward to voting for it in the House. 'The American people deserve confidence that their elected leaders are serving the public interest — not their personal portfolios,' she said. In a joint statement, Hawley and Peters said the legislation, called the Honest Act, builds on an earlier bill and would ban members of Congress, the president, vice president and their spouses from holding, buying or selling stock. An earlier proposal from Hawley, named after Pelosi, had focused more narrowly on lawmakers. If the bill were to become law, it would immediately prohibit elected officials, including the president, from buying stocks and would ban them from selling stocks for 90 days after enactment. It also requires the elected officials to divest from all covered investments, but not until the beginning of their next term in office — shielding the term-limited president from that requirement. 'We have an opportunity here today to do something that the public has wanted to do for decades,' Hawley told the panel. 'And that is to ban members of Congress from profiting on information that frankly only members of Congress have on the buying and selling of stock.' During the committee hearing, tensions flared as Republicans sought other approaches. Republicans fail to exempt Trump from stock trading ban GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida proposed one amendment that would exempt the president, the vice president, their spouses and dependent children from the legislation, and the other one that would have required a report on the Pelosi family's trades. Both were defeated, with Hawley joining the Democrats. 'We are one step closer to getting this bill passed into law and finally barring bad actors from taking advantage of their positions for their own financial gain,' Peters said in a statement. One Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said the overall bill is 'legislative demagoguery.' 'We do have insider trading laws. We have financial disclosure. Trust me, we have financial disclosure,' Johnson said. 'So I don't see the necessity of this.' GOP's Grassley 'offended' by Trump's personal attack Trump's post criticizing Hawley comes after a similar blowback directed Tuesday night at Grassley. In that post, Trump pressured Grassley to do away with the Senate's longtime 'blue slip' custom that often forces bipartisan support on presidential nominations of federal judges. The practice requires both senators in a state to agree to push a nominee forward for a vote. Trump told Grassley to do away with the practice. 'Senator Grassley must step up,' Trump said, while claiming that he helped the senator, who was first elected in 1980, to win reelection. Grassley earlier Wednesday said he was 'offended' by what the president said.
13 minutes ago
What to know about Trump's trade feud with India
President Donald Trump on Thursday sharply criticized India over its trade policy, escalating a series of attacks as the White House readies to ratchet up tariffs on the country. The Trump administration plans to slap 25% tariffs on Indian products and impose additional penalties starting on Friday, the president said on social media. The incendiary rhetoric toward India comes as Trump also prepares to impose new levies on dozens of other countries. The White House has faulted India for high tariffs that Trump views as an effort to shut out U.S. producers. In recent days, Trump has also condemned India over its decision to continue purchasing Russian oil throughout the Russia-Ukraine war. India's tariffs are 'far too high, among the highest in the World,' Trump said on social media. In a statement on Wednesday, the Indian government said it had 'taken note' of Trump's comment and would 'study its implications.' Here's what to know about the U.S.-India trade feud and why it matters: Where does Trump's trade feud with India stand? Trump is set to hike tariffs on India to 25% on Friday, putting them one percentage point below the level of levies threatened in a Rose Garden ceremony on April 2. A 25% tariff would set levies with India at a higher rate than the 15% tariffs placed on the European Union and Japan as part of recent trade agreements. The threatened tariff on India would come in slightly below 30% tariffs slapped on China in May. The proposed levies may complicate ongoing trade negotiations between the U.S. and India, which have sought to reach an agreement over multiple rounds of discussions spanning months. India, the 12th-largest U.S. trade partner, has become a destination for some manufacturers that shifted production away from China in recent years. In May, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company had moved production of iPhones sold in the U.S. to India as a means of avoiding high tariffs. Overall trade in goods between India and the U.S. last year amounted to about $129 billion, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, or OTR, found. Top imports from India include apparel, chemicals, machinery and agricultural products. Why is Trump targeting India? In recent months, Trump has repeatedly criticized India for elevated tariffs on a range of products, including agricultural and dairy goods. 'We have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high,' Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday. India has sought to protect its domestic industries with elevated tariffs on some goods, including levies exceeding 100%. The U.S. ran a trade deficit in goods of about $45 billion in 2024, which marked a 5.4% increase over the previous year, according to the OTR. By comparison, the U.S. notched a far larger trade deficit with China of $295 billion last year. More recently, Trump has taken issue with India's decision to continue buying Russian oil over the course of the Russia-Ukraine war. India is 'Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE,' Trump said on social media on Wednesday. How has India responded to Trump's threats? In a statement this week, the Indian government struck a measured but firm tone in response to Trump. 'India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months,' the Indian government said on Wednesday. 'We remain committed to that objective.' 'The Government will take all steps necessary to secure our national interest,' the statement added.
