Trump backs Zelenskyy-Putin meet without him, says he'll step in ‘if needed' to close peace deal
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Time of India
24 minutes ago
- Time of India
'Crimea's return impossible for Kyiv': Trump rules out sending US soldiers to Ukraine peace mission
President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered his assurances that U.S. troops would not be sent to help defend Ukraine against Russia after seeming to leave open the possibility the day before. Trump also said in a morning TV interview that Ukraine's hopes of joining NATO and regaining the Crimean Peninsula from Russia are 'impossible.' The Republican president, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders held hours of talks at the White House on Monday aimed at bringing an end to Russia's war against Ukraine. While answering questions from journalists, Trump did not rule out sending U.S. troops to participate in a European-led effort to defend Ukraine as part of security guarantees sought by Zelenskyy. Trump said after his meeting in Alaska last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Putin was open to the idea of security guarantees for Ukraine. But asked Tuesday on Fox News Channel's 'Fox & Friends' what assurances he could provide going forward and beyond his term that American troops would not be part of defending Ukraine's border, Trump said, 'Well, you have my assurance, and I'm president.' Show more Show less
Mint
24 minutes ago
- Mint
Trump's tariff shadow loomed over monetary policy decision in August, minutes show
Mumbai: When the rate-setting committee of India's central bank met two weeks ago, an uncertain global environment brought about by the tariff tantrums of US president Donald Trump loomed large. It forced the six-member panel to unanimously vote for a status quo on interest rates, despite a benign inflation, showed minutes. 'Considering all these, especially the current state of uncertainty on the external front, monetary policy needs to remain watchful,' said governor Sanjay Malhotra, according to the minutes of the meeting released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday. Malhotra put forth four reasons behind his decision to vote for a pause in interest rates. First, the global economy, he said, continued to undergo a period of heightened uncertainty on the back of trade and tariff negotiations. Second, while economic growth, projected at 6.5% in FY26, is resilient, uncertainty in external demand remained a major drag on growth. Third, inflation continued to ease but was primarily on account of softening food prices. Lastly, the transmission of recent policy rate cuts is ongoing. The monetary policy committee (MPC) lowered the repo rate by 100 basis points (bps) since February, with an outsized and surprising 50-basis point cut in June alone. A basis point equals a hundredth of a percentage point. Trump's tariffs on the world's fifth-largest economy—one that he has often referred to as 'tariff king'—are expected to hit sectors particularly exposed to exporting goods to the US. These include textiles, jewellery, apparel, seafood, machinery and mechanical appliances, chemicals, and auto components. Infact, economists estimate India's growth rate to decline 20-30 basis points on the back of these tariffs. India faces one of the highest levies, at 50%, including 25% for buying Russian energy. On 6 August, the MPC revised its FY26 consumer price inflation projection lower to 3.1%, from 3.7% earlier, while retaining its growth outlook at 6.5%. The panel has three members from RBI, while the remaining are external. The MPC's newest internal member and RBI deputy governor Poonam Gupta said that taking into account the growth-inflation outlook, past actions of the central bank, the state of the domestic economy, and the global dynamics, she does not see the scope or rationale for another cut. Gupta said that the August policy action needs to be seen in the context of the past actions. She said that apart from a cumulative rate cut of 100 bps since February, RBI has also deployed other tools during this period. These include easier liquidity conditions, regulatory easing, transparent and frequent communication, and forward guidance. 'The effect of all these actions has been permeating through the economy. Transmission of the cumulative rate cut has been impressively rapid, but it is still unfolding, and is likely to pick up in the coming months, facilitated by the CRR (cash reserve ratio) cuts coming into effect from September 2025,' said Gupta. Monetary policy committee member and executive director Rajiv Ranjan presented arguments for a pause as well as a cut in the repo rate of 25 bps. However, those in favour of a pause outweighed ones that made the case of another rate cut. Ranjan said that growth remains resilient, supported by public capex, resilient rural demand, and steady services activity. 'Inflation is significantly lower than projected earlier, but the decline is concentrated in a few volatile components and the outlook suggests a rise in inflation to above the target going forward,' he said. According to Ranjan, in the next few months, more clarity will emerge on how tariffs and their impact on the macroeconomy evolves and therefore, it would be prudent to allow time for the recent policy easing to transmit fully into the economy and to assess its effects on real economic activity. 'An additional rate cut at the current juncture could also reduce our policy space should global or domestic risks materialise,' said Ranjan. External members also highlighted the uncertainties in global conditions as a reason to hold back on further rate cuts. Saugata Bhattacharya said that given the level of extant and evolving uncertainty, 'it is difficult to provide even a modicum of forward guidance'. Policy decisions, said Bhattacharya, will continue to be based on incoming data and be taken on a meeting-by-meeting basis. He said that the rate-setting panel has been proactive in easing monetary policy since February 2025, which came in conjunction with multiple RBI measures to reinforce transmission and ease lending conditions. 'At this point, we need to step back, assess the impacts of the rate decisions and other policy actions,' he said. He said that the outcome and timelines of a bilateral trade deal with the US are unclear and if these tariffs persist, there is likely to be an adverse impact on India growth in FY26, and probably beyond.
Mint
35 minutes ago
- Mint
US suspends visa processing in Zimbabwe, embassy says
HARARE, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The United States has stopped processing most visas in Zimbabwe until further notice, its embassy in the capital Harare said on Wednesday, citing unspecified concerns with the government. "We have paused routine visa services in Harare while we address concerns with the Government of Zimbabwe," the embassy said in a post on X. It said the move was not a travel ban and that current visas would remain valid. The government of the Southern African country did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The pause took effect on August 7, according to a notice on the U.S. State Department's website, which said it applied to all visa services with the exception of most diplomatic and official visas. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has restricted travel from a number of African countries, saying it is working to prevent visa overstaying and misuse. Zimbabwe had a visa overstay rate of 10.57% in 2023, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report. Starting this week, the U.S. will require visa applicants from Zambia and Malawi to pay bonds of up to $15,000 for some visitor visas. The Trump administration has also paused visa processing in Niger. Harare resident Angella Chirombo said her 18-year-old son had received a scholarship to do his bachelor's degree at Michigan State University and had been waiting for a visa interview when the pause hit. "He was supposed to be in school already. I paid for everything else and was waiting for the visa so I could buy tickets," she told Reuters. She said other parents were considering booking interviews at other U.S. embassies in Southern Africa, but that she wouldn't be able to afford the travel. "Now they are saying we can go to Zambia and Namibia. I don't even have money right now and I don't know where to get this money. They are so many students that have been affected."
