Tesla enters Indian car market with Mumbai showroom
Elon Musk's firm used a media event on Tuesday to showcase its model Y cars, with prices starting at a relatively expensive 6 million rupees, or 70,000 dollars.
India is the world's third-largest car market, after China and the US, but electric vehicles account for only a small fraction. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers says electric vehicle sales in fiscal 2024 were around 100,000 units.
Media reports say another showroom is expected to open in New Delhi by the end of July.
Tesla's move comes as the company faces slumping international sales. Many consumers have been boycotting the brand over Musk's political activities, while global competition is intensifying.
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Asahi Shimbun
41 minutes ago
- Asahi Shimbun
India's Modi announces credit worth $565 million to the Maldives and launches free trade talks
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, and Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, center right, watch a traditional welcome dance upon Modi's arrival at the airport, in Male, Maldives, July 25. (Indian Prime Ministers Office via AP) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka--Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced a $565-million line of credit to the Maldives during a visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago, as the two countries launched formal talks for a free-trade agreement. Modi is visiting the Maldives, known for its upmarket tourist resorts, to mark the 60th anniversary of its independence and diplomatic relations between the two countries. The announcement came during Modi's joint media statement with Maldives' President Mohamed Muizzu. The two-day visit is crucial to India's ambition to control the seas and shipping routes of the Indian Ocean in a race with its regional rival China. It also marks the further easing of diplomatic tensions between the two nations that followed the election of pro-China Muizzu in 2023. Regional powers India and China compete for influence in the archipelago nation, which is strategically located in the Indian Ocean. On Friday, Modi witnessed the exchange of agreements to cooperate in sectors such as fisheries, health, tourism and digital development. He also formally handed dozens of heavy vehicles to the Maldives' defense forces. 'India is Maldives' closest neighbor. Maldives holds an important place in both India's neighborhood- first policy and ocean vision," Modi said. 'India is also proud to be Maldives' most trusted friend.' The line of credit will be used for 'infrastructure and development projects in line with the priorities of the people of the Maldives,' he said. "India will continue to support Maldives in developing its defense capabilities. Peace, stability and prosperity in the Indian Ocean region is our common goal," he added. During Muizzu's visit to India last October, India announced financial support to the cash-strapped Maldives in the form of a $100-million treasury bills rollover and the countries signed a $400-million currency swap agreement. Tensions between India and the Maldives grew since Muizzu, who favored closer ties with China, was elected in 2023 after defeating India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Leading up to the election, Muizzu had promised to expel Indian soldiers deployed in the Maldives to help with humanitarian assistance. Last year New Delhi replaced dozens of its soldiers in the Maldives with civilian experts. Measure by Modi to promote tourism in India's Lakshadweep archipelago, off the southwestern coast of the Indian mainland, also sparked anger from Maldivians, who saw it as a move to lure Indian tourists away from their country. Indian celebrities then called for a tourism boycott to the Maldives. The dispute deepened when Muizzu visited China ahead of India in January last year, a move seen by New Delhi as a snub. On his return, Muizzu spelled out plans to rid his tiny nation of dependence on India for health facilities, medicines and import of staples. Relations started to improve after Muizzu attended Modi's swearing-in ceremony for a third five-year term. Muizzu has toned down his anti-Indian rhetoric, and official contacts with New Delhi have intensified as concerns grew about Maldives' economy. India has long been a critical provider of development assistance to the Maldives. Meanwhile, the Maldives joined China's Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 to build ports and highways and expand trade as well as China's influence across Asia, Africa, and Europe. Modi will attend the Maldives' 60th independence anniversary from being a British protectorate on Saturday.
The Diplomat
17 hours ago
- The Diplomat
International Labor Standards: The Missing Link in China-US Trade Negotiations
The China-U.S. trade war is often reduced to a dispute over cheap exports, but the real fault line runs deeper. China has built a powerful industrial strategy on the backs of low-cost labor and state-backed incentives, successfully attracting advanced multinationals and bringing their technology and supply chain resources into the country. While the United States outsourced its basic manufacturing, China turned so-called 'low-end' jobs into a launchpad for dominating high-value industries. This strategy has worked. BYD, once a low-tier battery maker, is now a top global electric vehicle manufacturer, beating Tesla in worldwide EV sales. Apple, for its part, poured billions into China – not just in assembly lines, but in R&D. As journalist Peter McGee documented in 'Apple and the Transformation of Chinese Manufacturing,' Apple's strict quality and engineering standards forced Chinese suppliers to level up. What began as low-cost outsourcing became a sophisticated, self-reinforcing innovation engine. This has become a key driver of innovation and global competitiveness in China's manufacturing sector. As the Chinese government aligned its labor policies with the profit motives of U.S. corporations, Washington debated tariffs. All this while, companies continue to rely on China's cheap labor to meet shareholder demands. China, in turn, gained leverage: any disruption to this arrangement would threaten the survival of many global brands. This entanglement has become so tight that it indirectly but powerfully shapes U.S. policy toward China, through the commercial interests and logistical dependence of American companies operating in China. But there's a darker cost buried in the foundations of this success. For over two decades, China Labor Watch has uncovered systemic labor issues in the supply chains of major U.S. and global brands operating in China. These are not isolated incidents, but are structural features of a model that exploits rural migrant workers, tolerates weak enforcement of labor laws, and prohibits independent unions. Global companies continue to profit from it. This exploitation does not just serve short-term commercial interests. It underpins China's ambitious vision of the 'great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation' and advancing its global hegemonic strategy of technological dominance and leadership. Even as parts of manufacturing move to Southeast Asia, those operations remain closely tethered to Chinese supply chains. The low-cost advantage remains China's unshakable core. If the U.S. wants to reduce its dependency and rebalance trade on fairer terms, it cannot ignore the labor question. It must confront China's labor governance head-on – even if doing so challenges American business interests in the short term. The Chinese government, for all its claims in its Constitution and the Communist Party's charter that China is a 'socialist state' that is 'led by the working class,' has built its economic ascent on the backs of exploited workers. While it publicly touts its commitment to workers' well-being, it has never admitted to the systemic nature of labor violations. Instead, the party-state continues to sidestep the issue through an official narrative of 'striving for workers' well-being,' and blame is deflected to multinational corporations. Many Chinese citizens, including some government officials, genuinely believe that the CCP's system can improve workers' lives. The structural roots of labor exploitation, inherent in the party's governance and economic model, are obscured. Labor rights activism thus becomes a sore subject for the government. To them, it is not just about a call for better wages or working conditions, but a direct challenge to the CCP's self-image. It exposes the ideological gulf between its promises and the lived experience of Chinese workers. If party leaders deny the existence of labor exploitation, they are telling an outright lie that will anger many workers; if they address the issue, it legitimizes that reality is at odds with the CCP's charter. This is precisely why labor advocates are treated with suspicion and often repression – but also some degree of caution. During the 2015 '709 Crackdown,' China jailed dozens of human rights lawyers, but took a softer approach with labor activists, quietly releasing them or assigning them jobs after detention to avoid international attention further escalating the issue. The goal was clear: to suppress attention and not provoke an international firestorm. A similar pattern played out in 2025, when Brazil sued BYD for alleged forced labor. Instead of lashing out at international critics, as it often does in response to human rights issues, China responded discreetly and promised an investigation. These examples reflect the nuance and sensitivity that the government applies to labor issues, as compared to human rights issues that it often rebuts. This different approach underscores the potential for labor issues to compel government action and, in turn, how international labor standards can be used as a tool for change. In other words, for the Chinese government, labor conditions resonate where abstract human rights appeals do not. From factory workers to office employees, the majority of China's workforce faces long hours, low wages, and little social protection. Labor violations aren't theoretical; they are everyday realities that could fuel domestic pressure and policy reform if exposed. Tools to address these problems already exist. In the United States, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and Section 307 of the Tariff Act have led to meaningful enforcement actions, even if many Uyghur workers are rarely found in primary factories supplying to the U.S. In the future, as additions to the UFLPA entity list are expected to slow, U.S. enforcement could shift toward broader supply chain interventions through the Withhold Release Orders (WROs), further expanding to address forced labor issues in supply chains, using enforcement to promote fairer labor standards. Yet despite the tools at Washington's disposal, labor concerns remain sidelined in mainstream trade discussions, drowned out by debates over tariffs, trade deficits, and subsidies. These traditional tools have struggled to move the needle on Chinese economic policy, which is largely built upon China's persistent low labor cost advantage. Labor, by contrast, is a pressure point the Chinese government is less prepared to resist, precisely because it implicates both the CCP's legitimacy and its economic model. Labor issues directly affect the immediate interests of the Chinese people, which concerns the government, and international labor standards can thus serve as an effective mechanism to expose the deeply rooted structural flaws in China's governance model. This is the moment for the United States and its allies in Europe to unite around labor standards as a strategic pillar of trade policy. As China-EU tensions continue to simmer, a coordinated, transatlantic approach, through shared standards, trade mechanisms, and enforcement frameworks, could significantly increase leverage over China's labor practices. This strategy not only advances sustainable global supply chains but also balances immediate commercial interests with long-term labor equity, benefiting workers in both the United States and China. Yes, there will be obstacles: political division among allies, corporate resistance, and China's likely counterattacks. But the stakes are too high to ignore. Fair labor standards not only strengthen global supply chains; they offer a pathway to a more just global economy, one where competitiveness does not rely on exploitation. Reshaping the rules of global trade will require more than rhetoric. It will require placing workers – American, Chinese, and others – at the center of policy. And that begins with recognizing that labor is not a side issue. It is the issue.
Japan Today
a day ago
- Japan Today
Asian shares retreat after Alphabet and AI stocks nudge Wall Street to more records
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, July 25, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) By TERESA CEROJANO Asian shares retreated on Friday after Wall Street inched to more records as gains for Alphabet and artificial-intelligence stocks helped offset a steep tumble for EV-maker Tesla. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 41,456.23 after two days of gains following President Donald Trump's announcement of a trade deal that would place a 15% tax on imports from Japan. That's lower than the 25% rate that Trump had earlier said would kick in on Aug. 1. Data released on Friday showed the inflation rate in Japan's capital Tokyo rose 2.9% year-on-year in July, down from 3.1% in June. Japanese government efforts to moderate inflation are working, though underlying Tokyo price pressures remain elevated, ING Economics said in a commentary. It expects the Bank of Japan to hold interest rates steady at its July 30-31 meeting, but said the central bank would likely raise its forecast for inflation. In the Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.1% to 25,381.85 and the Shanghai Composite index slid 0.4% to 3,591.79. Next week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he will meet with Chinese officials in Stockholm, Sweden, to work toward a deal with Beijing ahead of a tariff truce that expires on Aug. 12. Trump has said a China trip 'is not too distant' as trade tensions ease. 'One big question for markets is whether the tariff ceasefire is extended. We expect that an agreement will be attainable, but, in the interim, markets will watch closely to see if there are adjustments to current tariff rates in either direction,' ING Economics said. In South Korea, the Kospi picked up 0.2% to 3,196.05, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 8,666.90. Taiwan's Taiex edged less than 0.1% lower, and in India, the Sensex fell 0.8%. On Thursday, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to its all-time high set the day before, closing at 6,363.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 44,693.91, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to a record 21,057.96. Alphabet climbed 1% after the company behind Google and YouTube delivered a fatter profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It's leaning more into artificial-intelligence technology and said it's increasing its budget for AI chips and other investments this year by $10 billion to $85 billion. That helped push up other stocks in the AI industry, including a 1.7% rise for Nvidia. The chip company was the strongest single force lifting the S&P 500 because it's the largest on Wall Street in terms of value. But an 8.2% drop for Tesla kept the market in check. Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company reported results for the spring that were roughly in line with or above analysts' expectations, and Musk is trying to highlight Tesla's moves into AI and robotaxis. The focus, though, remains on how Musk's foray into politics is turning off potential customers, and he said several rough quarters may be ahead as 'we're in this weird transition period where we'll lose a lot of incentives in the U.S.' Stocks have broadly been rallying for weeks on hopes that President Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession and drive up inflation. In other dealings on Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 51 cents to $66.54 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 48 cents to $68.84 per barrel. The U.S. dollar was nearly unchanged at 147.01 Japanese yen. The euro rose to $1.1759 from $1.1748. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
