US journo links Trump success to '94 ‘Contract with America' at ACJ event
CHENNAI: The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) awards for journalism 2024 were announced by a three-member jury at a ceremony at the institute in Chennai on Saturday in the presence of veteran American journalist Norman Pearlstine.
While Hemant Gairola won the ACJ's award for investigative journalism, the KP Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism was shared by Vandana Menon and Shamsheer Yousaf, Monica Jha and Sriram Vittalamurthy. The Ashish Yechury memorial award for photojournalism was handed over to M Palanikumar.
At the event, the institution also announced the website of its alumni association, which was launched by Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, chairman and managing director of The New Indian Express Group (Madurai).
Sashi Kumar, chairman of Media Development Foundation that runs ACJ and N Murali, another trustee of the foundation, were present at the event.
Pearlstine also delivered the Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial lecture 2025 at the event which also hosted the convocation for the 2025 batch of students.
Titled 'When Journalism is the Story', Pearlstine spoke in detail about his journalism career, touching upon his interactions with current President of The United States, Donald Trump.
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Economic Times
17 minutes ago
- Economic Times
China's Temu and Shein want to crack Europe, but the US is too big to quit
Reuters To mitigate the risk, Chinese e-commerce platforms are shifting resources to Europe and other markets, spending heavily on promotions to try to woo European consumers. Huang Lun was one of the original architects of his Guangzhou-based company's push into the US market, helping it to sell underwear and yoga pants via the online commerce platforms Amazon, Temu and Shein. The American market now makes up 70% of the company's total sales, but in March, with US President Donald Trump threatening imminent tariffs on Chinese imports, Huang was tasked with finding new markets in Europe and Australia to help soften the inevitable blow. Huang's company is one of hundreds of thousands that collectively ship billions of dollars worth of goods to the US, taking advantage of digital marketplaces, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing operations in China, US consumers' voracious appetite for cheap clothing, electronics, toys and homeware, and a 'de minimis' exemption on import taxes for low-value packages. The Trump administration's on-again, off-again trade war with China threatens the economics of the business, making it far more expensive to ship products to customers, and putting a tax on every imported product that either the consumer or the retailer will need to mitigate the risk, Chinese e-commerce platforms are shifting resources to Europe and other markets, spending heavily on promotions to try to woo European consumers. European regulators and retailers are braced for a flood of low-cost goods. But that may be slow to come. The merchants in China — the companies that actually buy, sell and ship apparel, electronics, decorations and toys — are more focused on shoring up their core markets in the US, preferring to take higher risks and lower margins rather than tackle the complexity and bureaucracy of Europe. Huang is among them. When the Trump administration announced 145% tariffs on Chinese imports and cancelled the de minimis exemption, the company initially dropped its sales targets for the US. But soon after, Huang was pulled back to work part-time on the American market again. Trump suspended some tariffs for 90 days, and the company rushed to get new production orders to its factories and booked container space to ship a few more months' worth of inventory to the US. 'We still need to keep an eye on other markets to always prepare in case things get worse again, but it's less urgent now,' he said. 'We feel the US market is back, at least for this year.'After the Trump administration's tariff announcement, many Chinese sellers on e-commerce platforms increased their US prices. The average price of 98 products on Shein tracked by Bloomberg News rose by more than 20% by early May from two weeks prior. Observed sales on Shein were 16% lower for the 28 days ended May 22, compared to the same period a year ago, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyzes credit and debit card transactions in the US. Temu's sales fell about 19% in the same period from 2024 of the frustrations that Chinese companies have found in trying to enter European markets are there by design. The EU and UK typically have more rules on product standards and consumer protections than the US — non-tariff barriers that Trump has referenced in his trade disputes with the continent. European regulators have already begun cracking down. The Commission is formally investigating Temu for potential breaches related to the sale of illegal products and manipulative user interface designs. In May, a separate enforcement action found that Shein used tactics such as fake discounts and misleading sustainability claims. Shein has one month to respond or face possible fines based on its EU US' tariffs on China and the end of the de minimis rule has increased a sense of urgency in the EU, but the bloc's concerns predate the trade war. In 2024, about 4.6 billion parcels valued at €150 or less — the EU's de minimis threshold — entered the bloc, almost double the 2023 total. More than 90% originated from China. Policymakers tend to argue that enforcing European standards protect consumers and mean that imported products can't undercut local manufacturers by producing inferior, unsafe goods. 'It's not about trying to prevent affordable products or blocking clever business models that we ourselves didn't come up with,' Bernhard Kluttig, a deputy German economy minister, said. 'It's really just about making sure that everyone plays by the same rules.'When the Darmstadt Regional Council, a regional authority in Germany, tested 800 products from Asian e-commerce platforms, they found 95% of them didn't meet European standards. Among the products were laser pointers that exceeded legal output limits by up to 300 times. 'If you get that in your eye, then your eyesight is gone,' Angelika Küster, head of the council's department for market surveillance, product and chemical safety, said. Other checks found toys with 100 times the permitted concentration of toxic council has stepped up inspections and hired more staff to examine products from e-commerce sites, Küster said, 'but it's clear that we can't compete with the sheer volume of products being introduced.'The European Commission has launched a new initiative called Priority Control Areas to carry out surprise cross-border checks and launched a web crawler tool, which it hopes can help to identify harmful products listed on e-commerce sites. Other potential solutions under discussion at the Commission include introducing a handling fee for e-commerce platforms and implementing a digital product passport, which may provide supply chain transparency through a QR code linked to detailed product EU is in the process of reviewing stricter rules and the elimination of the €150 de minimis customs duty exemption. But as the US has already closed its equivalent in May, there's a risk that the e-commerce players now exploit Europe as a dumping ground while it's still possible. 'We're often not as quick as Donald Trump,' Kluttig said. 'We can't issue executive orders that apply immediately and across all of Europe. We have different elaborate and complex legal processes. Which is important — but decisions take longer.'Similar conversations are going on in the UK, where the de minimis threshold is £135, and where industry groups have long argued that online retailers selling Chinese goods are undercutting local companies by skirting duties and safety checks. Exports of 'low-value' parcels from China to the UK rose 53% in April, according to an analysis of China's customs trade under the £135 threshold generally pass through customs with limited inspection. In research published in October 2024, the British Toy and Hobby Association found 85% of the 75 toys it tested from third party sellers on 11 marketplaces, were non-compliant with EU and UK safety standards.'It's difficult enough to pay all the taxes that we do without facing competition from people who pay none, particularly when they're supplying goods that are demonstrably not up to UK safety standards,' said Andrew Goodacre, chief executive officer of Teal Group, which owns toy retailer The Entertainer.A Temu spokesperson said that the company takes product safety seriously, with 'a robust seller onboarding process, regular monitoring, and enforcement actions to ensure compliance,' and that it works with testing and certification agencies. 'We are committed to fair competition and supporting local businesses,' the spokesperson said. 'Our platform allows European and UK-based sellers to reach new customers through a low-cost channel, with half of our UK sales expected to come from local sellers and warehouses by the end of 2025. We're expanding this model across Europe, aiming for 80% of our European sales to come from local sellers over time.'A Shein spokesperson said that the company is 'fully committed to ensuring the products we offer are safe and compliant,' and that it is investing $15 million this year in product safety and compliance initiatives, performing 2.5 million product safety and quality tests, and expanding its partnerships with testing did not respond to a request for has taken action in recent years. Responsibility for collecting VAT has been shifted onto platforms, as sellers are now required to collect the tax upfront when dispatching parcels. Ollie Marshall, managing director of online electronics retailer Maplin, said that this has lessened competition and led 'Chinese direct sellers on platforms like Amazon actually becoming less prevalent.'However, just as in the EU, the US' dropping of its de minimis rule has increased fears of goods being rerouted and dumped in the UK. The Labour government announced a review of its policy in late April. So far, retailers and trade groups say there isn't much evidence that dumping is happening. Martino Pessina, CEO of Takko Fashion, a German discount clothing chain, said he's actually found short-term benefits from the US policy changes, as the temporary slowing of US demand has meant he's getting more favorable pricing from his own suppliers in China. This speaks to a point that isn't always reflected in the arguments over de minimis rules and the threat of dumped goods via Chinese platforms. 'We already buy in our local stores in the UK and the EU cheap Chinese goods, it's the same goods, often made in the same place,' Anna Jerzewska, customs and trade adviser to the EU and the UK, and director of consultancy Trade & Borders, said. Safety concerns are valid, as is the need to have a level playing field on regulations, she said, 'but the cheap Chinese goods isn't the problem. It's the profits of the UK retailers or the EU retailers.'Chinese online platforms are unlikely to see the increasing regulatory complexity in developed economies as an insurmountable barrier, according to Mark Greeven, dean of Asia at IMD Business School. The companies are expanding their warehouse capacity in Europe, he said, and Temu has begun to explore different business models, including working with small businesses in European markets. In April, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with DHL to develop its logistics on the continent.'Part of their advantage which they had in the US, they're trying to transplant to Europe, but they're also reinventing themselves a bit,' Greeven said. It will be challenging to build in Europe the 'proximity with the consumer' that the platforms have achieved in the US, he said, and their model of ultra-low price, algorithmically-marketed products may need to change. It could take a year or more to figure out how to navigate tariffs and tailor their offering to European markets. But the expertise that the Chinese platforms have built in logistics and supply chains means that they are powerful, highly adaptable businesses that will be hard to regulate out of existence, because they've dealt with constant disruption throughout their existence. 'It's been round after round after round, and I think they got pretty good at focusing on their core capabilities,' Greeven said. 'It's a mess, but a mess is an opportunity from the point of view of Chinese entrepreneurs. I think that typically in this situation, Chinese companies prosper because they're not afraid of it, they're used to it.'The future of the US tariff regime is uncertain. In late May, a court ruled that the Trump administration's import taxes were illegal. The government has the merchants, the timing of any short-term shift to Europe will be dictated by the simple metric of the US tariff numbers, Wang, from the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association said. When tariffs were set at 54%, that was the point most exporters couldn't make a profit, he said. 'Before reaching that level, people were struggling with thinner profits, but would rather stay in the US for cash flows and meanwhile start doing research on new markets,' Wang said. 'But let's say the tariffs return to figures higher than that again, you'll just be forced to completely exit and jump to other markets as you'll die faster if you stay.'
Time of India
43 minutes ago
- Time of India
Will we get to see a Tharoor vs Bhutto? India and Pakistan delegations to be in US same day
NEW DELHI: The all-party delegation, led by , is scheduled to be in Washington, DC, on Wednesday—coinciding, perhaps not so coincidentally, with the visit of a Pakistani delegation headed by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now While the Congress MP-led delegation is confident about getting India's message across, a Tharoor vs Bhutto might be on the cards. Talking about this Tharoor said that the presence of both the delegations would lead to an "increase in interest" as the States, whose president has repeatedly claimed credit for India-Pakistan truce, would get to hear two diametrically opposite views on the same day. "In Washington, we'll have the interesting phenomenon of the Pakistani delegation in America, and almost exactly the same days... Tomorrow almost they will be in Washington, while we are in Washington on the same date. So there's going to be perhaps an increase in interest because there are two duelling delegations in the same city," Tharoor told ANI on Tuesday. He further assured that even though India's side might not be a central agenda for the American media, the delegation would get the "message across very, very easily." "It's a challenging environment. America is a very crowded media space, the world's news generator. Therefore, our story may not be at the top of their minds. But if we can get the attention of those who care about South Asia, those who care about India, those who care about terrorism, we can get our message across very, very easily," he said. Tharoor noted that Pakistan's decision to send its own delegation is no coincidence, but unlike India's broader outreach, they are focusing only on countries they consider strategically important. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "It's no accident that the Pakistanis have also sent a delegation abroad, but they're not going to as many countries as the Indian delegations are. They're focusing on what they consider a few key capitals, namely, Washington, Brussels. London. That seems to be the thrust of the Pakistani effort. We have gone to all those capitals and more," he said. Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman on May 17, revealed that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had entrusted him with leading a delegation to advocate the country's position amid recent escalations with India. The delegations by both the nations are meant to present their respective sides after they launched military operations against each other post Pahalgam terror attack.
India Today
44 minutes ago
- India Today
No one needed to persuade us: Shashi Tharoor shuts down Trump's India-Pak claim
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is leading an all-party Operation Sindoor delegation abroad, denied any involvement of a third party in the ceasefire understanding reached between India and Pakistan. Tharoor, who is currently in Brazil, made the remarks ahead of his delegation's visit to the United said India did not need any persuasion for a ceasefire as the country never wanted have enormous respect for the American presidency, and we will speak with that respect in mind. But broadly speaking, our understanding is a bit different... No one needed to persuade us to stop. We had already said to stop," he said. Tharoor said the Pakistani side must have needed some persuasion."If there was any persuasion by the American president or his senior officials, it would have been persuasion of the Pakistanis. They would have had to be persuaded. We don't need to be persuaded because we don't want war. We want to focus on development. That's the basic message," he Tharoor said that India never wanted the conflict to escalate but had to react because Pakistan says, ".... We had consistently said from the very beginning on May 7th that we are not interested in prolonging the conflict. This is not the opening salvo in some sort of war. All it is is retribution against the terrorists, period. If Pakistan had not reacted, we would not have reacted..."advertisementTharoor's remarks came in response to Donald Trump's repeated claims that he brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after four days of missile and drone strikes. Trump was also the first one to announce the news to the world and later Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri held confirmed the same during a press India has categorically denied claims of mediation and said the understanding was reached after Pakistan's DGMO called his Indian counterpart. Both countries agreed to ceasefire on May 10 after Pakistan escalated following India's Operation Central government formed seven teams of leaders across parties to brief countries on India's Operation Sindoor and Pakistan's support for terrorism. Following the suite, Islamabad also planned the same move and handed the responsibility to Bilawal the delegations will be in the US at the same time. Commenting on Pakistan's move, Tharoor called it an "interesting phenomenon". "In Washington, we'll have the interesting phenomenon of the Pakistani delegation in America, and almost exactly the same days... Tomorrow almost they will be in Washington, while we are in Washington on the same date. So there's going to be perhaps an increase in interest because there are two duelling delegations in the same city," Tharoor said.
