Trump's Tariffs Drive Europe to Rethink Its China Trade Relationship
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US startup Lyten to buy troubled European battery maker Northvolt
By Marie Mannes STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -U.S. battery startup Lyten has agreed to buy most of bankrupt Swedish battery maker Northvolt, it said on Thursday, potentially offering a way back for the European company that was once seen as the region's answer to rivals in Asia. Lyten, a Silicon Valley battery startup developing lithium-sulphur cells as a cleaner alternative to lithium-ion, is backed by Jeep-owner Stellantis and U.S. delivery services provider FedEx. The deal revives hopes for European battery independence after Northvolt - the continent's potential rival to major Chinese electric vehicle battery makers - filed for bankruptcy in March, making it one of Sweden's largest corporate failures, with a frantic push to find a buyer. "Our plans are... in large part to pick up where the Northvolt team left off," Lyten CEO Dan Cook told Reuters, declining to disclose the purchase price beyond saying it was at a "substantial discount" to the original asset value. Northvolt has received much criticism that the company overpromised while failing to deliver battery cells deemed good enough quality for clients, even with help from its biggest customer, truckmaker Scania. Lyten hopes to restart the flagship Skelleftea plant in northern Sweden and resume deliveries of lithium-ion battery cells in 2026. It acquired Northvolt's energy storage business in Poland in July, Europe's largest, and is targeting automotive, defence and energy storage markets. Cook said several of Northvolt's former management would be joining Lyten, though not founder and ex-CEO Peter Carlsson. "We are focused on developing to be the leaders in locally sourced, locally manufactured batteries for both the North American and European markets right now," he said. Lyten said in July that it had secured over $200 million in additional equity investment to support its acquisitions and expansion plans. Cook said Lyten would prove its worth to Northvolt's former customers by focusing first on providing high yields to a single customer. Northvolt's order book once totaled over $50 billion from automakers such as BMW, Volkswagen and Audi. "We actually think they'll come back, perhaps quicker than people believe," said Cook, Leyton's co-founder. The deal includes Northvolt's projects in Sweden and Germany, as well as its intellectual property. Work was also underway to acquire its Canadian unit. Before its collapse, Northvolt expanded across the Atlantic but later refocused on Sweden as its financial crisis deepened, selling assets for nominal sums.
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Indian Exporters Weigh Options to Deal With US Levy That's ‘Worse Than Covid'
(Bloomberg) -- Indian exporters who built their businesses on Americans' demand for affordable goods are redrawing their strategies and weighing alternatives to reduce the pain from US President Donald Trump's shock 50% levy on imports. All Hail the Humble Speed Hump Mayor Asked to Explain $1.4 Billion of Wasted Johannesburg Funds Three Deaths Reported as NYC Legionnaires' Outbreak Spreads Major Istanbul Projects Are Stalling as City Leaders Sit in Jail PATH Train Service Resumes After Fire at Jersey City Station Trump's decision to double tariffs in the space of a week will make India-made apparels to generic drugs prohibitively expensive and can heavily disrupt exports, if not bring them to a grinding halt for many smaller businesses. 'This is worse than Covid for us,' said Lalit Thukral, founder of apparel exporter Twenty Second Miles, who fears the industry will have to sell his goods at a loss and comparing the tariff-led disruption to the coronavirus pandemic. 'At least, there seemed to be an end to it. This tariff situation is just getting worse.' While escalating tariffs pose an existential threat to small enterprises like Twenty Second Miles, the larger ones are considering coping tactics including relocating production lines to countries with a lower tariff barrier, tapping buyers in other geographies and exploring acquisitions in the US. Gokaldas Exports Ltd., one of India's largest apparel exporters that earns about 70% of its revenue from the US, plans to ramp up production in its factories in Kenya and Ethiopia which face just a 10% US levy. 'Africa is looking like a good source at the moment,' Gokaldas' Managing Director Sivaramakrishnan Ganapathi said in an interview. 'We are seeing a huge amount of inquiries for production from that region from American customers.' Gut Punch The mitigating strategies will be a gut punch for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship 'Make in India' initiative and puncture any prospects to position India as an alternative manufacturing hotspot to China. Economists forecast that Trump tariffs could clip India's gross domestic product by as much as 1%. Trump has peppered his tariff onslaught with jibes about how the South Asian nation's trade barriers were 'obnoxious' and its economy 'dead' — remarks that have drawn counter from India's central bank. But businesses are hoping for more than just retorts. Businesses thought 'there would be more predictability,' according to Rohit Kumar, founding partner at public policy consultancy The Quantum Hub. 'In the short term, this threatens our China+1 strategy that India was positioning itself to benefit from. In the longer term, even this rerouting may not work for longer as policies could change,' Kumar said, referring to companies trying to recast supply chains. What Bloomberg Economics Says... 'The additional 25% oil penalty tariff would take the hit to US–bound exports to 60%, dragging GDP by 0.9%. This drop would be concentrated on the key items impacted by these tariffs such as gems and jewelry, textiles, footwear, carpets and agricultural goods — all labor-intensive industries.' — Chetna Kumar and Adam Farrar, analysts. For the full note, click here. The revised US levy announced as a penalty for India's purchases of Russian oil are set to take effect within 21 days, providing time for hectic parlays between New Delhi and Washington DC. In the meantime, companies are working on hedging strategies. Tata Group's Titan Ltd., which sells jewelry, is considering shifting some manufacturing to the Middle East which has lower duties on shipments into the US, Reuters reported Tuesday. Dire Threats While Indian drugmakers are awaiting clarity on sectoral tariffs imposed by the US, many of them have already begun scenario planning given Trump's dire threats. 'We'll be putting a initially small tariff on pharmaceuticals, but in one year — one and a half years, maximum — it's going to go to 150% and then it's going to go to 250% because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country,' Trump had said Tuesday in an interview on CNBC. Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd., which earns about 30% of its revenue from the US, sees acquisitions there as a way of boosting manufacturing in the region, its Joint Managing Director Pranav Amin, told Bloomberg News. Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., which counts on the US for nearly 50% of its sales, announced the acquisition of Indiana-based Lannett Co. on July 30 in a deal that will help expand its US manufacturing footprint. About $3 billion worth of auto components exports will be affected, according to data from the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association. A 50% tariff also makes India the worse off among its peers such as Vietnam, Indonesia and China. Firms elsewhere are also actively trying to lure non-American customers to diversify their customer base and market presence. Sell Elsewhere Welspun Living Ltd., which sells home fabrics in the US, told analysts last week that it is looking at the UK, European Union, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Japan to reduce reliance on the American market. SNQS International, based in the textile hub of Tiruppur in southern India, gets about 20% of its business from the US but is now looking to double down on European nations, according to its founder V. Elangovan. Larger textile manufacturers are also grabbing smaller, low-value orders to keep their factories running and avoid shutdowns, Thukral of Twenty Second Miles said. This risks crowding out the smaller firms. Calls for Support Indian trade bodies across affected industries, including apparel, gems and jewelry, and shrimps, are ramping up calls of support from the Modi government. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry wants the government to 'fast track' measures to limit the hardship faced by local apparel exporters while an industry body for shrimp exporters is seeking export incentive programs. The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council wants duty drawbacks, pre-shipment loans and deferring interest on working capital facilities, Chairman Kirit Bhansali said in a statement. --With assistance from Alisha Sachdev. 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1 Reason to Watch Diageo Stock in 2025
Key Points It's all about the tariffs. The company said it was able to mitigate about half the effect of the previous, lower levies from the Trump administration. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Over the past few months, the stop-and-start tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump have rocked the market. For any company that imports into the U.S., naturally, tariffs are a particular worry. The potential effects on such companies could be a canary in a coal mine for other importers. That's why keeping an eye on a company like Diageo (NYSE: DEO) is a good idea. A huge drink list Diageo might not be a familiar brand name on its own, but it's got some awfully familiar brands in its portfolio. Some of the alcoholic beverages it owns might be in your liquor cabinet right now. Its more than 200 libations include Guinness beer, Smirnoff vodka, and Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur. The U.S. is Diageo's largest single market. The company has sensibly built a U.S. presence, with 12 production sites cranking out the drinks that please customers. Yet much of Diageo's production originates in Europe, so the company is a big importer into the U.S., and thus subject to Trump's tariff regime, with the rate recently raised from 10% to 15%. Even at the lower rate, the tariff regime was affecting Diageo. In its second-quarter earnings update, the company estimated that tariffs would take $150 million in annual costs. Small effect, significant issue That's something of a drop in the bottle for a business with yearly sales over $16 billion, and headline net profit that lands north of $3 billion. Still, $150 million is a lot of scratch for any business, regardless of its size. In that update, Diageo wrote that unspecified measures it took before the 10% tariff was levied helped mitigate about half of the effect on operating profit. We'll see where that lands the bottom line in coming quarters. Diageo is signaling that tariffs are a wet blanket, even for the largest of importers. Investors should watch how this busy liquor shipper deals with increased rates, and it may give them some insight on how other companies will handle the situation. Trump's Tariffs Could Create $1.5 Trillion AI Gold Rush The Motley Fool's analysts are tracking a massive shift in U.S. tech. Over $1.5 trillion is already flowing into infrastructure, AI, and advanced manufacturing… and the number keeps climbing. Following a major tariff policy shift, a new AI Gold Rush is taking shape, and we think . It builds the tech infrastructure that Apple, OpenAI, and others suddenly can't live without. We just released a full write-up on this under-the-radar stock — and why now might be the exact moment to move. Continue » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Diageo Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Reason to Watch Diageo Stock in 2025 was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
