Pakistan finance minister meets US officials to advance trade negotiations
Pakistan faces a 29% tariff on exports to the US under President Donald Trump's measures to target countries with large trade surpluses with the US Pakistan's surplus will be around $3 billion in 2024.Pakistan was optimistic that the trade talks would conclude in a week's time after a virtual meeting between Aurangzeb and Lutnick late last month.According to Reuters, the talks followed an earlier submission by a Pakistani delegation outlining a comprehensive list of US demands, including reductions in both tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.Although Islamabad initially hoped to finalise the deal by early July, sources familiar with the matter say negotiations are taking longer than expected due to the complexity of the requirements. Islamabad has already offered to import more US goods, including crude oil, and to open up investment opportunities through concessions for US firms in Pakistan's mining sector.US-Pakistan relations saw a major boost when Trump hosted Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, at the White House last month in an unprecedented meeting.- EndsMust Watch
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Economic Times
6 minutes ago
- Economic Times
China EV brands Zeekr, Neta inflated car sales using insurance scheme
Reuters FILE PHOTO: A Zeekr charging station stands at the factory of the electric vehicle (EV) maker in Cixi, Zhejiang province, China March 19, 2025. Chinese electric vehicle brands Neta and Zeekr inflated sales in recent years to hit aggressive targets, with Neta doing so for more than 60,000 cars, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with dealers and buyers. The companies arranged for cars to be insured before they were sold to buyers, the documents show, enabling them under Chinese industry car registration practices to book sales early so they could hit the monthly and quarterly targets, the dealers and buyers said. Neta booked early sales of at least 64,719 cars through this method from January 2023 to March 2024, according to copies of records it sent to dealers, seen by Reuters. That was more than half the sales of 117,000 vehicles it reported over the 15 months. Zeekr, a premium EV brand owned by Geely, used the same method to book early sales in late 2024 in the southern city of Xiamen through its main dealer there, state-owned Xiamen C&D Automobile, according to dealers, buyers and sales receipts seen by Reuters. Vehicles booked as sold before reaching a buyer are called "zero-mileage used cars" in the Chinese auto industry. The practice has emerged out of cutthroat competition for sales in the world's largest auto market, which is reeling from a brutal, years-long price war caused by chronic overcapacity. The industry faces a moment of reckoning, with state media calling out the zero-mileage car practice, the cabinet pledging to regulate "irrational" competition, and other central government bodies organising meetings with the industry's largest players to express concern about such methods. On Saturday a publication run by the China Association of Auto Manufacturers said the industry ministry was planning to clamp down on the practice by banning cars from being resold within six months of being registered as a sale. Also on Saturday, state media reported that Zeekr had been selling cars with insurance already purchased to inflate sales, the first such naming and shaming of a specific automaker. In a front-page story, the China Securities Journal newspaper interviewed Zeekr car buyers in cities such as Guangzhou and Chongqing, who the newspaper said had found that their cars already had insurance policies before they were sold. They said they were refused refunds, even though they felt they were deceived. The newspaper questioned Zeekr's unusually high sales in the cities of Shenzhen and Xiamen in December. Its reported sales in Xiamen surged to 2,737 that month, more than 14 times its monthly average. Reuters could not determine how much of that volume might have been booked early. The China Securities Journal also raised questions over Neta's sales, saying it showed anomalies. Reuters is reporting for the first time details of how Neta inflated sales. Zeekr, Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, which owns Neta, and Xiamen C&D did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday. A spokesperson for Geely said, "Geely firmly rejects the report put forward by the China Securities Journal." The spokesperson declined to comment on Reuters findings or provide further details. Li Yanwei, an analyst with the China Automobile Dealers Association, said he believed the firms carried out such practices to embellish their financial reports and achieve their performance goals. "This way of whitewashing performance is not advisable," he wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Saturday. Analysts and investors tracking China's auto industry gauge performance and estimate inventory levels with two sets of sales data. Wholesale numbers reported by automakers to the industry association show sales from automakers to dealers, while retail data compiled from insurance registration records show the sales to users. Some zero-mileage used cars are exported to be sold as second-hand cars overseas, but analysts and dealers say the domestic sales volume is significantly higher, with Chinese customers nationwide buying what they believe to be discounted new vehicles, only to find out later their car is not insured under their name. Last month the state-owned People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, published an editorial condemning the sale of zero-mileage used cars domestically and listing a litany of harms the practice brings upon the industry and buyers. This month four dealer associations based in the wealthy Yangtze River Delta urged automakers to set them more reasonable sales targets and incentive policies, saying, without providing details, that dealers were being forced to falsify sales. Neta booked sales early by arranging insurance policies for cars before sending them to dealers, according to records shared with Reuters and a dealer for the brand. The records contain details for each car and the insurance policies purchased on them, with the names of the insurance agents. Dealers were able to refer to these when they found a buyer to transfer the policy to, according to copies seen by Reuters. The company booked early sales of 64,719 cars this way. "In Neta's case, the company made it clear to dealers that the cars were insured ahead of time and therefore counted as sold," said the dealer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears of retaliation from the company. "We had to explain to buyers that the traffic insurance was complementary and remind them it would expire earlier and should be renewed on time," he said. But three Neta buyers, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the dealerships had not told them the policies had begun well before the purchase date, only finding out when the policies expired. The dealer said Neta started doing this in late 2022 to obtain EV subsidies that were set to end that year. Neta's sales peaked in 2022 when it was ranked as the eighth-largest maker of new EVs in China with sales of 152,000 vehicles. Sales fell last year to 87,948 vehicles, including 23,399 exported, and it sold 1,215 cars in the first quarter of 2025, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The brand has been in financial trouble since late 2024, and its owner, Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, entered bankruptcy proceedings in China last month, according to state media. The Neta dealer said many of the zero-mileage used cars he received from the company remained in his warehouse, unsold. The company "only had one message: Just do it, everyone else is doing it". Zeekr, which is being privatised by Geely Auto, booked sales with the help of Xiamen C&D, which runs dealerships for Zeekr and other brands. Xiamen C&D insured and registered the vehicles under the names of two subsidiaries in December, allowing Zeekr to count the sales before year-end, according to four dealers and two buyers, as well as a receipt shared with Reuters. Zeekr dealers sold some of the cars in subsequent months to buyers in other cities such as Beijing and Chongqing, the sources said. "The Zeekr salesman said the car would be 3,000 yuan ($420) less than a car I would get from the store and I would also get a charging coupon worth 10,000 yuan," said a buyer in another southern city. He declined to be named, citing concerns of retaliation from the automaker. The China Securities Journal reported that most of the owners it spoke to said their cars were insured by Xiamen C&D and its affiliates. China Automobile Dealers Association data showed that 2,508 of the 2,737 sales Zeekr booked in Xiamen in December were sold to companies, while 257 went to individual buyers. But data published by Xiamen's vehicle administration bureau showed just 271 cars registered in December for license plates, which genuine buyers generally obtain once they receive their cars.
NDTV
34 minutes ago
- NDTV
Rahul Gandhi Seeks Explanation After Trump Jets Remark, BJP Hits Back
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump's vague statement about five jets being downed during Operation Sindoor has led to a political face-off in India, with Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi calling for an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP alleging that he has a "traitor's mentality". In remarks made at a private dinner on Friday, Trump said five jets were shot down during Operation Sindoor, which was India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack in April, but did not specify whether the planes were Indian or Pakistani. "In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually," Trump said. Operation Sindoor began with India striking terrorist infrastructure in nine locations in Pakistan, including the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Muridke, and Islamabad began claiming soon after that it had shot down several Indian jets, including three Rafales, which are the most advanced fighters in the Indian Air Force. India has said there were losses, but has not given an exact number, maintaining what was more important was why they had happened. "What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down," India's Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan had said, categorically denying Pakistan's claim that six jets had been shot down. "The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range," General Chauhan had said. Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi posted the video of Trump's remarks and wrote in Hindi, "Modi ji, what is the truth behind the five jets? The country has a right to know." मोदी जी, 5 जहाज़ों का सच क्या है? देश को जानने का हक है! — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 19, 2025 Hitting back, BJP leader Amit Malviya pointed out that Trump had not said which country the planes belong to and asked the Congress MP whether he was a spokesperson on Pakistan. "Rahul Gandhi's mentality is that of a traitor. In his statement, Trump neither took the name of India nor said that those five planes belonged to India. Then why did the prince of Congress accept him as belonging to India? Why did he not accept him as belonging to Pakistan? Does he sympathise more with Pakistan than his own country?" Mr Malviya asked in a post on X in Hindi. "The truth is that Pakistan has not yet recovered from Operation Sindoor... but Rahul Gandhi is in pain! Whenever the country's army teaches a lesson to the enemy, Congress gets irritated. Anti-India sentiment is no longer a habit of Congress, it has become its identity. Rahul Gandhi should make it clear - is he an Indian or a spokesperson of Pakistan?" he said.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Trump claims five jets were shot down in India-Pakistan skirmish
TOI correspondent from Washington : US President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that up to five fighter jets were shot down during the recent India-Pakistan conflict, triggering a social media dogfight between partisans over which country came up trumps in the brief war. At a White House dinner with Republican lawmakers, Trump, who is under political siege domestically over the Epstein tapes, resorted to his oft-repeated claims about being a global peacemaker, citing his role in defusing the India-Pakistan clash. "We stopped a lot of wars. And these were serious. India and Pakistan, that was going on. Planes were being shot out of there. I think four-five jets, maybe were shot down, actually, Trump said, without identifying which country lost the jets or the basis for his claims. "... they were (going) back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger, and we got it solved through trade. We said.. We're not making a trade deal if you're going to be throwing around weapons, and maybe nuclear weapons," Trump asserted in claims that have been refuted by New Delhi. Trump also gave a nuclear dimension to the conflict although most analysts say the spat came nowhere near breaching a nuclear threshold. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it legal? How to get Internet without paying a subscription? Techno Mag Learn More Undo While Pakistanis gloated under the assumption that Trump meant five Indian jets were shot down, India partisans maintained that the US President did not specify which country the fighter planes belonged to and Pakistan too had lost jets in the skirmish. However, top Indian military officials have acknowledged lately that they lost an unspecified number of jets in the initial skirmish, suggesting that they were operating below a certain political threshold before being given a free hand. This resulted in a broader response that put several Pakistani bases and airfields out of commission before the US stepped in to save it. In a recent report, the Economist, citing unnamed foreign military officials, claimed five Indian aircraft were destroyed, including at least one Rafale. The report also said Indian military officials are starting to indicate that the losses may have stemmed from Indian errors rather than technological deficiencies. "Early reports suggested that the decisive factor was the superiority of Pakistan's Chinese-made j-10 fighters and its pl-15 air-to-air missiles. India does appear to have underestimated those. And China may have also tipped the balance by providing Pakistan with early warning and real-time targeting data," the report said. But given India's success later on in the fight, the journal added, the bigger problem might have been how India used its own fighters on the first night of the brief war. It cited an Indian defense attache in Jakarta who told a seminar earlier this month that India lost some aircraft only because its political leadership had ordered its air force not to hit Pakistan's air defences. Instead, they targeted only militant sites on the first day. 'After the loss, we changed our tactics and we went for their military installations,' the attache, Captain Shiv Kumar, was quoted as saying. Most analysts now say that after adopting an initial posture of only hitting terrorist compounds in response to the Pahalgam attack, New Delhi turned it around by lifting the constraints on its military after the setback in the air.
