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West Asia News Live: Saudi foreign minister receives written message from Russian counterpart
Saudi foreign minister receives written message from Russian counterpart
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister has received a written message from his Russian counterpart, which was delivered by the Russian Ambassador to the Kingdom, as per a report in Asharq Al-Awsat. The communication reportedly focused on strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries and coordinating on various issues of mutual concern. This diplomatic exchange highlights the ongoing high-level engagement between Riyadh and Moscow, who are key partners in the OPEC+ alliance.
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Indian Express
23 minutes ago
- Indian Express
As Trump's fresh threats loom, India still has a slight tariff edge over China but loses advantage with Vietnam
Despite fresh tariff escalation threats and the prospect of higher duties under the new regime announced by US President Donald Trump that could take effect from August 7, India continues to have a relative advantage on a key metric being tracked by policymakers in New Delhi – the tariff differential with China. As on August 1, China had the highest effective tariff rate (ETR) of the US's major trading partners, with India with a comparative advantage of around 20 percentage points. While tariffs on China remain at 34 per cent, the total ETR inclusive of the tariff rate at the end of 2024 came to around 42 per cent, according to Fitch Ratings' updated ETR Monitor that reflects the July 27 and July 31 announcements of new reciprocal tariff rates for most trading partners of the US. While India is slightly over 21 per cent, according to the latest data, the overall effective tariff rate for the US across all its trading partners is now 17 per cent — about 8 percentage points lower than Fitch's ETR Monitor of April 3, 2025, when higher reciprocal tariffs were originally announced, but around 3 percentage points higher than the estimate at the end of June 2025. The ETR represents total duties as a percentage of total imports and changes, with shifts in import share by country of origin and product mix. With Vietnam, though, India now has lost a slight advantage in ETR terms after additional tariffs kicked in, as against an advantage up to end-2024. This is despite Trump's rhetoric against transhipped goods and his administration's efforts to neutralise China's supply bases in ASEAN. And going forward, given Trump's frustration with India on not agreeing to his terms for a deal, this disadvantage is likely to fester. That is likely to be the case till Delhi gets a deal of some kind with Washington DC, but the situation could, however, change for the worse going forward, with Trump warning Monday that he would raise the tariff on India 'substantially' for buying Russian oil. Amid all the upheaval thrown up by America's tariff action, the assumptions that the Indian policymaker had implicitly factored in include that Washington DC will maintain a differential of 10-20 per cent in tariffs between China and countries such as India; and that a trade deal with the US needs to be clinched precisely for ensuring the gap in tariffs between India and China is maintained, even with a limited early-harvest type of deal. New Delhi did back out at the last minute from signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (a trade deal among Asia-Pacific countries including China) given the sensitivities of agri livelihoods. A higher-than-anticipated US tariff rate, especially on a comparative basis, could dent India's growth prospects, economists said. Though Trump did not specify the rate of penalty for India on account of Russian oil and defence imports, earlier statements made by Trump indicate that it could be to the tune of 100 per cent. This way, India stands to potentially lose the US tariff advantage vis-a-vis China at least till the time a deal is struck, even if Beijing, too, faces the same penalty for importing from Russia. China is the largest buyer of Russian oil, at about 2 million barrels per day, followed by India (just under 2 million a day) and Turkey. China had agreed to cut tariffs on US goods to 10 per cent from 125 per cent in May, while the US had agreed to lower tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 per cent from 145 per cent. But with respect to Russian oil, Trump has been singling out India, while being largely silent on China. Given how talks between Indian and US negotiators have proceeded so far, an interim deal still seems distant and is unlikely to be clinched before September, with October a possible outer deadline. Indications are a sixth round of talks between the two negotiating teams will take discussions forward on August 25. India's government has asked it various ministries to come up with potential giveaways to sweeten the deal for the upcoming negotiations. Once the official level discussions wrap up, there is a sense that a final call on the deal could come down to a conversation between the two leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump. For India, the best-case scenario would be to get a deal of some sort now, and then build on that in the future negotiations that could run into 2026, experts said. The effective duty on Chinese products on a landed basis across US ports in commodity categories where Indian producers are reasonably competitive is being tracked constantly. The net tariff differential with India, and how that curve continues to move, is of particular interest here, given the belief that Washington DC would ensure a reasonable tariff differential between China and India. Officials said a 10-20 per cent differential is expected to tide over some of India's structural downsides — infrastructural bottlenecks, logistics woes, high interest cost, the cost of doing business, corruption, etc. US and Chinese officials wrapped up two days of discussions in Stockholm last week, with no breakthrough announced. After the talks, China's top trade negotiator Li Chenggang declared that the two sides agreed to push for an extension of a 90-day tariff truce struck in mid-May, without specifying when and for how long this extension kicks in. Anil Sasi is National Business Editor with the Indian Express and writes on business and finance issues. He has worked with The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard and is an alumnus of Delhi University. ... 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Indian Express
26 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘Unable to accept erosion of its dominance': After India, Russia hits back at US on inflated tariffs over oil trade
Days after Trump unveiled a new set of steep tariffs, Russia on Monday responded to the US administration for increasing tariffs and imposing sanctions on the country, accusing the government of using 'neocolonial' policy against specific countries to maintain Washington's hegemony. Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a statement, said no tariff wars or sanctions 'can halt the natural course of history'. Calling sanctions and restrictions a 'regrettable reality' of today's historical stage that affects the entire world, she said that the US is unable to come to terms with the 'loss of hegemony in the emerging world order.' 'Sanctions and restrictions have unfortunately become a defining feature of the current historical period, impacting countries across the globe. Unable to accept the erosion of its dominance in an emerging multipolar international order, Washington continues to pursue a neocolonial agenda, employing politically motivated economic pressure against those who choose an independent course on the international stage,' she said. Russia asserted in its statement that 'no tariff wars or sanctions can halt the natural course of history.' Zakharova further said that Russia will deepen in cooperation with countries of the Global South, and resist the 'unlawful unilateral sanctions.' The response issued by Russian Foreign Ministry came hours after India issued a strongly worded statement over US imposing inflated tariffs on New Delhi for indulging in trade with Moscow in the middle of the Russia-Ukraine war. (With inputs from PTI)
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Donald Trump's new salvo: Indian refiners may have to find new markets
MUMBAI: In addition to Indian refiners resuming their procurement of crude oil from the West Asia, Guyana, Brazil, the US, and Canada, US President Donald Trump 's new salvo on Monday could mean that refiners will have to seek new markets for their refined products derived from crude oil. Less than a week after the US announced a 25% tariff on imports from India "plus a penalty", Trump on Monday again raised the issue of India buying oil from Russia and profiting from it, adding that he would be "substantially" raising the tariff "paid by India to the USA". Thus far, the European Union and the US were the largest markets for refined petroleum products, largely petrol, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) among others. Before the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Indian refiners imported 85% of crude oil from the Gulf countries, and Russian oil accounted for less than 0.2% of India's imports at $5.2 billion. But after the war began, this share went up to 35-40% of the country's crude intake, helping reduce overall energy import costs and contain inflation. By the end of December 2024, imports from Russia climbed to $56 billion, a nearly 10-fold increase. According to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas , last fiscal year India's exports of petroleum products grew by 3.4% in volume terms to 64.7 million tonnes in FY25, on the back of increased shipments of motor spirit (petrol), petcoke, and fuel oil. However, in value terms, the exports declined by almost 7% to $44.3 billion during the fiscal year compared with $47.7 billion in the year ago. The dip in export value was due to subdued prices in the current year.
