'Surprise': Putin's Men AMBUSH Ukrainian Troops To Capture Donetsk Settlement; Zelensky's Men Flee
India has sharply increased crude oil imports from the US during President Donald Trump's second term, marking a major energy policy shift. In the first half of 2025, US crude imports rose over 50% year-on-year, reaching 0.271 million barrels per day. The April–June quarter saw a 114% surge, with the value rising from $1.73 billion to $3.7 billion. In July, imports rose 23% over June, increasing the US share in India's oil mix from 3% to 8%. LNG imports nearly doubled to $2.46 billion, and LPG imports also grew. Talks are ongoing for a long-term LNG deal. Despite growing energy ties, a setback emerged as Trump announced 25% tariffs on Indian goods, effective August 7, citing trade barriers, imbalances, and India's ties with Russia. He posted strong criticism of India on Truth Social, dismissing its economic relationship with the US and calling for separation from Russia-linked economies.#crudeoil #indiaustrade #trumptariffs #energytrade #indiarussia #lng #lpg #truthtalk #geopolitics #internationalrelations #toi #toibharat
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Time of India
9 minutes ago
- Time of India
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In the U.S., something strange and worrying just happened. Former President Donald Trump fired a government official named Erika McEntarfer. Why? Because the department she worked in (which tracks how many people have jobs) updated some numbers — and the new numbers didn't look good for Trump. At first, it looked like the U.S. had added over 140,000 new jobs in May and June. That was good news for Trump, because he had put tariffs (extra taxes) on imported goods, and people were worried those would hurt the economy. But later, after a closer check, the department said only 19,000 jobs were added in May, and 14,000 in June. July looked even worse. Trump didn't like these new numbers. He said they were 'rigged' to make him and his political party look bad. But experts say that's just not true. These job numbers are made by hundreds of people using detailed methods. Sometimes they're off at first because many companies are late sending their reports. Trump could've asked for better data systems — which would actually be helpful! But instead, he fired the messenger. That sends a bad message to the world: it looks like he's trying to control or hide the truth. If leaders start changing numbers to make things look good instead of being good, that's what dictators do — not what democracies should do. A researcher once showed that countries that fake their growth often look suspiciously brighter in satellite photos at night than their official numbers suggest. India did well in that test, but we still have problems with collecting accurate data. For example, we're still waiting on the national Census, and some job reports are slow or unclear. The big lesson? If you want to fix a problem, don't shoot the messenger — fix the system. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
9 minutes ago
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Stat Of The Nation
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The Print
24 minutes ago
- The Print
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India's opposition parties have often alleged that largecorporate houses and industrialists, such as Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, enjoy easy access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, which work in their interests in exchange for funds. 'I can remember at one point telling an Indian friend of mine who had made a fortune in business that I thought there were fifteen oligarchs who basically ran the country. He corrected me. 'Bob, you're wrong. Only about seven of them actually run the country. The others just try to influence the seven',' Lighthizer wrote in the book, which has an entire chapter dedicated to India. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has called Modi's government a 'suit-boot ki sarkar' (government for the rich) to try to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party as recently as during the 2024 general elections. The Prime Minister has outrightly rejected the allegations, saying that such deceitful political vendetta only hurts the electoral prospects of the Congress. 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In fact, he wrote that he once told Prime Minister Modi that India was 'the most protectionist country in the world' and that it was causing a large and growing trade deficit. 'Indian trade policies have long caused tensions with the United States. India uses many of the tools of modern mercantilism. It has high tariffs, a bureaucracy focused on keeping imports out, and a system of industrial policy and protectionism.' Also Read: Pakistan, Dhaka have played Washington well. Back home, Modi ecosystem has an inner conflict 'Natural friends' India & US Lighthizer, however, said India and the US were 'natural friends'. 'Perhaps, most importantly, the rise and growing militarism of China is the greatest geopolitical concern for both our nations… India feels as threatened as we do by the aggressive surge of China. There is truth in the old saying (modified for obvious reasons) that the adversary of my adversary is my friend.' Lighthizer, once called by Trump the 'greatest United States trade representative in American history', played a crucial role in the imposition of hefty tariffs on Chinese imports during the first term of the US President. While India-US relations grew for the most part during the presidency of Joe Biden, they have remained fragmented due to several trade and policy differences under the deceptive exterior of a vibrant bonhomie between 'great friends' Trump and Modi. Lighthizer said that the Trump administration's strategy with India was to maintain good relations but to use what leverage it had to increase its access to India's market to 'obtain fairness and reciprocity in trade'. He also commented on what he thought of as Modi's personality and political vision. 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a particularly interesting figure. He came up through the ranks of right-wing political organizations and clearly considers himself a nationalist. 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At the time he was chosen by Trump to serve as USTR, Lighthizer was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (Skadden), where he practised international trade law for over 30 years. Before joining Skadden, Lighthizer served as deputy USTR for US President Ronald Reagan. During this tenure, he negotiated over two dozen bilateral international agreements, including pacts on steel, automobiles, and agricultural products. The latest flashpoint in the recent India-US talks came last week when the US President signed an order imposing a 25 percent tariff on India's exports, 'plus an unspecified penalty' for buying Russian oil and weapons. In the 2023 book, Lighthizer also reflected on his time negotiating with the Indian delegation on tariffs. 'I said (to PM Modi) that I had been negotiating with their trade minister, Suresh Prabhu, for two years and had made absolutely no progress. At times, I said, he had not even returned my call for weeks.' 'Soon after that meeting, negotiations began in earnest. This time they were with a new trade minister named Piyush Goyal, a smart, gifted politician from Mumbai. We raised our issues: tariffs, agriculture access, medical device impediments, barriers to e-commerce and insurance, discrimination in the electronic payment sector, fish subsidies, and the list goes on. We made headway but could never quite close a deal.' (Edited by Madhurita Goswami) Also Read:Trump tariff forces India to shed illusion. Stop conflating status with power
