Latest news with #negotiation

Russia Today

an hour ago

Business
Russia Today

Trump is ‘weaponizing tariffs'

US President Donald Trump's tariffs could be a negotiation tool, which he is using in his country's ongoing trade talks with New Delhi, Indian economist Gurcharan Das, a former CEO of Procter & Gamble India, has said in an interview to RT. The US has hit India with a 25% tariff and additional penalties over trade with Russia. Commenting on the move, Das suggested that Trump is 'weaponizing' trade. 'It is very hard to read Donald Trump as he changes his mind every day,' Das said. 'Even now we do not know if it's a deal-making ploy. It could just be a negotiating tool for him,' he added. Das, however, also suggested that the US remains 'a very significant market,' and that it would be in India's own interest to lower tariffs to be more competitive when it comes to exporting goods and services. 'We are a protectionist country and for our own sake we need to bring down tariffs. It is in our own interests to lower tariffs to not only the US but to other countries as well,' he said. Das added that despite the Indian economy growing 6.5% annually on average for two decades, the country has made slow strides in manufacturing. 'Although India today is the fastest growing large economy in the world, we have not yet created an industrial revolution,' he said. He noted that 45% of India's workers are still employed in the agriculture sector. Manufactured goods currently account for a mere 2% of India's exports. On Thursday, New Delhi reiterated that it will take all necessary steps to safeguard India's interests while evaluating the implications of Trump's trade moves. Speaking in Parliament, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal noted India's economic rise: 'We have gone from being listed as a 'fragile' economy to being on track to becoming the third-largest economy in the world. We have risen from the 11th-largest economy to one of the top five economies.' Trump recently suggested that India and Russia "can take their dead economies down together," doubling down on his claim that US does "littel business" with both countries.

Trump Announces 90-day Negotiating Period with Mexico as 25% Tariff Rates Stay in Place

Asharq Al-Awsat

3 hours ago

Business
Asharq Al-Awsat

Trump Announces 90-day Negotiating Period with Mexico as 25% Tariff Rates Stay in Place

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that there would be a 90-day negotiating period with Mexico after a call with that country's leader, Claudia Sheinbaum, as the 25% tariff rates stay in place. Trump, posting on Truth Social, said his phone conversation with Sheinbaum was 'very successful in that, more and more, we are getting to know and understand each other.' Trump said that goods from Mexico imported into the US would continue to face a 25% tariff that the US president has ostensibly linked to fentanyl trafficking. The Republican said that autos would face a 25% tariffs, while copper, aluminum and steel would be taxed at 50%. Trump said that Mexico would end its 'Non Tariff Trade Barriers,' but he didn't provide specifics, The Associated Press reported. Some goods continue to be protected from the tariffs by the 2020 US Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA, which Trump negotiated during his first term. But Trump appeared to have soured on that deal, which is up for renegotiation next year. One of his first significant moves as president was to tariff goods from both Mexico and Canada earlier this year. Census Bureau figures show that the US ran a $171.5 billion trade imbalance with Mexico last year. That means the US bought more goods from Mexico than it sold to the country. The imbalance with Mexico has grown in the aftermath of the USMCA as it was only $63.3 billion in 2016, the year before Trump started his first term in office. Besides addressing fentanyl trafficking, Trump has made it a goal to close the trade gap.