Swiss stock market falls after Trump's tariff shock
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BBC News
a minute ago
- BBC News
Trump threatens India with 'substantial' tariff hike for buying Russian oil
Donald Trump has threatened to "substantially" raise tariffs against India over its purchase of oil from Russia."They [India] don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine," the US president wrote on his online platform, Truth Social, on is currently among the largest buyers of Russian oil. It has become an important export market for Moscow after several European countries cut trade when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in did not specify what the new tariff would be, but it comes just days after he unveiled a hefty 25% levy on India. Delhi called Trump's warning "unjustified and unreasonable". In a statement, a spokesman for India's foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said the US had encouraged India to import Russian gas at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, "for strengthening global energy markets stability".He said India "began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict".India also criticised the US - its largest trading partner - for introducing the tariffs, when the US itself is still doing trade with Russia. Last year, the US traded goods worth an estimated $3.5bn (£2.6bn) with Russia, despite tough sanctions and tariffs. "Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the foreign ministry statement week, Trump had described India as a "friend" whose tariffs on US products "are far too high". His latest Truth Social post again struck a critical tone."India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits," he Minister Narendra Modi has not ordered India's oil refineries to stop buying Russian oil, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the Srivastava, a former Indian trade official and head of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank, said Trump's claims about India's oil trade with Russia are misleading for several reasons. He told the BBC that the trade has been transparent and broadly understood by the US. Mr Srivastava said India ramped up purchases of oil to help stabilise global markets after Western sanctions disrupted supplies - helping to stop a global oil price shock. He also said that India's oil refineries - both public and private - decide where to buy crude oil based on factors like price, supply security, and export rules. They operate independently of the government and do not need its approval to buy from Russia or other countries. I'm 'disappointed but not done' with Putin, Trump tells BBCThough relations between the US and Russia warmed after Trump returned to the White house in January, the US president has more recently toughened his rhetoric against the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir has questioned whether Putin is truly committed to peace with Ukraine. In Monday's Truth Social post he used stern language, describing the Russian military as the "Russian War Machine". Russia's leader has repeatedly said he is ready for peace but only if Kyiv meets certain conditions, such as recognising Ukrainian territories that Russia has occupied. Trump has threatened Moscow with severe tariffs targeting its oil and other exports if a ceasefire with Ukraine is not agreed by 8 envoy Steve Witkoff is due to visit Russia later this week, where he is expected to meet Putin.
BBC News
a minute ago
- BBC News
Why were US job numbers which riled Trump revised down by so much?
President Donald Trump has fired the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (LBS) after the department revised down recent job numbers by more than 250, says the figures were "rigged" to make his administration "look bad".Although the latest revisions were bigger than usual, it is normal for the initial monthly number to be changed and it has happened routinely under both Democratic and Republican presidents. How are the job figures collected? The BLS head - known as the commissioner - plays no role in collecting the data or putting the numbers together, only stepping in to review the final press release before its published, according to former commissioners."My reaction was, 'That couldn't happen,'" says Katharine Abraham, who served as BLS commissioner from 1993 to 2001, about Trump's claims that the numbers had been rigged."The commissioner doesn't have control over what the numbers are," she jobs report from the BLS is based on two surveys – one that collects data from about 60,000 households and another from 121,000 public and private sector employers. The estimates of job gains come from the survey of employers, often referred to as the establishment survey. It tends to be considered more reliable than the household survey because of its large sample size, covering about a third of all non-farm payroll jobs.A majority of the responses come from large firms, typically enrolled in a programme that automatically submits their employment information. BLS staff also administer web surveys and telephone interviews."The initial estimates of payroll employment are a preliminary look at what occurred in each month," the BLS told BBC Verify."It is the quick but lower-resolution snapshot of what went on in the job market for a particular month. Because the revised estimates are based on more complete data, they create a higher resolution picture - and occasionally the revised data produce a different picture," it bureau updates the figures in the two months following the initial monthly estimate, as more responses come in. It also recalculates the numbers annually to incorporate data from unemployment insurance tax records."There are all of these career people who also have the data and if the commissioner were to try to change the numbers they would all know and it would get out," Prof Abraham says. How unusual are the latest revisions? For May and June this year the initial figures have been revised down by 125,000 and 133,000 258,000 combined reduction total for the two month period represents the biggest change since records began, aside from the months in 2020 following the outbreak of the Covid there are adjustments every month and large changes are not this case, many analysts were already expecting revisions to the June figures, which had showed an unusual rise in school employment during a month when most schools were about to close for the responses also disproportionately reflect smaller firms, which are more vulnerable to changes in the economy such as tariffs, analysts May figure was adjusted down largely in response to the June revision and is consistent with other data showing a slowdown. In records going back to 1979, the average monthly change to the jobs figures (either up or down) is 57,000, according to the revisions tend to get bigger during times of economic from the most recent numbers and the 2020 Covid period there have been eight other occasions since 2000 when the BLS revised down monthly job numbers by more than 100,000 - with most of these coming around the 2008 financial instance, there was a 143,000 reduction to the January 2009 figure when President Barack Obama was in BLS also said job gains in 2009 were 902,000 lower than it first estimated - the largest full-year revision on jobs created in 2024 under President Joe Biden were revised down by 598,000, though that was a smaller change than the more than 800,000 initially estimated - an update which also caused political Abraham said updates are part of the process and she was not surprised to see such large revisions for May and June, given increased difficulty of collecting responses and lack of investment in new methods - and the wider slowdown in the economy, driven in part by new tariffs."It's always difficult when you're at a point where things may be changing and then you add to that the fact that staffing has been constrained and the agencies haven't had the resources to invest in following up with respondents the way they might have in the past," she said. Have there been problems with the data in the past? Response rates have dropped significantly over the last decade, accelerating after the pandemic, raising concerns about the reliability of the example, the response rate for the establishment survey was less than 43% in March, compared with more than 60% a decade countries, including Canada, Sweden and the UK, have been wrestling with similar falls. In the UK, response rates to the Labor Force survey have fallen to roughly 20%.In the US, it has sparked some efforts to explore new methods of data collection, including web-based the significance of the problem remains a matter of debate.A review by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in March of this year, found that revisions in recent years were mostly in line with pre-pandemic patterns, which it said should be reassuring to those worried about reliability. What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?
The Sun
a minute ago
- The Sun
While Trump showed the world how to handle Brussels, Starmer waves the white flag on Brexit
PM's Brexit exit DONALD Trump showed the world how to force a deal with the EU. Terrify them with threats of the loss of billions in lost trade and tens of thousands of jobs … and watch Brussels beg for business. 1 Sadly, Sir Keir Starmer took the opposite approach with his sellout 'reset' deal. Now jubilant European leaders are bent on bullying the UK into accepting their tyranny all over again thanks to its terms. A total reversal of Brexit is closer than ever. The PM has repeatedly promised never to take the UK back into the EU's Customs Union and Single Market. Yet that is effectively what the EU Commission demands as the price of its agreement. Britain must take all EU regulations on food without any say in those rules — and pay penalties for not doing so. We couldn't even import food from outside the EU without its meddling. Technically, there is still time during last-minute negotiations for our dyed-in-the-wool Remainer PM to stop this gross betrayal of Brexit. But on current form he seems vanishingly unlikely to do so. Keir Starmer- hopes for reset with EU do not mean 'reversing Brexit' Boiling over VOTER rage at the immigration explosion is close to boiling point. And even the OBR says public services are seriously stretched because of Britain's over-reliance on migration. Yet tin-eared Labour ministers still lecture protesters outside asylum hotels by telling them 'anger doesn't get you anywhere'. They don't get that Nigel Farage's current success comes from speaking real people's language. Similarly, useless cops appear to have learned nothing from the handling of the identity of the Southport killer. — as Warwickshire police did in the case of an Afghan accused of raping a 12-year-old girl — are an affront to justice. The immigration status and nationality of all offenders should be published for each crime. It's the only way to restore trust. Cell out WHY is the Left's answer to prison overcrowding always to release prisoners or cut sentences? Ex-Chief Inspector of Prisons and human rights activist Dame Anne Owers says a near meltdown in the system means even mandatory life sentences for murder should be scrapped. How about, instead of letting thousands of dangerous criminals back on to the streets, Labour does what the Tories so abjectly failed to do.
