Ahmedabad where Air India plane crashed is key city in Gujarat state, west India
A website operated by the Indian government and others describes the city as "the home of a booming textile industry."
It says that the city is witnessing a major construction boom and population increase, and it is a rising center of education, information technology and scientific industries.
UNESCO designated the Historic City of Ahmedabad as a World Heritage site in 2017.
A high-speed railway line is being built connecting the city with Mumbai, India's largest commercial city, 500 kilometers away. Japan's Shinkansen bullet train technology is being utilized for the railway route.
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Japan Times
17 hours ago
- Japan Times
India aghast at Donald Trump's ‘dead' economy dig and 25% tariffs
Shock, dismay and angst swept across India as businesses, policymakers and citizens digested U.S. President Donald Trump's sharp remarks and a surprise 25% tariff rate earlier this week. While Indian government officials weighed a response and business groups tallied the cost of the trade barrier, the domestic social media flared up with users protesting Trump's comments and criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not speaking up. It started with Trump saying that India's trade barriers were the "most strenuous and obnoxious,' in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. He added the U.S. may also impose a penalty for New Delhi's purchase of Russian weapons and energy. Less than a day later, he ripped into India again for aligning with Russia, calling them "dead economies' in another post. With no imminent trade deal, the 25% tariffs kicked in as of Friday. India is hardly alone in facing Trump's trade wrath — and not the subject to the very highest rates — but the news left business and political leaders wondering how to cope with the fallout. 'Blunt-force' message "Overnight, the U.S.-India trade equation shifted from tense to turbulent,' said Akshat Garg, assistant vice president at Choice Wealth, a Mumbai based financial services firm. The levies "feel less like structured policy and more like a blunt-force political message.' Complicating the narrative around the India trade deal — or the lack of it — was the U.S. pact with its traditional rival Pakistan that came through on the same day. As the U.S. released rates across the world on Aug. 1, India's relative disadvantage to competitor exporting countries became more apparent, dampening moods and stoking tempers further. "The biggest blow is that Pakistan and Bangladesh got a better rate than us,' said V. Elangovan, managing director at SNQS Internationals, an apparel-maker in the south Indian manufacturing hub of Tirupur. "We were expecting something in the 15% to 20% range.' India's annoyance can be traced back in part to Trump declaring himself the peacemaker that helped broker a ceasefire in the armed conflict between India and Pakistan in May. The move was seen as an effort to upstage Modi and put the two South Asian neighbors on an equal footing, despite India's larger military and economy. The events of this week have cemented that impression further in the eyes of some Indian observers. When the tariff rate news first dropped late Wednesday evening in India, Ashish Kanodia recalls being "very disturbed.' A director at Kanodia Global, a closely held exporter that gets over 40% of its revenue from the U.S. selling home fabrics to toys, the entrepreneur already has two of its largest U.S. customers seeking discounts to make up for the levy. "The next six months are going to be difficult for everyone,' Kanodia said, adding that profit margins will be squeezed. If the pain continues for "months and months,' he said he'll have to start cutting his workforce. The U.S. is India's largest trading partner, with the two-way trade between them at an estimated $129.2 billion in 2024. Compared with India's 25%, Bangladesh was subjected to a 20% tariff, Vietnam got a 20% levy and Indonesia and Pakistan each received 19% duties. "We know that we have got a deal that is worse than other countries,' said Sabyasachi Ray, executive director at The Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council. "We will take it up with the government.' Trump's actions mark a 180-degree turn for New Delhi's hopes of preferential treatment over regional peers. It was among the first to engage Washington in trade talks in February, confident of hammering out a deal sooner than others. Trump had called Modi "my friend' in a Feb. 14 post on X and the bond between the two countries "special.' India is now weighing options to placate the White House, including boosting U.S. imports, according to people familiar with the matter, and many hope that the bilateral relationship and the tariff rate can still be improved. "It is a storm in the India-U.S. relationship at this moment but I think there's a good chance that it will go away,' said Vivek Mishra, deputy director of the Strategic Studies Program at Delhi-based Observer Researcher Foundation. Indian business and trade groups are supporting the government's stance on the deal as the negotiations for a U.S.-India trade deal continue. Negotiating tactic Jewelry businesses "are worried but they are not panicking' because they hope a more favorable deal can be worked out, said Ray of the gems export body. "The negotiation that should be happening should be a win-win, not a win-lose.' The abrupt announcement by Trump over social media when negotiations with India were ongoing "seems like a knee-jerk reaction,' according to Rohit Kumar, founding partner at public policy research firm The Quantum Hub. "This appears to be a negotiating tactic aimed at unresolved discussion points,' Kumar said.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Japan Times
Trump embraces economic coercion with tariffs as his big stick
Back in January, a global survey found that India was the most upbeat of any nation about what a second Donald Trump presidency would mean for their country. They're likely having second thoughts now. Trump just dinged India with a 25% tariff rate — higher than many other Asian nations, though he's leaving the door open for last-minute haggling. He cited New Delhi's own trade barriers, but rebuked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over lots of other things too — including its BRICS membership, and close ties with Russia. "They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,' he posted on social media. Trump is taking punitive tariff threats beyond the realm of trade and into other arenas — ramping up pressure on countries to bend to America's will, on matters from war to energy supplies. Trump road-tested the hardball tactic in his first term. Now he's taken it to new levels. The U.S. spent years accusing its chief superpower rival China of practicing "economic coercion' — a label that precisely describes what Trump is doing now. And from his perspective, it's working — especially with allies that depend on the U.S. for military protection. He's gotten the European Union, Japan and South Korea to meekly accept lopsided tariff terms, and customs revenue is pouring in. Whether all this will deliver a "golden age' for the U.S. economy — which has slowed since Trump took office — remains to be seen. So does the longer-term fallout for America's relationships with partners. India is far from the only case where Trump is wielding trade weapons for unrelated issues. He fired a shot across Mark Carney's bow after the Canadian prime minister said Wednesday that Canada plans to recognize a Palestinian state — in defiance of Israel and its chief backer, the U.S. "Wow!' Trump responded on social media. "That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.' Trump said Thursday that the U.S. will put a 35% tariff on some imports from Canada after trade negotiations between the two countries broke down. The new rate represents an increase from the 25% tariffs Trump imposed in early March under an emergency law. 'Full power' While they call it leverage rather than coercion, Trump's team hasn't been shy about using America's economic and military might to extract concessions from allies and adversaries alike. "We've never had a president who wields the full power of the United States to negotiate good deals for our country,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. "This is what maximum leverage looks like.' Stephen Miran, one of Trump's top economic aides, said earlier this month that since the U.S. has the world's biggest consumer market, it can force other countries to accept the cost of tariffs. Trump has backed away from some of his harsher tariff threats, and at other times he's set deadlines only to extend them — like he just did with Mexico — or indicate that bargaining can stretch past the cutoff date. Perhaps his most brazen intervention came during the BRICS summit in Brazil earlier this month. Trump first blasted the 10-member group's "anti-American policies' and threatened additional tariffs on any country aligning themselves with BRICS. Then he singled out the host nation, without so much as the pretense of addressing trade issues. Trump said he'd impose 50% tariffs on Brazil after demanding that it cease a "Witch Hunt' against his ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, and criticizing steps taken against U.S. social media companies — matters that are the prerogative of Brazil's judiciary, not its government. He backtracked somewhat this week, allowing multiple exemptions and giving Brazil an extra week before the maximum tariff rate kicks in. Trump has given most U.S. partners until Aug. 1 to cough up or suffer additional tariffs, and there's been a flurry of trade agreements — often barely more than frameworks — hashed out ahead of the deadline. Under Trump's pressure, the European Union declined to use its trade heft and signed up to terms that were subsequently denounced by German and French industry. The Europeans were acutely aware that they still depend on the U.S. for weapons and security in the face of Russia's aggression in Ukraine. The pressure was there for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer too, when he traveled to not one but two Trump golf courses in Scotland last weekend to try and pin down the details of the U.K.'s framework deal of a few weeks earlier. He instead got a lecture on how British immigration was too lax, North Sea oil taxes were too high, and the U.K. was misguided to seek clean energy. Popular resistance To be sure, the U.S. has been applying economic pressures to get its diplomatic way since long before Trump entered politics. Successive presidents have piled on thousands of sanctions over the last couple of decades. Still, there's something new in Trump's approach. He's questioned the utility of sanctions — which can cut access to dollar-based finance, but risk a backlash against the greenback's global status, something Trump vows to protect. Instead, his weapon of choice is essentially the U.S. consumer. He's betting that other countries can't get by without selling stuff into the world's biggest economy. So far he can point to some significant successes. His tariffs are bringing in billions for the U.S. Treasury. Despite dire warnings from critics, the U.S. economy hasn't tanked — though there's been a marked slowdown this year — and the stock market, Trump's preferred gauge of sentiment, is setting fresh records. Meanwhile, only China has retaliated to tariffs in hardball style so far. Mexico has also pushed back to an extent, and got a reward on Thursday when Trump postponed tariff hikes for 90 days. There's been some resistance from Brazil and Canada too — and it's proved popular at home in both cases. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appears to be reaping the benefit of holding firm. He got a polling boost ahead of elections, while the U.S. exempted key Brazilian goods from the tariffs. Carney enjoys wide support for his opposition to the more egregious of Trump's charges. A broad if provisional conclusion from the upheavals of the past few months might be that Trump-style coercion gets results within the U.S.-led bloc, the jury's still out when it comes to large neutral countries like India and Brazil, and it may be less effective with adversaries. China, for instance, hit back hard with curbs on its sales of rare-earth elements — which are vital to advanced U.S. industries. Trump rapidly dialed back his highest China tariffs, as well as some export restrictions, and the countries have reached a kind of truce with talks ongoing. Equally, Trump's demands for a ceasefire in Ukraine haven't had much impact on Vladimir Putin. Trump's given him a deadline of Aug. 8 to strike a deal or face more economic pressure. There's no sign that this is affecting Moscow's conduct of the war, and the Russian army continues to advance.
The Diplomat
2 days ago
- The Diplomat
Bilateral Bonhomie During PM Modi's Visit to the Maldives
Hugs and handshakes are heartening. But India needs to ensure that 'India Out' campaigns do not re-emerge. After several months of flailing around in turbulent waters, the India-Maldives relationship is cruising again. Deft navigation on the part of the two governments has contributed to steadying the bilateral relationship. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Maldives on July 25-26, the two governments signed several important agreements covering debt repayment, fisheries, health, tourism, and digital payments. In addition to extending a new credit line of $565 million for development projects in the Maldives, India agreed to reduce its loan repayment burden from nearly $51 million annually to about $29 million — a 40 percent reduction. The visit also saw the start of talks on a free trade agreement. Modi and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu jointly inaugurated infrastructure projects; pledged cooperation on climate, disaster risk, and renewable energy; and reaffirmed commitment to a stronger economic and maritime partnership. Modi also handed over 3,300 social housing units and medical equipment. The depth and diversity of India-Maldivian cooperation were on full display during Modi's visit, signaling the return of a measure of calm in the bilateral engagement. India-Maldives ties have generally been warm. The two countries have engaged in robust economic and defense cooperation for decades. India has played a major role in building the Maldives' human and infrastructural capacity, and has been the first responder in times of political crisis, natural disasters, and health emergencies. However, relations soured off and on over the past decade. President Abdulla Yameen's authoritarian rule (2013-2018) and tilt toward China did not go down well in New Delhi. Ties frayed. After he was voted out of office, Yameen spearheaded an 'India Out' campaign to target the India-friendly Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government. Building on the momentum of Yameen's campaign, Muizzu made the eviction of Indian security personnel from the archipelago his main election plank. It helped propel him to the presidency in November 2023. As it turned out, Muizzu's call for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel was not just election rhetoric. He persisted with the demand for several months after his swearing-in, raising the issue in meetings with Modi and other Indian leaders and officials, and subsequently even issued a deadline for the pullout of Indian military personnel. Unlike previous Maldivian presidents who made India the destination of their first official visit, Muizzu headed to Turkiye and China. He signed 20 agreements with China in January 2024 and allowed a Chinese research ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3, to dock in the Maldives. Not surprisingly, it drew New Delhi's ire. Meanwhile, a war of words broke out on social media. When three deputy ministers in the Muizzu government described Modi in their posts as a 'clown, 'a terrorist,' and a 'puppet of Israel,' Modi's supporters hit back by calling on Indian tourists to boycott the Maldives. The online spat quickly escalated into a diplomatic row. Muizzu repeatedly provoked India in the early months of his presidency. In January 2024, on his return from Beijing, the Maldivian president said in a veiled reference to India that the Indian Ocean 'does not belong to a specific country.' 'We may be small but this doesn't give them [India] the license to bully us,' he said. Eighteen months after those anti-India jibes, Muizzu broke protocol to welcome Modi at the airport. His government rolled out the red carpet for the Indian leader and welcomed him with a 21-gun salute. Huge cutouts of Modi greeted him in Malé. Muizzu was effusive in his praise of Modi, describing him as a 'wonderful person who is very fond of building relationships between India's neighbors,' he said. He waxed eloquent on the 'very good relationship' between India and the Maldives 'that goes back centuries.' As for India's role in the Maldives, Muizzu said that 'India has helped develop Maldives in the past. And, nobody will doubt how India will be a very crucial partner in going forward.' Muizzu was not just humming a different tune but a different song. From shrill demands for 'India Out,' he has shifted to endorsing a close partnership with India. How did he get here? There are several reasons underlying this shift. First is the dire state of the Maldivian economy; the archipelago is struggling with a substantial budget deficit and dwindling foreign reserves. With China's support proving to be rather underwhelming – talks on loan restructuring initiated during Muizzu's Beijing visit in January 2024 have seen little progress so far – India's support has emerged critical. Second is the shift in India's approach to dealing with a smaller neighbor. Unlike in Bangladesh, where the ouster of a pro-India leader (Sheikh Hasina) in a mass uprising has seen India turn rather unfriendly to Bangladesh, in the case of the Maldives, India adopted an 'accommodative' approach. As Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, associate fellow at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, wrote recently, New Delhi 'understood domestic compulsions of Muizzu's demands [for India to pull out its military personnel stationed in the archipelago] and replaced its 76 troops with technicians in May 2024.' Despite Muizzu's repeated provocations, India continued to engage with the Maldives, choosing restraint rather than reprimand and rhetoric in dealing with this strategically located neighbor. The bilateral bonhomie on display at Malé during Modi's visit did not happen overnight. Since at least May last year, India and the Maldives have been engaging with each other not just at the highest levels but in a sustained manner. Muizzu's objections to India's presence, even military presence, lasted a few months into his presidency. But when he visited Delhi in October 2024, he put out the welcome mat for Indian military presence in the archipelago. Under the Vision Statement that India and the Maldives adopted during the Delhi visit, Muizzu agreed to allow India to open a consulate in Addu, the Maldives' southernmost atoll; seek Indian support on 'hydrographic matters;' and complete the military harbor at Uthuru Thila Falhu with India's assistance. The Muizzu government also agreed to India providing radar systems and 'support Maldives with provisioning of defense platforms and assets.' It was during Muizzu's visit to Delhi that bilateral relations were reset. At Malé, the relationship was steadied. Sections of the Indian media have interpreted the recent bonhomie as a sign of 'China Out, India In' in the Maldives. This is an excessively optimistic reading of the visit. China's shadow over the Maldives looms. It would be unrealistic on India's part to expect Malé not to do business with Beijing. China's presence in the Maldives is already substantial and given its interests in the Indian Ocean, Beijing will use its financial muscle to further expand its influence in the archipelago. To counter China, India will need to make better offers to Malé. The possibility of Maldivian politicians and parties initiating new 'India Out' campaigns cannot be ruled out. India will need to keep the Maldivian people on its side. India and the Maldives share strong social and cultural ties that go back centuries. India has been the preferred destination of Maldivians seeking better education and health facilities. It needs to build on its soft power in the Maldives. Importantly, it must ensure that its aid to Malé is not just about security and defense but directed to people-focused projects as well.
