US F-16s 'Dropping Like Flies': Russia Shoots Down 4th Jet In Ukraine; Graveyard For NATO Arms?
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Economic Times
18 minutes ago
- Economic Times
India inches closer to historic US trade deal, can Modi dodge Trump's 26% tariff threat?
Credit where credit is due. Indian trade negotiators have persevered and survived in a tough environment of tariff threats from Donald Trump and rapid-fire letters spitting out of the White strategy: stay calm and carry on. Bring a good ground game, prevent oversimplification of issues, and insist on fairness. An interim India-US trade deal appears tantalisingly close, which, when announced, should remove the sword of 26% tariffs hanging over India. It will be a subset of the 'first tranche' of a BTA that both agreed to complete by fall. Rajesh Agarwal, India's chief negotiator, is here to give the finishing touches but not to make an announcement. That right belongs to Trump. 'Many of us were expecting an announcement two weeks ago. It's impossible to assess what the president's going to do, what his calculus is,' Mark Linscott, a former US trade official, told me. Could the timing be related to trade talks with Pakistan and a desire to make a joint announcement? 'It would not be productive. The India agreement is historic,' said extended the July 9 deadline to August 1, possibly for two reasons - first, negotiations with some countries, including India, were at an advanced stage, and second, he needed to show results. A 'win' in a sea of threats would affirm that his mad strategy is with India have been substantive, with a focus on the long- term trade trajectory. Flexibility is the name of the game. If you are starting with a $45 bn trade surplus, some front-loading of benefits to the US can be digested. The main objective is to avoid the 26% tariffs Trump threatened and protect Indian being finalised would be an interim agreement, which will lead to more detailed discussions on a legal text, which, in turn, would lead to the 'first tranche' of an unprecedented deal and later to a possible second tranche. Neither side has travelled so far so quickly, or held as many meetings and video conferences negotiators are charged up. Sometimes, Delhi has had to wait for DC to respond, belying old beliefs that Indians move slowly, if at US wants more market access for industrial goods, apples, wines, alfalfa hay, soyabean, maize and dairy products. India is open to some, but GMO foods and dairy are red lines - one is banned under law, and the other could spark riots because American cows are fed a non-veg diet. Officials will likely set the most contentious issues for wants lower tariffs on its labour-intensive exports, from leather products to garments to textiles to gems and jewellery. Greater market access for pharma and electronics would be good, too, and while you are at it, don't forget to lower US tariffs on steel, aluminium and auto there are differences on 'standards' - whose standards are right, and should one country automatically accept another's? How do you position your objections? How do you simplify/harmonise the two regulatory structures? The word 'complex' doesn't do justice to the nature of discussions, the pushing and pulling, the stretching of limits, and making the right judgements while weighing the politics of it is on the cusp of something positive in a challenging landscape where every day springs a surprise, often a nasty one. US negotiators have kept everything close to their chest - even their companies don't know the direction of the all part of the strategy of unpredictability - now fully grown from its nascency in Trump 1.0. The letter bombs dropped on Japan, South Korea, Laos, Bangladesh and even Myanmar, are nothing but a pressure campaign to shock them into submission. A letter doesn't mean Trump won't do a trade deal - a Bangladeshi delegation is already here asking for for Senator Lindsey Graham's bill, which proposes 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and petrochemical products, it does allow Trump to waive those tariffs for 180 days on national security grounds. A newer version - still secret - is expected to expand Trump's ability to grant the bill is pushed in the US Congress will depend on how talks with Russia progress, or don't. Both Dems and Rs are united in their desire to punish Moscow. India, as a major buyer of Russian oil, will have a problem on hand unless given a waiver. Diplomatic efforts are underway to sensitise Graham and his staff to India's need for energy If the bill becomes law, global oil prices will likely rise, which means higher prices for Americans at the gas pump. That won't be good news for Trump. But an interim trade agreement with India would be. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. The 10-second mystery: Did the Air India crash report hide more than what it revealed? Can Indian IT's 'pyramid' survive the GenAI shake-up? Zee promoters have a new challenge to navigate. And it's not about funding or Sebi probe. 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Time of India
43 minutes ago
- Time of India
Annus Chaoticus: From trumping death to celebrating Chelsea's win – a year in Donald Trump's life
With the benefit of hindsight, Donald Trump pulling a full John Terry as Chelsea lifted the Club World Cup was almost poetic. After all, Chelsea is the Trump of European football – a nouveau riche arriviste with no continental pedigree, desperate to buy its way into aristocracy, and yet forever one dodgy deal away from financial ruin. And like Terry, Trump likes to take credit. But analogies aside, it has been quite a spin around the sun for Donald Trump since he dodged a bullet. A year ago, Donald trumped death, defying the laws of space, time, physics, politics, and logic as he did something that had been done only once before in American history: return to the White House after a hiatus. And not just any break — a five-year, scandal-scarred interregnum that included two impeachments, a Capitol riot, multiple indictments, and that gloriously capitalist moment when Trump, now with his own mugshot, began selling it as an NFT and framed it in the White House like it was a Warhol. From Butler, Pennsylvania to MetLife Stadium, Trump went from bleeding candidate to emperor's chaos world. On that fateful day in July 2024, the bullet grazed his ear and, in true cinematic symmetry, killed a firefighter standing behind him. The photo — fist raised, blood trailing — was pure American mythology: Rocky meets Revelation. Most people, when shot at, duck. Trump posed. 'Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture,' he later mused, 'but I didn't. So, it's even more iconic.' If the picture was iconic, what followed was surreal, which included banning the photographer who took it from AP from the White House because the news organisation refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. That's just the tip of the iceberg. After the bellicose belligerence of his staff in Trump 1.0, this time he made sure he was surrounded by MAGA sycophants whose only question to being asked to jump would be: how high? Read: Why Washington is the new St PETERsburg So we had an Education Secretary who thought AI was steak sauce, a head of Homeland Security who can't protect her own bag, an NSA who added a journalist to a secret war chat, a children's author and conspiracy theorist who became FBI chief and learned that there was no conspiracy, and a billionaire BFF who was going to cut billions from federal spending but left after realising politics isn't rocket science. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it legal? How to get Internet without paying a subscription? Techno Mag Learn More Undo by Taboola by Taboola The last year has been an odd headcount of controversies. There was a reverse tariff formula based on an asinine equation that threatened to tank the global economy as the administration chased imaginary deficits, even against penguins. There was a war on illegal immigrants that turned major American cities into pitched war zones, random detentions and deportations based on tattoos, a protracted battle against the institutions of higher learning, peace prize nominations from nations known for their war-seeking tendencies, a gift plane from a nation often associated with its numero uno enemy, and inter-Atlantic strikes on said enemy that brought us much closer to World War III than we have been in years. NATO, meanwhile, short on funds, decided to call Trump 'Daddy', which is fitting given America is that particular organisation's sugar daddy. However, the promise to end major global conflicts didn't go as planned, leading to some angry tweets for not paying enough attention to the matter. All major promises during the polls, including the release of the Epstein List, getting America out of other countries' conflicts, stopping various global conflicts, and keeping the fiscal deficit tight, have been forgotten. USAID — which taught us that post-Perestroika America has been funding all left-liberal movements, one of America's mightiest soft powers across the globe — has been dismantled. As have the many 'woke' policies of the previous regimes, at least ensuring that biological males cannot participate in sport with biological females or use their bathrooms. All this appears to have broken MAGA down the middle, with Trump loyalists holding on for dear life, hoping that they can ride out the storm for four years, after which they could be next in line to hold the nuclear football. A bit disturbing when you think about it, but as the French say: C'est la vie. Which is translation for: Can't believe we lost to Chelsea.
The Hindu
44 minutes ago
- The Hindu
No specific date set for nuclear talks with U.S., says Iran
Iran said on Monday (July 14, 2025) it had 'no specific date' for a meeting with the United States on Tehran's nuclear programme, following a war with Israel that had derailed negotiations. 'For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei of plans for a meeting between Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. Also read: Trump says Iran has 'second chance' to come to nuclear deal as Israel and Iran exchange blows Mr. Araghchi and Mr. Witkoff met starting in April, without concluding a deal after five rounds of talks, which were the highest-level contact between their two countries since Washington abandoned a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018. The Omani-mediated negotiations were halted as Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities on June 13, starting a 12-day war which the United States later joined. 'We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round, the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran', Mr. Baqaei said. Israel and Western nations accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied. While it is the only non-nuclear power to enrich uranium to 60% purity, close to the level needed for a warhead, the UN's atomic energy watchdog has said it had no indication that Iran was working to weaponise its stockpiles. Also read: Iran says it has not requested U.S. talks since war Israel's offensive last month, which it said was aimed at thwarting a nuclear threat from the Islamic republic, killed nuclear scientists and top-ranking military officers as well as hitting military, nuclear and other sites and residential areas. The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran's nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz. The extent of the damage from the strikes remains unknown, and Baqaei said it was 'still under investigation'. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel and attacked a US base in Qatar in retaliation for Washington's strikes. Sanctions Mr. Baqaei said on Monday (July 14, 2025) that Iran remains in contact with Britain, France, and Germany, the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal that the United States later withdrew from. The Europeans have threatened to trigger the 'snapback' mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which allows the reimposition of UN sanctions in the event of non-compliance. Mr. Baqaei said Tehran was 'in continuous contact with these three countries' but added that he 'cannot provide an exact date' for the next meeting with them. There was 'no legal, moral or political basis' for reimposing sanctions, according to Baqaei, as Iran was still committed to the 2015 agreement. Also read: Iran says to submit own nuclear proposal to U.S. soon The Ministry spokesman added that such a move would be met with an 'appropriate and proportionate' response, following Iranian threats to quit the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. After the United States pulled out of the nuclear accord during Donald Trump's first term as President, Iran began rolling back its commitments to the agreement that restricts its atomic activities in return for sanctions relief. 'The Islamic Republic of Iran still considers itself a member of the JCPOA,' Baqaei said of the 2015 deal.
