Tariffs could cost Italy €20b,118,000 jobs
"Italy does not just export luxury products — with a demand that isn't very sensitive to prices — but mainly machinery, means of transport, and leather goods," Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini told daily Il Corriere della Sera in an interview.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently downplayed the potential impact of such a level of tariffs on Italian companies, stating it would not be particularly harmful.
Orsini, however, warned that tariffs of 10% would be unsustainable for the Italian economy.
He added that they would effectively translate into a 23.5% duty as the impact of the dollar depreciation against the euro since the election of US President Donald Trump, amounting to 13.55%, needed to be considered too. "A product that a year ago an Italian company was selling in the United States for 100 now costs our American customer 123. We fear very heavy setbacks," he added.
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Express Tribune
44 minutes ago
- Express Tribune
Cruel to be kind
Listen to article As with any old animosity, the 'Tom & Jerry' show between Pakistan and India has continued since independence. Call it competition, identity clash or animosity, it has certainly inflicted severe damage, but often felt like a sibling rivalry in a sitcom. If I wrote something critical about India at a given moment, somebody on the other side would write a rebuttal, have a private laugh with me when we met personally, and be done with the whole episode. It was eleven years ago that it all changed. One oddity was the hate mail's nature. When you write something critical, you can expect a degree of pushback. Still, a part of the new normal was that even when you praised India, you received an inbox full of hate mail trying to put you in your place - a citizen of a badly broken nation, a beggar state, India was out of your league. You should not besmirch its name by getting it out of your filthy mouth. I would have heeded the advice, but you realise, since I have been writing almost my entire adult life, one runs out of things to write. It is not possible to ignore a nation of 1.45 billion. In my defence, every word I write is a product of care. If I talk to you, it's because I value your judgement. While others feel flattered by the attention, this was the first time one encountered people threatening to gouge your eyes out for just looking at them. So, what was behind this weapons-grade hubris? The realisation that India has finally arrived? If yes, why police Pakistani media's online assets then? If you are so powerful, successful and rich, why worry about what a Pakistani says about you? America is so rich and powerful, yet all sorts of things are published about it. Do you think such websites and email addresses are swamped by American trolls? Absolutely not. You attack and police when either you are unconvinced of your own success or want to create an environment of fear with a clear outcome in mind. You can see this from the methods that were employed. Nawaz Sharif was invited to Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony. Still, India's foreign office quickly clarified: he was just one of six SAARC leaders, and the visit should not be seen as bilateral. They also objected to his meeting with Hurriyat leaders. Let's decode that. Their message was clear: we are somebody, you are nobody. These ceremonial invitations to our "court" are acts of generosity; be grateful, obey protocol, and never presume equality. And what was the expectation? When we berate you, do not fight back. When we stare at you, make a point of being seen as cowering. And when we raise our hand, fall down and pretend to writhe in pain. This will please our people, and as long as we are in power, we will ensure you get some morsels off our table. You guessed it. The we in the above statement is royal we. And this imagery creates a global superstructure echoing India's caste system. Islam, according to this worldview, is synonymous with terrorism, and Pakistan is a Muslim country, so Pakistan gets a station lower than Dalits. This brings to mind the forgotten image of young BR Ambedkar sitting on a sack outside his classroom's door despite his brilliant mind, while his dull-witted classmates sat inside with standard desks and benches. Why? Because he was a Dalit and they were of the upper castes. He was not allowed to drink from the common water pot. Most teachers wouldn't even listen to him. America hasn't been able to shake off the ghost of Jim Crow Laws despite becoming one of the most tolerant societies today. A country which still sustains a fivefold Jim Crow system on acid as the present reality is unlikely to perpetuate anything different. Sadly, I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge that many Pakistanis fell for this scheme. The Indian media needed a certain archetypal Pakistan to represent the country's caricature. Many individuals lined up to volunteer. Those who refused were told that they would have no role among the emerging media elite of the country. Many policymakers and notables showed readiness to pretend to speak from a position of weakness whenever they spoke of India. As Indian politicians publicly tried to paddle Pakistan, there was no dearth of those shouting, stop, their voices, "thank you, sir, may I have another"? An economy has flourished since then. People like me were duped by another phenomenon. Whenever dramatic developments occur, I imagine how it would impact me if I were there. So when I see suffering, I immediately empathise. We looked at Indian seculars and thought they must be going through hell. But we ignored that had it not been for the latent bigotry and active connivance of the secular elite, a party with so much history of bloodsport could not control a nation as diverse and populous for the past eleven years. Scratch an Indian secular, and a Nathuram Godse with a good accent comes out. They all want Akhand Bharat. Only they don't want the blame. Why not deal with the real deal then? Modi then wasn't the problem. He was India's elected leader. One should have put up or shut up. My bad. But a direct consequence of India's carefully manufactured self-image was the demand for incremental aggression towards Pakistan in 2016, 2019, and now. This time, they misjudged the situation and are still licking their wounds. For the first time in eleven years, they have encountered a reset. While I do not condone war or violence, sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Frankly, the mutual hostility of these nations has made them engines of poverty in this neck of the woods. There is no excuse for this to go on indefinitely. If this lesson does not sink in, more shocks may come. While the jury is still out on the future of peace in South Asia, the economy mentioned above, which emerged in the past eleven years in Pakistan, hasn't gone away. From the 2014 sit-in to destabilising the Sharif government in 2017, the reelection of Modi in 2019, and many others, it has left behind indelible fingerprints on every crisis. Sadly, politicians who became its victims blame others for their plight. But I kept all the receipts. About time you knew who did what. I have faced attempts to deplatform and financially ruin me before, like between 2019 and 2022. I didn't enjoy it, but I survived. What is the worst they can do now? Kill me?
Business Recorder
9 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Global LNG: Asian spot prices fall on weak demand and rising supply
SINGAPORE: Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) eased this week as subdued demand, rising supply and ample inventories weighed on prices, while the ceasefire between Israel and Iran reduced risk premiums. The average LNG price for August delivery into north-east Asia was $12.70 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down from $13.10/mmBtu last week, industry sources estimated. 'Rising Pacific supply, high LNG inventories in China and South Korea, and weak industrial demand across China and India continued to pressure the market. The Iran–Israel ceasefire further eased geopolitical risk premiums,' said Kpler analyst Go Katayama, adding that output from Australia, Malaysia and Nigeria has increased. 'Looking ahead, the bearish outlook persists, with initial LNG Canada exports adding to supply length. While soft fundamentals dominate, further price declines could stimulate restocking, particularly in Japan.' LNG stockpiles held by major Japanese utilities fell to 2.15 million tons as of June 29, industry ministry data showed, as hotter weather drives cooling demand. This is down from 2.27 million tons the previous week but slightly above the five-year average of 2.1 million tons. 'Despite steady nuclear output, rising temperatures are outpacing non-gas generation capacity, potentially triggering incremental spot buying if the heatwave persists,' added Katayama. In Europe, S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in August on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $11.142/mmBtu on July 3, a $0.435/mmBtu discount to the August gas price at the TTF hub. Global LNG: Asian spot LNG prices at 4-month high on supply concerns Argus assessed the price for August delivery at $11.19/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed it at $11.175/mmBtu. 'A lack of a demand catalyst in the global LNG market failed to spark strong price reactions on the week with the supply picture balancing out as increased liquefaction from the U.S. and Qatar helped to improve supply fundamentals,' said Aly Blakeway, manager of Atlantic LNG at S&P Global Commodity Insights. 'With large supply hubs returning from maintenance and Asian demand still relatively on the sidelines, Europe continued to attract the brunt of cargoes as a closed arbitrage to Asia and heatwaves in the Mediterranean lured in waterborne LNG cargoes.' European prices have seen limited upside as demand in competing regions has been weak, while the European Union's less stringent storage targets have shifted supply risks to winter, said Xiaoyi Deng, deputy head of LNG pricing at Argus. 'This is reflected in increasing winter premiums over prompt deliveries in recent weeks,' said Deng. Meanwhile, the U.S. arbitrage to northeast Asia via the Cape of Good Hope is marginally pointing to Europe, while the arbitrage via Panama continues pointing to Asia for a fifth week, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan. In LNG freight, Atlantic rates fell to $42,000/day, while Pacific rates eased to $40,000/day, he added.
Business Recorder
9 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Commerzbank official tells UniCredit CEO to sell and go home
FRANKFURT: UniCredit's recent push for a tie-up with Commerzbank has prompted calls by a top official of the German bank for the Italian lender's CEO, Andrea Orcel, to abandon the pursuit. With UniCredit continuing to face fierce resistance in Germany, Orcel last month sent a flurry of letters to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and others, urging them to come to the table to discuss a deal. But the latest offensive, which only became public this week, has come up against steadfast resistance from Sascha Uebel, deputy chair of Commerzbank's supervisory board, adding to previous opposition from the German government and the bank's board since UniCredit's initial approach last September. 'His next step should be to sell his shares, take his profits and go home,' Uebel told Reuters on Friday. UniCredit, which last year bought a large stake in the Commerzbank and began to press for a merger, declined to comment. In his letters, Orcel wrote that a tie-up would be beneficial 'economically, socially and politically' and would create a new national banking champion for Germany. Orcel was also given short shrift by the Verdi labour union, which said its concerns had not been allayed, according to copies of their correspondence seen by Reuters. 'We are continuing to campaign against a merger and are in favour of an independent Commerzbank,' Verdi boss Frank Werneke wrote to Orcel in a response dated July 2.
