Tariffs loom, talks linger as India holds ground on US deal
In contrast, Trump has signed pacts with more than a handful of countries, including Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, in the past few days, besides dispatching tariff letters to over 20 more with effective rates from August. However, India isn't in a hurry, and as Goyal mentioned, negotiations are rarely successful when constrained by timelines.
The delay in the India-US deal comes down to real differences. One is America's push for deeper access into India's farming and dairy sectors. India isn't ready to make those concessions, knowing their local impact could be serious. On the other hand, India has asked the US to ease duties on steel, aluminium and car exports — a request that remains on the table.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
21 minutes ago
- Time of India
BYD India faces roadblocks in India expansion amid political tensions
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD Co. is facing mounting hurdles in its attempts to expand operations in India, with lingering political tensions and regulatory bottlenecks stalling key business activities, including executive travel and local investments, Bloomberg reports. Since the deadly 2020 border clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers along the Himalayan frontier, relations between the two nations have soured. As a result, Chinese firms such as BYD have struggled to secure visas and work permits for senior personnel. Ketsu Zhang, Managing Director of BYD India, has reportedly been unable to obtain a work permit to return to the company's base in Chennai. Zhang has been operating from Tokyo, managing BYD's interests in Asia, including India, according to sources familiar with the matter. With direct operations in India hampered, BYD has resorted to holding board meetings and key business discussions in neutral territories such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, and even Singapore, sources said. A growing demand in the Indian market Despite the logistical challenges, BYD's vehicles have seen growing traction among Indian buyers. Sales in the first half of 2025 are already nearing the total for all of 2024. However, the company's expansion is limited by its inability to invest locally. The Indian government earlier rejected BYD's $1 billion proposal to establish a joint venture manufacturing plant in India, citing national security concerns. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal reiterated earlier this year that the Indian government remains cautious about Chinese investments in sensitive sectors, including automotive manufacturing. This stance leaves BYD ineligible for any import tariff concessions tied to local production. Currently, BYD operates an assembly facility in Chennai with an annual capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 units. However, the bulk of its vehicles are imported — making them subject to steep tariffs that can double their cost — and are constrained by local certification and volume restrictions. Earlier this year, an Indian delegation invited to a major BYD dealer conference in Shenzhen had to be reduced after most participants failed to secure travel visas. BYD India declined to comment on these developments. Tesla's foray in India The contrast with US-based Tesla is striking. Tesla recently launched physical showrooms in India and began accepting orders for its Model Y SUV, despite also lacking local manufacturing. Chief Executive Elon Musk met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, indicating a smoother diplomatic engagement. Tesla faces import duties as high as 110 per cent but has thus far avoided the regulatory and political entanglements stalling BYD's progress. India recently resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals, signalling a slight thaw in relations. Still, it remains unclear whether broader business-related visa restrictions will be eased or if BYD will be granted a green light to fully tap into one of the world's fastest-growing EV markets. For BYD — which aims to sell 5.5 million vehicles globally this year amid cooling domestic demand in China — access to India remains critical. Yet without local manufacturing capabilities and full market entry, the company faces significant limitations in its South Asian growth strategy.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
21 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump to meet UK PM Starmer at Scotland golf course to boost ties
President Donald Trump once suggested his golf course in Scotland furthers" the US-UK relationship. Now he's getting the chance to prove it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland then later travelling to Abderdeen, on the country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a third is opening soon. During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers UK relationship! Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics. While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on US goods but has since begun negotiating easing trade tensions, Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the UK's aerospace sector from US tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25 per cent to 10 per cent while increasing the amount of US beef it pledged to import. The prime minister's office says Monday's meeting will also touch on Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, and that it hopes to welcome the Trump administration working with officials in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire. Starmer plans to stress the urgent need to cease the fighting and work to end starvation and other suffering occurring amid increasingly desperate circumstances in Gaza. Also on the agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Protesters, meanwhile, have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing course, after demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to decry the president's visit. Discussions with Starmer follow Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15 per cent tariffs on most goods from both countries though many major details remain pending. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon cutting. It opens to the public on August 13 and tee times are already for sale with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. There are still lingering US-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning after the previous agreements, including the tariff rates Washington imposes on steel imported from the UK. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's attempts to stay on Trump's good side appears to be working. The UK is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them that's their ultimate protection, Trump said during the G7. Also likely to improve Trump's mood is the fact that the US ran an USD 11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the UK than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. The president has for months railed against yawning US trade deficits with key allies and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in hurry. Trump is set to return to Britain in September for an unprecedented second state visit. Trump will be hosted then by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mint
21 minutes ago
- Mint
In 16 hours of Operation Sindoor debate, Congress gets two hours for discussion in Rajya Sabha
The Congress has been allotted around two hours of the total 16 hours allocated for discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha's Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge will open the debate in the House, news agency ANI reported. As of 12 pm on Monday, the Lok Sabha is yet to hold a debate on Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam terror attack. The lower house has been adjourned twice since the morning amid the Opposition's uproar. The Opposition has been raising questions over US President Donald Trump's repeated claims, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi refute the US President's remarks. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was expected to speak on Operation Sindoor around 12 pm on Monday. However, the house was adjourned till 1 pm. According news agency PTI, PM Modi is expected to take part in the discussion on Operation Sindoor scheduled to be held in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The proceeding in the Rajya Sabha was also defered till 2 pm on Monday. Before adjourning the house till noon in Question Hour, Lok Sabha Speaker said that opposition members were deliberately disturbing the proceedings of the house. He asked Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi to instruct members of his party not to display posters, as that is not the purpose of sending MPs to Parliament. "Respected members, do you want to obstruct the house? Do you not want to discuss Operation Sindoor? Both Gogoi and people from the government had come (for an all-party meeting), you said to do a discussion on Operation Sindoor, now you are interrupting the house. Question hour is the members' most important time," Birla said before adjourning the lower house. Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha was also adjourned until noon amid a ruckus raised by the opposition after Deputy Chairperson Harivansh Narayan Singh declined notices demanding a discussion on the closure of government schools in Uttar Pradesh.
