Trump's method are more destabilising than his policy. So, a good idea these couple of years is to sip Kool-Aid, and savour the joys of Trumplomacy, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The eleventh round of talks between the two sides is scheduled to take place next month at the EU headquarters.
Consider this: despite a traffic of over 130 million passengers flying international-to-international (I2I) routes per annum over India, only one-sixth of the long-haul traffic (26 million) emanates from the country.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked fintech firms to focus on risk management at a time when criminals are using AI to mimic voices, clone identities and create lifelike videos to manipulate people.
With the pressure on for the European Union (EU) and India to come up with a significant announcement at the upcoming EU-India summit on December 10, a flurry of activity surrounding the ongoing negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) is giving momentum to the process.
Apex exporters body FIEO on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over high US tariffs on Indian goods and said that textiles and apparel manufacturers in Tirupur, Noida, and Surat have halted production amid worsening cost competitiveness due to these steep duties. The US duties on Indian goods will increase to 50 per cent from August 27.
India and the 27-nation European Union are negotiating Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement since June 2007, but a breakthrough has not yet been achieved due to strong differences on several of the issues.
'Due to tariff uncertainty, automotive customers reduced their steel uplift by almost 15 per cent.'
Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), which sells dairy products, has launched Amul Milk in Spain.
During the talks, both sides failed to reach on a conclusion and has agreed to meet again in June.
India was apprehensive because EU was pushing for data exclusivity provisions that would have affected domestic pharma companies.
India's policy for agriculture trade must move commodity-by-commodity to gain maximum benefits as US President Donald Trump's 26 per cent tariff on exports from the country take effect, said agriculture economist Ashok Gulati in a recent policy paper.
'With the US having entered the war, raising the risks of a wider conflict, those impacts could be even more damaging.'
John Clancy, spokesperson for the European Commission's trade directorate, told Business Standard this week's talks would focus on 'tariffs and services'.
The USA's steep 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods entering America will severely impact exports and job creation in labour-intensive export sectors such as shrimp, apparel, leather and gems and jewellery. Exporters said that the imposition of a 25 per cent penalty on India over and above the 25 per cent tariffs move will disrupt the flow of Indian goods to its largest export market.
Despite all official assurances, the path towards a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) this year remains ambiguous, as both sides are unwilling to relax their stand on the biggest stumbling block - the issue of "data exclusivity".
The textile and apparel sector is India's second-largest employment provider, after agriculture, and it is now caught in a wave of uncertainty following the Donald Trump administration's tariff policy.
'The biggest point of contention is market access for US agricultural and dairy products.'
'The government is actively engaging with EU to ensure that concerns of Indian companies and hard-to-abate sectors are adequately addressed under CBAM'
Siam argues that a 2040 ban could destabilise ongoing and future investments and threaten millions of jobs in the automotive value chain.
If pharmaceutical exports from India to the US come under a 25 per cent tariff bracket, the impact on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) could be around 5 per cent, felt analysts. This is after assuming that about 75 per cent of the tariff would be passed on.
With US President Donald Trump "temporarily suspending" country-specific reciprocal tariffs until July 9, India sees the three-month window as an opportunity to renew its push for a proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US and expedite finalisation of the first tranche of the trade deal.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is likely to benefit from a major wave of patent expiries in the US, as small-molecule drugs worth $63.7 billion are expected to go off-patent between 2025-29, a 65 per cent rise over the previous five years, according to a report by Antique stock broking limited.
'The larger and more opaque this shadow economy becomes, especially online, the greater the risk to India's national security.'
India's goods exports rebounded in July after two months of contraction, with outbound shipments rising 7.3 per cent to $37.24 billion, led by a surge in exports to the United States before the country's reciprocal tariff kicked in and bolstered by a recovery in exports to other key markets.
Titan, HCL Tech and State Bank of India were also among the laggards. However, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, HDFC Bank and ITC were the gainers.
The EU mission noted that political and campaign fundraising and financial expenditure lack transparency and effective oversight.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday conveyed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian India's 'deep concern' over Iran's conflict with Israel and called for immediate de-escalation of the situation through 'dialogue and diplomacy'.
Microsoft Corp has restored all services -- including email access -- to Russian oil giant Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy, just before a scheduled hearing in the Delhi high court over the service suspension.
India and the European Union (EU) have begun discussions to resolve the ongoing dispute over the seizure of Indian generic drugs consignments in transit at European ports. Lutz Guellner, spokesperson for the European Trade Commissioner, told Business Standard that a meeting of the EU-India Joint Customs Cooperation Committee held in New Delhi on Thursday proved "constructive" with an "open discussion of the issues" taking place.
India's pharmaceuticals and medical devices industries are still hopeful that trade negotiations with the US could cut a fairer deal for both sides, after President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff rate on India on a social networking platform without divulging the finer details.
From the Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Tech, Tata Motors, Nestle, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro, and Tech Mahindra were the biggest gainers. In contrast, Eternal, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, Tata Steel and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the laggards. Eternal dropped 4.51 per cent.
It aims at tackling issues such as child labour, mistreatment of workers, and denial of basic wages, among others. There will also be penalties for non-compliance.
Modi, who visited Cyprus in the first leg of his three-nation visit, reiterated India's support for Cyprus's unity and for a peaceful resolution of the Cyprus Question based on UN Security Council resolutions, international law, and the EU Acquis.
Negotiators from the two sides will meet in July either at Brussels or Geneva, additional secretary in the commerce ministry D K Mittal told PTI.
Gold prices are expected to witness further consolidation in the coming week as investors brace for a slew of events, ranging from central bank meetings, including the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting's outcome, to global trade negotiations, analysts said.
With an ambitious target to more than double their bilateral trade to $200 billion in the next four years, India and EU hoped on Friday they can resolve differences and reach a free trade agreement within a year.
'As the global economy undergoes significant transformations in 2025, India's ability to navigate the complexities of trade wars, financial realignments, and emerging blocs will be pivotal,' explain Harsh V Pant and Soumya Bhowmik.
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