Connect with us

Politics

Trump imposes steep tariffs on multiple countries, including 19% on Pakistani exports

Published

on

Trump imposes steep tariffs on multiple countries, including 19% on Pakistani exports



US President Donald Trump has unveiled a new round of steep import tariffs, affecting dozens of countries — including a 19% duty on Pakistani goods — just days before a key trade deal deadline.

Part of a broader push to overhaul global trade practices, the new measures place Pakistan among 69 nations facing US tariffs between 10% and 41%, effective next week.

Trump stated the tariffs aim to address unfair trade imbalances and safeguard America’s economic and national security interests.

Trump released an executive order listing higher import duty rates of 10% to 41% starting in seven days for 69 trading partners as the 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT) deadline approached.

Some of them had reached tariff-reducing deals, and some had no opportunity to negotiate with his administration.

The order said that goods from all other countries not listed in an annex would be subject to a 10% US tariff rate.

Trump’s order stated that some trading partners, “despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgement, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters.”

Trump issued a separate order for Canada that raises the rate on Canadian goods subject to fentanyl-related tariffs to 35% from 25% previously, saying Canada had “failed to cooperate” in curbing fentanyl flows into the US.

The higher tariffs on Canadian goods contrasted sharply with Trump’s decision to grant Mexico a 90-day reprieve from higher tariffs of 30% on many goods to provide more time to negotiate a broader trade pact.

A US official told reporters that more trade deals were yet to be announced as Trump’s higher “reciprocal” tariff rates were set to take effect.

“We have some deals,” the official said. “And I don’t want to get ahead of the President of the United States in announcing those deals.”

Regarding the steep tariffs on goods from Canada, the second largest US trading partner after Mexico, the official said that Canadian officials “haven’t shown the same level of constructiveness that we’ve seen from the Mexican side.”

The extension for Mexico avoids a 30% tariff on most Mexican non-automotive and non-metal goods compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade and came after a Thursday morning call between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“We avoided the tariff increase announced for tomorrow,” Sheinbaum wrote in an X social media post, adding that the Trump call was “very good.”

Approximately 85% of US imports from Mexico comply with the rules of origin outlined in the USMCA, shielding them from 25% tariffs related to fentanyl, according to Mexico’s economy ministry.

Trump said the US would continue to levy a 50% tariff on Mexican steel, aluminium and copper, and a 25% tariff on Mexican autos and on non-USMCA-compliant goods subject to tariffs related to the US fentanyl crisis.

“Additionally, Mexico has agreed to immediately terminate its Non Tariff Trade Barriers, of which there were many,” Trump said in a Truth Social post without providing details.

Korea deal, India discord

South Korea agreed on Wednesday to accept a 15% tariff on its exports to the US, including autos, down from a threatened 25%, as part of a deal that includes a pledge to invest $350 billion in US projects to be chosen by Trump.

But goods from India appeared to be headed for a 25% tariff after talks bogged down over access to India’s agriculture sector, drawing a higher-rate threat from Trump that also included an unspecified penalty for India’s purchases of Russian oil.

Although negotiations with India were continuing, New Delhi vowed to protect the country’s labour-intensive farm sector, triggering outrage from the opposition party and a slump in the rupee.

Trump’s rollout of higher import taxes on Friday comes amid more evidence they have begun driving up consumer goods prices.

Commerce Department data released Thursday showed prices for home furnishings and durable household equipment jumped 1.3% in June, the biggest gain since March 2022, after increasing 0.6% in May.

Recreational goods and vehicles prices rose 0.9%, the most since February 2024, after being unchanged in May. Prices for clothing and footwear rose 0.4%.



Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Politics

Indian man kills wife, takes selfie with dead body

Published

on

Indian man kills wife, takes selfie with dead body


Man, who killed his wife in Tirunelveli city of Indias Tamil Nadu, takes selfie with her dead body. — Screengrab via YouTube/Indian media
Man, who killed his wife in Tirunelveli city of India’s Tamil Nadu, takes selfie with her dead body. — Screengrab via YouTube/Indian media

A man in India’s south brutally killed his estranged wife at a women’s hostel and took a selfie with her dead body, according to NDTV.

The victim, identified as Sripriya, employed at a private firm in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, had separated from her husband, Balamurugam, who was from Tirunelveli.

Police said the suspect arrived at the hostel on Sunday afternoon, concealing a sickle in his clothes, and was seeking to meet her.

They had an argument soon after the couple met, and the feud turned into a violent attack by Balamurugan, who drew the sickle and hacked the woman to death.

Furthermore, the police said he then took a selfie with her body and shared it on his WhatsApp status, accusing her of “betrayal”.

The incident spread panic and chaos in the hostel.

Following the brutal murder, the suspect did not escape from the spot but waited until the police arrived, and he was arrested at the crime scene. The murder weapon was recovered.

The initial investigation suggested that he suspected his wife of being in a relationship with another man.





Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Southeast Asia storm deaths near 700 as scale of disaster revealed

Published

on

Southeast Asia storm deaths near 700 as scale of disaster revealed


A woman stands amidst tree trunks that were stranded on a shore following deadly flash floods and landslides, in Padang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia on November 30, 2025. — Reuters
A woman stands amidst tree trunks that were stranded on a shore following deadly flash floods and landslides, in Padang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia on November 30, 2025. — Reuters
  • Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand witness large scale devastation.
  • At least 176 people perish in Thailand and three in Malaysia.
  • Indonesia’s death toll reaches 502 with 508 more still missing.

PALEMBAYAN:  Rescue teams in western Indonesia were battling on Monday to clear roads cut off by cyclone-induced landslides and floods, as improved weather revealed more of the scale of a disaster that has killed close to 700 people in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have seen large scale devastation after a rare tropical storm formed in the Malacca Strait, fuelling torrential rains and wind gusts for a week that hampered efforts to reach people stranded by mudslides and high floodwaters.

At least 176 have been killed in Thailand and three in Malaysia, while the death toll climbed to 502 in Indonesia on Monday with 508 missing, according to official figures.

Under sunshine and clear blue skies in the town of Palembayan in Indonesia’s West Sumatra, hundreds of people were clearing mud, trees and wreckage from roads as some residents tried to salvage valuable items like documents and motorcycles from their damaged homes.

A man moves a relief supply package delivered by a Navy helicopter in an area affected by deadly flash floods in Palembayan, Agam regency, West Sumatra province, Indonesia on November 30, 2025. — Reuters
A man moves a relief supply package delivered by a Navy helicopter in an area affected by deadly flash floods in Palembayan, Agam regency, West Sumatra province, Indonesia on November 30, 2025. — Reuters

Men in camouflage outfits sifted through piles of mangled poles, concrete and sheet metal roofing as pickup trucks packed with people drove around looking for missing family members and handing out water to people, some trudging through knee-deep mud.

Months of adverse, deadly weather

The government’s recovery efforts include restoring roads, bridges and telecommunication services.

More than 28,000 homes have been damaged in Indonesia and 1.4 million people affected, according to the disaster agency.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visited the three affected provinces on Monday and praised residents for their spirit in the face of what he called a catastrophe.

“There are roads that are still cut off, but we’re doing everything we can to overcome difficulties,” he said in North Sumatra.

“We face this disaster with resilience and solidarity. Our nation is strong right now, able to overcome this.”

The devastation in the three countries follows months of adverse and deadly weather in Southeast Asia, including typhoons that have lashed the Philippines and Vietnam and caused frequent and prolonged flooding elsewhere.

An aerial view shows a damaged area hit by deadly flash floods in Palembayan, Agam regency, West Sumatra province, Indonesia on November 30, 2025. — Reuters
An aerial view shows a damaged area hit by deadly flash floods in Palembayan, Agam regency, West Sumatra province, Indonesia on November 30, 2025. — Reuters 

Scientists have warned that extreme weather events will become more frequent as a result of global warming.

Marooned for days

In Thailand, the death toll rose slightly to 176 on Monday from flooding in eight southern provinces that affected about three million people and led to a major mobilisation of its military to evacuate critical patients from hospitals and reach people marooned for days by floodwaters.

In the hardest-hit province of Songkhla, where 138 people were killed, the government said 85% of water services had been restored and would be fully operational by Wednesday.

Much of Thailand’s recovery effort is focused on the worst-affected city Hat Yai, a southern trading hub which on November 21 received 335 mm (13 inches) of rain, its highest single-day tally in 300 years, followed by days of unrelenting downpours.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has set a timeline of seven days for residents to return to their homes, a government spokesperson said on Monday.

In neighbouring Malaysia, 11,600 people were still in evacuation centres, according to the country’s disaster agency, which said it was still on alert for a second and third wave of flooding.





Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

British MP Tulip Siddiq handed two-year prison sentence in Bangladesh graft case

Published

on

British MP Tulip Siddiq handed two-year prison sentence in Bangladesh graft case


MP Tulip Siddiq attends a news conference in London, Britain October 11, 2019. — Reuters
MP Tulip Siddiq attends a news conference in London, Britain October 11, 2019. — Reuters
  • Ex-Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, sister Rehana also sentenced.
  • Case relates to illegal allocation of a plot of land: local media.
  • Prosecutors highlight political influence, collusion abuse of power.

DHAKA: A Bangladesh court sentenced British parliamentarian and former minister Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail in a corruption case involving the alleged illegal allocation of a plot of land, local media reported.

The verdict was delivered in absentia as Siddiq, her aunt and former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana — all co-accused in the case — were not present in court.

Hasina was sentenced to five years in jail and Rehana to seven, the local media reports said.

Hasina, who fled to neighbouring India in August 2024 at the height of an uprising against her government, was sentenced to death last month over her government’s violent crackdown on demonstrators during the protests.

Last week, she was handed a combined 21-year prison sentence in other corruption cases.

Prosecutors said that the land was unlawfully allocated through political influence and collusion with senior officials, accusing the three powerful defendants of abusing their authority to secure the plot, measuring roughly 13,610 square feet, during Hasina’s tenure as prime minister.

Most of the 17 accused were absent when the judgement was pronounced.

Siddiq, who resigned in January as the UK’s minister responsible for financial services and anti-corruption efforts following scrutiny over her financial ties to Hasina, has previously dismissed the allegations as a “politically motivated smear”.

Britain does not currently have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh.





Source link

Continue Reading

Trending