New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Sunday said that India and the United States are actively working to resolve the ongoing tariff issues through dialogue, expressing confidence that these challenges will not affect the broader trade relationship between the two nations.  

Speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave (KEC 2025), he said a large part of India’s trade with the US remains “business as usual” despite the current differences.

Jaishankar explained that the ongoing trade tensions largely stem from the inability of both sides to reach a common ground on several issues.

“We have issues with the US and a big part of it is because we have not arrived at a landing ground. The inability to reach there has led to tariffs being levied,” he said.

The minister revealed that negotiations are ongoing regarding the 50 per cent tariffs imposed on Indian exports.

He stressed that India’s “red lines have to be respected” while finding a solution. “There has to be an understanding with the US because it is the number one market and because a lot of the world has reached that understanding,” Jaishankar said.

Despite the tariffs, the minister underlined that trade between the two countries is largely continuing smoothly.

“I don’t think this will percolate to every dynamic of trade. Some issues will need to be negotiated, but I would hesitate to read very much more into it than the issues themselves,” he said.

Jaishankar also highlighted the challenges that tariffs pose for policymakers in today’s global trade environment.

“When you have a world where the central consideration of trade has become tariffs, please explain to me where comparative advantages and competitive advantages go,” he remarked.

He noted that additional tariffs have been imposed on India’s energy trade, but assured that both nations are engaged in active negotiations to resolve these matters.

The minister pointed out that India has successfully signed trade agreements with several Asian countries, though some of these economies are highly competitive.

“And in many cases, because of the supply chain nature, they have also provided a pathway for China. Our focus should be on FTAs with economies that are not competitive,” he said.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other members of Opec+ on Sunday decided to raise their oil production quotas by 137,000 barrels per day (bpd) for November, continuing efforts to reclaim market share amid cautious demand projections, AFP reported.“In view of a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals, as reflected in the low oil inventories, the eight participating countries decided to implement a production adjustment of 137 thousand barrels per day from October’s levels,” Opec+ said in a statement after an online meeting.The increase was lower than many analysts had anticipated, with the group seeking to avoid exerting downward pressure on prices amid weak global demand. “Opec+8 stepped carefully after witnessing how nervous the market had become in light of rumours that production could be hiked by 500,000 barrels a day,” said Jorge Leon, analyst at Rystad Energy. “The group is walking a tightrope between maintaining stability and clawing back market share in a surplus environment.”Since April, the eight members — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Oman, and Algeria — have already raised their quotas by more than 2.5 million bpd. The initial focus of Opec+ this year was to support high prices by limiting supply, but the strategy shifted in April to prioritise regaining market share from competitors including the US, Brazil, Canada, Guyana and Argentina.Global oil demand projections are modest. The International Energy Agency expects consumption to rise by only 700,000 bpd between 2025 and 2026, while Opec forecasts higher growth of 1.3 million bpd in 2025 and 1.4 million bpd in 2026.Brent crude, the global benchmark, traded below $65 per barrel on Friday, down about 8% in a week amid concerns over a potential surge in Opec+ production.Russia, the cartel’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, relies on high oil prices to fund its war effort in Ukraine but has limited capacity to increase output due to US and European sanctions. “The increase decided Sunday is manageable for Russia,” said Leon. The country currently produces around 9.25 million bpd, close to its maximum capacity of 9.45 million bpd, down from roughly 10 million before the conflict, analysts said.Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries since August have intensified exports, as domestic utilisation of crude has declined, making Russia even more dependent on foreign markets, said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, analyst at Global Risk Management

Pakistan has recorded one of the sharpest declines in default risks globally, emerging as the only country to show consistent improvement over the past 15 months, according to the Adviser to the Finance Minister, Khurram Schehzad.

“Pakistan is no longer viewed through the lens of default risk,” Schehzad said. “It is emerging as a stable, reform-driven, and resilient economy,” said Khurram Schehzad on Sunday In a post on X, citing a report of Bloomberg.

He said Pakistan ranked second among emerging economies showing the strongest reduction in sovereign default probabilities — only behind Turkiye.

Between June 2024 and September 2025, Pakistan’s default risk improved by 2,200 basis points, reflecting what Schehzad described as “a sign of sustained economic recovery and growing investor confidence.”

“This is clear evidence of Pakistan’s durable economic improvement,” he said, adding “The country is the only economy to have demonstrated continuous quarterly improvement.”

Schehzad said, the trend demonstrates that investors’ trust in Pakistan is being restored, driven by macroeconomic stability, structural reforms, timely debt repayments, adherence to the IMF programme, and positive ratings from international agencies such as S&P, Fitch, and Moody’s.

He added that while countries such as South Africa and El Salvador saw limited improvement — and risks rose in Egypt, Nigeria, and Argentina — Pakistan’s steady progress reflects the success of ongoing fiscal and structural reforms.

Pakistan’s economy to stay afloat despite floods

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not foresee any major setback to Pakistan’s economic growth or revenue collection this fiscal year due to the recent floods. Except for Punjab, provinces have also not reported significant economic losses, minimizing the chances of a downward revision in targets.

According to government sources, Pakistani authorities have assessed flood-related losses in three rivers, but the evaluation of destroyed or damaged infrastructure in Punjab is still ongoing.

Government sources said that an IMF delegation shared its views about the economic impacts of the floods during a kick-off meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. The governments of Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) shared their initial assessments of the flood losses with the IMF team during separate meetings.

The sources said that during the kick-off meeting, the IMF team observed that based on initial input there were no significant economic losses. However, the IMF said that it would wait for the damage assessment report, the sources added.

The global lender also saw no impact of the floods on the tax revenues. It underscored that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) should share the visible outcome of the transformation plan. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had approved the transformation plan last year to revitalise the tax machinery and also gave over Rs55 billion for various initiatives under the plan.

The IMF’s observations about the impact of the floods came on the heel of the prime minister’s request to the IMF managing director to factor in the impacts of the floods during the review meetings. The IMF was apprised that the government could meet the flood-related spending from the contingency pool and it might not need additional resources, said the sources.

Pakistan-IMF review talks began on September 25, which are scheduled to continue until October 8. The successful culmination of these talks would pave the way for the release of two tranches, totalling over $1.2 billion under two different loan programmes.