Entertainment
Trump’s doubling of tariffs on Indian imports takes effect, hiking tensions
- Tariffs of up to 50% threaten Indian exporters and jobs.
- Failed talks blamed on political misjudgment, missed signals.
- US, India seek to highlight security partnership.
WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on goods from India to as much as 50% took effect as scheduled on Wednesday, escalating tensions between the world’s two largest democracies and strategic partners.
A punitive 25% tariff imposed due to India’s purchases of Russian oil adds to Trump’s prior 25% tariff on many products from India. It takes total duties to as high as 50% for goods such as garments, gems and jewellery, footwear, sporting goods, furniture and chemicals — among the highest imposed by the US and on par with Brazil and China.
The new tariffs threaten thousands of small exporters and jobs, including in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
An Indian Commerce Ministry official said on condition of anonymity that exporters hit by tariffs would receive financial assistance and be encouraged to diversify to markets such as China, Latin America and the Middle East.
A US Customs and Border Protection notice to shippers provides a three-week exemption for Indian goods that were loaded onto a vessel and in transit to the US before the midnight deadline. These goods can still enter the US at prior lower tariff rates before 12:01am EDT (0401 GMT) on September 17.
Also exempted are steel, aluminum and derivative products, passenger vehicles, copper and other goods subject to separate tariffs of up to 50% under the Section 232 national security trade law.
India trade ministry officials say the average tariff on US imports is around 7.5%, while the US Trade Representative’s office has highlighted rates of up to 100% on autos and an average applied tariff rate of 39% on US farm goods.
Failed talks
As the midnight activation deadline approached, US officials offered no hope for India to avert the tariffs.
“Yeah,” said White House trade adviser Peter Navarro when asked if the increased tariffs on India’s US-bound exports would go into effect as previously announced on Wednesday. He offered no further details.
Wednesday’s tariff move follows five rounds of failed talks, during which Indian officials had signalled optimism that US tariffs could be capped at 15%, the rate granted to goods from some other major US trade partners including Japan, South Korea and the European Union.
Officials on both sides blamed political misjudgment and missed signals for the breakdown in talks between the world’s biggest and fifth-largest economies. Their two-way goods trade totaled $129 billion in 2024, with a $45.8 billion US trade deficit, according to US Census Bureau data.
Exporter groups estimate hikes could affect nearly 55% of India’s $87 billion in merchandise exports to the US, while benefiting competitors such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.
Sustained tariffs at this rate could dent India’s growing appeal as an alternative manufacturing hub to China for goods such as smartphones and electronics.
The US-India standoff has raised questions about the broader relationship between India and the US, important security partners who share concerns about China.
However, on Tuesday the US State Department and India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued identical statements saying senior officials of the ministries and defense departments met virtually on Monday and expressed “eagerness to continue enhancing the breadth and depth of the bilateral relationship.”
Both sides also reaffirmed their commitment to the Quad, a partnership that brings together the US and India with Australia and Japan.
John Travolta is giving fans a nostalgic holiday surprise by channeling his iconic Grease character Danny Zuko, this time dressed as Santa Claus.
The actor, 71, stars in a new Capital One commercial where he appears in a workshop-style garage, decked out as Santa and eyeing a high-tech sleigh.
While checking out the vehicle, Travolta goes into character and jokes, “Ho, ho, ho, ho. Why, this sleigh could be frost-o-matic, tinsel-matic, 1.5% cash back-o-matic.”
He follows it up with an unmistakable throwback line, “It’s Greased Lightnin’,” while paying with a Capital One card.
Travolta then jumps into a playful reenactment of the famous Greased Lightnin’ performance, complete with dance moves and support from Santa’s elves, plus a reindeer in sunglasses.
He ends the commercial with the tagline, “Ho, ho, ho — what’s in your wallet?” before the sleigh takes off into the sky.
This isn’t the first time Travota has nodded to his most memorable roles in Capital One ads.
Last year, he partnered with Samuel L. Jackson for a spot filled with Pulp Fiction references.
The 2024 holiday ad also brought back his Santa persona, where he shops online for gifts like hot chocolate, marshmallows and “3,000 bolo ties,” a fun reference to his role as Vincent Vega.
The ad wraps up with Travolta’s Santa recreating the iconic Pulp Fiction dance scene, set to Chuck Berry’s Run Run Rudolph.
Travolta has shown his love for Grease before too, including a surprise appearance at a Hollywood Bowl sing-along event for the classic movie.
With his latest ad, he brings back the spirit of Greased Lightnin’ in a festive way, mixing Hollywood nostalgia, holiday cheer and a little bit of classic Travolta charm.
Sean Diddy Combs’ new documentary, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, is produced by none other than his arch-nemeses, 50 Cent, and the teaser promises to pull back the curtain on the rapper’s scandals and crimes.
The new trailer, which is only 56 seconds long, showed new footage from before the Bad Boy Records founder’s arrest in September 2024, and he appeared visibly worried about losing the legal battle, which hadn’t started yet.
The footage released on December 1 showed the disgraced music mogul scrambling for legal help as he tells his team, “We have to find somebody that’ll work with us that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business. We’re losing!”
Social media sleuths flocked to X and shared their curiosity over the documentary, which will be available to stream on December 2.
“50 cent trolling diddy hard with this one,” one X user wrote, while another echoed, “50 been waiting his whole life to drop this bomb on Diddy and tomorrow Netflix finally hands him the mic. All those years of shots fired on Instagram just turned into a whole documentary,” referring to decades-long feud between the two musicians.
“They let 50 produce it? oh he’s COOKINGDDDD somebody up,” chimed in a third, while one reacted, “Oh yeah, this is about to shake the whole internet again.”
While Diddy is serving up to 50 months in prison, 50 Cent has collected never-before-seen footage and explosive information on the former’s Freak Off parties, as well as stories from the accusers, which will be told in the documentary.
Kristne Bell and Dax Shepherd got unfiltered feedback from their daughters on their 2012 film, Hit & Run.
During a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Idiocracy star revealed that Lincoln (12) and Delta (10) saw the movie, and were stunned to see Bell’s character break up with his character.
“They were very upset,” he shared their kids’ swift and brutally honest reaction. “and what made me so happy is they were mad at Mom, not me. They thought Mom was a b—h. They thought Daddy was a good boy with a bad past, and she should be able to overlook that, and I agree.”
Bell sitting beside her partner on the November 28 episode laughed off the critique.
She noted that the kids ultimately liked the movie.
“We spent we spent all this time making this independent film and Daddy wrote it and directed it and they were like, ‘We want to see it,’” Dax continued.
“And we hadn’t watched it in forever. We like, ‘OK, let’s watch it with you.’ They loved it. It’s very inappropriate. And it was a great litmus test for our children.”
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