USA

The EU cannot afford to finance Ukraine’s military efforts as US financial aid is no longer guaranteed, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday after the leaders of 26 EU countries signed a statement voicing support for Ukraine without Hungary. Orban, an ally of US President Donald Trump, who is also cultivating ties with Moscow, told state radio that his government would launch a domestic “public consultation” on Ukraine’s European Union accession in the coming weeks. The state-funded political campaign will come as Orban, in power since 2010, faces elections in 2026 with the economy just clambering out of an inflation crisis and with a surging new opposition party posing the strongest challenge yet to his rule. European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend mor...

US President Donald Trump made his policy intentions abundantly clear on Tuesday in his State of the Union speech. He is now stirring so many pots so vigorously that the world is in a state of bemused bewilderment. Close scrutiny of Trump’s actions reveals both a well thought out approach and a cavalier disregard for consequences. Thus, on the question of US global power, he is quite clear that it should be a multipolar world where it’s not America alone that bears the brunt of the costs and the opprobrium. Such multipolarity will give India a bigger voice in global affairs. Trump is also for low and stable global energy prices which no one can object to. His methods for achieving that goal might well raise some hackles. India will be a major beneficiary. On tariffs, however, he is dea...

US President Donald Trump's imposition of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada took effect on Tuesday, March 4, prompting retaliatory measures from Canada and escalating trade tensions on a global scale. Additionally, Trump announced on Monday that the US will increase tariffs on goods from China to 20%, up from the previously announced 10% in February. This move has raised concerns of a potential trade war that could lead to higher inflation and hinder economic growth. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Finance revealed plans to impose 10-15% additional tariffs on certain imports from the US beginning March 10th. These tariffs will affect key American exports such as chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton, further intensifying the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies. So...

China called on the US to stop politicising and weaponising economic and trade issues, as Washington tries to limit overseas investments by Beijing in line with President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy. The American government’s actions, which strengthen reviews of business ties with China on security grounds, will seriously undermine the confidence of Chinese companies that are investing in the US, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Saturday. The ministry’s comments followed the release of the America First Investment Policy, which named China among “adversaries” that systematically direct and facilitate investment in US companies and assets “to obtain cutting-edge technologies, intellectual property, and leverage in strategic industries.” Although President ...

The escalating trade war and growing tariff threats from US President Donald Trump are prompting the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) to fast-track the long-delayed free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with India. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is scheduled to meet UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds on Monday to reignite India-UK FTA discussions. Goyal will then engage with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on Friday, ahead of the 10th round of India-EU FTA talks set to take place from March 10 to 14 in Brussels.

The commerce ministry will hold meetings with three-to-four ministries next week to sensitise them to various aspects of the proposed trade agreement with the US and President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcements, officials said on Thursday. Negotiations on the nature of the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA), announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Washington, is expected to start soon. “Any agreement that the ministry of commerce will do will involve other ministries too. The consultation with the industry and other stakeholders on the aspects of the BTA, reciprocal tariffs and other announcements on product-specific tariffs will be done by the administrative ministries,” a senior official said. The commerce ministry will also seek inputs...

Chinese officials are mapping out plans for tapping the nation’s huge customer base, as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent prepares to refresh calls for Beijing to decrease its dependence on exports. Premier Li Qiang led the charge Thursday, urging China’s cabinet to “vigorously” improve the supply of services in industries spanning education, health care, culture and sports, without elaborating. The world’s No. 2 economy will rely more on lifting consumption to drive growth, he added, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. “Large economies have an unique advantage of promoting an internal circulation and a dominating role of domestic demand,” Li said at the State Council meeting, adding that promoting consumption was a “major move” for the economy’s longer-term transition. E...

It’s hard to keep up with all the tariff announcements coming out of Washington. On February 1, the US president, Donald Trump, announced the introduction of 25% tariffs on most imported goods from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% levy on goods from China. The tariffs against Canada and Mexico were soon postponed by a month following some token gestures. A week after that, Trump signed an executive order imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports. These tariffs are set to take effect on March 12, a few days after the broad tariffs against Canada and Mexico supposedly come to pass. Trump has now vowed “reciprocal” duties on countries that target products made in the US. This may all sound very familiar. Trump imposed tariffs during his first presidency – for exam...

Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), chaired by Dr Mohamed Farid (pictured), has introduced new investment regulations for private insurance funds, expanding permissible asset classes and adjusting reporting requirements. The changes, issued under Decree No. 269 of 2024, are part of ongoing efforts to enhance oversight and align with the Unified Insurance Law. Enacted in July 2024, the law consolidates Egypt’s insurance regulations into a single framework, aiming to modernise the sector and promote broader insurance coverage. Investment rules for private insurance fundsUnder the new framework, defined benefit (DB) funds can now invest in mineral-backed financial instruments, venture capital funds, and direct equity holdings for the first time. Additionally, all private i...

There is no mistaking the fact that the United States is in intense economic competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The shape this competition takes depends critically on the policies pursued by the second Trump administration over the next four years, with plenty of scope for valuable lessons from the last four years. Like the first Trump administration before it, the Biden administration imposed large tariffs on China, and both administrations did so in no small part to support domestic manufacturing. And in the first two weeks of the second Trump administration, even more tariffs have been placed on goods imported from the PRC. While, in his first term, President Trump lamented the bilateral trade deficit and touted the Phase One agreement that was supposed to rec...