In India, Trump's tariffs spark calls to boycott American goods

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- From McDonald's and Coca-Cola to Amazon and Apple, US-based multinationals are facing calls for a boycott in India as business executives and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supporters stoke anti-American sentiment to protest against US tariffs. India, the world's most populous nation, is a key market for American brands that have rapidly expanded to target a growing base of affluent consumers, many of whom remain infatuated with international labels seen as symbols of movi

Aug. 11, 2025

'Nvidia, AMD to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US'

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the US government 15 percent of revenue from sales to China of advanced computer chips like Nvidia’s H20 that are used for artificial intelligence applications, a US official told Reuters on Sunday. US President Donald Trump’s administration halted sales of H20 chips to China in April, but Nvidia last month announced the US said that it would allow the company to resume sales and it hoped to start deliveries soon. Another US official said on Friday that the Com

Aug. 11, 2025

Intel's stock tumbles after Trump says its CEO must resign

Intel's shares are tumbling before markets opened Thursday after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the chipmaker's CEO needs to resign. “The CEO of Intel is highly conflicted and must resign, immediately,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!” Trump made the post after Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary expressing concern over CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s investments and ties

Aug. 7, 2025

Toyota reports a 37% drop in profit, cuts its forecast due to Trump's tariffs

Toyota's profit plunged 37 percent in the April-June quarter, the company said Thursday, cutting its full-year earnings forecasts largely because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The Japanese automaker said it based its report on the assumption that Trump’s tariffs on exports from Japan, including autos, would be 12.5 percent starting this month. As of now, they stand at 15 percent. The world’s top automaker also makes vehicles in Mexico and Canada. Toyota’s profit in the last quarter totale

Aug. 7, 2025

Bank of England cuts interest rates from 4.25% to 4%

The Bank of England cut interest rates from 4.25 percent to 4 percent on Thursday. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was split in its decision on interest rates, leading to its members holding two votes for the first time in its history. Initially, four of the nine-person committee wanted rates to be reduced by 0.25 percentage points to 4 percent, while four wanted to keep rates unchanged, and one member preferred a bigger 0.5 percentage point cut. This meant the committee was forced to

Aug. 7, 2025

Russia and India talk up 'strategic partnership' after Trump tariff hike

Russia and India stressed their commitment to a "strategic partnership" in bilateral security talks in Moscow on Thursday, a day after the US President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on imports from India because of its purchases of Russian oil. Interfax news agency quoted Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval as saying that New Delhi was looking forward to a visit from President Vladimir Putin by the end of the year. At Doval's meeting with Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia's Secu

Aug. 7, 2025

Apple to invest additional $100b in domestic manufacturing

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Apple will invest an additional $100 billion in the United States, taking its total pledge to $600 billion over the next four years, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday. Trump announced the increased commitment at the White House alongside the tech giant's CEO Tim Cook, calling it "the largest investment Apple has made in America." "Apple will massively increase spending on its domestic supply chain," Trump added, highlighting a new production facility for the glass used

Aug. 7, 2025

Brazil's president sees no point in tariff talks with Trump

BRASILIA (Reuters) -- As US tariffs on Brazilian goods jumped to 50 percent Wednesday, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters in an interview that he saw no room for direct talks now with US President Donald Trump that would likely be a "humiliation." Brazil is not about to announce reciprocal tariffs, he said. Nor will his government give up on cabinet-level talks. But Lula himself is in no rush to ring the White House. "The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won

Aug. 7, 2025

Trump imposes extra 25% tariff on Indian goods, ties hit new low

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil in a move that sharply escalated tensions between the two nations after trade talks reached a deadlock. The new import tax will raise duties on some Indian exports to as high as 50 percent -- among the highest levied on any US trading partner. Trump's executive order imposing the extra tariff did not mention China, w

Aug. 7, 2025

Swiss president rushes to US to avert steep tariffs

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Switzerland's president was in Washington on Tuesday in a last-minute push to stop steep new tariffs, but with no appointment to plead her case to US President Donald Trump. Switzerland faces a 39-percent duty, one of the highest among the dozens of economies that will be hit by new tariffs expected to come into force from this week. President Karin Keller-Sutter and Economy Minister Guy Parmelin were visiting Washington "to facilitate meetings with the US authorities at shor

Aug. 6, 2025

Trump narrows Fed chair candidates to four, excluding Bessent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will decide on a nominee to fill a coming vacancy on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors by the end of the week, and had separately narrowed the possible replacements for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to a short list of four. "I'll be making that decision before the end of the week," Trump said of his plans to name a replacement for Fed Gov. Adriana Kugler, who last week unexpectedly announced she was leaving as of this Friday to r

Aug. 6, 2025

Trump says US will raise pharmaceutical tariffs to 150% in 1 year, to 250% later

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will put "small" tariffs on pharmaceutical imports initially, and then raise them to 150 percent in a year and to 250 percent later, as he unveiled a plan to announce sector-specific tariffs "within the next week or so." Trump made the remarks in a CNBC interview as South Korea and other countries are bracing for the Trump administration's rollout of new sectoral tariffs, including those on semiconductors following their deals with i

Aug. 6, 2025

Tesla's brand loyalty collapsed after Musk backed Trump: data

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Tesla for years had more repeat US customers than any other major automotive brand but its loyalty has plunged since CEO Elon Musk endorsed President Donald Trump last summer, according to data from research firm S&P Global Mobility shared exclusively with Reuters. The data, which has not been previously reported, shows Tesla’s customer loyalty peaked in June 2024, when 73 percent of Tesla-owning households in the market for a new car bought another Tesla, according to a

Aug. 5, 2025

[Contribution] Is China equity recovery durable?

By Raymond Cheng China’s equity rally faces a wall of scepticism after years of false dawns. However, this time could be different: Beijing’s crackdown on irrational competition in key industries and sustained stimulus, compounded by moderating US trade rhetoric ahead of a potential Trump-Xi meeting, are setting the stage for a sustainable equity market rebound most are missing. The Hang Seng index and MSCI China index have soared over 25 percent year to date. However, China equities still regis

Aug. 4, 2025

Iran moves to remove zeros from plunging national currency

TEHRAN (AFP) -- The economic commission of Iran's parliament revived long-delayed plans Sunday to cut four zeros from the country's plunging currency, as part of efforts to simplify financial transactions. "Today's meeting of the economic commission approved the name 'rial' as the national currency, as well as the removal of four zeros," said the parliament's website ICANA, quoting Shamseddin Hosseini, the commission's chairman. Under the proposed system, one rial would be equivalent to 10,000 a

Aug. 4, 2025