Trump’s 50% tariffs on India come into force as president puts pressure on country over Russian oil supplies
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that 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.
India and the US have held five rounds of discussions since April to reach a trade agreement, but differences over the opening up of India’s vast farm and dairy sectors, and its purchases of Russian oil led to a breakdown of talks.
The new tariffs threaten thousands of small exporters and jobs, including in prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, Reuters reported.
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.
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump held a televised, three-hour cabinet meeting, in which various secretaries seemed to compete to praise him in more effusive terms, and he took questions from reporters from partisan outlets.
-
Trump told reporters that “I think, maybe in my own mind, I have somebody that I like” to take the place of the Federal Reserve governor he is trying to force out, Lisa Cook, who is fighting to keep her place.
-
Two reporters for pro-Trump outlets offered testimony about crime in Washington DC to support the president’s claims.
-
Texas’s redrawn congressional maps have drawn a lawsuit from the NAACP, accusing the state of committing a racial gerrymander with its maps that strip Black voters of their political power.
-
A whistleblower complaint alleges that Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) copied and uploaded the sensitive Social Security data of hundreds of millions of Americans to a vulnerable cloud server, potentially violating federal privacy laws. One of the Doge staffers accused in the complaint is Edward Coristine, whose recent assault in Washington DC provided the pretext for Trump’s federal takeover.
-
In a deeply partisan press release, Sean Duffy, the former Republican congressman and Fox host serving as Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, announced the cancellation of $175m in funding for four projects related to what he called “California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle”.
-
The Trump administration retaliated against some Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers who signed a letter of dissent about the agency’s leadership, the Washington Post reports.
-
A local television outlet in Washington DC recorded video of “a full busload of National Guard members … picking up trash in Lafayette Park, just outside the White House”.
-
Cracker Barrel announced that it is scrapping its new logo, and returning to its old one, hours after Donald Trump joined the conservative backlash to the change.
Key events
62% of Americans support sanctions on Russia’s trading allies, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Most Americans support a bid to sanction Russia’s trading partners as a way to put pressure on Moscow to end its war with Ukraine, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The three-day poll, which concluded on Sunday, showed 62% of respondents back sanctioning Russia’s trading partners, a strategy that US president Donald Trump has partially embraced and has threatened to expand to include China.
Trump has in recent weeks engaged in intense diplomacy, meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska but so far failing to stop the conflict, a goal he had pledged to accomplish on his first day in office.
India hopeful US will review extra 25% tariff for Russian oil purchases, Indian government source says
India is hopeful that the US will review the additional 25% tariff imposed on Indian goods as penalty for its Russian oil purchases, a government source told reporters on Wednesday.
The Indian government is holding talks with exporters to increase shipments of textiles, leather, gems and jewellery to other countries, and is likely to provide financial assistance to affected businesses, the source said.
The US Transportation Department said Tuesday it will withhold federal funding from California, Washington State, and New Mexico unless they adopt English proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers.
The administration of president Donald Trump has taken a series of steps to address concerns about foreign truck drivers who do not speak English, and last week secretary of state Marco Rubio said the United States was immediately pausing the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers.
In April, Trump signed an executive order directing enforcement of a rule requiring commercial drivers in the US to meet English proficiency standards.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the department could withhold about $50 million in federal funding if the states do not comply in 30 days and could take further action.
Washington State said its state patrol was currently reviewing the matter with its state transportation partners and will have a detailed response soon.
New Mexico’s transportation department did not immediately respond, Reuters reported.
The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing next week to consider president Donald Trump’s nomination of White House economic adviser Stephen Miran as a Federal Reserve governor, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Some Fema staff are put on leave after signing dissent letter
Some employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) who signed a public letter of dissent earlier this week were put on administrative leave Tuesday evening, according to documents reviewed by the Associated Press.
More than 180 current and former Fema employees signed the letter sent to the Fema Review Council and Congress on Monday critiquing recent cuts to agency staff and programs, and warning that Fema’s capacity to respond to a major disaster was dangerously diminished.
Thirty-five signed their names while 141 signed anonymously for fear of retribution.
The Associated Press has confirmed that at least two of the signatories received notices Tuesday evening informing them they would be placed on leave indefinitely, with pay and that they must still check in every morning confirming their availability. It was unclear what the status was for other signatories.
The notice said the decision “is not a disciplinary action and is not intended to be punitive.”
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that US colleges would struggle without Chinese students, amid a backlash from his base after he suggested he could let 600,000 Chinese college students into the country as part of trade talks with the economic rival.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said on Wednesday that the ministry hoped the US would follow through on Trump’s statement welcoming Chinese students and stop the “unprovoked harassment, interrogation, and deportation” of Chinese students.
Denmark’s foreign minister has summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen over Danish intelligence reports that US citizens have been conducting covert influence operations in Greenland, the ministry said on Wednesday.
Public broadcaster DR cited unnamed sources as saying the government believed at least three US nationals with ties to president Donald Trump’s administration had been involved in influence operations aimed at promoting Greenland’s secession from Denmark to the United States.
“We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark,” foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement.
“It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead,” Rasmussen said.
Neither the broadcaster nor the ministry named the individuals flagged in the intelligence reports. The US embassy in Copenhagen did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
European Union mulls removing US tariffs this week, Bloomberg News reports
The European Union is aiming to expedite legislation to remove all tariffs on US industrial goods by the end of the week, a demand made by president Donald Trump before the US will lower its duties on the bloc’s automobile exports, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
Trump’s 50% tariffs on India come into force as president puts pressure on country over Russian oil supplies
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that 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.
India and the US have held five rounds of discussions since April to reach a trade agreement, but differences over the opening up of India’s vast farm and dairy sectors, and its purchases of Russian oil led to a breakdown of talks.
The new tariffs threaten thousands of small exporters and jobs, including in prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, Reuters reported.
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.
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump held a televised, three-hour cabinet meeting, in which various secretaries seemed to compete to praise him in more effusive terms, and he took questions from reporters from partisan outlets.
-
Trump told reporters that “I think, maybe in my own mind, I have somebody that I like” to take the place of the Federal Reserve governor he is trying to force out, Lisa Cook, who is fighting to keep her place.
-
Two reporters for pro-Trump outlets offered testimony about crime in Washington DC to support the president’s claims.
-
Texas’s redrawn congressional maps have drawn a lawsuit from the NAACP, accusing the state of committing a racial gerrymander with its maps that strip Black voters of their political power.
-
A whistleblower complaint alleges that Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) copied and uploaded the sensitive Social Security data of hundreds of millions of Americans to a vulnerable cloud server, potentially violating federal privacy laws. One of the Doge staffers accused in the complaint is Edward Coristine, whose recent assault in Washington DC provided the pretext for Trump’s federal takeover.
-
In a deeply partisan press release, Sean Duffy, the former Republican congressman and Fox host serving as Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, announced the cancellation of $175m in funding for four projects related to what he called “California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle”.
-
The Trump administration retaliated against some Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers who signed a letter of dissent about the agency’s leadership, the Washington Post reports.
-
A local television outlet in Washington DC recorded video of “a full busload of National Guard members … picking up trash in Lafayette Park, just outside the White House”.
-
Cracker Barrel announced that it is scrapping its new logo, and returning to its old one, hours after Donald Trump joined the conservative backlash to the change.
