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Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

India placed in lower tariff tier at 10% under US Section 301 measures on forced labour: Govt

The government on Saturday said the US has kept India in lower tariff bracket of 10 per cent under its Section 301 measures on alleged forced labour concerns. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) on July 23 announced the final measures under Section 301 of the US Trade Act, 1974. USTR has imposed an additional 10 per cent tariffs on imports from India. The US had initially proposed a 12.5 per cent tariffs. India remained closely engaged with USTR throughout the investigation via detailed written submissions and in-person consultations, including participation in public hearings. "As a result of these sustained efforts, India has been placed in the lower tier of additional tariffs under the final measures, providing a relative advantage to Indian exports in key sectors," the commerce ministry said in a statement. A substantial share of India's exports to the United States, which currently attract zero additional duties, such as generic pharmaceuticals, smartphones and certain other specified products, continue to remain outside the scope of the additional 10 per cent duty, it said. Further, products already covered under Section 232 measures, including steel, aluminium and auto parts, are not subject to the additional 10 per cent duty. Section 232 duties are applicable broadly to all countries with limited exceptions. "On account of these exemptions, an estimated 45 per cent of India's exports to the United States remain outside the purview of the additional 10 per cent Section 301 duty," the ministry said. The remaining 55 per cent of exports will attract the additional 10 per cent duty, where India's tariff incidence is comparatively lower than that for most other economies covered by the investigation. It also said the textile-specific mechanism referenced in the final measures is yet to be established and operationalised and India continues to engage with the US on this matter as part of the ongoing negotiations for the Bilateral Trade Agreement. "The government remains committed to working with the US towards the early conclusion of the India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement, as announced on 2nd February 2026 and in accordance with the Joint Statement issued on 7th February 2026," it said.

India placed in lower tariff tier at 10% under US Section 301 measures on forced labour: Govt
North America
Yahoo Finance

Capital Economics Warns Foreign Buying Boom Could Signal Risks for the S&P 500

Capital Economics believes the recent surge in foreign investment into U.S. equities could be another indication that the current stock market rally is becoming overstretched, pointing to previous periods when similar buying patterns preceded major market downturns. Chief Economic Adviser John Higgins said strong overseas demand for U.S. stocks has historically coincided with powerful advances in the S&P 500 that were later followed by significant corrections. Capital Economics noted that the United States’ long-running current account deficit naturally leads foreign investors to accumulate U.S. financial assets, with the country’s net external liabilities exceeding $21 trillion at the end of the first quarter. However, the firm highlighted a significant change in the composition of those holdings. Around two decades ago, foreign portfolio investment was concentrated primarily in U.S. debt securities. Today, equities account for the majority of those investments. According to Higgins, foreign investors now own more than 21% of the U.S. equity market, compared with just over 6% in 1997. Capital Economics said historical trends suggest that periods of heavy foreign buying have often coincided with stock market rallies that later reversed. The firm stated that “substantial increases in foreigners’ net purchases of US equities have coincided with sizeable rallies in the S&P 500 that have subsequently reversed,” citing the dotcom bubble, the Global Financial Crisis and the 2022 market decline as notable examples. It also observed that the latest increase in overseas purchases alongside the current rally “has been much larger than the increases in foreigners’ net purchases of US equities during the rallies of those earlier episodes.” According to Capital Economics, the current wave of foreign buying has been fuelled largely by enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence. The firm warned that this AI-driven investment trend “is likely to reverse if and when the bubble in AI bursts,” a scenario that could leave U.S. equities underperforming international markets. The firm believes that the currency’s performance in the event of a reversal in AI-related investment “would probably depend heavily on how much, if at all, the Fed eased monetary policy compared to other central banks.”

Capital Economics Warns Foreign Buying Boom Could Signal Risks for the S&P 500
North America
Yahoo Finance

S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq End Second Week Lower Over Elevated Oil Prices, Chipmaker Rout — PSKY, UBER, QCOM, VZ, INTC In Focus

U.S. stock indices ended mixed on Friday, ending their second consecutive week lower as investors assess big-tech earnings with heightened attention on geopolitical developments. The S&P 500 ended 0.1% higher, while the Nasdaq 100 slipped 1.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.5% higher. The Russell 2000, which tracks stocks with small market capitalizations, fell 0.1%. SpaceX dropped about 7% this week, its third consecutive weekly decline as investors turned jittery over bloated capex plans. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY dropped to the ‘extremely bearish’ zone, while sentiment for QQQ was ‘bearish’ and ‘neutral’ for the DIA with ‘high’ message volumes. Oil prices rebounded from their session lows following a Reuters report that Pakistan is considering a path toward establishing new peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, under an initiative pushed by China. Earlier this week, Brent crude futures surged past the $100-per-barrel mark for the first time since late May, though they subsequently gave up those gains, sliding nearly 4% to settle at $96.78. Concurrently, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures experienced a 3% decline, ultimately closing at $89.31 per barrel. However, war risks continue to affect investor mindset. Oil prices, although they eased on Friday, still remain at elevated levels ahead of the Fed policy meeting due next week. “As we have seen multiple times in the past few years, equity markets tend to overreact to war developments, partly because war events tend to create uncertainty,” Thomas Lee at Fundstrat Global Advisors told Bloomberg. “But these periods of risk-off have been buying opportunities in the past, and we expect this to be the case again.” Going ahead, market participants will brace for the upcoming financial results from tech giants like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc. (META), and Apple Inc (AAPL). scheduled for next week. Wall Street is seeking more definitive proof that the massive capital investments directed into artificial intelligence are successfully driving fresh growth rather than eroding profit margins. Paramount Skydance (PSKY): Paramount agreed to freeze its proposed $110-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), putting the media consolidation on hold until June 1, 2027, or until a federal court rules on an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the deal. Uber Technologies (UBER): Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL) Waymo is exploring options to end its robotaxi partnership with the ride-hailing company. Verizon Communications (VZ): The telecom operator signed a fiber infrastructure agreement with Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google worth more than $1 billion, as the telecom giant looks to capitalize on surging demand for data center connectivity driven by artificial intelligence.

S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq End Second Week Lower Over Elevated Oil Prices, Chipmaker Rout — PSKY, UBER, QCOM, VZ, INTC In Focus
Europe
BBC Business

Trump vows to investigate EU over fining of US tech companies

Image source, ReutersImage caption, US President Donald Trump has taken issue with European regulators in the past. Donald Trump says the US will launch an investigation into the European Union and threatened a fresh tariff over fines handed to some of the biggest American tech companies. It comes days after the European Commission fined Google €890m ($1bn) for operating in a way that squeezed out competitors to its services. In a post to Truth Social, which Trump owns, the US president said the EU would pay a "very big price" over how it had treated Google, along with other major US tech companies Apple, Meta, and Amazon, which have also been investigated. Trump said any fines should be "entirely reversed" and that he was initiating a trade investigation of the EU while considering "a substantial TARIFF". He added that the US would "immediately initiate a 301 investigation" over European regulators' alleged practice of "robbing American companies and, in turn, the American taxpayer". Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, external gives The Office of the United States Trade Representative the power to react and investigate trade practices believed to be unfair. The second Trump Administration has launched several such investigations, external since last year. The tariff threat comes just one day after Trump announced new tariffs on 60 trading partners, including the EU, UK and China, of between 10% and 12.5%. Trump also last month threatened a 100% import tariff on any European country that introduces a digital services tax on American technology giants, despite many such nations already doing so, external for years. Major tech companies, including Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon, have donated millions of dollars to funds behind Trump's campaign and presidency. José Castañeda, a spokesman for Google, told the BBC the company had "worked hard to comply" with Europe's Digital Markets Act but had "expressed our concerns about the impact of recent EC decisions". "We appreciate the engagement by the administration and US government," Castañeda added.

Trump vows to investigate EU over fining of US tech companies
North America
Yahoo Finance

Here Are Monday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Alphabet, Clean Harbors, Ford, Huntington Bancshares, Rivian, Rocket Lab, Terawulf, Vale, Warner Bros. Discovery, and More

Pre-Market Stock Futures: Futures are trading higher as we head into the busiest week of the second quarter earnings season. More than 30% (over 150 companies) of the S&P 500 are scheduled to report earnings this week. Key highlights include reports from four of the Magnificent 7 companies. The major indices closed split on Friday, ... Here Are Monday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Alphabet, Clean Harbors, Ford, Huntington Bancshares, Rivian, Rocket Lab, Terawulf, Vale, Warner Bros. D

Here Are Monday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Alphabet, Clean Harbors, Ford, Huntington Bancshares, Rivian, Rocket Lab, Terawulf, Vale, Warner Bros. Discovery, and More
North America
CNBC Economy

Trump's new global tariff draws rebukes from trade partners over forced-labor justification

U.S. trading partners from Canberra to Brasília have rejected the forced-labor rationale behind President Donald Trump's new global tariffs, while most signaled they would keep negotiating rather than retaliate. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Thursday took action under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, imposing tariffs on 60 economies for what Washington called their failure to impose and enforce bans on goods made with forced labor. The duties — 10% for partners that have adopted or committed to import prohibitions, 12.5% for those that haven't — cover the top 60 US trade partners and 99.4% of American imports. The measure replaces a temporary 10% global tariff imposed under Section 122 of the trade act, which expires July 24, a stopgap put in place after the Supreme Court ruled Trump's emergency-powers tariffs unlawful in February. The forced-labor probes give the administration a more durable legal foundation for a baseline tariff that the courts had challenged. "These tariffs are unjustified, inconsistent with our free trade agreement, and should be removed," Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said in a statement. "Australia's measures to combat forced labor and modern slavery are among the strongest in the world, and we are recognized globally, including in the U.S., for our leadership." Brazil's government called the tariffs "arbitrary" and "unjustified." President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he remained open to negotiations but that Brazil would seek other markets if it couldn't sell into the U.S. The new duty stacks on a separate 25% Section 301 tariff imposed on Brazilian goods this month, rebuilding a 37.5% barrier — close to the 50% rate struck down as unlawful last year. Chile's government said the measure was inconsistent with the country's labor standards and the technical, political and legal evidence it submitted throughout the investigation, according to a statement from the trade undersecretariat in Santiago. It noted the U.S. resolution doesn't allege Chile exports goods made with forced labor, and said it would press for exclusions covering key export products. Canada, placed in the lower 10% tier with an exemption for USMCA-compliant goods, struck the mildest tone. The move "is not unexpected," Minister for Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement, adding that Ottawa shares Washington's objective on forced labor and would "continue engaging constructively" in the coming weeks. New Zealand's foreign ministry said in a market report that the trade minister made clear Wellington disagrees with the investigation's findings and will continue to register that position with the U.S. government. Existing exemptions covering roughly 30% of New Zealand's U.S.-bound exports, including beef and kiwifruit, remain unchanged. The investigation is "not a labor-standards exercise but a mechanism for exporting America's import ban on Chinese goods, as well as an attempt to recreate the tariff regime struck down by the Supreme Court," the Peterson Institute for International Economics wrote earlier this week. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Trump's new global tariff draws rebukes from trade partners over forced-labor justification
Europe
BBC Business

Faisal Islam: The UK's Trump trade deal no longer looks world-beating

Image source, Getty ImagesByFaisal IslamEconomics editorPublished24 July 2026It has been a long road for President Donald Trump as he looks for a justification to erect a tariff wall around the US, including against key allies. From the opioid crisis to illegal migration, then the need to bring manufacturing back to America's shores, the list goes on. Through Trump's second term, there has been a new justification almost every month for the trade levies he is seeking to place on allies. Some have been overturned by the courts, others by economics and some even by their own logic. And so, Trump has now turned to effectively accusing dozens of trade partners of trading in goods that have been produced using forced labour. These are "tariffs in search of an authority", as one industry figure put it. The forced labour line shores up President Trump's tariffs against a challenge from Congress or the courts. In practice, the levies are curiously similar by country to a previous round of tariffs imposed supposedly for completely different reasons. The good news for the UK is that the regime effectively remains the same as before. What has changed is that our nearest neighbours in the European Union now have a much better deal than before, and in turn are in a better situation than the UK. While the UK and the EU each appear to have a 10% rate, the EU's is a flat rate, while the UK's will apply alongside other tariffs, in a range of goods including footwear and textiles. The government has struck effective side deals on medicines, steel, aluminium, cars and, with the help of King Charles, whisky. At the end of this process however the overall trade-weighted effective tariff rate for the EU (8.5%) could end up a bit lower than the UK's (6.8%). It should not matter that much, but the help given by doing the first deal, and by post-Brexit trade freedoms, looks to have been short-lived.

Faisal Islam: The UK's Trump trade deal no longer looks world-beating
Europe
BBC Business

Businessman and philanthropist Sir Ian Wood dies aged 84

Image source, The Wood FamilyByCraig WilliamsBBC ScotlandPublished27 July 2026, 10:37 BSTUpdated 1 hour agoThe Aberdeen-based businessman and philanthropist Sir Ian Wood has died aged 84, his family has announced. Sir Ian was one of the UK oil and gas industry's most respected leaders, who turned his family's fishing boat repair yard into a global engineering player in the North Sea and internationally. His family said he died peacefully at home and they would remember his "kindness, generosity, determination and unwavering commitment to his family." Sir Ian was one of Scotland's wealthiest people, with a personal worth estimated at £1.8bn. Wood Group started as a family fishing business before Sir Ian took over in 1967. Over the next decades, he formed a separate engineering company servicing the rapidly-growing North Sea oil business. At its height, the Wood Group was valued at more than £5bn, carrying out work in the energy industry around the world. It went public in 2002 and was sold to a Dubai company last year. Sir Ian, who retired as chairman of the group in 2012, was knighted in 1994 for services to the oil and gas industry and was later made a member of the Order of the Thistle, Scotland's highest order of chivalry. Sir Ian's philanthropic work was carried out through the Wood Foundation, which he founded in 2007. It is involved in a number of investments and charitable work around agriculture and conservation in east Africa, as well as projects in Scotland. He was married to Helen for 55 years, was father to Nic, Graham and Garreth, and a grandfather of seven children. The statement from Sir Ian's family said: "Sir Ian was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend.

Businessman and philanthropist Sir Ian Wood dies aged 84
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Gujarat unveils shipbuilding policy; offers 50-year concessions, targets ₹27,000-crore investments

Gujarat government on Monday unveiled its shipbuilding and repair policy 2026, setting an ambitious target of attracting ₹27,000 crore of investment through a mega greenfield shipbuilding cluster at Kuchhadi in Porbandar, while offering waterfront concession and lease periods of up to 50 years for large shipyards as part of its plan to emerge as India’s leading shipbuilding and ship repair hub. Launching the policy in Gandhinagar, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said the Centre has approved the establishment of the mega greenfield shipbuilding cluster at Kuchhadi. The project is expected to attract about ₹23,700 crore in private investment for shipyards and ancillary industries, while ₹3,300 crore will be invested in common marine and land infrastructure with support from the Centre and the Gujarat government. The policy on the back of the businessline’s report on June 24 about the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) inviting expressions of interest (EoIs) for developing three greenfield shipyards at Mithapur (Devbhumi Dwarka), Ghogha (Bhavnagar) and Vadhera (Amreli), an Integrated mega shipbuilding cluster at Kuchhadi in Porbandar district. To provide long-term certainty to investors, the policy provides waterfront concession and lease periods of up to 50 years for large shipyards capable of building vessels above 30,000 DWT (Deadweight Tonnage). Smaller shipyards with capacity below 30,000 DWT will get an initial concession period of 15 years, extendable up to 30 years based on performance. The policy allows development of commercially viable shipbuilding and repair yards through multiple models, including sites identified by the Gujarat Maritime Board, shipyards within private ports, shipyards within Integrated Mega Shipbuilding Parks (IMSPs), standalone proposals submitted by PPP players and standalone proposals by public sector undertakings (PSUs). Private port developers will be permitted to establish shipyards within their authorised waterfront areas. Shipbuilding and repair yards developed within private port limits will be considered part of the concession agreement or sub-concession agreements with port operators, with the licence period of such shipyards running concurrently with the BOOT period of the port. For IMSPs, the Gujarat Maritime Board will ensure that no single developer is allotted more than 50 per cent of the total land area, enabling participation of multiple developers and creating a diversified industrial ecosystem. The government on Mondy said Detailed project reports (DPRs) are being prepared by the Gujarat Maritime Board for the establishment of the Mega Greenfield Shipbuilding Cluster at the location. The cluster will house two to three world-class shipyards along with a network of ancillary industries. The common infrastructure planned for the cluster includes breakwaters, floating cranes, heavy-lift ships, dredging facilities, harbour basin development, navigation channels, roads, electricity supply, water supply and other shared utilities. The integrated approach is expected to reduce infrastructure costs for investors, speed up project execution and improve Gujarat’s competitiveness as a maritime manufacturing hub. To promote investments, the policy offers a range of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, including capital assistance, stamp duty reimbursement, interest subvention, dredging assistance, subsidies to encourage procurement from MSMEs, support for electricity tariffs, subsidies on water charges, incentives for marine equipment manufacturing clusters and additional benefits for early-bird investors who commence development activities within the prescribed timelines. Under the policy, new shipyards will receive capital assistance of 10 per cent of eligible fixed capital investment (eFCI), subject to a maximum assistance of ₹100 crore during the policy implementation period. For shipyards developed within IMSPs, the assistance will be 20 per cent of eFCI or a maximum of ₹150 crore, whichever is lower.

Gujarat unveils shipbuilding policy; offers 50-year concessions, targets ₹27,000-crore investments