Tag: trade

FY18 trade data: Exports fall, deficit widens

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Trade deficit widens and export number has disappointed. Latha Venkatesh decodes the data.

Trade deficit at USD 13.7 billion – anything above USD 13 billion is a bit of a bother because if you look at the amount of software exports, non-merchandise trade inflows, we cannot manage beyond USD 13 without getting into slightly risky terrain.

Export is down 0.6 percent at a time when our destinations are doing very well because of the rise in commodity prices.

“March deficit is definitely a little bit of a surprise. We had expected number closer to USD 12-12.5 billion, so this is higher,” said Abhishek Upadhyay, Senior Economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership.

“Trade deficit should be wider in FY19. Our expectation is that you may see a current account deficit (CAD) closer to USD 70 billion next year, which will be comfortably wider than this year,” he added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China’s March trade weakens, surplus with US at $15.4 billion

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China’s global trade balance swung to a rare deficit in March as exports shrank but its surplus with the United States, the center of a worsening dispute with Washington, stood at $15.4 billion.

Exports contracted 2.7 percent from a year earlier to $174.1 billion, down from the 24.4 percent growth for the first two months of 2018, customs data showed Friday. Imports rose 14.4 percent to $179.1 billion, though that was down from 21.7 percent growth in January and February.

“The upshot is that the latest trade data suggest that both domestic and foreign demand held up well in March,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report.

The trade surplus with the United States contracted 13 percent from a year earlier, while China’s global trade balance swung to a $5 billion deficit.

President Donald Trump has approved a possible tariff hike on $50 billion of Chinese goods in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Trump is demanding Beijing take steps to narrow its trade deficit with the U.S., which Washington says stood at a record $375.2 billion last year.

China runs multibillion-dollar monthly surpluses with Europe and the U.S., which helps to offset deficits with Japan, South Korea and developing countries that supply industrial components and raw materials. The global trade balance often slips into deficit for one month early each year as factories restock following the Lunar New Year holiday.

“The biggest risk going forward is clearly that the current trade tensions escalate to the point where meaningful tariff barriers are erected,” said Evans-Pritchard. “But even if this is avoided, trade looks likely to soften slightly over the coming quarters given that global growth now appears past its peak and China’s own economy faces rising headwinds from tighter policy.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced market-opening measures including a cut in import taxes on autos and an easing of controls on foreign ownership in China’s auto industry.

The Commerce Ministry denied Thursday that had anything to do with the dispute with Washington and said negotiations were impossible while Trump was threatening tariff increases on a possible $100 billion list of additional goods.

Forecasters have been expecting Chinese economic growth to weaken since late last year after regulators tightened controls to cool a boom in bank lending and real estate sales they worry is driving a dangerous rise in debt.

Meanwhile, China’s trade surplus with the 28-nation European Union, its biggest trading partner, shrank by half from a year ago to $3.6 billion.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trump predicts trade concessions by China, despite rising tensions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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U.S. President Donald Trump predicted on Sunday that China would take down its trade barriers, expressing optimism despite escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies that have roiled global markets in the past week.

The two countries have threatened each other with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs in recent days and Chinese officials have said this is not the time for negotiations.

But Trump administration officials have stressed that the tariffs are not yet in place and the dispute could be resolved through talks.

In a Twitter post on Sunday, Trump echoed this, saying “China will take down its trade barriers because it is the right thing to do. Taxes will become reciprocal and a deal will be made on intellectual property.”

He referred to his personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said the two men would always be friends, adding, “Great future for both countries!”

There has been no indication that Trump and Xi have had any conversations since the trade conflict erupted last week and no formal trade talks between the United States and China have been scheduled yet.

On Tuesday, Washington unveiled some $50 billion worth of proposed tariffs on Chinese imports and on Thursday Trump upped the ante, directing U.S. trade officials to identify tariffs on another $100 billion of Chinese imports. He said this was “in light of China’s unfair retaliation” against the earlier U.S. trade action.

China responded by saying it was fully prepared to respond with a “fierce counter strike” if the United States followed through on the new threat.

China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said on Friday that Trump’s threat of another package of tariffs was “extremely mistaken” and unjustified, adding no negotiations were likely in the current circumstances.

Crude oil and global equity markets tumbled on Friday on investor worries about the impact a tariff war could have on the world economy.

‘FIRMLY ATTACKED’

China’s state media has sharply criticized the United States, saying its trade protectionism actions will end in defeat. “If the U.S. says that it will pay any price, it must be firmly attacked,” China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

On Sunday, the state People’s Daily newspaper sought to tap into concern among some U.S. business leaders over the impact of Washington’s planned tariffs.

“We call on the international business community including the United States industrial and commercial circles to take prompt and effective measures and urge the U.S. government to correct its errors,” it said.

Trump’s chief economic adviser, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, has repeatedly sought in recent days to soothe concerns about a trade war, stressing that no tariffs have yet been implemented.

He reiterated that in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union show on Sunday, saying, “This process might turn out to be very benign … Maybe China will want to come round and talk in earnest – so far it hasn’t, I hope it does.”

The United States, charging China with unfair trade practices and theft of intellectual property, proposed some $50 billion in tariffs on Tuesday – 25 percent tariffs on more than 1,300 Chinese industrial and other products from flat-panel televisions to electronic components.

China shot back within hours with its own list of proposed duties on $50 billion of American imports, including soybeans, aircraft, cars, beef and chemicals.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on the CBS program Face The Nation there was a risk of a trade war between the United States and China but that he did not expect one.

He added that Trump and Xi have a “very close relationship” and that the United States and China would continue to discuss trade issues

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India-Iran-Russia resume talks on activating key trade corridor

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India, Iran and Russia have resumed talks on activating the International North South Transport Corridor which will cut freight time to Europe by half and bring down the cost for the benefit of east and southeast Asian exporters.

India, Iran and Russia are leading in activating the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) route since 2000, through existing road-route and with the development of some railway gaps in between the 7,200-km long multi-mode network of ship, rail and road.

The INSTC was discussed during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to India in February while Russia maintains a strong interest in the trade route, said Ambassador P S Raghavan, Convener of National Security Advisory Board in the Indian government.

“It is not only to make Indian-Russian trade or Indian-European trade profitable, actually it will make it very lucrative for east Asia and southeast Asia exporters. There is nothing to stop the INSTC from being activated in a matter of months,” said Raghavan.

He said that capacity building can be carried out as trade volume increases and progress is made on related issues.

The potential is enormous and well known, Raghavan said.

With no trade sanctions against Iran, the INSTC becomes “very competitive”, he said.

Raghavan said the INSTC cuts transportation time and cost by half as compared to the Suez Canal route.

The current shipment through Suez Canal route involves a longer distance, and is expensive as well as congested.

The INSTC could transport exports from India’s west coast, through Iran’s Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports, Central Asian states, Russia and onwards to Europe.

Indian-Iranian-Russian customs have discussed trans-shipment processes while logistics such as containerisation needs to be sorted out, Raghavan said after addressing the 12th Institute of South Asian Studies International Conference on South Asia.

The conference was organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think tank of the National University of Singapore.

It needs a special purpose vehicle of multi-national capacity to manage the transportation network from end-to-end, he said.

In 2014, the Federation of Freight Forwarders Association of India had a dry run on the INSTC.

The INSTC member states recognise the potential for efficient and seamless North-South transport caused by economic globalisation and by ever-increasing trade within the Eurasia region, the forwarders had said in a report at that time.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Gold prices fall as US-China trade tensions ease

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Gold prices fell on Thursday after the United States and China signalled willingness to resolve a trade dispute through negotiations, reducing demand for bullion as a perceived safe place to park money.

Investors moved back into equities, sending global stock markets higher, while the dollar strengthened, making gold more expensive for users of other currencies.

“It’s been a double whammy (for gold),” said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at FOREX.com. “Stock markets have stabilised, at least for the time being, and that has reduced demand for safe havens.”

The slide in gold prices had also created a negative technical picture that encouraged further selling, Razaqzada said.

Spot gold was down 0.5% at $1,326.81 an ounce at 1502 GMT.

US gold futures were 0.7% lower at $1,330.70 an ounce.

Gold had surged to $1,348.06 on Wednesday after Beijing threatened to retaliate against proposed US tariffs on Chinese imports worth around $50 billion with its own duties on US products including soybeans, planes, cars, whiskey and chemicals.

Both Washington and Beijing later said they were willing to negotiate a resolution.

President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser called the announcements by the two countries mere opening proposals and suggested the U.S. tariffs may never go into effect, while China’s ambassador in Washington said Beijing’s preference was to resolve the dispute through talks.

Technical support for gold was now around $1,320 and the 100-day moving average at $1,311, said MKS trader Sam Laughlin.

Gold prices reached an 18-month high of $1,366,07 in January but have since then been locked in a trading range between around $1,310 and $1,360.

Investors were looking to US jobs data on Friday to give new direction to prices. Strong employment and wage growth would encourage the Federal Reserve to raise US interest rates more aggressively and push gold prices lower.

Gold is sensitive to rising rates because they push up bond yields, reducing the attractiveness of non-yielding bullion, and tend to boost the dollar, in which gold is priced.

Trading volumes were likely to be lower however with markets in mainland China, the world’s largest gold consumer, closed on Thursday and Friday for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.

In other precious metals, spot silver was up 0.3% at $16.33 an ounce.

Platinum was 0.3% higher at $915.10 an ounce after touching $901.50, its lowest since December.

Palladium was down 1% at $915.70 an ounce after hitting a new six-month low at $907.22.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China seeks WTO dispute resolution with US over steel, aluminum tariffs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday it has initiated a World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute resolution procedure over US tariffs on its import of steel and aluminum.

The move follows a back and forth dispute between the two countries over free trade, that has escalated from an investigation by the United States into China’s intellectual property practices to imposing tariffs on imports.

The Ministry of Commerce said the US measures against its steel and aluminum were not for maintaining national security, but rather were in aid of trade protectionism.

The ministry said in a statement posted on its website the US action were a “serious violation of the non-discrimination principle of the multilateral trading system”, and violated its tariff-reduction commitments under the WTO.

After the United States failed to negotiate compensation, China had to initiate the dispute settlement procedure to defend its rights and interests, the ministry said.

The US Trade Representative’s office said earlier that the tariffs were put in place on national security grounds and objections were “baseless”.

WTO rules include an exemption for measures related to national security.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Better use of bilateral relations, FTA can boost Indo-Vietnam trade, says Envoy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Pointing out that trade between India and Vietnam is languishing at around one percent of the total trade done by both countries, the Vietnamese envoy to India said their strong bilateral relationship should be used as a foundation for greater economic cooperation.

He also urged both the countries to make a better use of the ‘ASEAN India Free Trade Agreement’, of which Vietnam is a member.

“The trade between Vietnam and India is growing but it is not up to the potential. Last year the trade amount between the two countries was $7.6 bn which is very little compared to our total trade. The amount is just more than one percent of Vietnam’s total trade. For India it is less than one percent,” Vietnamese Ambassador Ton Sinh Thanh said here.

“Both Vietnam and India are developing very fast… India’s GDP growth last year was seven percent while we had 6.8 percent, which is the highest growth rate in a decade. Also Vietnam and India have very good bilateral relation that comes from a 2000-year-old tradition.

“Now we have been upgraded to comprehensive strategic partnership since Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Vietnam. There has been a lot of high level visits between the two countries since then.So this good political relationship would be a good foundation for greater economic cooperation,” he pointed out.

The Ambassador also urged both the countries to make a better use of theA ‘ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement’.

“Between Vietnam and India, we do not have any bilateral financial agreement but between ASEAN countries and India, we have a free trade agreement already. We have to make use of the agreement between India and ASEAN, of which Vietnam is a member.

“I think we should have more promotional activities, more exploration of markets. By visiting you can see what you can buy or sell in Vietnam,” he said.

Stating that Vietnam is “very open” to foreign investments and currently more than 25,000 projects from foreign investors are running there, Thnah said the investment of $1 billion from Indian companies last year is still a small amount and invited more Indian investors to Vietnam.

“Last year we received 13 million foreign tourists. the same number as India. So there are a lot of opportunities of business in terms of trade investment and tourism. We have very liberal trade regulations that interest a lot of foreign investors,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Sushma Swaraj, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discuss bilateral ties

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two leaders discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral ties. Swaraj, who was here on a three-day visit, also conveyed the greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Abe.

“EAM @SushmaSwaraj called on Japanese Prime Minister @AbeShinzo today morning in Tokyo. EAM conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi to PM Abe,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

During the meeting, Abe told Swaraj that the traditional friendship between the India and Japan was characterised by “heart-to-heart” bonds and blessed with a huge potential for growth.

“PM Abe said that India-Japan traditional friendship is characterised by heart-to-heart bonds and blessed with a huge potential for growth,” Kumar tweeted.

Swaraj, who was on her first visit to Japan in the capacity of the External Affairs Minister, had reached Tokyo on Wednesday to attend the ninth India-Japan Strategic Dialogue.

She met her counterpart Taro Kano yesterday and the two leaders reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties.

Describing the meeting as “very productive”, Swaraj said her trip had laid a sound foundation for Modi’s visit to Japan for the next bilateral Annual Summit later this year.

Hours after meeting Abe, Swaraj departed from Tokyo, concluding her first official trip to Japan.

“Sayonara! EAM @SushmaSwaraj departs from Tokyo after her first official visit to Japan for the 9th #IndiaJapan Strategic Dialogue,” Indian Embassy in Tokyo tweeted.

Earlier yesterday, Swaraj met Chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council & former Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

Swaraj also addressed a gathering of Indian diaspora at the Vivekanand Cultural Centre in Tokyo.

According to official figures, Japanese FDI in India during 2016-17 was $4.7 billion, an increase of 80% over the last year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trump to unveil China trade sanctions on Friday

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Donald Trump is likely to unveil sanctions against China tomorrow, the White House indicated today, as the officials from the US Trade Representatives (USTR) said the US has strong evidence of Beijing violating its commitments on intellectual property and technology transfers.

“Tomorrow the president will announce the actions he has decided to take based on USTR’s 301 investigations into China’s state-led, market-distorting efforts to force, pressure and steal US technologies and intellectual property,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said today.

US President @realDonaldTrump is set to announce sanctions on China after IP probe. @Manisha3005 with details https://t.co/ycPggGDE25

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) March 22, 2018

Officials, however, refrained from giving any further details even as USTR submitted its Section 301 report on its investigation into “unfair” Chinese trade practices to the president.

Tariffs and a potential WTO case are certainly on the table, a USTR official told reporters during a briefing on Section 301 investigation report.

The administration, according to the official, is not satisfied with the type of responses the United States has been getting from China.

“We have strong evidence against China. These are deeply concerning to the administration and raise severe questions about China and its commitment to market-oriented practices that they promised to engage in,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The USTR looked into four types of allegations: charges that China is putting pressure on companies to enter into joint ventures where they would transfer their technology to a Chinese company; US companies do not have the same ability to license their IP as a Chinese company; whether or not china is using state funds to purchase IP in the US; concerns that China was involved in intruding into US commercial networks for commercial gains.

Responding to a question, the official said not every bad trade action violates the WTO.

“It’s difficult to use the WTO that involves the informal pressure stakeholders have complained about. The idea that you can take this to the WTO isn’t practical. To the extent we can get at these things at the WTO, we will do so. We’re pursuing a number of cases against them right now. We’ll use it where we can but we can’t use it to address everything,” the official said.

The administration does not think that China’s commitments have been fulfilled.

Noting that the US has tried dialogue with China, the official said the administration hasn’t turned its back on these conversations.

“All of us need to be aware of the history. It does raise a question about the history of the dialogue. That is something policymakers will have to take into account. The administration has been clear that China presents unique challenges. The principles recognise the gravity of the situation,” the official said.

Tariffs are a potential legal option, the official said, adding that a potential WTO case is another outcome.

The administration is investigating whether China is using State funds to get into the US market and buying IP.

The US has a massive USD 500 billion trade deficit with China.

From the very beginning of his presidential campaign and now as the president, Trump has been seeking to reduce this trade deficit, which he thinks is against America’s national security interest, killing jobs in the US and hurting its economy.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow