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US Trade Deals
The European Union is willing to implement a sweeping free trade agreement with the Mercosur group of South American countries on a provisional basis, the head of the EU's executive commission said Friday, despite a vote by the EU parliament to delay ratification for legal review. The EU would be ready to act as soon as at least one Mercosur country ratifies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the conclusion of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, where several national leaders raised the issue. "There is a clear interest that we ensure that the benefits of this agreement apply as soon as possible," von der Leyen said at a news conference. "In short, we will be ready when they are ready." No formal decision to implement the deal had been taken yet, she said. At the same news conference, Antonio Costa, head of the EU council of member governments, said the executive commission had the authority to move ahead on interim implementation. A decision to do that is
The United States and Taiwan reached a trade deal on Thursday that cuts tariffs on Taiwanese goods in exchange for USD 250 billion in new investments in the US tech industry. The deal is the latest President Donald Trump has struck such as those with the European Union and Japan since he unveiled a sweeping tariff plan last April to address trade imbalances. Trump also has a one-year trade truce with China to stabilise ties with the world's second largest economy. Trump initially set the tariff at 32 per cent on Taiwanese goods but later changed it to 20 per cent. The new agreement slashes the tariff rate to 15 per cent, the same as levied on other US trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region such as Japan and South Korea. In a statement, the US Department of Commerce said the deal with Taiwan would establish an economic partnership to create several world-class US-based industrial parks in order to help build up domestic production. The department described it as "a historic ..
Union Minister for Railway, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, participated in the Critical Minerals Ministerial meeting hosted by United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday (local time).Bessent convened a meeting of Finance Ministers at the United States Treasury to discuss solutions to secure and diversify supply chains for critical minerals, especially rare earth elements.In a post on X, the Secretary of the Treasury wrote, "At today's Finance Ministerial hosted by the @USTreasury, I was pleased to hear a strong, shared desire to quickly address key vulnerabilities in critical minerals supply chains. I am optimistic that nations will pursue prudent derisking over decoupling and understand well the need for decisive action."According to the US Department of Treasury, participants in the Ministerial included Treasurer of Australia, Jim Chalmers; Minister of Finance of Canada, Francois-Philippe Champagne; European
A team of officials from the US is expected to visit India next week for talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, sources said on Thursday. The visit is crucial as India and the US are working to finalise the first tranche of the pact. "The team is likely to come next week. Dates are being finalised, and discussions are on," said one of the sources. This visit of the US officials would be the second after the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff and an additional 25 per cent penalty on Indian goods entering the American market for buying Russian crude oil. Earlier, the team had visited on September 16. On September 22, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also led an official delegation to the US for trade talks. He was accompanied by the then special secretary in the ministry, Rajesh Agrawal and other officials. Agrawal is now India's commerce secretary. The USA's Chief Negotiator for the pact is Brendan Lynch. The next week's visit would be important as Agrawal h