India’s tariffs ‘immensely high’: White House

US President Donald Trumprsquos top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday that India has ldquoenormously highrdquo tariffs that lock out imports and that Indiarsquos prime minister had a lot to discuss with Trump when the two leaders meetTrump believes the US should impose reciprocal tariffs that are at least equal to those imposed by other countries Hassett said adding ldquoIf they go down wersquoll go downrdquoldquoAlmost every trading partner has much higher tariffs than we dordquo he said noting that Canada Mexico and Britain had tariffs in the same range as the USAs per news reports on Monday Indian PM Narendra Modi is preparing additional tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors from electronics to medical equipment and chemicals ahead of a twoday visit to Washington which begins on WednesdayTrump has previously called India a ldquovery big abuserrdquo on trade and urged it to buy more Americanmade equipmentlsquoGulf of America DayrsquoUS President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation recognising February 9 as ldquothe firstever Gulf of America Dayrdquo after a recent executive order by him to rename the Gulf of Mexico ldquoWe are flying right over it right nowrdquo Trump said sitting aboard Air Force One with a pen in his hand ldquoSo we thought this would be appropriate Today I am making my first visit to the Gulf of America since its renamingrdquo he said on Sunday on his way to the Super Bowl in New Orleans which sits on the gulfMore import dutiesPresident Trump said the US will impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports including from Canada and Mexico as well as other import duties later in the week He also reaffirmed that he would announce ldquoreciprocal tariffsrdquo on Tuesday or Wednesday meaning that the US would impose import duties on products in cases where another country has levied duties on US goodsGlobal markets affectedFinancial markets fell after Trump first said he would impose the reciprocal tariffs Stock prices also dropped after a measure of consumer sentiment declined on Friday A survey found that Americans are expecting inflation to tick up in the coming months because of the dutiesTrumprsquos remarks stirred immediate worry from some global trading partners South Korearsquos acting president Choi Sangmok called a meeting with the countryrsquos top foreign policy and trade officials on Monday to examine how Trumprsquos proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum would affect its industriesOfficials discussed the potential impact and Seoulrsquos possible responses but specific details of the meeting were not disclosed The stock prices of major South Korean steelmakers including POSCO and Hyundai Steel dropped as the market opened on MondayGlobal shares were trading mixed on Monday Francersquos CAC 40 edged up 02 per cent in early trading to 798829 while Germanyrsquos DAX rose 03 per cent to 2181779 Britainrsquos FTSE 100 added 04 per cent to 873898 US shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures rising 02 per cent to 4450700 SP 500 futures gained 03 per cent to 606750In Asia Japanrsquos benchmark Nikkei 225 finished little changed rising less than 01 per cent to 3880117 In currency trading the US dollar rose to 15241 Japanese yen from 15139 yen The euro cost 10321 down from 10328 Technology shares were among the gainers as hopes grew for Chinese stimulus measures China is retaliating with tariffs on select American imports and has announced an antitrust investigation into GooglePenny production stoppedTrump announced that Washington DC will stop minting pennies citing their high production cost which exceeds their face value and termed the practice ldquowastefulrdquo On January 22 a post from the official Elon Musk led Department of Governmental Efficiency on X said ldquoThe penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over 179 million in FY2023 The Mint produced over 45 billion pennies in FY23 around 40 per cent of the 114 billion coins for circulation producedrdquoAgencies45bnAmount of US pennies minted in FY23This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever