US President Donald Trump is rewriting the rules of global trade and its making the world jittery.
The top story this week - Donald Trump has signed an order imposing a 25% tariff on imports of automobiles and certain auto parts to the United States. The order covers passenger vehicles, including saloons, SUVs, crossovers, minibuses, cargo vans, and light trucks. It also covers key automobile parts, such as engines, transmissions, powertrain parts, and electrical components. Announcing the move, Trump expressed confidence that it will continue to spur growth in the United States quote “like people haven't seen before" unquote. The White House is confident that the order will lead to 100 billion dollars in additional revenue for the US annually.
Talking about Trump’s tariff push, the world is also bracing for the 2nd April deadline when the United States enforces its reciprocal – or tit-for-tat – tariff regime. As we count down to the new tariff regime, a Reuters report says that India is open to cutting tariffs on more than half of US imports worth 23 billion dollars. The report, which quoted government sources, says the cuts could be part of the first phase of a trade deal the two nations are negotiating. The move, sources added, was aimed at mitigating the impact of Trump's reciprocal tariffs. While India hasn’t officially talked about tariff cuts, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the two sides were engaged in very active and intense trade talks at this point in time. S Jaishankar said, "On trade, we had a very open discussion, and the result of that discussion was that the Prime Minister (Modi) and President Trump agreed that we would conclude a, you rightly said, not a free trade agreement but a bilateral trade agreement by autumn this year. That is what is currently under discussion".
Switching gears to the auto sector – and this one’s about a rivalry which hasn’t played out to the expectations of Tesla chief Elon Musk. Chinese electric vehicles giant BYD is now the world’s largest EV maker, with $107 billion in revenue in 2024. It has outpaced its American rival Tesla, which clocked less than 100 billion dollars during the year. This comes just days after BYD showcased its new battery technology. Called Super e-Platform, this new technology allows cars to achieve 400 kilometres of range with just five minutes of charging.
Staying with the auto sector, and here’s the big headline from India. Maybachs are flying off the shelves in the Indian market. Sales of these ultra-luxury cars, which are priced at at least ₹3 crore each, have more than doubled in a year. The company has reported the sale of over 500 cars in India in 2024, clocking a 145% growth in a year. This also translates to around 10 Maybachs sold in India every week. What makes it interesting is that the carmaker has its youngest set of customers globally in India. Speaking to the Times of India, the company’s global head Daniel Lescow revealed that the average age of Maybach’s Indian customer is 38 years.
From luxury car rides to ride-hailing – the Indian government is planning to soon launch a cooperative-run app for ride hailing. Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah has informed Parliament that in a few months the government will start a service which will allow the registration of two-wheelers, taxis, rickshaws and four-wheelers. Shah added that the profit from the platform will go directly to the driver.
And before we wrap up, here's a quick market update. Indian equities closed flat for the week, but ended higher for the second consecutive financial year. Both the benchmark indices, the Sensex and the Nifty rose over five percent each during financial year 2025.
That’s all the time we have on this edition of Business News Wrap. We will be back next Friday with more.
