First the tariffs, now the talks – the Trump trade saga continues. Hi, I’m Avni Raja and you’re watching the Hook Business News Wrap for the week.
The week’s top story – US President Donald Trump has said he is reluctant to continue raising tariffs on China. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also stated that China had sought to initiate tariff talks with the United States.
We're going to make a deal... I think we're going to make a very good deal with China.
The statement follows the Trump administration’s decision earlier this week to increase tariffs on Chinese imports to up to 245 per cent. Reacting to the move, China on Thursday reiterated that if the US continues to play the "tariff numbers game", it will pay no attention to it.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also said that its focus is on trade talks with the big 15 economies, including India, first. We are working on the big 15 economies first. We had a fantastic meeting with Japan yesterday. I believe there’s been a call with the EU already. And then we have South Korea coming in next week. And I believe India is also, talking, moving very quickly.
Global markets remained volatile through the week. However, the fluctuations weren’t as sharp as during the first half of the month. In India, the Sensex and the Nifty clocked the biggest weekly gains in two years. The two benchmark indices were up over four per cent each. India is the only major equity market to have recouped the losses triggered by Trump’s 2nd April tariff decision.
Speaking of markets back home, shares of Gensol Engineering tanked this week. Market regulator SEBI has barred the firm and its promoters – Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi – from the securities markets. In its interim order, SEBI said that “prima facie findings have shown mis-utilisation and diversion of funds of the company in a fraudulent manner by its promoter-directors.” This order has also hit cab-hailing service BluSmart, co-founded by the Gensol promoters.
The company has temporarily shut down its operations in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. That’s all the time we have on this edition of our Weekly Business News Wrap. See you next Friday with more.
