27/05/2025

TUESDAY | MAY 27, 2025

8

US wants to make tanks, not T-shirts

India, Canada move to mend ties NEW DELHI: India’s foreign minister said he had spoken to his Canadian counterpart as the two sides seek to ease fraught relations. The telephone call, which took place late on Sunday, is the highest diplomatic contact between Ottawa and New Delhi since Mark Carney became Canadian prime minister in March. Ties between Canada and India were strained following accusations of New Delhi’s involvement in the 2023 murder of a Canadian activist, claims India denied. India’s S. Jaishankar said he had “discussed the prospects of India-Canada ties” with newly appointed Foreign Minister Anita Anand and he had “wished her a very successful tenure”. Anand, whose parents hailed from India, said on X she looked forward to “strengthening Canada-India ties, deepening our economic cooperation, and advancing shared priorities”. Canada is home to many communities with roots in India and nearby countries, and includes activists for a fringe separatist movement seeking an independent state carved out of Indian territory. Ottawa previously accused India of orchestrating the 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalised Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent campaigner, and targeting other activists. India has repeatedly dismissed the allegations, which sent diplomatic relations into free fall, with both nations last year expelling a string of top diplomats. The separatist campaign has been a bitter issue between India and several Western nations. New Delhi demands stricter action against the movement, which is banned in India. Canada will host the G7 summit next month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to attend previous summits since 2019. There are no details as to whether Modi has been invited to Canada. – AFP Sharif thanks Erdogan for support ANKARA: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayip Erdogan on Sunday held talks with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who said he thanked the Turkish leader for his support during Pakistan’s recent military showdown with India. Sharif announced the meeting with Erdogan in a post on X. Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and intelligence agency chief Ibrahim Kalin also attended the meeting. He had “thanked him for his resolute support for Pakistan in the recent Pakistan Indian standoff which resulted in Pakistan’s overwhelming victory”, he said. A Turkish presidency statement said only that the two sides had discussed “cooperation between the two countries in all fields, in particular in energy, transport and defence” as well as information and technology sharing “in the fight against terrorism”. Erdogan’s office said he told Sharif it was in the interest of Turkiye and Pakistan to increase solidarity in education, intelligence sharing and technological support. India and Pakistan agreed a ceasefire two weeks ago after a four-day conflict, in which more than 70 people were killed in cross-border missile, drone and artillery fire. India had blamed Pakistan for a deadly attack in disputed Kashmir. Turkiye had appealed for the two sides to avoid an all-out war. Turkiye and Pakistan have long-standing ties. Ankara also maintains cordial ties with India but after Erdogan’s expression of support for Pakistan, small Indian grocery shops and major online fashion retailers boycotted Turkish products. – AFP/Reuters

o Trump targets technology products

his harsh trade rhetoric on Friday when he pushed for a 50% tariff on European Union goods starting June 1 and warned Apple he may impose a 25% levy on all imported iPhones bought by US consumers. But he dialled back on the EU threat on Sunday, extending a deadline for those tariffs until July 9 to allow for talks between Washington and the 27-nation bloc. Trump won the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections in part by appealing to working class voters hurt by the loss of US manufacturing jobs over many years. He has sought to make good on his promises to boost manufacturing with import tariffs and heralding investments by companies and foreign nations into the United States, even as the US economy remains dependent on supply chains with other countries where many goods, including textiles, are produced less expensively. – Reuters

want to make, do the AI thing,” Trump said. “I’m not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest. I’m not looking to make socks. We can do that very well in other locations. We are looking to do chips and computers and lots of other things, and tanks and ships.” The American Apparel and Footwear Association said in response to Trump’s remarks that tariffs were not good for the industry. “With 97% of the clothes and shoes we wear being imported, and with clothes and shoes already the most highly tariffed industry in the US, we need to focus on common sense solutions that can move the needle,” AAPA President Steve Lamar said in a statement. “More tariffs will only mean higher input costs for US manufacturers and higher prices that will hurt lower income consumers.” Trump, who has upended world markets with the broad imposition of tariffs, revived

MORRISTOWN (New Jersey): President Donald Trump said on Sunday his tariff policy was aimed at promoting the domestic manufacturing of tanks and technology products, not sneakers and T-shirts. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One in New Jersey, Trump said he agreed with comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 29 that the US does not necessarily need a “booming textile industry” – comments that drew criticism from the National Council of Textile Organisations. “We’re not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts. We want to make military equipment. We want to make big things. We

An Indian motorist throws caution to the wind and plunges his car through a partially submerged Mumbai street yesterday. – AFPPIC

Monsoon lashes Mumbai as rains arrive early MUMBAI: Lashing rains swamped India’s financial capital Mumbai yesterday as the annual monsoon arrived some two weeks earlier than usual, according to weather forecasters. The IMD said in a statement that the rains had advanced to Mumbai yesterday, “16 days earlier than usual”, with rains usually expected around June 11, the earliest for nearly a quarter century.

breeze that brings South Asia 70-80% of its annual rainfall between June and September every year. It occurs when summer heat warms the landmass of the subcontinent, causing the air to rise and sucking in cooler Indian Ocean winds which then produce enormous volumes of rain. The monsoon is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and for food security. But it brings destruction every year in landslides and floods. In India, the southwest monsoon normally arrives on the southern tip at Kerala around June 1, and moves north to cover the country by early July. The rains typically reach Maharashtra around June 7. – AFP

“This marks the earliest monsoon advancement over Mumbai during the period 2001-2025,” it said. Across the wider state of Maharashtra, IMD weather chief in the region Shubhangi Bhute said it was the earliest the rains had arrived for 14 years. South Asia is getting hotter and in recent years has seen shifting weather patterns, but scientists are unclear on how exactly solar cycles are affecting the highly complex monsoon. The southwest monsoon is a colossal sea

Heavy rains, cooling temperatures – welcomed by farmers for their crops but which cause havoc each year in cities by flooding transport infrastructure – are normally expected in the southwestern state of Maharashtra in early June. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of “extremely heavy rainfall” in Mumbai and the city authorities said a red alert had been issued. “All citizens are advised to stay indoors and avoid travel unless necessary” city authorities said, urging people to “kindly cooperate”.