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NEW YORK: Leading economists have reacted sharply to Trump's reciprocal tariffs on 180 countries allegedly feeding off America’s economy for years and weakening its GDP growth. They warned the tariffs could destabilize global markets, disrupt trade and ultimately increase costs for U.S. businesses and consumers.

Passage of Waqf Bill in the both houses of the Parliament of India has immediately created political ripples that was felt across India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and from Gujarat to Assam. Political parties on both sides – INDIA bloc and BJP led NDA – are trying to derive maximum political mileage out of it, but both sides will have also to readjust themselves to the new challenges that is likely to emerge.

The challenge for both China and India, which have the world’s largest number of mouths to feed, is to ensure that further land degradation does not happen and the barren land is progressively recovered for farming. The two countries in their own ways remain engaged in the task even while China has an edge over its neighbour in wasteland recovery. Beijing continues to invest heavily in restoring barren and degraded land for farming, primarily through programmes like the “grain for green” involving financial rewards for farmers to plant trees. Such initiatives results in significant improvements in soil health. Whatever that is, bringing new land for agricultural use is a slow process as urbanisation, infrastructure development and building of industries will continue to lay claim on land.

NEW YORK: On April 2, Donald Trump announced what amounts to a dramatic escalation of the trade war initiated during his first term. Addressing a crowd of auto union workers at a Rose Garden event at the White House, the president revealed the details of his plan to reset the United States’ relationship with its trading partners, framing his tariffs as a “declaration of economic independence.”

The true story is buried in the creases and folds of the Janata Dal (U) and the Telugu Desam Party. What coerced them to dump their loyal Muslim vote-banks and align with the "Muslim-hating" Bharatiya Janata Party in amending the Waqf bill? There is no guarantee Muslims (even the Pasmanda!) will hereafter, after the passage of the amended Act, vote for the BJP (and its allies!) in a sense of gratitude. Also, why weren't these Muslims voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the first place?

WASHINGTON D.C.: Just a sampling of headlines on the first day of the USA’s new “Golden Age” serves to illustrate the chaos and uncertainty – along with the ridiculousness and absurdity – of President Donald Trump’s post-globalization world.

“Hindi and all Indian languages strengthen each other. There should be no attempts to divide the nation in the name of language,” said BJP’s senior leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on March 29. The quote came only after refusing to release the educational assistance to the Tamil Nadu government because of the state’s failure to implement the three-language formula. The sermon was a caution against the coming suppressive steps. The Centre’s educational assistance to Tamil Nadu is part of the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. The five southern states have been repeatedly complaining that they have been contributing nearly 29 percent of the central government’s tax revenue but only get 15 percent of its resources.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known globally as Lula has launched a major initiative to meet the U.S. President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariff offensive by joining hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, apart from taking assistance from South Africa and a few other left wing governments of Latin America.

From politicians to economists to the humble stock traders, nobody could really believe it will come to pass. Worse, in fact, it should be as bad as it turned out in reality.

President Donald Trump in his pursuit of making America great again (MAGA) has launched a fusillade of indefensible tariff measures upsetting the multilateral trading system. While this Trump campaign will prove hurtful for countries across the board – allies and those perceived as not friendly – the revised tariff has enhanced further the resolve of China to achieve food security whatever the cost, progressively reduce dependence on imports of agricultural products and diversify sources of imports, meaning actually buying less and less from the US. The aggressive pursuit of these goals will perforce negatively impact the US farm sector, for China is a significant buyer of a number of agricultural products from soybean to coarse grains, excluding corn, to cotton to tree nuts. China is also a major market for the US origin beef, pork and dairy products.