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California has paused rebate programs offering thousands of dollars to consumers who make their homes and appliances more energy efficient due to a Trump administration freeze on federal funding.

Rising price pressures could be worsened by a trade war, triggered by President Donald Trump's new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, which took effect on Tuesday, along with a doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20%. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Wednesday its nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) climbed to 53.5 last month from 52.8 in January. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the services PMI dipping to 52.6.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BEIJING : As President Trump ratchets up the political and economic pressure on China, Beijing has responded with a clear message: China will resist U.S. efforts to constrain its rise.

post-Budget webinar on employment. PM Modi underscored the importance of investing in people, the economy, and innovation, describing these themes as central to India's roadmap for becoming a developed nation. «Investing in people, economy and innovation is a theme that defines the roadmap for a developed India. You can see its impact on a large scale in this year's Budget. Therefore, this Budget has emerged as a blueprint for India's future,» said PM Modi, emphasising that the Budget has given equal priority to infrastructure, industries, and human capital.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. What do Rachel Reeves, Javier Milei and Elon Musk have in common? All are preaching the gospel of austerity as a necessary cure for what ails their respective economies. Hence, Reeves, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, has tightened rules for government spending and investment, despite the fact that fiscal constriction has been a major cause of the country’s problems over the past 15 years.

Indian rupee gained on Wednesday on broad-based interbank dollar sales and after the central bank's firm defence of 87.40-87.50 levels in recent sessions helped keep a lid on speculative bets against the currency. The rupee was at 87.1550 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:00 a.m. IST, up 0.1% on the day.

«Still, it remains to be seen if that is what it is or this is actually a new world where we basically have everybody having a tariff barrier and the free trade that we have all grown up with becomes less and less,» says Rajeev Agrawal, DoorDarshi India Fund. I guess all of us are hooked on to Trump's address, waiting to hear if he is going to say anything specific on Canada and Mexico tariffs or not. But how do you think this entire tariff tirade is going to really play out because the chatter in the US as well is tariffs are not good for them either. Rajeev Agrawal: So, no, absolutely, tariffs have created a lot of uncertainty in the whole world and how they will play out. Initially, the expectation was that tariffs is a way for negotiation to ensure that US companies get their fair share when they go into other countries.

Donald Trump's long-threatened tariffs are here, plunging the country into an escalating trade war with China, Canada and Mexico. Trump’s 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico went into effect Tuesday, along with a heightened 20% levy on Chinese goods. In response, all three countries announced retaliatory measures. Experts say consumers and businesses will be the hardest hit. Companies big and small will face higher costs on the goods they buy from other countries — and could have little recourse but to hike prices themselves. For consumers, that will likely mean more expensive price tags on everything from cars, appliances and other big-ticket items to smaller, everyday purchases including electronics, gasoline and groceries.

Anand Tandon, Independent Analyst, says while two lakh people are being added to the IT workforce every year, not that many will get jobs going forward, and some of them will get slowly laid off. Tandon says that the problem is not receiving enough attention and it is not a cyclical issue. It is a structural problem. India needs to find another industry which can grow in the same way. Tandon also says at the end of the day, markets are cyclical and market participants have to realise that. Give us your take on the markets. We are seeing a bit of recovery; the broader markets are also participating in this. What is looking interesting to you right now? Anand Tandon: Yes, the market is looking a little oversold and therefore it is possible that you will get a mild recovery. I would hesitate to rush in to buy though. There are structural problems in the Indian market now, primarily among them the IT sector. You have to remember that for the last two decades, the biggest driver for domestic consumption is actually the number of people who are employed in that sector. That now seems to be behind us.

China on Wednesday set its GDP growth target for 2025 at «around 5%» and laid out stimulus measures to boost its economy amid escalating trade tensions with the U.S.

trade tensions, Swaminathan Aiyar, Consulting Editor at ET Now Swaminathan Aiyar has downplayed concerns over the direct impact of U.S. tariff plans on India. In an interaction with ET Now, Aiyar asserted that India is «hardly on the radar screen» when it comes to Washington’s trade actions, which are largely aimed at economic heavyweights like Russia, China, and Mexico. While Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s upcoming visit to the U.S. has sparked speculation over potential trade negotiations, Aiyar believes that the scope of such discussions remains limited.

Jim Walker, Chief Economist, Aletheia Capital, says if the US economy begins to slow and which is very likely, then the direction of travel is going to have to change and that really means that he is going to have to back off some of this aggression towards his partners and within his own country. Hopefully by the middle of this year, a lot more sensible decisions will be made and a lot more visibility about where we are going. The underlying fundamentals remain the same. Asia looks pretty good, India looks great, China is recovering, and the real problems lie in the advanced economies in America. Walker said to clients this week that this is the time to absolutely double down on the long in India, go much longer and although we worry about the valuations in the Indian stock market, my view is that economic growth is going to take off from here and those valuations will be quickly supported by corporate earnings. Walker, who had predicted the 2008 crisis, does not think the present situation is like 2008. It will be a pretty painful slowdown, but we can go to the other end of it without the kind of government and central bank action that took place in 2008, 2009.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. One of the most famous quips about India that has long held good is British economist Joan Robinson’s “Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true." A telling example is the contrast between our high position in the world’s GDP league table, where we rank third in terms of purchasing power parity, and our abysmal 119th spot when it comes to per capita income. But one measure on which we have unanimity, even among argumentative Indians, relates to the rapid adoption of digital technology.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Governor Adrian Orr has resigned and will finish in the role on March 31, New Zealand's central bank said on Wednesday. «I leave the role with consumer price inflation at target, and an economy in a cyclical recovery following the long period of COVID-related disruption. The financial system remains sound,» Orr said in a statement. Deputy Governor Christian Hawkesby will be the acting governor until March 31, the statement said.

China is keeping its economic growth target at «around 5%» for 2025 despite a looming trade war with the United States and other headwinds. The target for GDP growth was announced Wednesday in a report being presented by Premier Li Qiang at the opening session of the National People's Congress, the annual meeting of China's legislature. It gives an indication of how ambitious the government is about boosting growth in challenging economic times. The IMF has projected China's economy will grow 4.6% this year, down from 5% in 2024, according to Chinese government statistics.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Early indicators suggest that the US economy is slowing down. This, even before the adverse effect of President Donald Trump’s policies such as additional import tariffs kick-in.

India marking the 20th anniversary of the Bengaluru office for the Wall Street bellweather, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon spoke with ET’s Arijit Barman, emphasizing that the global economy will remain deeply interconnected despite the rising intensity of trade tariff rhetoric. During his brief one-day visit to India where the firm has invested over $8.5 billion, Solomon will stop at the firm’s Bengaluru campus where Goldman Sachs’ technology engineers and quants are driving innovation—developing systems that span from trade execution and risk management to advancing the immersion of AI with their global colleagues throughout the firm.

Trump justifies tariffsTrump has defended the tariffs as necessary for national security and economic growth. "These tariffs will bring back American jobs, protect our industries, and force our trading partners to treat us fairly," he said in a press conference.He accused Canada and Mexico of failing to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl.

It looks like the trade war Canada has been fearing for weeks has arrived.

United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs will “disproportionally affect the less fortunate” economically, says the head of Canada’s largest bank.

United States President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs are expected to come into effect this week, a move that promises to have a wide-ranging impact on the Canadian economy and its relationship with its southern neighbour.