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Trump: Nothing Canada, Mexico or China can do to delay Feb 1 tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would impose hefty new tariffs of 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% on imports from China, and nothing could be done by the three countries to forestall them.
Trump did, however, reference a potential carve out for oil from Canada, saying that rate would be 10% versus the 25% planned for other goods from the United States’ northern neighbor. But he indicated wider tariffs on oil and natural gas would be coming in mid-February, remarks that sent oil prices higher.

A drone view shows trucks waiting in line at the Zaragoza-Ysleta border crossing bridge to cross into the U.S., as new tariffs are expected soon from U.S. President Donald Trump, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 31, 2025. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez Purchase Licensing Rights

Trump has been threatening the tariffs for weeks, saying they would be imposed on Feb. 1 and remain in place until the countries did more to stem the flow of both migrants and fentanyl over the U.S. border.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office as he was signing executive orders, Trump said he understood the duties could result in higher costs being passed on to consumers and acknowledged his actions may cause disruptions in the short term. Most economists estimate such sweeping import taxes, and the likely retaliation, would disrupt economic activity around the globe.

Asked if there was any opportunity at this stage for the three top U.S. trading partners to win a delay, Trump said: “No, no. Not right now, no.”
He brushed away the notion his threats for levies have been a bargaining tool. “No, it’s not … we have big (trade) deficits with, as you know, with all three of them.”
“It’s something we’re doing, and we’ll possibly very substantially increase it, or not, we’ll see how it is,” Trump said. “But it’s a lot of money coming to the United States.”

And more tariffs are on the way, the Republican president said, saying import taxes were being considered on European goods as well as on steel, aluminum and copper, and on drugs and semiconductors.
“We’re going to be putting tariffs on steel and aluminum, and ultimately copper. Copper will take a little longer,” he said.
Financial markets have been whipsawed by the rapid-fire but still not fully clear developments on Trump’s tariff plans, with currency trading showing particular volatility. The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso both weakened while Treasury bond yields rose, and stocks ended the day lower.
Still, he said he was not concerned about the reaction of financial markets to his plans to impose tariffs.
“The President will be implementing tomorrow 25% tariffs on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing.
Leavitt said details of the tariffs will be released sometime on Saturday.

When Trump imposed punitive duties on Chinese goods in 2018 and 2019, there was typically a lag of two to three weeks for Customs and Border Protection to begin collecting tariffs, due to computer system updates and notices required for importers.
Trump traveled late on Friday to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, saying he would work all weekend there. He was joined on the flight by his commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, who Trump has designated as his trade policy chief.
MAJOR DISRUPTION
Economists and business executives have warned the tariffs would spark increases in the prices of imports such as aluminum and lumber from Canada, as well as fruits, vegetables, beer and electronics from Mexico and motor vehicles from both countries.
Trump again spoke of collecting hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues from other countries, but economists generally say tariffs are paid by firms that import goods and pass the costs on to consumers or accept lower profits.
“President Trump’s tariffs will tax America first,” said Matthew Holmes, public policy chief at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “From higher costs at the pumps, grocery stores and online checkout, tariffs cascade through the economy and end up hurting consumers and businesses on both sides of the border.”
Trump’s move is expected to draw retaliatory tariffs, potentially disrupting more than $2.1 trillion in annual two-way U.S. trade with the three trading partners.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said Canada would immediately respond with forceful countermeasures, adding Canadians could be “facing difficult times in the coming days and weeks.”
Canada has drawn up detailed targets for immediate tariff retaliation, including duties on Florida orange juice, a source familiar with the plan said. Canada has a broader list of targets that could reach C$150 billion ($105 billion) worth of U.S. imports, but would hold public consultations before acting, the source said.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/north-america-braces-new-trump-tariffs-saturday-deadline-nears-2025-01-31/

Union Budget 2025 Updates: Cabinet Approves Budget, Nirmala Sitharaman To Start Speech At 11 AM

Union Budget 2025 Updates: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present a record eighth consecutive budget, which is expected to contain measures that ease the burden on the middle class struggling with high prices and stagnant wage growth while being fiscally prudent.

As per the Economic Survey tabled on Friday, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.3-6.8 percent in 2025-26. While India will need structural reforms and deregulation to reinforce medium-term growth potential, investment activity is expected to pick up.

Ahead of the Budget, President Droupadi Murmu addressed a joint sitting of Parliament where she said the government has worked with strong determination to lift the economy out of the state of “policy paralysis” despite global concerns such as aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic and war-related uncertainties.

During the Budget Session, sixteen bills, including the Finance Bill 2025, amendments to the Waqf and Banking Regulations Act, and the merging of the Indian Railways and Indian Railways Board Acts, will be tabled.

Here are the Updates of Union Budget 2025:

What Changes Do Economists Suggest For Salaried Taxpayers

Every Budget season, the most-asked question remains the same – does it have anything for the salaried class? With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set to present Budget 2025-26 on February 1, the salaried class is again looking out if the government has any plans to reduce their financial burden.

Economists have suggested that the government this time offer a higher tax exemption limit and an increased standard deduction under the new tax regime, which would benefit a lot of taxpayers. In the last Budget, the standard deduction was increased to Rs 75,000 from Rs 50,000 while the exemption limit stands at Rs 3 lakh under the new regime.

5 Union Budgets That Left A Lasting Impact On Indian Economy

Introduction of wealth tax in the 1957-58 Budget

The 1957-58 Budget, presented by Finance Minister TT Krishnamachari, introduced a landmark reform – the wealth tax. For the first time, individuals were taxed on the value of their personal assets. The shift marked a new approach to taxation, aimed at reducing economic inequality by taxing the wealthy. The wealth tax remained in place for decades before it was scrapped in 2015.

The ‘Black Budget’ of 1973-74

The 1973-74 Budget, presented by Yashwantrao B Chavan, is remembered as the “Black Budget” for its staggering fiscal deficit of Rs 550 crore. India was grappling with serious economic challenges, including rising oil prices and food shortages. The Budget laid bare the country’s economic difficulties, and it was a precursor to the political and economic turbulence that followed, including the declaration of the Emergency in 1975.

Feb 01, 2025 10:47

Core Team Behind Budget 2025-26

Nirmala Sitharaman has been supported by a skilled team of experts, each playing a crucial role in shaping the economic roadmap.

Here are the key figures behind the Budget-making process:

Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Adviser
Manoj Govil, Expenditure Secretary
Ajay Seth, Economic Affairs Secretary
Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Finance and Revenue Secretary
Arunish Chawla, DIPAM Secretary
M Nagaraju, Financial Services Secretary

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/business-news/union-budget-2025-live-updates-finance-minister-nirmala-sitharaman-economy-finance-income-tax-7602433

Earth’s inner core rotation slows down and reverses direction. What does this mean for the planet?

(Image by DestinaDesign on Shutterstock)

Earth’s inner core, a solid iron sphere nestled deep within our planet, has slowed its rotation, according to new research. Scientists from the University of Southern California say their discovering challenges previous notions about the inner core’s behavior and raises intriguing questions about its influence on Earth’s dynamics.

The inner core, a mysterious realm located nearly 3,000 miles beneath our feet, has long been known to rotate independently of the Earth’s surface. Scientists have spent decades studying this phenomenon, believing it to play a crucial role in generating our planet’s magnetic field and shaping the convection patterns in the liquid outer core. Until now, it was widely accepted that the inner core was gradually spinning faster than the rest of the Earth, a process known as super-rotation. However, this latest study, published in the journal Nature, reveals a surprising twist in this narrative.

“When I first saw the seismograms that hinted at this change, I was stumped,” says John Vidale, Dean’s Professor of Earth Sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, in a statement. “But when we found two dozen more observations signaling the same pattern, the result was inescapable. The inner core had slowed down for the first time in many decades. Other scientists have recently argued for similar and different models, but our latest study provides the most convincing resolution.”

Slowing Spin, Reversing Rhythm
By analyzing seismic waves generated by repeating earthquakes in the South Sandwich Islands from 1991 to 2023, the researchers discovered that the inner core’s rotation had not only slowed down but had actually reversed direction. The team focused on a specific type of seismic wave called PKIKP, which traverses the inner core and is recorded by seismic arrays in northern North America. By comparing the waveforms of these waves from 143 pairs of repeating earthquakes, they noticed a peculiar pattern.

Many of the earthquake pairs exhibited seismic waveforms that changed over time, but remarkably, they later reverted to match their earlier counterparts. This observation suggests that the inner core, after a period of super-rotation from 2003 to 2008, had begun to sub-rotate, or spin more slowly than the Earth’s surface, essentially retracing its previous path. The researchers found that from 2008 to 2023, the inner core sub-rotated two to three times more slowly than its prior super-rotation.

The inner core began to decrease its speed around 2010, moving slower than the Earth’s surface. (Credit: USC Graphic/Edward Sotelo)

The study’s findings paint a captivating picture of the inner core’s rotational dynamics. The matching waveforms observed in numerous earthquake pairs indicate moments when the inner core returned to positions it had occupied in the past, relative to the mantle. This pattern, combined with insights from previous studies, reveals that the inner core’s rotation is far more complex than a simple, steady super-rotation.

The researchers discovered that the inner core’s super-rotation from 2003 to 2008 was faster than its subsequent sub-rotation, suggesting an asymmetry in its behavior. This difference in rotational rates implies that the interactions between the inner core, outer core, and mantle are more intricate than previously thought.

Limitations: Pieces Of The Core Puzzle
While the study offers compelling evidence for the inner core’s slowing and reversing rotation, the study of course has some limitations. The spatial coverage of the seismic data is relatively sparse, particularly in the North Atlantic, due to the presence of chert layers that hindered continuous coring. Furthermore, the Earth system model used in the study, despite its sophistication, is still a simplified representation of the complex dynamics at play.

The authors emphasize the need for additional high-resolution data from a broader range of locations to strengthen their findings. They also call for ongoing refinement of Earth system models to better capture the intricacies of the inner core’s behavior and its interactions with the outer core and mantle.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/earth-inner-core-rotation-slows/

A clean water crisis could endanger billions by 2100

Clean water is essential for the survival of all people on Earth. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to clean water, and many more don’t even have access to any water at all. Now, a new study is warning that this crisis could soon get much worse.

Researchers at Utrecht University note that roughly 55 percent of the global population currently lives in regions that lack clean water for at least one month per year. Their projections find that this number will soon rise to 66 percent by the year 2100. Simply put, as conditions worsen around the globe, two in three people won’t have a dependable source of water all year long.

What’s driving these life-threatening changes? According to the study published in Nature Climate Change, socioeconomic and current climate trends will continue to make life harder for people, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.

“Climate change and socioeconomic developments have multi-faceted impacts on the availability and quality of, and demands for, water resources in the future,” says lead author Dr. Edward Jones in a media release. “Changes in these three aspects are crucial for evaluating future water scarcity.”

The team’s state-of-the-art water quantity and quality model projects that global water scarcity will continue to increase throughout the 21st century. However, these changes won’t occur evenly throughout the world. In Western Europe and North America, water scarcity will likely make things harder for people a few months per year. In developing countries, however, the problem will likely affect more people over a longer period of time each year, according to the team’s projections.

“Increases in future exposure are largest in the Global South. These are typically driven by a combination of rapid population and economic growth, climate change and deteriorating water quality,” Jones explains.

Researchers at Utrecht University note that roughly 55 percent of the global population currently lives in regions that lack clean water for at least one month per year. (pexels.com)

Although it may sound strange, quality has become a forgotten factor in recent fears about water availability. Dr. Jones explains that many studies on water scarcity only focus on the amount of drinking water people have available to them — not the actual quality of that water.

“Previous assessments still predominantly focus on water quantity aspects only,” Jones notes. “Yet, the safe use of water also depends on the quality.”

Here are just a few of the dangerous consequences of drinking dirty water:

Waterborne Diseases: Dirty water can contain pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, leading to diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, and giardiasis.
Diarrheal Diseases: Contaminated water is a leading cause of diarrhea, which can be particularly dangerous for children and the elderly, leading to severe dehydration and even death.
Hepatitis A: This liver infection is caused by a virus that can be transmitted through contaminated water.
Intestinal Parasites: Water that has not been properly treated can host parasites, such as hookworms and roundworms, which can cause a range of gastrointestinal problems.
Chemical Poisoning: Dirty water may also contain toxic chemicals from industrial waste, agricultural runoff, or natural sources, leading to acute poisoning or long-term health issues like cancer and organ damage.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/clean-water-crisis-2100/