Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday summary of international business and politics news from overnight.
First up, the United States and India have reached a trade agreement that cuts tariffs on Indian goods and eases tensions between the two countries.
US President Donald Trump said he would lower the 25% tariff on Indian goods to 18% after Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil, Bloomberg reported.
“Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%,” Trump said.
“Our amazing relationship with India will be even stronger going forward.”
Meanwhile, Trump is set to launch a strategic minerals stockpile as the US attempted to break China's grip on the mining and supply of key resources, the ABC and Reuters reported.
China represents about 70% of the world's rare earths mining and 90% of global rare earths processing.
Elsewhere, CNN reported that the backlash against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has gone international after Capgemini, a French consulting and information technology company, said it would sell a US division that does business with ICE.
Anti-ICE marches were held in several major US cities over the weekend in response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, which has resulted in the fatal shootings of two US citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
In earnings news, Disney reported solid quarterly revenue helped by its theme parks, resorts, and cruises division. The ‘experiences unit’ reported more than US$10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, CNBC reported.
Overall, revenue was nearly US$26b, up 5% on the same quarter last year. Disney’s outlook for 2026 was bullish on earnings growth, while its streaming unit – which included Disney+ and Hulu – could generate about US$500 million in operating income in the second quarter.
Catching up on the markets, gold and silver prices continued to fall after a hefty decline last week knocked the precious metals off record highs, the BBC reported.
Spot gold prices fell nearly 10% at one point while silver slumped by 15% before both metals recovered some ground. Prices had hit fresh records in January as investors sought safe haven assets because of geopolitical uncertainty.
For context, despite the sharp falls, the price of gold had only fallen back to where it was a couple of weeks ago and was still about 70% higher than the same time last year, the BBC said.
On Wall Street, stocks rose as investors looked past the recent losses in silver and Bitcoin. Earlier, the Dow Jones was up over 1%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.7%.
Bitcoin dropped below US$80,000 for the first time since April, a sign investors were taking more risk off the table, CNBC reported.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ordered an urgent inquiry into the ties between London's former ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, and the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer also believes Lord Mandelson should be stripped of his title as a lord and no longer sit in the upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, the AFP and ABC reported.
The review followed newly released US documents that showed Mandelson's close connection to the disgraced financier.
Finally, China has banned concealed door handles on electric vehicles, requiring cars to have mechanical release both on the inside and outside. The new safety rules take effect from January 2027, Bloomberg reported.
The decision followed several incidents where power failures were suspected to have prevented doors from opening. It could have broader ramifications to other automotive markets to improve global safety standards.
Tesla’s doors were already the target of a safety probe in the US, while European regulators were assessing new rules, Bloomberg said.
