Category: 2. World

Last Updated:September 03, 2025, 14:01 IST

Harley’s, with average price of Rs 5 lakh–Rs 50 lakh, was forced to exit due to low demand and business unviability, as India’s two-wheeler market is dominated by affordable bikes

Using Harley-Davidson as a test case, Trump said it faced a 200 per cent tariff on its motorcycles in India and in a bid to avoid paying duties, ultimately set up a plant in the country. (Reuters)

A new day, but the same old diatribe from Donald Trump. The United States President yet again accused India of exploiting America through unfair trade practices, claiming the relationship was “one-sided” and stacked against the US.

Trump, who has missed no opportunity to justify his 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, said India imposed some of the highest tariffs in the world, making it difficult for American companies to conduct business even as Indian goods flowed freely into the US market.

Using Harley-Davidson as a test case, Trump said it faced a 200 per cent tariff on its motorcycles in India and in a bid to avoid paying duties, ultimately set up a plant in the country.

However, facts and numbers tell a very different story of robust, balanced, and increasingly strategic trade between India and the United States. Here’s a breakdown of Trump’s claims versus reality.

Claim 1: “Harley-Davidson couldn’t sell in India due to 200 per cent tariffs.”

Reality: Harley-Davidson’s exit had little to do with tariffs. Large imported motorcycles did face tariffs of 50-100 per cent, sometimes cited as “200 per cent” depending on the model and import route. However, under Trump’s own presidency (2018), India reduced tariffs on high-end motorcycles from 100 per cent to 50 per cent after US pressure. Despite the cut, Trump continued to claim India was “cheating”.

While Harley tried mitigating tariffs by setting up a manufacturing plant in Haryana, the company exited India in 2020 due to low consumer demand in a market dominated by affordable two-wheelers.

India is the world’s largest two-wheeler market, dominated by affordable bikes such as Hero, Bajaj, and Honda. Harley’s average price was Rs 5 lakh–Rs 50 lakh, way beyond the reach of most Indian buyers. In 2011, when it set up the Haryana plant, even then Harley sold less than 3,000 units a year (tiny in a 20-million-bikes market), forcing it to exit citing low demand and business unviability, not tariffs.

Essentially, Harley’s failure was due to market mismatch and not a trade war.

Claim 2: “India poured everything into the US; America sent nothing back.”

Reality: US exports to India are not only robust, but growing. In 2023, US exports to India crossed $70 billion, led by oil, defence hardware, aircraft, and technology. India is among the largest buyers of US defence equipment, including Apache helicopters, Boeing aircraft, and GE engines.

American giants—Apple, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, GE—have expanded their footprint in India, contributing billions in investments.

Claim 3: “India flooded the US market.”

Reality: India’s share of US imports remains small compared to China. While India makes up 2.5 per cent of total US imports, China’s figure stands at 17 per cent. Far from “flooding” the US, India is still an emerging supplier, while China dominates the US import basket.

Beyond Tariffs: The Bigger Strategic Lens

The tariff debate ignores the true depth of India-US ties, which extend far beyond trade disputes.

Education & Students: Over 2,50,000 Indian students in US universities contribute nearly $25 billion annually to the American economy.

Technology & Services: US tech giants like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft generate $15–20 billion annually from India’s growing digital economy.

Financial & Consulting Services: JP Morgan, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and others earn $15–20 billion annually via Indian operations and outsourcing.

Defence & Security: India is now a major defence partner of the US, part of the QUAD framework and Indo-Pacific strategy.

Semiconductors & AI: Joint investments in chip manufacturing and critical tech are reshaping global supply chains.

Clean Energy: Collaboration in LNG, solar, and renewables is central to climate cooperation.

Diaspora Strength: With 4.5 million Indian Americans, people-to-people ties remain the backbone of the relationship.

Strategic affairs experts worry that it is this multi-dimensional relationship that Trump seems set to destroy.

Congressman Ro Khanna, taking to X on Wednesday, said: “We can’t allow the ego of Donald Trump to destroy a strategic relationship with India that is key to ensuring that America leads and not China.”

Accusing Trump of undermining 30 years of painstaking work to strengthen ties between the two countries, Khanna said: “He has imposed a 50 percent tariff on India, higher than any other country other than Brazil. It’s a higher tariff than the tariff on China. It is hurting India’s exports of leather and textiles into the United States. And it’s hurting American manufacturers and our exports into India. It is also driving India towards China and towards Russia.”

Amit Shukla

Amit Shukla, Executive Editor at CNN-News18, heads the Input Desk, overseeing news gathering, editorial planning, and news coordination.

Amit Shukla, Executive Editor at CNN-News18, heads the Input Desk, overseeing news gathering, editorial planning, and news coordination.

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A Victorian lawyer has become the first in Australia to face professional sanctions for using artificial intelligence in a court case, being stripped of his ability to practise as a principal lawyer after AI generated false citations that he had failed to verify.

Guardian Australia reported in October last year that in a 19 July 2024 hearing, the anonymous solicitor representing a husband in a dispute between a married couple provided the court with a list of prior cases that had been requested by Justice Amanda Humphreys in relation to an enforcement application in the case.

When Humphreys returned to her chambers, she said in a ruling that neither herself nor her associates were able to identify the cases in the list. When the matter returned to court the lawyer confirmed that the list had been prepared using legal software that utilised AI.

He acknowledged he did not verify the accuracy of the information before submitting it to the court.

The lawyer offered an “unconditional apology” to the court and said he would “take the lessons learned to heart” and asked not to be referred for investigation.

He said he did not fully understand how the software worked, and acknowledged the need to verify AI-assisted research for accuracy. He made a payment to the solicitors for the other party for the costs of the thrown away hearing.

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Humphreys said she accepted the apology and acknowledged the stress it caused meant it was unlikely to be repeated, but a referral for investigation was important given it was in the public interest for the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner to examine professional conduct issues, given the increasing use of AI tools in law.

The lawyer was referred to the Victorian Legal Services Board for investigation, in what was one of the first reported cases in Australia of a lawyer being caught out using AI in court that generated false citations.

The Victorian Legal Services Board confirmed on Tuesday that the lawyer had his practising certificate varied on 19 August as a result of the investigation, meaning he was no longer entitled to practise as a principal lawyer, not authorised to handle trust money, would no longer operate his own law practice, and would only practise as an employee solicitor.

The lawyer will undertake supervised legal practice for a period of two years, with the lawyer and his supervisor reporting to the board on a quarterly basis in that time.

“The board’s regulatory action in this matter demonstrates our commitment to ensuring legal practitioners who choose to use AI in their legal practice do so in a responsible way that is consistent with their obligations,” a spokesperson said.

Since this case, there have been more than 20 other reported cases in Australian courts where lawyers or self-represented litigants have been found to have used artificial intelligence in the preparation of court documents that led to those documents containing fake citations.

Lawyers in Western Australia and New South Wales have also been referred to their own state regulatory bodies over the practice.

There has also been at least one case in Australia where someone claimed a document had been prepared using ChatGPT, only for the court to determine the document in question was created before ChatGPT was available to the public.

Courts and law groups recognise that AI will play a role in legal processes, but continue to warn that it does not diminish lawyers’ professional judgment.

“Where these tools are utilised by lawyers, this must be done with extreme care,” the Law Council of Australia’s president, Juliana Warner, told Guardian Australia last month. “Lawyers must always keep front of mind their professional and ethical obligations to the court and to their clients.”

Warner said courts were regarding cases where AI had generated fake citations as a “serious concern” but added that given the widespread use of generative AI, a broadly framed prohibition on its use in legal proceedings would be “neither practical nor proportionate, and risks hindering innovation and access to justice”.

Xi Jinping warned the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held China’s largest-ever military parade, flanked by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, capping a week of diplomatic grandstanding seen as a rebuke to the west.

Putin and Kim, the authoritarian leaders of Russia and North Korea, are among dozens of world leaders attending the parade, a massive display of military hardware and personnel, orchestrated to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the Japanese War of Aggression.

But it was the unprecedented image of the three men chatting and shaking hands as they walked the red carpet that analysts said sent a message of defiance to the west, as the US president Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and volatile policymaking strain its relations with allies and rivals alike.

“Today, mankind is faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum,” Xi told a crowd of more than 50,000 spectators at Tiananmen Square, adding that the Chinese people “firmly stand on the right side of history”.

He said China was a great nation which “is never intimidated by any bullies” in an apparent veiled reference to the US and its allies and warned that China was “unstoppable”, before the massive display of military hardware began.

“Beijing is sending a message … that even if western countries continue to sanction Russia over the Russia-Ukraine War, Beijing will not be afraid to stand by its friend,” said Wen-ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

China has touted the parade as a show of unity with other countries, and Kim’s attendance is the first time he has been seen with Xi and Putin at the same event. It is only Kim’s second reported trip abroad in six years.

The event drew an almost immediate reaction from Trump.

“May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”

Putin’s appearance in Beijing came as Russia launched a sweeping overnight air attack on Ukraine, injuring at least four railway workers and prompting Poland to scramble defence aircraft.

Among the other guests are Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. No major western leaders are attending. Kim has been accompanied by his daughter Kim Ju-ae, images released by North Korean state news showed.

Political analysts say the parade is designed to demonstrate Xi’s influence over nations intent on reshaping the western-led global order. It came just days after the Chinese city of Tianjin hosted a major summit for leaders of the global south, which was also attended by Putin.

Analysts are watching closely to see if any formal meeting between Xi, Putin and Kim is held.

“If all three were to meet, it would be very striking to the United States, highlighting a potential new cold war dynamic,” said Lim Chuan-Tiong, a researcher with the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo.

“If such a meeting does not take place, it is likely because China does not want to overly provoke the US while maintaining a certain degree of triangular ambiguity.”

After his remarks, Xi stood in an open top car to inspect the parade, greeting troops and receiving salutes. Analysts made much of the military hardware on display; from tanks and drones to long-range and nuclear capable missiles, fighter jets and stealth aircraft, with several newly developed assets unveiled.

The hardware is intended to “give the United States, Europe and China’s neighbours pause should they consider challenging China’s core national interests,” said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam school of international studies.

Much of the weaponry and equipment in the parade was being shown to the public for the first time, according to Chinese military officials. This included hypersonic missiles designed to take out ships at sea. These weapons are of particular concern to the US Navy, which patrols the western Pacific from its 7th Fleet headquarters in Japan.

Also on display were underwater drones including the AJX002 and a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-61, which China says could carry nuclear warheads to distant targets.

Xi’s speech contained several references to the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” – a common phrase for Xi’s overarching plan for China’s future which hinges on annexing Taiwan as Chinese territory.

Xi and the Chinese Communist party claim Taiwan is a Chinese province, currently run by illegal separatists. Taiwan’s government and people are opposed to this.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been undergoing a massive modernisation and advancement under Xi, but it’s also been beset by corruption issues, and in the last few years there have been purges of officials and personnel at levels not seen since the Mao Zedong era.

With Reuters

US President Donald Trump has accused Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of conspiring against the US with the leaders of Russia and North Korea.

Trump’s comments came as China hosted world leaders at its largest-ever Victory Day parade in Beijing on Wednesday – a showcase of China’s military might.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America.”

Trump previously rejected suggestions that the warming of relations between China, Russia and other nations poses a challenge to the US on the global stage.

On social media, the US president also mentioned the “massive amount of support and ‘blood’” the US gave China during World War Two. China’s parade marks 80 years of Japan’s surrender in the war and China’s victory against an occupying force.

“Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice!”

Xi was joined at the parade by 26 heads of state, including Kim and Putin – viewed by some observers as a message to the Western nations that have shunned them.

China has sought to position itself as a possible counterweight to the US since Trump’s tariffs rocked the global economic and political order.

Trump has pitched his tariffs as essential to protecting American interests and industry. It appears that any diplomatic cost is something he is willing to pay.

Asked by the BBC if he believed Beijing and its allies were attempting to form an international coalition to oppose the US, Trump said: “No. Not at all. China needs us.”

He added: “I have a very good relationship with President Xi, as you know. But China needs us much more than we need them. I don’t see that at all.”

Separately, in a radio interview on Tuesday, Trump said he was not concerned about the axis forming between Russia and China.

He told the Scott Jennings radio show that America has “the most powerful military forces in the world” and that “they would never use their military forces against us”.

“Believe me, that would be the worst thing they could ever do,” he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin, after they failed to reach a peace deal for Ukraine during their meeting in Alaska last month.

“I’m very disappointed in President Putin, I can say that,” Trump said, adding that the US “will be doing something to help people live” in Ukraine. He did not specify.

China has not criticised Putin’s full-scale invasion and has been accused by the West of aiding Russia’s war effort through its supply of dual-use materials and purchases of Russian oil. Beijing denies this.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was engaged in a new troop build up along certain sectors of the frontline.

“[Putin] refuses to be forced into peace,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

China flexed its military muscle at a huge military parade in Beijing to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, displaying its latest generation of stealth fighters, tanks and ballistic missiles amid a highly choreographed cast of thousands.

The parade through Tiananmen Square on Wednesday morning was overseen by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the country’s military and the Chinese Communist Party.

After greeting foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Xi moved on to welcome Chinese military veterans before taking his place at the centre of the event.

Putin and Kim were just some of the 26 world leaders who attended the parade, in a group that was drawn from mostly non-Western countries.

Xi watched the parade from the Gate of Heavenly Peace, before making a speech to the 10,000 assembled members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Navy and Air Force, stating that China would continue to “adhere to a path of peaceful development”.

As he spoke of China’s victory over “Japanese aggression” in the “world anti-fascist war”, he thanked foreign governments for their help. Xi did not mention the United States by name, despite the country’s prominent role in ending World War II.

The Chinese leader said that lessons from the war were as relevant now as ever.

“Humanity is again faced with a choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, and win-win outcomes or zero-sum games,” Xi said, according to an official readout of his speech.

“The Chinese people will stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress, adhere to the path of peaceful development, and join hands with the rest of the world to build a community with a shared future for humanity,” he said.

He also stressed that the military continues to play a vital role in China’s national rejuvenation – one of the ideological pillars of the Chinese Communist Party and Xi’s official doctrine and worldview.

“It really is difficult to understate how much of this is a part of the national psyche, the psyche of the Communist Party that, in the previous 100 years [before World War II], China was repressed, invaded and humiliated by foreign forces,” Al Jazeera’s correspondent Katrina Yu said from Beijing.

“I think Xi Jinping [is] making a point there that that will never happen again,” Yu said.

Dressed in a grey Mao suit, Xi then toured Tiananmen Square, standing in a vehicle and greeting troops with salutations, before the parade finally commenced down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the Chinese capital.

China’s most advanced weaponry took front and centre in the parade, including a new generation of hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles, underwater drones, fighter jets, early warning aircraft and aircraft jamming systems.

Long-range intercontinental missiles – capable of delivering nuclear warheads – were also given a prominent position in the parade alongside tight formations of military personnel marching in unison before an audience of 50,000 observers.

“For Xi, the point is to reinforce the impression that the [People’s Republic of China, PRC] has arrived as a great power under his leadership,” said Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.

“Another is the array of leaders at the parade, which suggests that the PRC cannot be isolated, and is unafraid of pressure and bullying, particularly from the United States,” he said.

Above the parade, the Chinese air force staged a flyover, including helicopters with banners declaring, “Justice will prevail”, “Peace will prevail”, and “The people will win”.

Responding to the military parade on social media, as it got under way, US President Donald Trump questioned whether Xi would acknowledge the role the US played in World War II, before wishing him well.

“The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader,” Trump wrote.

“Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory… May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration.”

Trump also added: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”

President Donald Trump says the US has carried out a strike against a drug-carrying vessel in the southern Caribbean, killing 11 “Narcoterrorists”.

He posted on social media that Tuesday’s US military operation had targeted members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Trump said the vessel was in international waters and was transporting illegal narcotics bound for the US.

The Trump administration has ratcheted up military and political pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in recent weeks, including through a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his arrest on drug-trafficking charges. Maduro has vowed Venezuela would fight any attempted US military intervention.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said that US forces had “shot out” a “drug-carrying boat” in the vicinity of Venezuela.

“A lot of drugs in that boat,” he said.

Trump added he had been briefed on the incident by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine.

Later the president posted on his Truth Social platform: “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”

He added: “The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No US Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!”

His post was accompanied by a grainy aerial video showing a motor boat speeding across choppy waters before it bursts into flames.

In a social media post, Venezuela’s communications minister, Freddy Ñáñez, suggested, without evidence, that the video shared by Trump was created with artificial intelligence.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that “today the US military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organisation”.

It is so far unclear what drugs the vessel was believed to have been carrying.

Since returning to the White House in January, the Trump administration has designated several drug-trafficking organisations and criminal groups in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America as terrorist organisations.

Among them are Tren de Aragua and another Venezuelan group, the “Cartel of the Suns”, which US authorities allege is headed by President Maduro and other high-ranking government officials, some drawn from the country’s military or intelligence services.

The US military has moved to bolster its forces in the southern Caribbean over the last two months, including through the deployment of additional naval vessels and thousands of US Marines and sailors.

The Trump administration has repeatedly signalled a willingness to use force to stem the flow of drugs into the US.

“There’s more where that came from,” Trump said of the strike on the vessel.

Venezuela’s government has reacted angrily to the deployments.

On Monday, for example, Maduro vowed to “declare a republic in arms” if the US attacked, adding that the US deployments were “the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years”.