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Mehra played a pivotal role in shaping the Essar Group’s steel and metals strategy, including the expansion of steelmaking capacity at Hazira View More
The brokerage remains overweight on banks, diversified financials, healthcare, consumer, auto and capital goods/defence, citing sustained infrastructure spending and asset creation View More
This trade policy creates complex challenges for businesses navigating global supply chains and changing regulations. View More
Word that the steel mill in Granite City, Illinois, was restarting a blast furnace resonated as a sign of America's industrial revival. The Trump administration had placed stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum. This was supposed to choke imports and force production back to U.S. factories. And here, at a hulking complex on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, was ostensible evidence that the strategy was working. U.S. Steel, the owner of the mill, would hire some 400 additional union workers. "These tariffs have helped," said Braden Morris, who was laid off from his job at the mill in late 2023 and had just been recalled. "It's proof that we're coming back." Yet 500 miles to the north, in the deep freeze of St. Paul, Minnesota, those same tariffs spelled something different for Eric Hawkins. His family-owned company, Park Tool , manufactures gadgets used to repair bicycles and exports them around the world. The tariffs have increased the cost of the steel and aluminum he uses to make his products. That has forced him to lift his prices by 10%, flattening sales growth. "Every one of our suppliers has raised prices over the past year," Hawkins complained. "Trump thinks it's so easy to say, 'We're going to make the costs so high that you have to bring the jobs back.' But I'm saddled with a much higher materials cost." Live Events And that was before the latest upheaval in U.S. trade policy: the Supreme Court 's ruling Friday that President Donald Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs -- those levied against scores of countries at once -- had exceeded his authority. That decision confronted U.S. business with an overwhelming assortment of variables and prompted Trump to immediately resort to a new 15% global tariff using a different legal mechanism. It also made the steel tariffs, which were not implicated in the court case, a more prominent fixture of trade policy. "The Supreme Court ruling, bad law though it was, significantly strengthens every other statutory authority that President Trump has on tariffs," said Peter Navarro, Trump's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, in an email response to questions. He cited the section of the law used as the basis for imposing levies on steel. "The steel tariffs are rock solid and a linchpin of an industry essential to our national security." Trump has cast the protection of the U.S. steel industry as the centerpiece of his mission to rejuvenate domestic factory production. But the troubles of Park Tool highlight how tariffs have so far hindered that cause, jeopardizing jobs that are already here. Protectionism has increased the price of steel available in the United States while spurring only a modest increase in domestic production. That has left companies like Park Tool reliant on global supply chains they have built up over decades. Thousands of specialty components needed to make their products are now more expensive. Manufacturers are also contending with a foreign backlash to the Trump administration's wider trade war, undermining the appeal of the Made in America brand. Not least, they are grappling with paperwork nightmares as they navigate constantly changing tariff rates and customs procedures. The Trump administration asserts that disruption is the unavoidable cost of reinvigorating steel towns like Granite City. But that characterization collides with the arithmetic of U.S. manufacturing. For every person employed at a domestic steel mill, 80 work at factories that buy steel, according to a paper by economists Kadee Russ and Lydia Cox. Tariffs during Trump's first term produced an additional 1,000 jobs at steel mills while eliminating 75,000 positions throughout manufacturing, the two economists calculated in another paper. Steel industry officials argue that such formulations leave out vital context. "If you don't have steel production in your country, then you're at the mercy of steel producers in other countries," said Kevin Dempsey, president of the American Iron and Steel Institute , a trade association in Washington. He cast Trump's tariffs as an overdue correction to surges of steel flowing into the United States, much of it unfairly cheap by dint of subsidies. In 2016, the year before Trump's first term, about 71% of America's steel capacity was in use, according to industry data. By 2019, with steel tariffs in place, that figure had risen to 80% and has remained above 75% ever since. Over the same time, imports as a share of total steel used in the United States dropped to 19% from 27%. Yet even as U.S. imports of steel have been reduced, the total production has stayed flat in the United States. From 2019 to 2025, domestic production of steel dipped from 97 million tons per year to 90 million tons, though last year saw a slight increase compared with the previous year, according to data compiled by the American Iron and Steel Institute. Experts assert that tariffs have allowed the industry to skimp on investment while benefiting from higher domestic prices. Steel sold in the United States is currently about 30% more expensive than in Europe and almost double the price in China, noted Kyle Handley, an economist at the University of California, San Diego. Granite City is a testament to the forces of downward mobility that have in recent decades afflicted America's industrial communities. Brick buildings sit forlorn, their masonry crumbling. Dollar stores and payday lenders fill out retail spaces. At the downtown headquarters of United Steelworkers Local 1899, footsteps echo through empty hallways. Three years ago, before the layoffs, the union branch represented 1,400 local workers. In December, just before the furnace restart was announced, that number was down to 764. Now some of the people sent home two years ago are being recalled. "Those tariffs have been part of putting steel where it is by creating demand for American steel," said the local president, Craig McKey. Eric Addison, 34, had just returned to the mill. He grew up in Granite City and had long aspired to a job as a steelworker. "This place was the talk of the town," he said. "You'd ask anyone who had a nice house or a car, and they'd say, 'Yeah, we work at the steel mill.'" Just before he was laid off, he had been promoted to the job of ladleman, operating the controls of the equipment that regulates the flow of molten steel. He was making more than $29 an hour. "It was the best money I'd ever made," Addison said. After the layoff in October 2023, he took a job at a barge company that ships animal feed down the Mississippi. It paid less than $22 an hour. He stopped going out to eat. He eliminated bowling night. "Basically, I just went to work and came home," he said. Then, in December, he saw a post on Facebook announcing that the blast furnace was coming back online. Almost immediately, the company called and asked him to come back. He would start at $31.20 an hour. "I was pretty excited," he said. Many local mill workers credited the change of leadership in Washington. "In this town, we were always told that we make the best steel, but getting cheap steel coming in was hurting us," said Martin Cooper, a 57-year-old father of four who was recently recalled. "People say that Trump came back and the steel mill opened back up." But the same conditions that have stoked confidence in Granite City are sowing worries across the U.S. factory floor. Hawkins, 63, the CEO of Park Tool, has come to expect rising fortunes. Over the last quarter-century, he took the bike shop started by his father and a partner and turned it into one of the world's largest makers of bicycle tools. The company exports more than half its production to some 70 countries, including China. But these days, he and his team of 70 people are grappling with the effects of Trump's trade war. Time they would rather spend designing new products is consumed by studying tariff schedules and preparing customs paperwork. "It's just a lot of hassle," Hawkins said. "We should be in a growth pattern. We're not." Old Schwinn bicycles fill racks near the factory entrance, displaying the roots of the business. But the present is underscored by the studio where the company records bicycle repair videos that it posts on YouTube to get the word out about its products. As Hawkins wandered his plant on a recent morning, he stopped at a workbench where a worker wielded a hand-held drill to attach parts to a so-called torque limiter -- a wrench designed to prevent a person from applying damaging amounts of force. One part, a blue-tinted hunk of metal shaped like a handle, had been cast at a plant in Iowa. Another had been produced through injection molding in the Twin Cities. These were the elements of a factory that has managed to remain in the United States despite the perpetual tug of cheaper labor in Asia. Yet lately, Hawkins has found himself navigating new challenges. A distributor in Germany recently told him that many of his European customers, angry over the Trump administration's attempts to take control of Greenland while weakening its support for Ukraine, are refusing to buy American products. The distributor has shifted some of its orders to a factory in Slovenia. Hawkins is tormented by talk of tariffs boosting U.S. manufacturing. His own operation has developed a supply chain that taps domestic sources for most of his parts and materials. But some 3,500 components come from Asia, most of them from Taiwan. No one can re-create that easily. He pointed at a stack of aluminum parts that sat waiting to be attached to rods to form a bicycle repair stand. The piece that held the bike frame was made in Taiwan. Making the mold there costs about $15,000, compared with $80,000 or $90,000 in the United States, he said. "There's so many moving parts here that all have to work together," he said. "We've invested 60 years in figuring all this out, and it works. I'm not going to just dump that." And as Hawkins tried to make sense of the implications of the Supreme Court decision, he anticipated still more tariffs in response. "Who knows?" he said. "Everything could change tomorrow, right?" .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
"You can already buy a humanoid today, which gives you a payback period versus human workers of less than 10 weeks," a former Citi executive told CNBC. View More
In this article0H4A-GBLHA-DECNVDATSLABOTZAMZNCRMCSA-FFFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Digital generated image of multiple robots working on laptops siting in a raw. Andriy Onufriyenko | Moment | Getty Images AI robots will exceed the working population within a few decades as more firms adopt AI agents and continue to squeeze costs, a former Citi executive warned on Monday.Rob Garlick, Citi Global Insights' former head of innovation, technology, and future of work, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" that as leaders continue to prioritize profitability, their human workers will be left in the dust. "We have a leadership system in the economic terms and business terms that celebrates profitability," Garlick said in a conversation with CNBC's Steve Sedgwick and Ben Boulos. "When you marry profitability up with the technology progress, we have the biggest trade in history coming, which is basically that artificial intelligence will be able to do more and more, better and better, cheaper and cheaper, and that will be able to substitute for people." Garlick, who recently authored "AI â Anarchy or Abundance? Why the Future of Work Needs Pro-Human Leaders," explained that his previous research at Citi showed that the number of AI robots is going to skyrocket as a result of these business decisions. "We're going to go over the next couple of decades to more moving robots than the working population, and then you add on agents, little agents, and it is going to explode," he added. watch nowVIDEO4:3904:39AI robots may outnumber human workers in a few decades: ex-Citi execSquawk Box Europe AI robots ranging from humanoids to domestic cleaning robots and autonomous vehicles are forecasted to increase to 1.3 billion by 2035, according to a 2024 Citi report led by Garlick. The number of AI robots would quickly increase to over 4 billion by 2050, per the insights. The Citi report even measured how long it would take for a robot to pay for itself through the money saved by replacing a human worker, for example, a $15,000 robot would break even in 3.8 weeks for a $41 an hour human job, or 21.6 weeks for a $7.25 human job. Meanwhile, a robot that costs $35,000 would have a payback time of 8.9 weeks for a $41 an hour human job. "You can already buy a humanoid today, which gives you a payback period versus human workers of less than 10 weeks," Garlick told CNBC, citing a figure from his book. "Humans can't compete on this basis." The rise of AI agents Microsoft's Work Trend Index report showed that 80% of leaders expect AI agents to be largely integrated into their AI strategy within the next 12 to 18 months. AI agents are a type of software program that can make decisions and complete tasks without much human direction. Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company's global managing partner, Bob Sternfels, noted that the company currently employs 20,000 agents alongside 40,000 humans, in an interview with Harvard Business Review. A year prior, the company only had 3,000 agents, and Sternfels predicts that in 18 months from now, there will be an equal number of employees and agents. watch nowVIDEO4:4404:44âAI agents will get better over time,â says Cresta CEOSquawk Box Europe Tesla CEO Elon Musk also shared similar views at the World Economic Forum's flagship conference in Davos last month, saying that AI will likely surpass human intelligence by the end of this year. "My prediction is, in the benign scenario of the future, that we will actually make so many robots in AI that they will actually saturate all human... there will be such an abundance of goods and services because my prediction is that there'll be more robots than people," Musk said. Fears around AI replacing workers have mounted in the past year as major firms, including Amazon, Salesforce, Accenture, Heineken, and Lufthansa, have cited the technology as part of the reason for eliminating thousands of roles. Kristalina Georgieva, managing director at the International Monetary Fund, told CNBC in January that AI is "hitting the labor market like a tsunami" and warned that "most countries and most businesses are not prepared for it."In the U.S., AI played a role in almost 55,000 layoffs in the U.S. in 2025, according to December data from consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.However, some leaders are striking a more positive tone. Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang predicts that the "AI boom" will create six-figure salaries for the workers building AI and chip factories. Huang said the technology will boost skilled trade work, such as for plumbers, electricians, construction, and steel workers.
European officials have reacted with disbelief to President Donald Trump's latest tariff policy, warning that trade deals could be at risk. View More
watch nowVIDEO4:0604:06President Trump warns of higher tariffs for countries that 'play games' with the SCOTUS decisionMoney Movers Europe has warned that trade deals struck with the U.S. could now be at risk after President Donald Trump unveiled a new global 15% tariff on all imports at the weekend.Trump's move came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down his global tariffs policy, implemented last spring, that had upset the long-standing global trading order.The president reacted to the Supreme Court's judgment by initially announcing a new universal 10% levy, using a different legal framework for the latest tariffs, but then increased the global tariff rate to 15% â the legal maximum which can be in place for 150 days before congressional approval is required. The new import duties are "effective immediately," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday. Officials in Europe and London expressed alarm and consternation at the latest upheaval in global trade relations, saying Trump's new tariff policy could upend trade deals signed with the U.S. last year. They asked for more clarity from the White House as to what the new tariff policy framework means in practice for their respective trade deals, which saw most European Union exports to the States hit with a 15% duty, and those from the U.K. slapped with a 10% levy. watch nowVIDEO7:3707:37'A deal is a deal' - European officials refuse to accept tariff chaosEurope Early Edition "Pure tariff chaos from the U.S. administration," the chair of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, Bernd Lange, reacted to the White House on Sunday."No one can make sense of it anymore â only open questions and growing uncertainty for the EU and other U.S. trading partners," Lange wrote on social media platform X. "Do new tariffs ... not constitute a breach of the deal? Regardless, no one knows whether the US will adhere to it â or even be able to," Lange said, adding that "clarity and legal certainty are needed before any further steps are taken." The European Parliament's trade committee held an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss Trump's latest trade move, and Lange said in a statement that the legislative work was "on hold" following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. "The ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States of 20 February 2026 on the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is clear and unequivocal. Its implications cannot be ignored, and business as usual is not an option," Lange said. "A key instrument used on the U.S. side to negotiate and implement the Turnberry Deal is no longer available," he added. "The situation is now more uncertain than ever. This runs counter to the stability and predictability we sought to achieve with the Turnberry Deal."The European Commission issued a statement Sunday noting that "a deal is a deal" and that it expected the U.S. "to honour its commitments ... just as the EU stands by its commitments." CNBC has asked the commission for further comment. (COMBO) This combination of pictures created in Berlin on January 6, 2026 shows (clockwise, from top L) Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz (in Brussels on December 18, 2025), Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (in Johannesburg on November 23, 2025), Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (in Brussels on December 18, 2025), Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (in Brussels on December 18, 2025), France's President Emmanuel Macron (at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on January 6, 2026) and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer (in London on December 10, 2025). A group of European leaders on January 6, 2026 underlined their support for Denmark after US President Donald Trump again voiced designs on its autonomous Arctic territory of Greenland. Nicolas Tucat,gianluigi Guercia,john Thys,ben Stansall,ludovic Marin | Afp | Getty Images German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told German broadcaster ARD that there would be "a very clear European position on this" ahead of his visit to the White House in early March, but he deferred to the European Commission in Brussels as to how the EU would respond to the tariffs. However, French Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier suggested that Brussels could hit back at Washington. Speaking to the Financial Times, Forissier urged EU members to not "be naive" and to adopt a united approach against the White House's new trade position.The U.K. has also questioned how the new tariff policy will affect its trade deal with the States, which, given its baseline 10% tariff rate, had put the country at a competitive advantage to its European neighbors."Under any scenario, we expect our privileged trading position with the U.S. to continue and will work with the administration to understand how the ruling will affect tariffs for the U.K. and the rest of the world," a U.K. government spokesperson said at the weekend. Trade deals on, or off? Europe's bitter reaction to the new tariff policy means U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has his work cut out to reassure partners that trade deals agreed last summer still stand. Greer defended Trump's tariff stance on Sunday, saying that the president's trade policy has not changed fundamentally, and that trade deals still stand."The president's policy was going to continue. That's why they signed these deals, even while the litigation was pending. So we're having active conversations with them. We want them to understand that these deals are going to be good deals. We expect to stand by them. We expect our partners to stand by them," he told CBS' "Face the Nation.""And I haven't heard anyone yet come to me and say, 'the deal's off.' They want to see how this plays out. I'm in active conversation with them on it," he added. watch nowVIDEO4:0304:03New Trump tariffs penalize close allies, Tina Fordham saysEurope Early Edition On the face of it, current U.S. trade tariffs on the EU are not changing, with the new 15% rate the same as the rate under its trade deal. Exclusions still apply, too, with pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, fertilizers and certain agricultural products exempt, while other tariffs on auto and steel exports remain the same. Those with the lowest tariffs to begin with are ostensibly hurt more, however, with the U.K. at a notable disadvantage if its trade deal tariff rate is not honored.On a trade-weighted basis, the U.K. faces a 2.1 percentage point increase in its average tariff rate, while the EU sees a 0.8 point rise, according to analysis from Swiss-based trade watchdog Global Trade Alert. In contrast, Brazil's rate plunges 13.6 points, and China's drops 7.1 points.Tina Fordham, founder of Fordham Global Foresight, told CNBC on Monday that the U.S.' closest allies seem to be worst hit by what she described as the latest "trade chaos" but agreed more clarity was needed from U.S. officials."This is an administration that doesn't think too much about second- or third-order effects, and so what we're seeing is that those countries that tried to get in early and do an advantageous deal when the president was first starting to talk about these levies ... are being penalized," she told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition." European markets traded lower on Monday, showing investor jitters over the latest tariff move. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned Sunday that the trans-Atlantic business relationship could suffer as a result of trade uncertainty."It's critically important that all people in the trade, both outside of the United States, but also in the United States, have clarity about the future of the relationships," she told "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "It's a bit like driving. You want to know the rules of the road before you get in the car. It's the same with trade," she added."If it [the new tariffs policy] shakes the whole equilibrium which people in the trade had got used to ... [it] is going to bring about disruptions in the business for sure," she said. Correction: The story has been updated to correct comments from French Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier.
Tata Steel's new manufacturing plant in Ludhiana will begin operations in March. This significant project represents a major boost for Punjab's industrial growth. The plant, a substantial investment by Tata Steel, will create employment for approximately 2,500 people. It will utilize environmentally friendly Electric Arc Furnace technology. This facility marks Tata Steel's second-largest plant in India. View More
Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Monday said Tata Steel will commence operations at its new manufacturing plant in Ludhiana from March, providing a major boost to industrial growth in the state. Mann said the project shows the increasing confidence of industry in the state's policies and governance. The plant, coming up near HiTech Valley, will have a 0.75 MTPA Electric Arc Furnace-based steelmaking facility, along with a rebar mill. The project is spread over 115 acres. He said the initial investment of Rs 2,600 crore has now increased to Rs 3,200 crore. The plant is expected to create employment for around 2,500 people. The chief minister said the unit will use 100 per cent steel scrap as raw material and adopt an environmentally friendly production process. The Electric Arc Furnace technology reduces carbon emissions compared to traditional methods, he added. Live Events RECOMMENDEDSTORIES FOR YOUTCS and ServiceNow partner to accelerate large-scale AI adoption for enterprisesTata Communications, RailTel partner to expand AI-ready digital infrastructure Mann said the Ludhiana facility will be Tata Steel's second-largest plant in India after Jamshedpur and the company's biggest investment in Punjab. He added that the Punjab government ensured the timely execution of the project and assured full support for its smooth operation and future expansion .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariffs measures have thrust British businesses into fresh uncertainty. View More
The MSC Emma container ship on the dockside at the Port of Felixstowe in Felixstowe, UK, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images British companies are seeking deeper trade ties with Europe, business groups told CNBC, as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping 15% tariff on all imports after the Supreme Court struck down previous levies.New tariffs would mark a 50% increase on the level negotiated last year in a trade deal between the U.K. the U.S., making the country one of the worst hit, according to analysis from think tank Global Trade Alert. While U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration "expects" to stand by trade deals, the U.K. government is reportedly in ongoing discussions with counterparts in America.The seesawing uncertainty is increasingly forcing U.K. businesses to look to closer alignment with the European Union and European countries, as they hunt for predictable trade partnerships, groups which represent U.K. businesses told CNBC."There's just no certainty or consistency and companies are very weary of this," said William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which represents 50,000 businesses. "They're potentially looking at other options in terms of doing more trade with Europe or with the Indo-Pacific [region], where there seem to be less risk of fluctuations," he told CNBC. Uncertainty Trump's announcement that there would be blanket tariffs on all imports to the U.S. over the weekend brought further headaches to Europe's business sector, which had seen the longstanding global trading order torn up last year.In April, the U.S. upended the status quo by imposing a range of tariffs on trading partners across the world. watch nowVIDEO7:3707:37'A deal is a deal' - European officials refuse to accept tariff chaosEurope Early Edition The new tariffs have raised alarm in Europe, with governments asking for more clarity from the White House as to what the new policy means for their trade deals. The EU negotiated a 15% duty on most exports with the U.S. in 2025. CNBC has approached the U.K.'s Department for Business and Trade and the U.S.' Department of Commerce for comment. "The U.S. is seen as increasingly unpredictable and there remains some concern about the EU's growth as they strive to compete with the world's main trading blocs," said Emma Rowland, trade policy advisor at UK business group the Institute of Directors (IoD), which represents around 20,000 business leaders.As a result, firms are looking to diversify supply chains or reconsidering the U.S. as a market altogether, Rowland told CNBC. U.S. President Donald Trump inspected an honour guard during a welcome ceremony at Buckingham Palace in central London on June 3, 2019, on the first day of their three-day State Visit to the U.K. Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images "On the whole, businesses have been supportive of the way that the [U.K.] government has pursued a balanced approach to the UK's international trading partners," Rowland said. "That being said, of those who would want the government to prioritise a trading relationship, business leaders would overwhelmingly choose closer alignment with the EU over the U.S."For U.K. businesses, the BCC estimates that the tariff increase will raise the cost of U.K. exports by between £2 billion ($2.7 billion) and £3 billion across a 12-month period. "Many companies have, for example, 12 to 18 months timelines for contracts on supply of goods, and at this point there's very few companies who can say what the tariffs will be and what prices they'll be able to charge in six months time," said Bain.U.K. sectors that could be most impacted by Trump's new tariffs â should they come into force on Feb. 24 at 12.01 a.m. E.T. as previously stated â are food and drink, clothing and footwear and electrical and industrial goods, Bain told CNBC.The "majority" of the U.K.-U.S. deals on car, steel and pharma tariffs were not expected to change but discussions were ongoing, the BBC reported, citing an official spokesperson of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
India and Russia are joining forces to advance rare earth and critical mineral technologies. TEXMiN Foundation and GIREDMET will collaborate on mining, extraction, and material development. This partnership aims to boost India's self-reliance in strategic sectors. Joint research will focus on permanent magnets, high-purity metals, and battery recycling. View More
New Delhi: TEXMiN Foundation , the Technology Translation Research Park under India's Department of Science & Technology (DST) at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia's GIREDMET , a rare metals research institute under Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, to collaborate on rare earth and critical mineral technologies, an official statement said. " Critical minerals and rare earth technologies are central to India's energy transition , electronics manufacturing and strategic sectors," said Sukumar Mishra, Director of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and Chairman of the Hub Governing Board, TEXMiN Foundation. This partnership with GIREDMET brings together global expertise and translational research capabilities to strengthen India's self-reliance in rare metals and advanced materials. The partnership aims to establish a framework for cooperation across the mining value chain, from exploration and mineral beneficiation to extraction, separation, refining and advanced materials development. The agreement was signed during the Industry-Institute Interaction 2026 (III-2026) conclave and exhibition at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. The MoU was signed in the presence of Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, Chief Executive Officer of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), Government of India. GIREDMET, formally the State Research and Design Institute of Rare Metal Industry, is represented by its Deputy Director, Konstantin Ivanovskikh. He said the collaboration would combine GIREDMET's expertise in rare earth metallurgy and advanced process engineering with TEXMiN's translational research ecosystem. Live Events "By combining GIREDMET's expertise in rare earth metallurgy, advanced process engineering and materials development with TEXMiN's translational research ecosystem, we aim to accelerate the development and pilot-scale validation of high-impact technologies across the rare metal value chain," Ivanovskikh said. "Our collaboration will support innovation in extraction, separation, refining and recycling processes as well as in production of functional materials for high-tech industries." Under the MoU, the institutions will undertake joint research and development on process technologies for rare earth and critical mineral processing , including pilot-scale validation and technology translation of GIREDMET processes at TEXMiN under the Technology Translation Research Park (TTRP) framework. A key focus area is the development of high-coercivity permanent magnet blocks based on neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B), supported by a complete rare earth metallurgical cycle. The partnership will also target high-purity metals and alloys, refractory metal powders and materials for electronics and optics. Dheeraj Kumar, Deputy Director of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and Project Director of TEXMiN, said the MoU creates a comprehensive research and technology translation framework. "Through pilot validation, advanced processing technologies and digital integration, we aim to accelerate the deployment of sustainable and industry-ready solutions aligned with Atmanirbhar Bharat," he said, referring to India's self-reliance initiative. The collaboration will also explore hydrometallurgical recycling technologies for lithium-ion batteries to recover lithium, nickel and cobalt, and develop recovery solutions for critical minerals from legacy mine dumps, tailings and low-grade or complex ores. Digital twin-enabled smart processing plants integrating artificial intelligence, machine learning and sensor systems are also part of the planned work. Both sides said the initiative aligns with India's National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) and Russia's Federal Project for the Development of Rare Metal Industry, with an emphasis on raising technologies to higher Technology Readiness Levels and enabling industry-facing demonstrations. The MoU also provides for expert exchanges, joint doctoral supervision, specialised training programmes and advisory support to governments, public sector undertakings and industry stakeholders. As a next step, representatives from TEXMiN and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad are expected to participate in the International Congress on Rare Metals, Materials and Related Technologies (RAREMET-2026) in Moscow from May 20-22, 2026, where global scientific and technological challenges in rare metals and critical materials will be discussed, the statement added. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! 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Hindustan Zinc and Tripura Group have signed an agreement to develop a Zinc Park in Rajasthan. This initiative aims to create India's first integrated downstream industrial hub for zinc. The partnership will ensure raw material supply and offtake arrangements. The project seeks to attract investments, create jobs, and boost manufacturing in the region. View More
New Delhi: Hindustan Zinc signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tripura Group to fast-track the development of a Zinc Park in Rajasthan. According to an exchange filing by Hindustan Zinc , the agreement facilitates the operationalisation of a manufacturing unit within the company's Zinc Park located at Khankhala in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan . The partnership marks a step in establishing India's first integrated downstream industrial hub dedicated to zinc-based value chains. Under the terms of the agreement, Hindustan Zinc provided an assured raw material linkage to the proposed unit of the Tripura Group. The support includes a committed long-term offtake arrangement to ensure stability for the new facility. Both entities align their investment and production plans to enhance scale and efficiency within a robust downstream zinc ecosystem. The initiative focuses on driving sustainable industrial growth across the region by leveraging localised manufacturing capabilities. The Zinc Park project was initially announced by Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal during the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit in December 2024. Live Events Situated near the mining and smelting operations of Hindustan Zinc at Chanderiya, Dariba, and Debari, the hub operates in collaboration with the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO). The project aims to attract new investments, foster job creation, and strengthen the industrial framework of Rajasthan through a dedicated manufacturing corridor. Arun Misra, Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Zinc, stated, "Zinc Park is a strategic initiative that translates our long-term vision for a resilient and competitive metal value chain into concrete action. Our partnership with Tripura Group demonstrates how targeted collaboration can unlock downstream value and accelerate Make in India manufacturing. The assured supply arrangements, coupled with performance-linked incentives and renewable energy commitments, will provide investors with the confidence to scale. We are determined to build an ecosystem that supports MSME growth, creates local jobs, and drives technological improvements across the zinc value chain." Tripura Group enters the project as an anchor investor, bringing expertise in beneficiation inputs and process optimisation for metal processing . The collaboration intends to drive operational synergies and improve efficiency for downstream processors while bolstering the reliability of industry inputs. This technical integration supports the broader goal of enhancing the quality of materials available within the domestic market. Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta group company, continues to engage in consultations with potential investors to scale the Zinc Park in a phased manner. The company works alongside Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO) and state authorities to deliver the industrial park with industry-grade infrastructure and a focus on skill development for local communities. The project remains centered on maintaining strong sustainability credentials as it expands its footprint in the zinc-based industrial sector. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)