Daily Briefing: India, US and the dragon

Way ahead: This was the third Modi-Trump call since the latter had imposed steep 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, including a 25 per cent penalty over India’s purchase of Russian oil. Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday underlined the impact of the tariffs on investor sentiment. Putting a deadline of sorts on the negotiations, Nageswaran said, “I will be surprised if the India-US deal is not sealed by the end of the financial year. I was hoping that something would be done by the end of November.” Responding to the CEA, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that negotiations are “progressing well”.

Enter the dragon: Meanwhile, the Trump tariffs seem to have had little effect on China. Beijing recorded a $1 trillion trade surplus with the rest of the world in 2025, boosted by its increased exports to South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, despite reduced trading with the US. Analysts suggest that this could be the beginning of the “second China shock”. What does this mean for the world and India? We explain.

👉 Lizzi C. Lee, a Fellow at the Center for China Analysis, explains the factors behind the trade surplus and what’s next for China’s economic policies.

Also read: Beyond global tensions, Trump’s trade policies have eroded his popularity at home amid the high cost of living and inflation. National Business Editor Anil Sasi writes why the Trump magic is past its heyday.

⚡Only in Express

As chess grows in popularity, it has been hit by a parallel rise of cheating scandals. The latest one involves the three-year-old boy from Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar who recently became the youngest rated chess player ever. The boy, who made headlines in the last few months, defeated three better-ranked chess players in tournaments hosted in Indore. However, a complaint filed with FIDE, the international chess body, has raised doubts over his achievement. Alleging a violation of fair-play principles, the complaint says that all three players were coaches in the same academy where the boy trains. The Indian Express spoke to the boy’s father and coach, who refuted the allegations. Read.

📰 From the Front Page

Caught: Shortly after the Fire Department received information about the blaze at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa on December 6, the owners, Saurabh and Guarav Luthra, booked tickets to Thailand and were on board a flight to Phuket by 5.30 am. The fire killed 25 people. The Royal Thai Police has detained the duo on a request from Indian law enforcement agencies, and the process to bring them to India has been initiated.

🎧 For more on the case, tune in to today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode.

Uncounted: The Election Commission has issued a second extension to conclude the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in six states/Union Territories. Here are the details.

The extension came as a relief in Uttar Pradesh, where officials have run into a peculiar challenge: tracking down sadhus and sanyasis in temple towns like Varanasi and Ayodhya to get them to fill out enumeration forms. For a cohort that has renounced worldly ties, even basic questions, like the names of mother or father, often draw a blank. And those who lead a wandering life remain hard to pin down.

📌 Must Read

Oh deer! In June, the Congress was miffed about the proposed agreement between the Delhi Zoo and the Ambani family-owned rehabilitation centre, Vantara. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had slammed the “hush hush manner” of the deal, which he said was the first step towards the zoo’s privatisation. Just six months later, the party has said little about its own government in Telangana signing an MoU with Vantara to set up a wildlife conservatory near Hyderabad.

Smoke and signals: Unusual scenes played out in Parliament as BJP MP Anurag Thakur got up to ask the Speaker if smoking e-cigarettes was allowed in the House when it was banned in the rest of the country. Thakur was targeting a TMC MP. While he did not name the MP when speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “This is going to be a big issue in the coming days.” The row signals the beginning of an acrimonious battle between the BJP and TMC in the run-up to the state Assembly elections.

⏳ And Finally…

Cost of convenience: Apps, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) come together to offer us a seamless existence. There’s limitless content to be consumed, faster deliveries, and one-click solutions. But this life of convenience has stirred up a sense of discomfort. We have been trained out of patience. In this frictionless world, can boredom save us? Join us in our musings in the latest Fresh Take.

That’s all for today, folks! Happy weekend!
Sonal Gupta