India offered to reduce tariffs on US goods to zero: Trump

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that India has offered to reduce its tariffs on US goods to zero, even as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making public shows of solidarity with Chinese and Russian leaders in the face of trade pressure from Washington.

While calling the US relationship with India “one sided,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago.”

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Trump’s comments, which follow the implementation of total duties as high as 50% on Indian goods that have raised questions about the future of the US-India relationship. Trump’s remark came as Modi was in China for a summit of more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a China-backed initiative given renewed impetus by Trump’s global tariff offensive.

At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping pressed his vision for a new global security and economic order that prioritizes the “Global South,” in a direct challenge to the US. The US-India relationship has strengthened in recent years, including during Trump’s first term, given shared concerns about China’s growing power, but Trump threatened the tariffs on India after it refused to stop buying Russian oil in defiance of his efforts to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine. In China, in an image designed to convey solidarity, Putin and Modi were shown holding hands as they walked jovially toward Xi before the summit opened. The three men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, laughing and surrounded by interpreters. Beijing has used the summit to mend ties with New Delhi.

Modi, visiting China for the first time in seven years, and Xi agreed on Sunday their countries are development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to improve trade. The US State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meetings in China.

Separately, Europe’s main stock markets held broadly steady on Monday after strong gains for Chinese indices, as trading entered a traditionally weak month for Wall Street.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed with a gain of 2.2 percent, fuelled by the share price of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba soaring almost 20 per cent on bumper results which included a surge in AI revenue.

Chinese equities won support also from official data showing that China’s factory output ticked up in August, analysts said. The Purchasing Managers’ Index -- a key measure of industrial output -- was 49.4, up slightly from 49.3 in July.

However, it was also a fifth straight month of contraction, as only a figure above 50 indicates growth.

In Europe, the London edged higher Frankfurt stock markets gained 0.6 percent.

Paris flattened amid political turmoil in France over contested budget proposals.

Wall Street was shut on Monday for Labor Day.

The dollar hit a five-week low on Monday as investors looked ahead to a raft of US labour market data this week that could affect expectations for the Federal Reserve’s easing path.

Traders were also assessing Friday’s US inflation figures and a court ruling that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal, as well as the US president’s continuing tussle with the Fed over his attempt to fire Governor Lisa Cook.

Money markets have recently priced an around 90% chance of a 25 basis-point Fed rate cut in September and around 100 bps of easing by autumn 2026, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar eased 0.15% to 97.71, after hitting 97.534, its lowest level since July 28. It clocked a monthly decline of 2.2% on Friday.

Investors will be focussed on Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, which will be preceded by data on job openings and private payrolls.

Analysts said the U.S. economy is no longer outperforming as it did for much of the past decade, justifying a weaker dollar, and further signs of a softening labour market are expected to bolster that narrative.

The euro was up 0.22% at $1.1707, while sterling rose 0.25% to $1.3537. US markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday.

“Stocks tend to underperform this month on both sides of the Atlantic,” noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.

The tide already began to turn at the end of last week, with “an underwhelming set of results for (AI chip giant) Nvidia, along with a sharp selloff in stock markets in Europe and the US”, Brooks added.

Wall Street retreated from record highs Friday as a key US inflation reading accelerated, lowering the odds of sustained cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve in the coming months.

However, Trade Nation analyst David Morrison said investors interpreted last week’s dip “as simply some mild profit-taking ahead of the long holiday weekend”.

Also Friday, a US appeals court ruled that many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have upended global trade, were illegal — but allowed them to remain in place for now, giving him time to take the fight to the Supreme Court.

Agencies