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Pure tariff chaos.
What does it mean for business?
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Hannah Mullane.
India and the EU both postpone progress on trade with the US as they try and work out what new tariff arrangements mean for them.
And we've been speaking to the Netflix boss about the ongoing battle to buy Warner Brothers Discovery.
Businesses don't like uncertainty, and there's a lot of it around at the moment, after the Supreme Court in America struck down Donald Trump's tariffs as illegal.
The US president has since said he'll immediately introduce a new 15% import tax.
Michelle Fleury is our North America business correspondent.
Michelle, what's the latest on this?
Yes.
So over the weekend, Donald Trump said that he was going to increase a global tariff, tax or duty, whatever you want to call it from 10 percent to 15 percent on countries around the world.
The ground continues to shift for those partners who have essentially struck trade deals with the United States.
So allies like the UK, the EU Japan, South Korea now face higher tariffs, global duties, than they did before, while countries like Brazil and China potentially, are better off.
And are we seeing any international response, as countries try and figure out what exactly this might mean for them now?
Yeah, I mean, immediately you started to see reaction.
India was due to send trade negotiators to the United States.
That's been called off.
The EU has said it's going to delay ratifying its trade deal with the US to sort of consider what it all means for it.
And in the UK, like I say, which had negotiated a 10% tariff duty level, they are now saying, look, let's Tariff retaliation is an option if the US reneges on trade deal.
This is hugely uncertain time.
Some of the kind of basis of the trade deals, or at least portions of these trade deals that had been struck, are now invalid or have been kind of breached.
And countries are trying to figure out, well, what do we do now?
Is this an opportunity to perhaps negotiate a better deal?
Meanwhile you've got Donald Trump on Truth Social saying any country that wants to play games with the Supreme Court decision.
They had better watch out.
They might face higher tariffs.
Well, certainly one to watch.
Michelle Fleury, thank you for that.
That's our North America business correspondent there.
It is very chaotic, and as Michelle was saying, especially so for India.
An Indian delegation were scheduled to visit the US this week to finalise the framework of a bilateral trade deal.
That's now been postponed.
Trade ministry sources say the meeting will be rescheduled once both sides have studied the implications of the ruling on tariffs.
Pankaj Agrawal is the CEO of No Name, a textile company in northern India that exports about a million garments each year to the US.
I asked him if it's difficult running his business with the changing tariff situation.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
But you know, it is not just the tariff in itself, which is a problem.
It is the uncertainty.
So if businesses are clear about what to expect, then they are ready to invest, to grow, to hire and to scale up the business.
The problem today is the lack of clarity and the lack of certainty going ahead.
That's what troubles us.
So what do you need, then from the government and from the US to give you that certainty, so that you can move forward and grow your business?
Yeah, I mean, it's not just about us.
It's about every business that operates in an environment like this.
We expect governments to be more stable in terms of their policies.
You know we, as a fashion manufacturers, garment manufacturers, we always plan a season ahead, as you know.
It's at least one or two quarters in advance.
But the way it is now, you know, you can't even decide what to do next month.
This stability is what is very important for the US, as well as for our government, to try and figure out between themselves.
And how does it work for you at the moment with the current tariffs in place?
You must be having to swallow a big cost burden as a result of that.
We have been seeing this for the last year.
Almost there was no other option for us, as well as the entire Indian apparel industry, to diversify, which is what I think everybody has done.
We have done that ourselves.
We have tried to become more efficient.
We have cut costs where we could.
We have diversified where we could.
And I must say that as I see it today, we are probably more resilient and we are stronger.
The US ultimately, will come back in terms of, you know, being a stable buyer economy, as it used to be.
And when it does, we will already have a much wider base to leverage.
And we are pretty much all right.
The US is an important market, but today I must say it is not the only market.
So what's the best outcome for you and your business then?
The best outcome is to have stability.
Irrespective of how things pan out, there has to be stability in terms of what to expect.
That is all that we desire.
Pankaj Agrawal there, the CEO of No Name, a textile company in northern India.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament have decided to postpone a vote on its trade deal with the US.
Bernd Lange is the Committee of International Trade explained the decision.
This 15% is limited based on the Trade Act 122 for 150 days.
Nobody knows what will happen after.
And it's unclear if there will be additional measures or how the United States will really guarantee that the deal of Sunbury will be respected.
Ahead of that vote, EU Commission spokesperson Olof Gill explained what the European Union wanted from the US.
Full clarity on what these new developments entail mean for the EU-US trade relationship is the absolute minimum that is required in order for us, as the EU, to make a clear-eyed assessment and decide on next steps.
And so, as you will have seen in our statement that we put out yesterday, we are requesting full clarity.
There is engagement ongoing with the US, but more is required for us to understand the full picture here.
Olaf Gill there.
Shares in drug company Novo Nordisk fell as much as 15% to their lowest level since 2021.
That's after disappointing results in a trial of its latest weight loss medication.
It showed that the next generation obesity drug Kagrisema, underperformed its rival Eli Lilly's Zetbound.
More than $400 billion has been wiped off the value of Novo Nordisk since 2024.
Now to that developing Hollywood saga the takeover battle between Netflix and Paramount Skydance to buy Warner Brothers Discovery.
The boss of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, has told the BBC its bid for Warner is better than the rival one from Paramount, despite concerns about its impact on the entertainment industry.
I would say the reason why you would do a Netflix deal versus this Paramount deal, our deal is growth.
We've been growing and growing and growing this business since we started.
And the other model within the Paramount model, it's the classic horizontal media mergers that are always bad for consumers, always bad for creators, because basically what they're just taking is two studios and collapsing them to one.
There's five major studios left in Hollywood.
If the Paramount deal were to go through, it would be four.
Well, Rachel Winter, Partner and Investment Manager at Killik & Co. is with me.
Rachel Ted talking there about competition.
How much does that play into the decision making on who might get to buy Warner Brothers in the end?
Not a huge amount at this stage, but it will have to go through an antitrust decision at some point.
And the final answer could depend on that.
And Paramount Skydance, they were given their deadline.
That's today.
Their best and final offer is expected soon.
But that doesn't mean the saga's over, does it?
It's going to go on and on.
No, it will go on for a long time.
But it is quite exciting having this deadline of midnight tonight.
Looking at the share prices today, Netflix shares are down 4%.
So that suggests that people think Paramount is going to come out with a higher offer.
And that could result in Netflix having to pay more.
And could it result in higher prices for customers in the end?
That's a possibility when competition is reduced.
But if you consider that if Netflix wins, it will have access to more content and therefore its subscribers will get access to more, and you could therefore justify having a higher price for that,
Rachel Winter, thanks for joining us.
That takes us to the end of World Business Express.
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I've spent the last three decades trying to better understand money across the boardroom, the newsroom and the trading floor.
That's longer than most podcast hosts have been alive.
But even I've got questions.
Join me Maren's Hubset Web every week for my show Maren Talks Money from Bloomberg Podcasts, where I have in-depth conversations with fund managers, strategists and experts about how markets really work.
And join me for a separate episode where I answer listener questions on how to make those markets work for you.
Follow Marin Talks Money on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
