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Hafta 532: Trump’s tariff blunders, Supreme Court’s remarks on Tamil Nadu Governor
This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Semafor’s business reporter Rohan Goswami and political consultant and federalism expert Tara Krishnaswamy.
On Trump’s flip-flop on tariffs and the escalating trade war with China, Rohan says: “Trump created tremendous panic. He got what he wanted. World leaders are calling and begging him... but a 90-day pause is not enough.” He highlights that, unlike the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis, America’s current market chaos is a “self-inflicted situation”.
Manisha analyses the common threads between Narendra Modi’s demonetisation policy and Trump’s tariffs. Shardool adds, “Trump is famous because he is funny. He should be made the TV-President because he understands TV best.”
The panel also discusses the Supreme Court’s scathing remarks about the Tamil Nadu Governor earlier this week. Tara remarks,“The time has come to either define the Governor’s role – starting from appointment to powers – in a bilateral manner, or abolish the position and assign its duties to the appropriate authorities.”
Raman adds, “The battle between chief ministers and governors has increased tremendously since 2014.”
This and a lot more. Tune in!
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Timecodes
00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements
00:04:48 – Headlines
00:15:34 – Trump’s tariff flip-flops
01:05:29 – Supreme Court on TN Governor
01:32:12 – Letters
01:48:08 – Recommendations
Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters
Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand.
Production assistance by intern Pragya Chakroborty.
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