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Good evening, For two years, Moti Ram Jat, an assistant sub-inspector with the CRPF, was receiving a monthly remittance of Rs 3,500 for sharing sensitive information. Critical intel even fetched him a Rs 12,000 bonus. Just five days before the April 22 terror attack, Jat was transferred from J&K’s Pahalgam to Delhi. But the flow of information did not stop. He told his interlocutors about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to J&K just hours after the attack. He even shared troop movements and suspected terror locations. Authorities soon caught on to his act. For weeks, they put him under the scanner, and finally, earlier this week, the National Investigation Agency arrested him. Turns out, Jat had been made an unwitting spy by Pakistan intelligence officers posing as journalists from a leading TV news channel. On that note, let’s dive in 👇🏽
📝 The Debrief What’s going on with Donald Trump’s tariffs? Over the last 36 hours, a new term has emerged in Wall Street and Western media discourse regarding US President Donald Trump’s approach: TACO, or Trump Always Chickens Out. The term, coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong and author of the Unhedged newsletter, seeks to address Trump’s tendency to retract his policies when they negatively impact the markets. Trump, of course, didn’t take it kindly when asked by reporters about this term, instead saying, “I chicken out? Don’t ever say that…that’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.” While it seems memeworthy, TACO is not a laughing matter, as we saw in the early days of April when Trump announced his “reciprocal” tariffs on countries, only to hit the pause button. The markets swayed, and how! So, where are Trump’s tariffs headed, after all? Continuing saga: The tariff action is now in the courts, reflecting the chaos that ensued when it was first announced. Two courts, in consecutive days, ruled against Trump’s sweeping tariffs. On Wednesday, the US Court of International Trade deemed Trump’s sweeping ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs illegal, determining that he overstepped his authority by invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose these tariffs. On Thursday, a second federal court, the DC District Court, held a similar view regarding Trump’s use of IEEPA. However, the Trump administration managed to pull one back, winning a reprieve in an appeals court against the Court of International Trade’s order. This means the levies are back on for now, and the matter will likely end up in the Supreme Court. The end result: More uncertainty looms for businesses, especially with the 90-day pause expiring in July. The administration, however, is digging in, with Trump claiming a $2 billion daily revenue from tariffs in April. A Bloomberg analysis, however, estimated US tariff revenues to be around $16 billion for April, representing a “$9 billion or 130% increase in the same month a year before,” also the “biggest monthly take for customs in at least a decade.” The UK, which signed a trade deal with the US, now appears “somewhat imprudent,” as my colleague Anil Sasi notes. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant now asserts that the US trade talks with China are “somewhat stalled.” New Delhi, where US negotiators are due next week, will be watching the developments closely and will calibrate accordingly. Weaker wicket: The Trump administration may have tied itself in knots legally with a weak case. Constitutionally, trade policy in the US is the remit of the US Congress and two powerful subcommittees in the House and Senate, which Trump bypassed by declaring the country’s growing deficit a national emergency. There’s another case in California, brought by its Governor Gavin Newsom, challenging Trump’s tariff powers, which merits close attention, even as the White House is hellbent on “doing other things,” as its advisor Peter Navarro told Bloomberg TV.
✍️ From our newsroom Pakistan’s crypto games: Earlier this week, this letter took a closer look at Pakistan’s sudden (and recent) embrace of cryptocurrency. Now, my colleague Jay Mazoomdar has pulled out his magnifying lens and dug deeper. There is increasing scrutiny over the crypto deal between Pakistan and a Trump-family-owned firm, World Liberty Financial Inc. Pakistan Crypto Council CEO Bilal bin Saqib, in his wisdom, likened Bitcoin and Pakistan to victims of “bad PR” at a recent event. WLFI, with President Trump as “Chief Crypto Advocate,” signed an LOI in April to back Pakistan’s crypto adoption, including plans for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and 2,000 MW for mining. But the optics aren’t looking great: a US Senate panel has asked WLFI to share all communications with PM Shehbaz Sharif, citing possible conflicts of interest. The Trump-backed firm has so far refused. Meanwhile, Islamabad is pitching itself as the crypto gateway for the Global South, but behind the rebrand is an uneasy alliance with a shadowy firm deeply tied to America's most polarising political dynasty.
🔎 Need to know Order, order: An Uttarakhand court has sentenced the three accused in the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case to rigorous life imprisonment. The accused includes her employer, Pulkit Arya, son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya. Swift action: The Bihar police have arrested a 35-year-old man from the Bhagalpur district for allegedly making threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a WhatsApp call during the latter's ongoing visit to the state. The accused wanted to implicate his uncle in the case over a land dispute. Heartbreak: Indian athletes were primed for a podium finish at the ongoing Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea. However, the quartet of Manikanta Hoblidar, Amlan Borgohain, Rahul Kumar, and Pranav Gurav, competing in the men’s 4x100m relay race in the heats, have now been disqualified. They broke a technical rule during the exchange of the baton.
🎙️Expresso Playlist! In today’s Playlist, I recommend this excellent episode from Channels with Peter Kafka, discussing Wired magazine’s revival and reinvention over the past two years. It’s well worth a listen if you're a media enthusiast.
✋🏽 One last thing 🚽I’ll leave you with this New York Times story on the unstoppable rise of the Japanese toilet. No product placements, but the great Toto, it appears, is conquering the United States! That’s all from me today. Thank you so much for reading this edition. If you enjoy the Evening Expresso, tell your friends to subscribe to the newsletter. You can do so by signing up for the Morning Expresso. Additionally, you can reach me via email for tips, feedback, or simply to say hello! 😀 Have a great weekend! Until Monday, Venkat Ananth and Sonal Gupta |
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