Unceremonious End to Modi’s Smart Cities Mission; Countdown to Trump Tariffs Begin; BJP Govts Target Eid, Impose Food Restrictions

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Over to Siddharth Varadarajan for today’s Cable

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Snapshot of the day

March 31, 2025

Siddharth Varadarajan

United States President Donald Trump has said his soon-to-be-announced reciprocal tariffs will apply to “all countries”, pouring cold water on hopes that only economies with the biggest trade imbalances with the US would be targeted. Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said that his long-anticipated tariff announcement on April 2 would “start” with all countries. Trump also told reporters that the tariffs “will be far more generous than those countries were to us. Meaning, they will be kinder than those countries were to the United States of America over the decades.” Trump has repeatedly said he intends to impose a reciprocal tax on India, among others, citing high tariffs the countries impose on foreign goods. New Delhi, however, is yet to make any commitments to Washington on tariffs and has sought time until September to address the matter, the Union