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6 days ago | 
illinoispolicy.org | Bryce Hill |Ravi Mishra |Lauren Zuar
Illinois state lawmakers’ spending plan surpasses last year’s budget by $2 billion, requiring taxpayers to pay over $800 million in additional costs for yet another year of record spending.
With just over 24 hours to conduct a full review, the Illinois General Assembly approved a record-setting $55.2 billion budget for 2026, after a 75-41 House vote sent the 3,000-plus page plan to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Ravi Mishra
Addressing a rally at a US steel plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, Trump said Friday, the sharp hike in tariffs on steel from 25 per cent to 50 per cent will “even further secure the steel industry in the United States”. “Nobody’s going to get around that,” he said. Later in a social media post, Trump said, “It is my great honour to raise the tariffs on steel and aluminium from 25% to 50%, effective Wednesday, June 4th. Our steel and aluminium industries are coming back like never before.
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1 week ago | 
illinoispolicy.org | Ravi Mishra
State leaders rely on budget gimmicks and short-term fixes and they assume speculative proposals will become law and operate exactly as planned just to balance the books, if only on paper. Transparent, laws-on-the-books-based modeling is the only path to long-term stability.
Illinois has relied on flawed modeling practices for its budgeting for years.
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1 week ago | 
illinoispolicy.org | Ravi Mishra
With the budget facing a potential $1.2 billion deficit, some ideas on the table include taxing deliveries from companies such as Amazon and digital ads.
With a potential $1.2 billion budget deficit, some ideas for from taxpayers includes a tax on digital ad revenue and . Both taxes are likely to add further strain on already overburdened taxpayers and businesses.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Ravi Mishra
A day after the US Court of International Trade curtailed President Donald Trump’s ability to impose tariffs using emergency powers, Rajesh Aggarwal, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said on Thursday that US concerns over the trade deficit should not obstruct progress in the India–US trade partnership. Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit, Aggarwal said, “The overall discussion around the trade deficit is largely a narrative driven by the US administration.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Ravi Mishra
Weeks before India and the US were due to sign an interim trade deal to meet the July 8 deadline for reciprocal tariffs, the US Court of International Trade on Wednesday ruled that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to regulate imports into the US through tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). “The court holds, for the foregoing reasons, that IEEPA does not authorise any of the Worldwide, Retaliatory, or Trafficking Tariff Orders.
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1 week ago | 
illinoispolicy.org | Ravi Mishra
If Illinois state lawmakers follow the Chicago Teachers Union’s push for a 7.92% base corporate tax rate, it can severely hurt Illinois’ competitiveness. Job creators do not need another reason to abandon Illinois.
Illinois already burdens businesses with the third-highest corporate income tax rate in the country, has persistently high unemployment and sluggish economic growth, so a corporate tax hike is the last thing the state needs.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Ravi Mishra
Defending the use of emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs, senior officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have told the US Court of International Trade last week that a legal setback limiting Trump’s emergency tariff powers would disrupt trade deals the US is pursuing and jeopardise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, court filings showed.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Ravi Mishra
INDIA’S GOODS exports worth at least $775 million to the UK continue to face the risk of higher duties under its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) despite the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) earlier this month, a UK official said Tuesday. A policy that was first proposed by the European Union and later by the UK, CBAM seeks to put a tariff of up to 35 per cent on carbon intensive products such as iron, steel and aluminium.
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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Ravi Mishra
India agreed to slash duties on automobiles from over 100 per cent to 10 per cent, but largely in the premium segment of the automobile market and not across the board with quotas in place, a UK official said on Tuesday. India’s opening up of the automobile sector assumes significance as similar demands are expected to arise in free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the EU, US, and other countries.
