CNBC Daily Open: India forges a trade deal with the EU — as Trump doubles down on tariff playbook

When the most populous nation on Earth forges a trade deal with a bloc that comprises nearly 15% of the world’s GDP, the ramifications will be widespread — and not just in monetary terms.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that the country and the European Union had closed a “landmark” free trade agreement.

The deal, which creates a market of about two billion people, comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies have fractured global trade ties.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s three-day diplomatic tour of China, which begins Tuesday, is another sign of how countries are seeking to establish new trade alliances.

Meanwhile, Trump on Monday said he would increase tariffs on some South Korean goods because of Seoul’s delay in implementing the trade deal with the U.S. struck in October. Duties on autos, pharmaceuticals and lumber would increase to 25% from 15%.

With those tariffs, the goals for which Trump has been using duties include: stopping drug trafficking, preserving national security aims and, now, hastening the legislative process of another country.

This time, it seemed to elicit a response, at least. South Korea’s ruling party said it would pass a special act related to the U.S. trade deal by end-February, according to domestic media.

But these belligerent moves by the U.S. could further estrange it from its allies and the global economy — a concern reflected in the U.S. Dollar Index, which is at its weakest since September, and in the continued surge in gold and silver prices.

U.S. equities, however, remain resilient, as investors positioned themselves ahead of Big Tech earnings. Apple, Meta, and Microsoft were major drivers of Monday’s market gains, and they are set to disclose their financial results for the previous quarter later this week.

Attention now turns to the U.S. Federal Reserve, which will announce its interest rate decision in the coming days. While the central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged, Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference could shed light on Trump’s attacks on Fed independence — and Trump might time his announcement of the next Fed Chair for the same day.

For investors, it adds another variable to a week already heavy with earnings, data and political noise.

Trump says he will raise certain tariffs on South Korea. That’s because of a delay in South Korea’s legislature approving a trade deal with the U.S., Trump said Monday. In response, the ruling party in South Korea said Tuesday that it would pass a special act by the end of February.

China isn’t likely to respond to Trump’s tariff salvo. Chinese officials have sought to project stability in ties with Washington, and analysts say both the U.S. and China are “trying to maintain the fragile truce.”

Asian equity markets are seeing a rush of capital. A surge of initial public offerings, rising cross-border flows, and accelerating deal activity are underscoring the region’s growing importance in global capital markets, according to senior executives at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.

Positive day for U.S. stocks. Major indexes rose Monday, on the back of gains in Apple, Meta and Microsoft, ahead of their earnings reports later in the week. Asia-Pacific markets advanced Tuesday. In Europe, China’s Anta Sports announced a $1.8 billion stake purchase of Puma shares.

[PRO] Behind silver’s new highs. The precious metal gained 5.9% on Monday, pushing the price to $109.10. There are two main reasons behind its record-breaking run, according to an analyst.

AI spending wasn’t the biggest engine of U.S. economic growth in 2025, despite popular assumptions

Students at a tech university in Dublin are enjoying an unexpected perk of artificial intelligence — it’s helping heat their campus.

Since 2023, the Technical University of Dublin’s Tallaght campus has been one of a growing number of buildings in the southwest suburban area of the city to be heated by waste heat from a nearby Amazon Web Services data center.

Providing heat to a district heating network gives data centers “additional social license,” the International Energy Agency’s Brendan Reidenbach told CNBC.

— April Roach and Tasmin Lockwood