Rush Hour: BJP and AIADMK join hands for TN Assembly polls, China raises tariffs on US goods & more

Apr 11, 2025 - 20:30

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The Bharatiya Janata Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will contest the 2026 Tamil Nadu elections together, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced. The two parties had been allies in 2019 and 2021, but split in 2023.

Speaking in Chennai with AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami and outgoing BJP state president K Annamalai, Shah said the alliance will fight under Palaniswami’s leadership as part of the National Democratic Alliance.

“Now this alliance is going to be permanent,” Shah said. He added the AIADMK had made no demands for reviving the alliance. Shah also confirmed Nainar Nagenthiran as the new state BJP chief. Read on.

China on Friday said it will raise tariffs on all United States goods from 84% to 125% starting April 12, after Washington hiked duties on Chinese imports to 145%. The move signals a sharp escalation in the trade standoff between the two countries.

“The US imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China... is completely unilateral bullying and coercion,” China’s finance ministry said. Beijing also described the Trump administration’s tariff policy as a “joke”, and warned that it would “resolutely counterattack and fight to the...