Jan 16 News Live: US warns Iran that 'all options are on table' in UN meeting
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Here is the top, trending news of Friday, January 16, 2026, including Indian politics, states' politics, geopolitics, federal issues, economics, development issues, sports, entertainment, and so on.
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Live Updates
- 16 Jan 2026 7:09 AM IST
US, Taiwan sign USD 250 billion trade deal, cutting tariffs on Taiwanese goods
The United States and Taiwan reached a trade deal on Thursday that cuts tariffs on Taiwanese goods in exchange for USD 250 billion in new investments in the US tech industry.
The deal is the latest President Donald Trump has struck — such as those with the European Union and Japan — since he unveiled a sweeping tariff plan last April to address trade imbalances. Trump also has a one-year trade truce with China to stabilise ties with the world's second largest economy.
Trump initially set the tariff at 32 per cent on Taiwanese goods but later changed it to 20 per cent. The new agreement slashes the tariff rate to 15 per cent, the same as levied on other US trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region such as Japan and South Korea.
In a statement, the US Department of Commerce said the deal with Taiwan would establish an “economic partnership” to create several “world-class” US-based industrial parks in order to help build up domestic production. The department described it as "a historic trade deal that will drive a massive reshoring of America's semiconductor sector.” The Taiwanese government affirmed key details in the deal in a statement, saying that the “Taiwan model" will go to the US and help expand the global competitiveness of the island's technology industry while deepening strategic cooperation between the two nations.
Taiwan's executive branch said the island's companies would specifically invest USD 250 billion in industries such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence applications and energy.
In addition to cutting the tariffs on the island nation, the Commerce Department said it will exempt certain imports such as generic pharmaceuticals and aircraft components from Taiwan. Taiwanese semiconductor producers that invest in the US also will get favorable tariff treatments, including exemptions, the department said. AP
- 16 Jan 2026 6:41 AM IST
US warns Iran that 'all options are on the table' in emergency UN meeting
After weeks of escalating tension, US and Iranian officials faced each other Thursday at the UN Security Council, where America's envoy renewed threats against the Islamic Republic despite President Donald Trump's efforts to lower the temperature between the two adversaries.
The US was joined by Iranian dissidents in rebuking the government's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that activists say has killed at least 2,637 people.
“Colleagues, let me be clear: President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the UN, said in a statement. “He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.” Waltz's remarks came as the prospect of US retaliation for the protesters' deaths still hung over the region, though Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying the killing appeared to be ending. By Thursday, the protests challenging Iran's theocracy appeared increasingly smothered, but the state-ordered internet and communication blackout remained.
The US requested the emergency Security Council meeting and invited two Iranian dissidents, Masih Alinejad and Ahmad Batebi, to open the session with gruesome details of their experience as targets of the Islamic Republic.
In a stunning moment, Alinejad addressed the Iranian representative directly.
“You have tried to kill me three times. I have seen my would-be assassin with my own eyes in front of my garden, in my home in Brooklyn,” she said while the Iranian official looked directly ahead, without acknowledging her. AP
