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Donald Trump has announced that India will be subjected to tariffs of 25 per cent on imports to the US, plus an unspecified penalty, as he hit out at the country’s trade policy.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, the US president said Indian tariffs were “among the highest in the World and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country”.
He added that India had “always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia” and was Moscow’s biggest purchaser of energy at a time when the Ukraine war is still raging.
ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!” Trump wrote. “INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST.”
The US president said on Tuesday that he would be imposing sanctions on Russia, including “secondary tariffs” on its energy customers, if Moscow did not halt the war in Ukraine within 10 days.
In a separate post on Wednesday, he added: “WE HAVE A MASSIVE TRADE DEFICIT WITH INDIA!!!”
The statement from Trump followed weeks of talks between Washington and New Delhi since “liberation day” in early April, when the White House announced a 26 per cent tariff on Indian exports.
India’s trade negotiators had sought to retain its steep tariffs on many agricultural imports, which include 70-80 per cent duties on US rice.
New Delhi had also pushed Washington to lower tariffs on Indian exports of labour-intensive industries including gems and jewellery, textiles, footwear, leather and handicrafts, the Financial Times has previously reported.
This is a developing story
