President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States would impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods imported from India, alongside an additional “penalty” import tax, citing India’s significant trade barriers and continued purchasing of Russian oil and military equipment.
In a social media post, Trump stated that while India “is our friend”, its existing tariffs on US goods were “far too high, among the highest in the World”. He also criticised India’s “most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country”.
The Republican president added that India’s procurement of military equipment and oil from Russia had enabled the war in Ukraine. As a result, he intended to charge an additional “penalty” on Indian imports starting this Friday, as part of his administration’s revised tariffs on multiple countries.
This move follows Washington running a US$45.8 billion trade imbalance in goods with New Delhi last year, according to the US Census Bureau.
India said on Wednesday that it was committed to a fair and balanced trade agreement with Washington after Trump’s tariff announcement.
“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective,” the Indian government said in a statement.
