President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he is imposing a 25 percent tariff on India that will go into force at the end of the week, in addition to a penalty because of the country’s energy and military purchases from Russia.
“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST,” the post added.
Trump on Tuesday announced he would give Russia a 10-day deadline to end the war in Ukraine and re-upped his threat of secondary sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil.
Twenty-five percent tariffs on India would be one percent lower than “reciprocal” duties briefly implemented by the Trump administration on the country in April. The move comes just days before the administration’s self-imposed Friday deadline to finalize trade deals with dozens of trading partners and comes after months of promises that a preliminary trade agreement with Delhi was imminent.
Those punitive trade measures could have serious implications for the stability of the U.S.-India relationship and Washington’s hopes to strengthen ties as a counterweight to China.
The tariffs will likely inflame anger among Indian nationalists, a constituency key to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decade-plus lock on power.
India was one of the first countries to begin trade talks with the U.S. In April, Vice President JD Vance announced during a trip to India that the countries had finalized “Terms of Reference” for negotiations, and Trump teased the prospect of a deal with India in recent days.
India imposes some of the highest tariffs of any major economy, with an average rate of around 17 percent, and has long used tariffs to protect the country’s millions of subsistence farmers. Agricultural trade has been a major hurdle in talks between the two countries, with India voicing concerns about the genetically modified crops grown in the U.S., as well as concerns over the U.S. treatment of its dairy cows — a cherished symbol in Hindu culture.
The Indian Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
