Donald Trump India tariffs | US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that his administration will raise tariffs on India “very substantially” within the next 24 hours, citing India’s continued purchase of Russian crude oil. Trump criticised India’s trade policies during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, calling the country the “highest tariff nation” and a “not good trading partner.”
“With India, what people don’t like to say about India, they’re the highest tariff nation. They have the highest tariff of anybody. We do very, very little business with India because their tariffs are so high,” Trump stated.
He added, “India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do business with them. So we settled on 25% (tariff), but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil. They’re fuelling the war machine. And if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy.”
When asked about a pending trade deal with India, Trump remarked that India’s high tariff rates remain the main obstacle. “Now I will say this, India went from the highest tariffs ever, they will give us zero tariffs….But that’s not good enough, because of what they’re doing with oil,” he said.
On August 1, Trump signed an executive order titled ‘Further Modifying The Reciprocal Tariff Rates’, raising tariffs on over 60 countries, including a 25% tariff hike for India. However, the executive order made no mention of the additional penalties Trump had earlier proposed against India for its purchase of Russian military and energy resources.
India and Russia Reject US Criticism, Call for Sovereign Trade Choices
India swiftly responded with a strongly-worded statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), describing the US and EU criticism as “unjustified and unreasonable.” The ministry pointed to the continuing trade relations between the West and Russia, including in areas beyond energy, such as fertilisers, mining products, iron and steel, and chemicals.
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“Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” the MEA said. “Where the US is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals.”
“In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” the statement concluded.
Backing India, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted that sovereign nations have the right to determine their trade partners. “We believe that sovereign countries must have and do have the right to choose their trade partners… on their own and independently determine those modes of trade and economic cooperation that suit the interests of a country in question,” he told journalists.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the United States of continuing a neocolonial policy against Global South countries. “Washington cannot come to terms with the loss of hegemony in the emerging multipolar world order,” she said.
Meanwhile, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reiterated the administration’s stance, saying, “It is not acceptable for India to continue financing the Ukraine war by purchasing oil from Russia.”
Last week, Trump escalated his rhetoric, accusing India and Russia of having close economic ties and saying the two countries can take their “dead economies down together.” In response, India noted that it remains the fastest-growing major economy in the world.
Trump also criticised India for maintaining a massive trade surplus with the US, imposing “obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers,” and continuing to procure most of its military equipment from Russia. “All things not good!” he said.
