


The United States will impose a 25 percent tariff on Indian imports, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, as the Friday trade negotiation deadline looms.
Months ago, Trump gave his administration until August 1 to finalize trade deals with international partners, and India was one of the early nations to come to the negotiating table. India exported $90 billion in goods to America last year but imposes “obnoxious non-monetary” trade barriers, Trump said.
“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 said 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!” Trump added. “INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST.”
This week, Trump also gave Moscow a ten-day deadline to end its war on Ukraine before he issues further tariffs and sanctions on Russia’s economic partners.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said that it “has taken note of a statement by the US President on bilateral trade” and “is studying its implications.”
“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 statement said. “The Government will take all steps necessary to secure our national interest, as has been the case with other trade agreements.”
Federal government data was released Wednesday that shows a 3 percent annualized rate of increase in U.S. Gross Domestic Product over three months, ending in June — growth that “primarily reflected a decrease in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP,” the U.S. Commerce Department said.
India is also a leading smartphone source. The country has become a viable hub for companies like Apple, which exported $17 billion worth of iPhones from India last year, looking to move production away from countries like China.
Trump’s high tariff rate on India could push Apple toward stateside production. In March, Trump said he encouraged Apple CEO Tim Cook to produce the smartphones in America.
“I said to Tim, I said, ‘Tim, look, we treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years, now you got [to] build [with] us. We’re not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves … we want you to build here,’” Trump said.