'Will Study, Then Respond': Govt Sources On Trump's 25% Levies On India
US President Donald Trump has announced that a 25% tariff will be imposed on Indian imports starting August 1.
After US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on Indian products, government sources told CNN-News18 that the tariffs were not too high, but the government is studying Trump's announcement and will respond accordingly.
Trump on Wednesday announced that a 25% tariff will be imposed on Indian imports starting August 1, along with an additional unspecified penalty, as negotiations for a bilateral trade deal are still underway.
Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump cited India's high tariffs, stringent non-monetary trade barriers, and continued military and energy ties with Russia as the key reasons behind the move.
'While India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high… and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country," he said.
No India-US Trade Deal Yet
Trump's announcement came as India and the US are still negotiating a trade deal. Indian officials have been shuttling back and forth between New Delhi and Washington for months. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday that the negotiators were making 'fantastic progress", and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had indicated that a deal was imminent.
Indian officials were reportedly less optimistic about securing an interim deal with the Trump administration before the August 1 deadline. If India is slapped with higher duties on its imports this week, this is likely to be a temporary measure until talks on a broader bilateral deal are concluded in the fall, officials told Bloomberg.
Trump has long referred to India as a 'tariff king". However, India has proposed to remove all tariffs on imports of steel, auto components and pharmaceuticals from the US on a reciprocal basis, a major shift in its policy to protect domestic producers.
Until recently, the United States was India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $190 billion in 2024. However, the US continues to run a $45 billion trade deficit with New Delhi, which a persistent sticking point that Trump has frequently highlighted.
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