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Trump vows 'very substantial' tariff hike on India within 24 hours
'They're fueling the war machine, and if they're going to do that, then I'm not going to be happy,' Trump told CNBC in an interview. He also criticised India's existing tariff structure, calling it the primary point of contention.
Trump, however, did not specify what the revised tariff rate would be. "We'll be putting an initially small tariff on pharma," he added.
Trump's tariff threat comes hours after India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that it is actively involved in the discussions with the US, with the aim of expanding trade and investment.
"Government of India is actively involved in the discussions on the India-USA Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the Government of the United States with the aim to expand trade and investment and deepening the India-US trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation," said Jitin Prasada, minister of state for Commerce & Industry, in response to a question by Lok Sabha member Kodikunnil Suresh.
India defends oil purchase
Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a sharp rebuttal to Trump's threat of imposing higher tariffs on Indian goods, calling the criticism over Russian oil imports 'unjustified and unreasonable'. The ministry stressed that India's energy ties with Russia are driven by national "necessity" and are far smaller in scale compared to trade between Russia and the West.
'India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict. In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict,' the MEA said in a statement on Monday.
The ministry also recalled that, at the time, Washington had actually welcomed India's move to purchase Russian oil. 'The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy market stability,' it noted. Data cited by the MEA further underlined the imbalance in criticism. The European Union recorded €67.5 billion in goods trade with Russia in 2024, and an additional €17.2 billion in services trade in 2023 -- far higher than India's total trade with Moscow.
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