President Donald Trump has made trade relations with India even worse by putting big new taxes on Indian imports and loudly criticizing New Delhi’s connections with Moscow.
On Labor Day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US would put 50 percent tariffs on $60.2 billion worth of Indian goods, focusing on textiles, jewels, and other significant industries. He said that India’s trade policies had been “one-sided” for a long time and that India’s latest promise to cut tariffs to zero was too late.
In a post , Trump went into further detail about his views, writing, “What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a lot of business with us.” In other words, they sell us a lot of stuff, making them our biggest “client,” but we don’t sell them much. This has been a completely one-sided relationship for many decades.
He went on to suggest that India’s traditionally high tariffs have kept American businesses out of the market. Trump also talked about India’s links to Russia in terms of energy and defense, saying, “India buys most of its oil and military goods from Russia, not the U.S.” They are now willing to lower their tariffs to zero, but it is getting late. They should have done this a long time ago.
Analysts say that the move could hurt Washington’s strategic partnership with New Delhi at a time when both nations have stressed working together on defense and technology. Some people say that the decision might make India get closer to its BRICS partners, especially China and Russia.
Indian commentary has been very direct. One news outlet said that Trump’s comments were “desperately trying to shift the narrative from India’s SCO success,” and that India will keep trading with Russia even though the U.S. was putting pressure on it. The article said that Trump wanted to shift India’s defense purchases to American vendors and even said he was signaling support for Pakistan, calling the attempt “incredibly desperate.”
If the tariffs go into effect, they would be one of the biggest changes in U.S.-India economic relations in decades. This would add more uncertainty to an alliance that is often seen as important for keeping China’s growth in the Indo-Pacific in check.
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