President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’ll impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of India’s purchasing of Russian oil.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said India’s own tariffs are “far too high” while calling other trade barriers “strenuous and obnoxious.”
The American President further said that although India is a friend, the United States has done very little trade with it over the years because India’s tariffs are very high—among the highest in the world.
President Trump said that India has consistently purchased a large volume of military equipment from Russia and is also one of Russia’s biggest energy buyers.
He added that at a time when the world is urging Russia to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, such actions are not acceptable.
Trump said that therefore, a 25 percent tariff would be imposed on India from August 1, along with an additional penalty related to the issues mentioned above.
Earlier today, the US President had said that a trade agreement with India had yet to be finalized, and he had threatened to impose even higher tariffs before the August 1 deadline.
According to the British news agency Reuters, his statement followed a Reuters report indicating that India was preparing to accept a 20 to 25 percent increase in tariffs on its exports if a trade agreement with the United States could not be reached.
