President Trump announced on Wednesday that he will be imposing 25% tariffs on India and an unspecified “penalty,” steps he said were being taken in response to New Delhi’s own trade barriers as well as its trade relationship with Russia.
The announcement came after the president had been threatening to impose “secondary tariffs” on Russia’s trading partners if a deal wasn’t reached to end the war in Ukraine. On Monday, Trump said Russia had “10 or 12 days” to conclude the conflict, shortening a deadline that he had set earlier.
“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 wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.
“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!” the president added.
Trump said that the tariffs and the “penalty” will come into effect on August 1. He also told reporters that the US and India were currently in the middle of trade negotiations and suggested that the tariff rates could change.
“They have one of the highest tariffs in the world. Now they’re willing to cut it very substantially, but we’ll see what happens. We’re talking to India now. We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Trump’s action against India suggests that he could impose more penalties on countries that continue to trade with Russia as long as the war in Ukraine grinds on, and there’s no sign it will be ending anytime soon. For its part, Russia has made clear it will continue fighting until its war goals are completed and it’s undeterred by the threat of “secondary tariffs,” which could benefit Moscow by making India and China more reliant on trade with Moscow.
