India has criticised US President, Donald Trump’s additional 25 per cent tariff on its goods as a penalty for New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil,
Following Trump’s executive order, India now has one of the highest tariff rates on goods exported to the US.
India was furious with Trump’s latest tariff measure, with its foreign ministry describing the measure as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
The ministry stressed that it is therefore “extremely unfortunate” that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for “actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest.” It added that India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.
It is the ministry’s second such sharp reaction on the issue in last three days.
On Monday, New Delhi mounted an unusually sharp counter-attack on the US and the European Union for what it called their “unjustified and unreasonable” targeting of India for its energy ties with Russia.
The sectors, which will have to bear the brunt of these tariffs include textiles/ clothing, gems and jewellery, shrimp, leather and footwear, animal products, chemicals, and electrical and mechanical machinery.
The exempted goods, which will not be subject to the high tariffs, include pharmaceutical; energy products such as crude oil, refined fuels, natural gas, coal, and electricity; critical minerals; and a wide range of electronics and semiconductors, like computers, tablets, smartphones, solid-state drives, flat panel displays, and integrated circuits.
Several top politicians across political parties in opposition also lashed out at the decision by Washington. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor stated that the move is likely to impact the Indian economy and that the additional tariff will make Indian goods unaffordable to the Americans.
He pointed out that several Indian competitors, including Pakistan, Vietnam, and Indonesia, have lower tariffs in comparison to India.
In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi called the hiked tariffs “economic blackmail – an attempt to bully India into an unfair trade deal.” He stated that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi better not let “his weakness override the interests of the Indian people.”
Meanwhile, Reserve Bank Governor, Sanjay Malhotra said that he does not see a major impact of US tariffs on the domestic inflation.
Speaking with reporters at the central bank headquarters, Malhotra said that there can be some impact if India retaliates with tariffs but was quick to add that he does not see the same coming.
Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta added that a majority, 50 per cent of India’s consumer price inflation (CPI) basket is food items, which have very limited exposure to global developments.
She noted that apart from that, there is a significant weightage of non-tradeable items in the basket, which is again not impacted by global developments like tariffs.
The tariffs are set to go into effect 21 days after the signing of the order, meaning that both India and Russia might have time to negotiate with the administration on the import taxes.
Trump’s Tariff Deemed Hypocritical
Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade official, labelled the tariff increase as “hypocritical.”
He noted that the latest tariff places the country among the most heavily taxed US trading partners and far above rivals such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
He added that the tariffs are expected to make Indian goods far costlier with the potential to cut exports by around 40%-50% to the US.
Srivastava said that Trump’s decision was “hypocritical” because China bought more Russian oil than India did last year.
“Washington avoids targeting Beijing because of China’s leverage over critical minerals which are vital for US defense and technology.”
Ajay Srivastava
It comes as Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, said that he will be making announcements later today on whether potential sanctions against Russia would still proceed this week.
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