No sectors exempted, pharma & electronics hit with 25% tariff; blanket move is the toughest action by US against a partner: GTRI

The United States will impose a 25 % flat tariff on goods from India without any product exemptions for sectors such as drugs and electronics, which can threaten up to $ 25 billion in India’s exports.

Ajay Servastava, founder of GTRI, said that the indication that this blanket tariff is “one of the most difficult trade measures taken by the United States against a major trading partner in recent years.” “What distinguishes this procedure is that, unlike many other commercial partners, India has been rejected from all exemptions at the product level-even for products and sectors, and the United States exempt from other countries.”

These generalized categories include final pharmaceutical drugs, active pharmaceutical components (APIS), and other main drug inputs; Energy products such as crude oil, refined fuel, natural gas, coal and electricity; Critical metals, a wide range of electronics and semi -conductors, including computers, tablets, smartphones, hard drive, flat panel shows and integrated circuits.

The report said: “These exceptions do not apply to India. Instead, India is subjected to a 25 % flat Valraim duty through all goods, with no exceptions according to the product or sector,” the report said.

According to a new executive order issued by US president Donald Trump on July 31, the United States imposed a 25 % tariff on all first Indian commodities, starting from August 7, 2025. This will exceed the standard MFN tariff.

While Indian goods will attract customs tariffs at a rate of 25 % starting from October 7, goods can continue to cross the customs tariffs at previous rates of 10 % on most products (except for steel and aluminum where tariffs are 50 % and exempt from customs tariffs such as smartphones) until October 5, 2025.

The exemption from tariffs for other countries, not India, will double India’s exports of petroleum products ($ 4.1 billion in the 25th year), smartphones ($ 10.9 billion), and pharmaceutical preparations (9.8 billion dollars) to the United States, adding that all other sectors, textiles, and textiles will also carry Tarif joints.

Fast estimates indicate that the export of goods in India in the fiscal year 26 may decrease by 30 % to 60.6 billion dollars in the fiscal year 26 from 86.5 billion dollars in the fiscal year 25. She said that most of the affected groups are petroleum products, pharmaceutical preparations and electronics each with high import content and low local value.