India Is Trump’s Next Tariff Target

US president Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will impose a 25 percent tariff in India starting August 1. Despite five rounds of negotiations, India has not yet been able to secure a better deal. Although the new average is just a percentage point less than the original amount threatened in April, Washington shows that it seeks an aggressive strategy to help reduce the USA’s trade deficit with India.

“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, have done relatively few businesses with them because their tariffs are very high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most heavy and uncomfortable commercial barriers in any country,” Trump was actually published on Wednesday. In 2024, India was the largest trading partner in the United States, and the US trade deficit with the country was $ 45.7 billion.

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will impose a 25 percent tariff in India starting August 1. Despite five rounds of negotiations, India has not yet been able to secure a better deal. Although the new average is just a percentage point less than the original amount threatened in April, Washington shows that it seeks an aggressive strategy to help reduce the USA’s trade deficit with India.

“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, have done relatively few businesses with them because their tariffs are very high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most heavy and uncomfortable commercial barriers in any country,” Trump was actually published on Wednesday. In 2024, India was the largest trading partner in the United States, and the US trade deficit with the country was $ 45.7 billion.

In addition to a 25 percent tariff, Trump threatened on Wednesday to impose an additional “penalty” to continue to buy India from Russian oil, energy and military equipment. It is not clear what this punishment might be, but experts believe that it may consist of a 100 percent secondary tariff that the White House threatened to put it on some of the largest commercial partners in Russia, including China, India and Brazil.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began widely in February 2022, Moscow has become the largest oil supplier in India. Between January and June this year, Russia made up about 35 percent of the total oil supplies in India, according to Reuters data. Since Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine have failed and began the US President to lose his patience with the stubbornness of Russian President Vladimir Putin, there was an increasing appetite in Washington to cut this vital source of revenues to pressure the Kremlin to get serious about peace.