'Will secure India's national interest': Centre responds to US President Donald Trump's 25% tariff

The Indian government on Wednesday responded to US President Donald Trump's imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on New Delhi, saying that it was "studying its implications".

In a Truth Social post, Trump also declared that India would have to pay an unspecified secondary sanction penalty—on top of the 25 per cent tariff—due to New Delhi being one of the biggest purchasers of Russian energy.

"The Government will take all steps necessary to secure our national interest, as has been the case with other trade agreements including the latest Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the UK," a statement released by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) added.

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Trump also declared that although India was "our friend", the two nations had done very little business with each other, on account of New Delhi's tariffs that were, in his opinion, "far too high, among the highest in the World". 

"They have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country," Trump added.

In a separate post, Trump reiterated that the US has a "massive trade deficit with India". The US currently has a $45.7 billion trade deficit with India, as per a Reuters report.

Trump's imposition of punitive tariffs on India precedes the sixth round of bilateral trade talks between the two nations, which was to take place in New Delhi, later on in August.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal had stated on Saturday that the negotiations were “making fast progress”, with both sides looking to finalise the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement by fall (September-October).

FICCI's response

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) President Harsha Vardhan Agarwal also expressed its disappointment with Trump's decision, calling the 25 per cent tariff and secondary sanctions "unfortunate".

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“While this move is unfortunate and will have a clear bearing on our exports, we hope that this imposition of higher tariffs will be a short-term phenomenon and that a permanent trade deal between the two sides will be finalised soon,” he said.

“India and US have a long-standing partnership, which is strengthened by our deepening engagement across an array of areas from technology to defence to energy and advance manufacturing. There is a lot our two countries can achieve together, and FICCI is confident that following the detailed deliberations that are currently underway, we will see beneficial outcomes for both countries when the contours of the final trade agreement will emerge,” Agarwal added.

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