Indian Army reacts to US tariffs with an old post: ‘Arms to Pakistan at throwaway prices’

The Indian Army on Tuesday took a sharp dig at the United States by sharing an old news clipping that discussed how it supported Pakistan by supplying a whopping $2 billion worth of arms to it since 1954.

This was posted a day after India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) criticised US President Donald Trump's "unjustified and unreasonable" threat to "substantially" increase his punitive 25 per cent tariff rate on India and defended New Delhi's energy strategy.

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The news clipping, which dates back to August 5, 1971, showed how—at that point—the US and China had been supplying arms to Pakistan at "throwaway prices" for more than 15 years.

The newspaper clip also mentions the then Defence Production Minister V.C. Shukla telling the Rajya Sabha about how the NATO powers and the Soviet Union had been contacted over the arms supply to Pakistan amid Islamabad's (then West Pakistan) armed aggression in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan).

Although the Soviet Union and the French government had denied supplying arms to Pakistan, the US continued its support, the report mentioned.

Fast forward to 2025, the tariff rate for Pakistan has been reduced to 19 per cent, from the original rate of 29 per cent.

Trump on Monday had criticised India for indirectly playing a part in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. "They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine," he had said. 

This follows earlier statements by his senior aide Stephen Miller, also alleging that India was indirectly funding Russia's aggression against Ukraine through its energy and arms purchases.

"Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said on Monday, following the MEA's rebuke of Trump for targeting India for its purchases of Russian oil, when the US and European Union have themselves continued trade with Moscow, despite publicly opposing the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Defence