Will Trump put on hold additional tariffs on India? Former diplomat cites positive outcome of Alaska meeting

A day after the meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a former Indian diplomat has expressed hope that the US may put on hold the additional tariff it has imposed on India.

 

Trump had announced a 25 per cent additional tariff on India, taking the total levy on Indian goods to 50 per cent, for importing Russian oil.

 

Former Diplomat Veena Sikri felt that following the positive outcome from the meeting between Trump and Putin, the issue of punitive tariffs may be kept in abeyance for a while.

 

"From President Trump's side, I think there is some kind of discussion on this, definitely with President Putin, and it seems that an understanding has been reached that tariffs on Russia's oil sales to China, India, and even the EU do not need to be imposed,” Sikri told ANI news agency.

 

She noted that the situation, which appeared grim for India earlier, has improved after the Alaska summit. She also recalled that the US had even threatened to increase the tariff on India further if the talks with Putin didn’t go well.

 

“But after the meeting, there are indications that even the journalists have been asking President Trump, ‘What about China? They're buying so much oil from Russia. So why aren't you telling them, putting tariffs on them?’ So President Trump replied that he's going to wait for a few weeks, and maybe it may not be necessary to put tariffs," Sikri told the news agency.

 

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the scheduled visit of a US trade team to India has given a setback to India’s hopes for tariff relief before the deadline ends on August 27.

 

The team was supposed to arrive in Delhi on August 25 for the sixth round of bilateral trade negotiations.

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