A recent series of tariffs introduced on India by the US has drawn significant outrage from the country as some have described it as targeting the nation specifically; however, US President Trump maintains his claim that the tariffs are for the greater good.
Firstly, the President has asserted that the tariffs, fifty percent on Indian exports, are due to the country still buying oil from Russia, and thus, seemingly supporting the Russia-Ukraine War. US Trade Adviser Peter Navarro has even gone as far as calling the war “Modi’s War” due to Russia being the supplier of 35-40% of Delhi’s oil imports. Modi has promised to cut taxes to help mitigate the effects of the tariffs.
Earlier this year, Trump placed twenty-five percent tariffs on India; now doubling the amount, the US continues to point towards India’s ongoing reliance on Russian oil. However, many Indians see this as a direct threat to their sovereignty; recently, Indian Prime Minister Modi has begun getting ready for a trip to China, the first in seven years. Furthermore, Modi is expected to meet with Russian President Putin this year. This visible shift away from the US and towards other powerful allies could threaten US foreign policy by handing Putin leverage against the US. Furthermore, the Quad, composed of America, India, Japan, and Australia, a group Trump has characterized as “a mechanism for collective opposition to China,” has been threatened by the aggressive new tariffs.
India has pointed to the EU and China for evidence of the US’s unfair tariffs as China imports the most Russian oil compared to the rest of the world, and the EU maintains close trade relationships with Russia, but tariffs of such a high percent have not been similarly placed on them. Furthermore, while the amount of Russian goods the US has been buying decreased over the years, the country still purchased billions worth of goods from Russia last year.
Others cite another reason for the heightened tariffs: Modi’s refusal to acknowledge Trump’s role in devising the ceasefire between India and Pakistan this May. Modi maintains that it was India’s military which forced Pakistan into the ceasefire, but Pakistan has reportedly profusely thanked Trump for his part in the ceasefire formation. Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has said that “until and unless there’s a public endorsement of Trump’s role, it’s going to be very hard to get past this stage.”
Trade negotiations were to take place sometime August 25-29; however, the talks were cancelled later on as tensions between Delhi and Washington continued to exacerbate.