Washington / New Delhi, September 1 — US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that India has offered to cut tariffs on American goods to zero, but stressed that New Delhi should have taken the step “years ago.”
The Trump administration recently slapped 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on Indian exports, alongside an additional 25 per cent levy for India’s purchases of Russian oil, raising total duties to 50 per cent — among the highest in the world.
Trump has repeatedly accused India of “funding Moscow’s deadly war in Ukraine” through oil imports from Russia. However, he has avoided imposing harsher sanctions on Russia itself.
Defending India’s position, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar argued that the US has not applied the same standards to China or the European Union, which remain the largest buyers of Russian crude and LNG.
“They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago,” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the relationship with India has been a “one-sided disaster.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, held bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has increasingly used tariffs as a blunt trade weapon. His measures have unsettled global markets. Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that several Trump-era tariffs were illegal, though it allowed them to remain in force pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.
India, for its part, has vowed not to “bow down.” Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the government would instead focus on expanding into new export markets.
The US was India’s top export destination in 2024, with shipments worth $87.3 billion. But trade negotiations remain deadlocked, particularly over agriculture and dairy access. Trump wants greater US entry, while Modi is determined to protect Indian farmers.
“What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” Trump said Monday. “It has been a totally one-sided disaster for decades. India buys most of its oil and military equipment from Russia, very little from the US.”
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