UNITED States President Donald Trump has issued an executive order imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on goods from India, as penalty for importing Russian oil.
Wednesday’s hike comes in addition to the 25 percent tariff India already faces, making it subject to one of the US’s highest import tax brackets under Trump, at a total of 50 percent.
In his executive order, Trump explained that Russia’s continued military actions in Ukraine constituted a “national emergency” and it was therefore “necessary and appropriate” to place heightened tariffs on India, a major consumer of its petroleum products.
“I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” Trump wrote.
“The actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The tariff increase is slated to come into effect 21 days after the announcement, leaving a window open for India and the US to negotiate a lower rate.
But the move threatens to further complicate US-Indian relations. Brazil is the only other country to face a 50 percent overall tariff rate.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs quickly responded to Trump’s executive order with a statement, decrying the tariffs as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
It questioned why India was being punished with additional tariffs while other importers of Russian oil were not.
“We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India,” the government statement said.
“It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest.”
India and the US had engaged in five rounds of trade talks in the lead-up to Wednesday’s announcement. In April, US Vice President JD Vance even travelled to New Delhi to help helm the negotiations.
