Hours after the United States President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff along with additional penalties on Indian imports, the US has reportedly entered into high-stakes negotiations with New Delhi. However, the ‘cornering India’ rhetoric has become louder, with the US simultaneously striking a new oil development deal with Pakistan.
According to reports, Trump cited longstanding trade imbalances, India’s high tariffs, and its close ties with Russia as reasons for the 25 per cent tariff.
Despite the sharp tariff imposition, Trump acknowledged India’s readiness to reduce trade barriers. “Now they’re willing to cut it very substantially. But we’ll see what happens. We’re talking to India now. We’ll see what happens. It doesn’t matter too much whether we have a deal or whether we charge them a certain tariff,” he said during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday.
He argued that India has maintained one of the highest tariffs in the world. “Again, India was the highest or just about the highest tariff nation in the world, one of the highest—100 points, 150 points or percentages. So India was one of the highest in the world. They had 175 per cent and higher than that,” he said.
Although he criticised India’s trade practices, Trump emphasised that his personal relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained intact. “As you know, Prime Minister Modi is a friend of mine, but they don’t do very much business in terms of business with us. They sell a lot to us, but we don’t buy from them. You know why? Because the tariff is so high,” he noted.
Earlier, Trump used Truth Social to make the tariffs official, setting an implementation date of August 1. “Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the world,” Trump wrote.
“They have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country. Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of energy, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE – ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25 per cent, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST 1st. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!” he added.
Trump also lashed out at India’s role in Brics—an economic bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—calling it adversarial to US interests. “We’re negotiating right now, and it’s also Brics. They have Brics, which is basically a group of countries that are anti-United States, and India is a member of that, if you can believe it,” he said.
“It’s an attack on the dollar, and we’re not going to let anybody attack the dollar. It’s partially Brics, and it’s partially the trade. This trade situation is a deficit. We had a tremendous deficit,” Trump was quoted as saying.
India, meanwhile, stressed on the ongoing engagement with Washington and commitment to protect domestic sectors, farmers, entrepreneurs, and MSMEs.
“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective,” read New Delhi’s statement, which was published by media houses.
On the Pakistan front, Trump announced a separate strategic breakthrough: “We have just concluded a Deal with the Country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive Oil Reserves,” he declared. “Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India some day!”
He added that the administration is currently selecting a company to lead the project but did not name firms or provide a launch date.
Just days earlier, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had said a trade deal with the US was near following his meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The US State Department and Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the two sides discussed strengthening cooperation in critical minerals and mining.
In his Truth Social post, Trump framed the day’s developments as part of a broader strategy. “I have spoken to the Leaders of many Countries, all of whom want to make the United States ‘extremely happy,’” he said. “All of this will help reduce our Trade Deficit in a very major way.”
The president also noted that he is preparing for a meeting with a South Korean delegation to discuss tariff reductions. “South Korea is right now at a 25 per cent Tariff, but they have an offer to buy down those Tariffs,” he said. “I will be interested in hearing what that offer is.”
He concluded: “A full report will be released at the appropriate time. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
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