United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that India has offered to reduce its tariffs on US goods to zero amid deteriorating ties between the two countries.
While calling the US’s relationship with India “one-sided”, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago.”
The Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Trump’s comments, which follow the implementation of total duties as high as 50 per cent on Indian goods.
Relations between the two countries have plummeted, with 50pc levies on many Indian imports into the US taking effect last week as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, a part of US efforts to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.
Since his return to the White House this year, Trump has wielded tariffs as a wide-ranging policy tool, with the levies upending global trade.
Amid this dispute, India has grown closer to Beijing and Moscow. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently in Tianjin, China, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Council of Heads of State summit, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The latest tariff salvo from Trump has strained US-India ties, with New Delhi earlier criticising the levies as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
Trade talks between the two countries have stumbled over agriculture and dairy markets.
Trump wants greater US access, while Modi is determined to shield India’s farmers, a huge voter bloc.
The US was India’s top export destination in 2024, with shipments worth $87.3 billion.
But analysts have cautioned that a 50pc duty is akin to a trade embargo and is likely to harm smaller firms.
Exporters of textiles, seafood and jewellery have already reported cancelled US orders and losses to rivals such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, raising fears of heavy job cuts.
