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Published on
August 7, 2025
5 min read
Trump Imposes Additional 25% Tariffs on India Pushing Export Duty to 50%
US President Donald Trump has increased tariffs on India by 25%, effectively doubling the tariffs on the country. Trump’s 50% tariff on India is 31% higher than the current US tariffs on Pakistan and 20% more than China’s.
According to Mint, the secondary Trump tariffs on India will affect a range of domestic sectors, including footwear, leather, textiles, jewelry, shrimp, and chemicals. Trump announced the effective date for the new US-India tariffs as August 27.
Sanctions Linked to India’s Russia Oil Purchase
While making the announcement on August 6, President Trump said the secondary tariffs are intended to penalize India for continuing to purchase oil from Russia.
“I find the Government of India is currently, directly or indirectly, importing Russian Federation oil. In my judgment I determine it necessary to impose an ad valorem duty on imports of articles from India,” Trump’s Executive Order read in part.
The Indian government was swift in its response to the additional tariffs, terming the decision to target India due to Russian oil imports as “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable”.
“We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact our imports are based on market factors and done with the objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people. It is therefore extremely unfortunate the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India… for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest,” the Government Spokesperson said.
India defended its decision to buy Russian oil saying its decision was informed by the situation in the global market. India also underscored that it’s not the only country that has bought Russian products. In 2024, the EU spent 67.5 billion Euros on Russia’s liquefied natural gas.
Trump said similar measures will be taken against countries that trade directly or indirectly with Russia to fund the country’s war on Ukraine. Previously, the US President threatened to push tariffs to 100% unless a peace deal is reached by August 9.
Other countries that the US has targeted with additional tariffs are Turkey and China. President Trump doubled tariffs on India following unkind remarks regarding US-India trade relations.
“India has not been a good trading partner, we settled on 25 percent, but I think I’m going to raise that substantially over the next 24 hours because they’re buying Russian oil,” he said.
Similar remarks previously made by the US government have threatened to derail trade ties between the two countries and shift the global geopolitical narratives, including pulling BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) closer together.
India was among the few countries that made trade concessions in March 2025 in a bid to reduce tariffs and win President Trump over. At the time, the two countries commenced tariff talks with the aim of resolving their tariff standoff.
Tariff Impact on India
The secondary tariffs will make Indian products expensive in the US. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) expressed deep concern regarding the effects of the 50% tariff on India.
“The US tariff announcement of August 6 is a huge setback for India’s textile and apparel exporters as it has further complicated the challenging situation we were already grappling with and will significantly weaken our ability to compete effectively vis-à-vis many other countries for a larger share of the US market,” CITI said.
GTRI says the tariffs could potentially reduce India’s exports to the US by up to 50%, with exports of products such as organic chemicals attracting 54% in additional duty. Indian exporters also termed the new tariffs as a huge setback for the country.
“The 50 per cent reciprocal tariff effectively imposes a cost burden, placing our exporters at a 30–35 per cent competitive disadvantage compared to peers from countries with lesser reciprocal tariffs. Many export orders have already been put on hold as buyers reassess sourcing decisions in light of higher landed costs. For a large number of MSME-led sectors, absorbing this sudden cost escalation is simply not viable. Margins are already thin, and this additional blow could force exporters to lose long-standing clients,”Kama Jewelry MD Colin Shah said.
