US announces 25% tariff on India, releases list of levies for other countries

The US announced a 25 per cent tariff on India as the White House released an expansive list of duties that Washington will impose on exports from countries around the world.

In an Executive Order titled ‘Further Modifying The Reciprocal Tariff Rates,’ President Donald Trump announced tariff rates for nearly 70 nations around the world.

A 25 per cent “Reciprocal Tariff, Adjusted” has been imposed on India, according to the list released Thursday. While 1 August was the tariff deadline, the new levies will come into effect from 7 August.

Trump said in the executive order that some trading partners have agreed to, or are on the verge of agreeing to, meaningful trade and security commitments with the United States, thus signalling their sincere intentions to permanently remedy trade barriers and to align with the United States on economic and national security matters.

“Other trading partners, despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgment, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters,” he said.

Trump further said in the order that there are also some trading partners that have failed to engage in negotiations with the United States or to take adequate steps to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters.

The tariff modifications shall be “effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time 7 days after the date of this order.”

"Goods of those trading partners will remain subject to the additional ad valorem duties… until such time as those agreements are concluded, and I issue subsequent orders memorializing the terms of those agreements.”

The tariffs in the list range from 10 per cent to 40 per cent, with Japan being charged 15 per cent tariffs, Laos and Myanmar (40 per cent each), Pakistan (19 per cent), Sri Lanka (20 per cent) and the United Kingdom (10 per cent).

On Wednesday, Trump, through a post on his social media website Truth Social, announced a 25 per cent tariff on India and an additional penalty for Delhi’s purchases of Russian military equipment and energy.

Declaring that the US has a massive trade deficit with India, Trump had said that 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, and 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!” Trump said.

He said that India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25 per cent, plus a penalty for the above, starting on 1 August.

Trump also mounted a sharp attack on India and Russia for their close ties and said that the two countries can take their "dead economies down together".

"I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” Trump said, referring to former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

Trump also referred to India’s membership in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping, which he described as anti-US.

At an event in the White House on Wednesday, Trump was asked what the additional penalty would be for India for its purchases from Russia.

"Well, we're negotiating right now, and it's also BRICS. You know, they have BRICS, which is basically a group of countries that are anti the United States, and India is a member of that if you can believe it,” Trump said, adding that “it's an attack on the dollar, and we're not going to let anybody attack the dollar.”

He had said the reason for tariffs on India is partially BRICS and partially the trade deficit. “We have a tremendous deficit. So 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, they have one of the highest tariffs in the world.

“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, but you'll know at the end of this week. August 1st is a very big day for this country because money is going to pour into the United States, like we've never seen before,” Trump said.