Explained: Trump’s additional 25% tariff on India brings tariffs on India to 50%, highest tariffs worldwide

India now faces the highest tariffs in the world, alongside fellow BRICS member Brazil. Notably China, a major Russian trading partner, has not been mentioned in the order.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs vowed to take “all actions necessary to protect its national interests”, and called the move “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

Last month, Trump announced 25% tariffs on Indian imports. He threatened additional tariffs this week, writing on Monday: “India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine.”

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs issued a strong response on Monday, calling out the US and the European Union for their continued imports of Russian oil even after the Russia-Ukraine War commenced in 2022.

According to a Reuters report, a “mix of political misjudgment, missed signals and bitterness” was responsible for the breakdown in bilateral trade talks, which was previously expected to yield a trade deal, with an announcement by the US President well before August 1.

In recent weeks, Trump has changed his position on the Russia-Ukraine War and threatened sanctions on Russia and its trading partners, including India.

Indian imports of Russian oil

India is the third-largest importer and consumer of oil in the world, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in January-June this year, Reuters reported last month. Two private refiners, Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy, accounted for half of these imports under their existing trade deals.

Russia had been India’s top supplier of oil to India over this period, comprising 35% of India’s oil supplies. In contrast, the US was the fifth-largest oil supplier.

According to the Reuters report, India expanded its imports of Russian oil at discounted rates after Western nations imposed sanctions in 2022.

In FY 2024-25, overall trade between India and Russia was valued at $68.7 billion, over 5.8 times higher than the pre-pandemic trade, according to the Indian embassy in Moscow. India exported goods worth $4.88 billion, chiefly agriproducts, chemical products, pharmaceuticals and iron and steel. In return, India imported goods worth $63.84 billion from Russia, chiefly oil and petroleum products, fertilisers and machinery. The two nations aim for a bilateral trade of $100 billion by 2030.

India’s relations with the US

Trump has long maintained that India unfairly taxes the US, and said in February that India “does not treat the US right”.

This is significant given the volume of trade between the two nations – the US is India’s largest trading partner, while India is the US’s 10th-largest trading partner. Data from the US Trade Representative (USTR) shows that the US ran a trade deficit of $45.7 billion with India in 2024, an increase of 5.4% over 2023.

Trump imposed 26% in “reciprocal tariffs” on India as part of his Liberation Day tariff announcement, which became effective on April 5. According to the White House, India charges a 70% tariff on passenger vehicle imports, 10-20% on networking switches and routers and 50% on rice in the husk. However, they were paused on April 9, along with duties on several other countries, excluding China.

The 25% tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminium would significantly hurt India. The Indian Express in March reported that the US is the largest market for Indian aluminium, with its exports amounting to $946 million in FY2024. These exports had exceeded $1 billion in the previous two financial years, and were up from just $350 million in 2016-17, around the time Trump first became President. Similarly, the US was also the largest market for Indian iron and steel articles, with Indian exports valued at $2.8 billion in FY2024.