Daily Briefing: Trump’s empire in India and the tariff war

We have more on the tariff war, but first, let’s take a look at the expanding Trump empire in India, a nation he recently branded as a “dead economy”.

🏢 Brand Trump

In the eight months since Trump came to power in the US, his family-controlled The Trump Organisation has been on an expansion blitz, adding up to 8 million square feet of realty development. From his first term, Brand Trump’s real estate footprint in India has jumped threefold.

Consider this: Trump Towers have come up in Pune (2015), where a Trump World Centre is also under construction, and Mumbai (2021), where two other projects are also in the pipeline, including a residential tower. Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Gurugram are also set to get their own Trump Towers, among others.

Notably, the Trump Organisation does not invest directly in construction, but lends its brand for upfront license fees or development fees. It has roped in Kalpesh Mehta’s Tribeca Developers as its official partner in India. Meet the ten firms, a mix of long-standing realty majors and flamboyant start-ups, that team up with Trump or Tribeca to showcase the brand in the country. Some of these have politicians as owners, while some are under the radar of investigative agencies.

On that note, let’s get back to the agenda.

⏪ The rebuttal

Amid Trump’s attack on India for its trade with Russia, New Delhi has been clear in its response, calling the criticism “unjust” and noting that the US and the EU (European Union) continue to trade with Moscow. Take a look at some of the arguments:

👉 On Tuesday, when Trump was asked about India’s charge that the US was buying uranium hexafluoride, palladium, fertilisers and other chemicals from Russia, the President responded, “I don’t know anything about it. I will have to check…” However, as my colleague Aggam Walia reports, while American imports from Russia fell by 90 per cent in 2024, two years after the war began, key Russian goods continued to flow into the US. Between January and May this year, US imports from Russia grew 23 per cent year-on-year to $2.1 billion.

👉 New Delhi has also reminded Trump that the US had earlier endorsed its purchase of Russian oil. Global energy expert Bob McNally attested as such, saying in an interview with CNBC that it was the previous Joe Biden administration that “begged” India to buy Russian crude to keep global energy prices in check. India has also faced criticism that it’s facilitating a backdoor channel for Russian oil to flow into European markets. However, up until this year, there was no ban on Russian-bought oil. The EU’s recently announced sanctions only take effect in January 2026. Shubhajit Roy has more details.

👉 India has long pushed back against the EU’s criticism of India’s trade with Russia, noting that European countries are still the major buyers of Russian oil and gas. Over the years, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar has also delivered statements like, “Europe’s problems are not the world’s problems” and that “India is looking for partners and not preachers”.

➡️ Looking ahead…

India is currently facing a two-pronged challenge in maintaining access to its largest export market — the US. One, the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s “penalty” has dampened summer export orders, including cotton garments, footwear, and linen clothing. Second, China has been aggressively reducing prices to outcompete other countries. Notably, India will likely retain its edge over China when the effective tariff rate (ETR) is considered. ETR refers to the total duties as a percentage of total imports.

Essentially, New Delhi’s test lies in navigating Trump’s bullying tactics while negotiating a fair trade deal.

That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow,

Sonal Gupta

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