US President Donald Trump has called India, China and Brazil a “tremendous tariff manufacturer” and warned of an increase in tariffs on products imported from these countries. He said that his administration would take the United States first. As tariffs increase, exports to the United States to India will reduce competitiveness.
It is thought that the United States may impose higher tariffs on India exports such as textiles and drugs. During the first term in 2018, the Trump administration imposed high tariffs on aluminum and steel, leading to retaliation by countries affected by India.
The United States and China are India’s largest product trading partner. India wants to solve a friendly solution for tariff struggle when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Trump in the White House in February. HT examines the trade status between the two countries.
How much trade with the United States in India?
The United States is the largest destination in India for product exports, with more than 18 % worth. India exported a 77.5 billion dollar product to the United States from 2023 to 2014. This exceeded the cumulative value of the products exported to the following three largest destinations. That trend continues from 2024 to 25 years.
In comparison, imports to the world’s largest economy are much smaller, exceeding 6 %. Importantly, the import of India from the United States fell 17 % last year to $ 42.2 billion. This imbalance between imports and exports has caused the US trade deficit to increase US trade deficit in two countries with India, causing Trump tariffs.
What is a trade basket?
Oil and oils and products make up about one -third of the imports of India from the United States. Pearls, valuable/semi -precious stones, imitation jewelry are the second largest imported products. Other important purchases include power plant equipment such as reactors and boilers, electrical machinery and equipment, aircraft, parts, and medical equipment. India also imports military equipment from the United States to diversify Russia.
Exports in India include petroleum products, drug preparations, pearls, precious/semi -precious stones, telecommunications equipment, electrical machinery, apparel and cotton fabric, and electronic components. Exports to the United States to the United States increased rapidly after the 2020 community confusion.
What does Trump want in India?
Trump wants India to reduce the tariffs of American products and then buy more. According to a recent reading of the White House after the phone between Trump and Modi, “the president has increased India’s procurement of American -made security equipment and moves toward a fair inter -country trading relationship. I emphasized. “
In his first term, Trump repeatedly quoted high tariffs on Harley -Davidson motorcycles to demand lower tariffs. India reduced his duties by half in 2019, and symbolic bicycles were manufactured in Japan.
AJAY SRIVASTAVA, a co -founder of Global Trade Research Initiative, pointed out that Trump tends to point to the highest price when demanding low tariffs on others. The average imported tariffs in the United States are 3.3 %, but in India, 17 %, some of whiskeys and wine are 150 % duty and 125 %. Despite these levels of tariffs, India complies with Commitment to World Trade Organization (WTO).
He added that Trump’s demand for tariff reduction would have a negative effect on the commitment that the state went to WTO.
Does India not want to reduce tariffs?
Products imported from the United States are subject to the same duty as products from countries that do not have a free trade agreement (FTA). India would have agreed to reduce the tariffs of American products if the two countries concluded the FTA. The Indian Pacific Economic Framework (IPef) for prosperity may have been a platform for negotiating the priority treatment of the signing countries. However, tariff reduction is not included in IPEF.
You cannot use a budget to announce a concession in a specific country. The general reduction of tariffs due to budgets can benefit China and Vietnam, not the United States. Srivastava felt that India should wait for a list of requests from the United States before India moved.
Can India buy more from the United States to balance trade?
Trade is mainly made by private officials, and those decisions are determined by commercial conditions. The United States wants India to buy more weapons from there, and it may be fractity because India wants to diversify India away from Russia. Currently, petroleum crude oil and products are the top Indian purchases from the United States. India can only increase the purchase of oil if an American oil company offers better transactions than UAE and Russian countries.
SRIVastava felt that the United States should be more than trade deficit and take into account the overall economic relations between the two countries. India is an important market not only for the old economy, banks and financial services in the United States, but also for high -tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Walmart. Social networking companies have the largest user -based in India.
