India offered to reduce tariffs to nothing, but it's getting late: Trump

Donald Trump described India-US ties as a one-sided disaster citing high tariffs and Russian oil imports, even as the US Embassy highlighted enduring bilateral friendship

US President Donald Trump on Monday described his country’s trade relationship with India as a “totally one-sided disaster”, claiming that New Delhi’s “high tariffs” were making it difficult for American businesses to sell their products in the Indian market. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said India had now offered to reduce tariffs to “nothing, but it’s getting late”.  He, however, didn’t share further details.    

 

These comments came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China. Modi’s meeting with Putin and Xi showed India’s attempt to strike a diplomatic balancing act in its foreign policy, amid America’s strained ties with both China and Russia.

 

Trump’s post came hours after the US Embassy in India posted on X a statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio from January, which read: “The enduring friendship between our two peoples is the bedrock of cooperation and propels forward as we realise the tremendous potential of our economic relationship.”

 

While Trump did not directly comment on Modi’s meeting, he reiterated that US does very little business with India but New Delhi sells massive amounts of goods to businesses in the US, making the country its biggest ‘client’. In the social media post, Trump again criticised New Delhi’s imports of Russian oil and defence equipment.

 

“Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the US. They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago. Just some simple facts for people to ponder!!!,” he wrote on Truth Social. 

 

The US administration has already imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, with an additional 25 per cent surcharge coming into effect last week—raising the total tariff burden to 50 per cent. Washington justified the move by citing India’s continued purchases of Russian crude oil.

 

The US administration imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff from August 7, followed by an additional 25 per cent from August 27, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian crude.

 

Meanwhile, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro criticised India for buying Russian oil.

 

“Modi is a great leader. I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi when he’s the biggest democracy in the world. I would simply say to the Indian people: please understand what is going on here — you’ve got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need to stop that,” Navarro said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday.

 

Last week, he argued that it would be “real easy” to lift the additional 25 per cent tariffs on India, provided New Delhi stopped importing Russian crude. “India can get 25 per cent off tomorrow if it stops buying Russian oil and helping to feed their war machine,” Navarro said. He had also said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is ‘Modi's war’, and the ‘road to peace’ runs partly “right through New Delhi”.