United States imposes 26% reciprocal tariffs on India

The United States on Wednesday announced that it was imposing reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, including a 26% “discounted” levy on India.

US President Donald Trump announced a 10% minimum tariff on most goods imported into the country, which will take effect on Saturday. Washington also imposed a 25% tariff on all foreign-made automobiles, which will go into effect on Thursday.

Trump had repeatedly said he intended to impose a reciprocal tax on India, among others, citing high tariffs the countries impose on foreign goods. He has already imposed tariffs on a range of products from Canada, Mexico and China.

The tariffs have led to concerns of a broader trade war that could disrupt the global economy and drive up inflation.

On Wednesday, Trump said it was “Liberation Day, a long-awaited moment” for the US. “April 2nd, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” said the US president at the White House.

He added: “India, very, very tough. Very, very tough. The prime minister [Narendra Modi] just left. He’s a great friend of mine, but I said, ‘You’re a friend of mine, but you’re not treating us right. They charge us 52%. You have to understand, we charge them almost nothing for years and years and decades, and it was only seven years ago, when I came in, that we started with China’.”

The tariffs imposed on India are lower than those against competitors China (34%), Vietnam (46%), Thailand (72%) and Indonesia (32%). The Trump administration imposed 20% levies on the European Union, 24% on Japan, 37% on Bangladesh, 37% on Serbia and 48% on Laos.

The United Kingdom and Singapore are among the countries that will face a base tariff of 10%.

The US did not impose new tariffs on Russia.

The Indian government has not commented on the tariffs so far.

On March 10, New Delhi told a parliamentary panel that it was yet to make any commitments to Washington on tariffs and has sought time until September to address the matter.

Despite this, Trump had claimed on Monday that India had agreed to drop the tariffs it imposes on his country “very substantially”.

This is not the first time Trump had made such a claim. On March 19, Trump said in an interview to Breitbart News that he believes India will likely reduce the tariffs it imposes on American goods.

“I believe they are going to probably going to be lowering those tariffs substantially, but on April 2, we will be charging them the same tariffs they charge us,” Trump had told the American news network.

This came three days after Trump claimed that India had agreed to “cut their tariffs way down”.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has not commented on the claims made by Trump on Monday.

Reactions

China’s commerce ministry urged the US to “immediately cancel” the new tariffs, warning they “endanger global economic development” and would hurt international supply chains and American interests, AFP reported.

Beijing asked Washington to “properly resolve differences with trade partners through equal dialogue”, the ministry said, adding that there was “no winner in a trade war, and there is no way out for protectionism”.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said that the US’ action was a “major blow to businesses and consumers worldwide”.

“Europe is prepared to respond,” von der Leyen said. “We’ll always protect our interests and values.”

However, she said that Europe was also “ready to engage” and move from “confrontation to negotiation”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters that the US’ decision to impose tariffs was “not the act of a friend”. However, he ruled out imposing reciprocal tariffs saying that it would increase prices for Australian households, Reuters reported.

The US imposed base 10% tariffs on Australia.

AFP quoted Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi as saying that the tariffs may contravene World Trade Organization rules and the trade treaty between Tokyo and Washington.

Asian stock markets plummeted on Thursday morning after the tariffs were announced. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell more than 3.4%, before making a partial recovery. South Korea’s Kospi index dipped nearly 2% in early trade.

In the US, the futures of S&P 500 fell 3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 2%, hinting at potential losses when the markets reopen on Thursday.

Also read: A history lesson for Trump on how things went the last time the US slapped tariffs on imports

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