Trump announces 25% tariff on goods from India
By: Josy Garrison
USA Today
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said he plans to impose 25% tariffs on imports form India and levy an unspecified "penalty" on the country for buying military equipment and energy from Russia.
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Trump announced the tariff on India goods in a post on his social media app Truth Social on July 30, [2025] two days before his August 1 [2025] deadline for higher reciprocal tariffs on good from nearly 180 countries macros the world goes into effect.
..... "Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade barriers of any country," Trump wrote in a July 30 [2025] post on Truth Social.
..... India's new tariff rate, set to begin August 1, [2025] is slightly smaller than the 27% reciprocal tariff that Trump previously threatened on India.
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Trump did not elaborate on the additional penalty, which he said is in response to India buying "a vast majority of their military equipment form Russia" and being "Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRINE - ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!"
..... India was the 10th larges trading partner of the United states in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Some of the top goods the United States imports form India include pharmaceuticals, pearls and precious stones, petroleum products, telecom instruments and ready-made garments.
..... Trump hinted he had landed on a 25% tariff for India during an informal gathering with reporters on Air Force One on July 29 [2025] on his way back to Washington, DC, from Scotland, where he spent four days at his golf properties and met with EU and British leaders.
..... Since April, [2025] companies importing goods from India and most other countries have paid a baseline 10% tariff.
..... Steeper "reciprocal" tariff that Trump initially imposed in Early April [2025] - but soon after paused for 90 days amid market turbulence - were set to go back into effect July 9. [2025] That included a 27% tariff on goods from India. But Trump on July 7 [2025] extended the deadline to August 1 [2025] to continue trade negotiations with some countries.
..... Ahead of the dealing, Trump has sent letters to leaders of several countries alerting them to new higher tariff rates on their country's goods. His administration has also announce trade deals with Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and the European Union. the agreements include tariffs of 20% for Vietnam, 19% for Indonesia, 15% for the EU and 15% for Japan.
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Meanwhile, Trump and Chinese officials have made progress toward extending a 90-day tariff truce the two sides struck in May, [2025] in which both countries held off on imposing massive, triple-digit tariffs on imports on one another. Trump, however, has said he's not made a decision.
..... Trump has argued his sweeping tariffs are needed to rejuvenate domestic U.S. manufacturing in key sectors.
..... Despite backing off past tariff threats, Trump reaffirmed in a July 30 [2025] social media post that he won't extend the deadline.