Big Trade Shift Coming? Trump Hints Tariff Relief For India — Details Inside

The United States is preparing to ease tariffs on India, President Donald Trump indicated, saying the duties, which are currently “very high” because of India’s import of Russian oil, will be brought down as New Delhi has “substantially” reduced those purchases.

The US is inching closer to a new trade agreement with India, and tariffs could be the first sign of that shift. Responding to a question on whether he would consider lowering the current tariff rate on India, Trump said, “Well, right now the tariffs are very high on India because of the Russian oil and they have stopped doing the Russian Oil. It's been reduced very substantially. Yeah, we are gonna be bringing the tariffs down, at some point we are gonna be bringing them down.”

Earlier, while discussing the broader trade negotiations, Trump said the US and India are “making a deal… a much different deal than we had in the past.”

“So right now, they don't love me, but they'll love us again. We're getting a fair deal, just a fair trade deal. We had pretty unfair trade deals... But we're getting close. Scott, I think we're pretty close to doing a deal that's good for everybody, right?...” he added.

Last month, Trump reiterated that New Delhi has already 'de-escalated' and 'more or less stopped' its oil purchases from Moscow.

Trump had said that India would not be buying oil from Russia; they have already de-escalated, and they have more or less stopped. “They are pulling back. They have bought about 38% of the oil, and they won't be doing it anymore,” Trump had said.

India's response to that said it is 'broad-basing and diversifying' its sourcing of energy to meet market conditions, hours after US President Donald Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him that New Delhi will stop procuring Russian crude oil.

Meanwhile, India and the US are holding continuous discussions for the proposed bilateral trade agreement. Five rounds of talks have been completed so far for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement between the US and India.  

In February this year, leaders of India and the US directed officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). These deliberations are important, as relations between the two countries have been under severe strain since the US President Donald Trump administration imposed a steep 50% tariff on Indian goods. It includes a 25% additional import duty for buying Russian crude oil.