Trump Tariffs On India: Who Has It Worse? Here's What Industry Experts Think

President Donald Trump slapped an additional 25% tariffs on Indian goods being exported to the United States. The additional tariffs will be effective from Aug. 27, according to the executive order, bringing up the total tariffs India has to pay to 50%

Here is what experts think on the impact of the additional tariffs on the Indian and American markets:

Anand Mahindra, chairperson of the Mahindra Group, said the "law of unintended consequences seems to be operating stealthily in the prevailing tariff war unleashed by the US".

"Shouldn’t India too seize this moment to shape a virtuous consequence for itself? Just as the 1991 forex reserves crisis triggered liberalisation, can today’s global ‘Manthan’ over tariffs yield some 'Amrit' for us?" he asked.

"The countdown to dollar losing its dominance and reserve currency status has begun," said Gurmeet Chadha, CIO at Complete Circle, in a post on social media platform X.

Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Capital Market, said putting a tariff on Indian goods coming into the United States is a bit critical.

He does not expect India to stop trading with Russia for either oil or weapons. "I think that the cost is going to be borne by the US both in the short run as a tax on consumers and also in the longer run as US seeks to build an alliance against China... India was a key player in that," he added.

Chief Market Economist Peter Cardillo held that Trump would not expect India to completely stop buying Russian oil but rather thinks India "has to reach a happy medium and that happy medium will be negotiated".

He expects tariffs to go down substantially to 10-15%. However, he added that tariffs on pharmaceuticals are going to be another major blow to India in the coming week or so.

"I don't think, in the long run, US wants a very disrupted trade relation with India since it is a very big market," Santosh Rao, head of research at Manhattan Ventures, said.

While he said that there will be a short-term reaction felt in the Indian market as well. He advised to wait and watch over the 21 days cooling off period.

Former Foreign Secretary Shashank was of the view that these issues may be resolved once the war in Russia and Ukraine is over.