“Serious Matter”: Shashi Tharoor Reacts After Trump Announces 25% Tariffs on India

News Desk
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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed concern over the 25% tariff announced by former US President Donald Trump on Indian exports, calling it a “very serious matter” that could significantly harm India’s trade with the United States.

Reacting to Trump’s remarks and the proposed penalties for India’s oil and gas trade with Russia, Tharoor told ANI, “It’s a very serious matter for us… A 25% tariff, plus an unspecified penalty for buying oil and gas from Russia, could raise the effective tariff to 35-45%. There’s even talk of a 100% penalty, which would destroy our trade with America. Trade negotiations are underway, and there’s a possibility the figure may come down. If it doesn’t, it will damage our exports, since America is a very important market for us.”

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Tharoor added that the US administration must also consider India’s economic and strategic interests.
“On the other hand, if their demands are completely unreasonable, our negotiators have every right to resist. America has to understand our needs too. Our tariffs on American goods aren’t excessive — the average is about 17%. American goods are also not competitively priced enough to do well in the Indian market,” he explained.

Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram also reacted strongly, calling the tariffs a “big blow” to India’s trade and a violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

In a post on X, Chidambaram wrote:
“The 25% tariff on all Indian exports to the United States PLUS a penalty for buying Russian oil is a big blow to India’s trade with the U.S. ‘Dosti’ is no substitute for diplomacy and painstaking negotiations. The tariff imposed by the U.S. is a clear violation of WTO rules.”

The comments come after Donald Trump, in a post on his Truth Social account, announced new trade tariffs on India effective from August 1. Trump claimed India has some of the world’s highest tariffs and non-monetary trade barriers and criticized India’s continued purchase of military equipment and energy from Russia.

“Remember, while India is our friend, we’ve done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high — among the highest in the world. They also have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country,” Trump wrote.

He added:
“India has always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia and is Russia’s largest buyer of energy, alongside China, at a time when the world wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine. All things considered, India will be paying a tariff of 25%, plus penalties, starting August 1st.” (ANI)

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