Donald Trump Announces 25% Tariff on India with 'Sanction' Threat

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Trump accuses India of high tariffs, energy trade with Russia, and vows new penalties starting August 1

By TRH Global Affairs Desk

NEW DELHI, July 30, 2025 —US President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, accusing New Delhi of maintaining excessively high trade barriers and aligning too closely with Russia for energy and defence imports. He also claimed that the “US has massive trade deficits with India.”

The announcement was made via a strongly worded post on his Truth Social platform, where he referred to India as both a “friend” and a “challenging trade partner.” “India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25%, plus a penalty for the above, starting on August 1st,” Trump declared in the post, directly referencing India’s trade practices and its continued energy and military purchases from Moscow.

Trump criticized India’s high tariffs, calling them “among the highest in the world,” and accused the country of erecting “obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers.” He further argued that India has consistently sourced “a vast majority of its military equipment from Russia” and remains “Russia’s largest buyer of energy,” despite global calls to isolate Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

August 1 is the deadline for trade negotiations before the Trump tariffs come in force. India and the US had been negotiating a trade deal with not outcome yet. Reports said that the negotiations hit the wall of the US insistence on opening of the Indian market for the American agriculture produces.

A 25% tariff on India will be seen as a major setback in the India-US relations. Trump announced 15% tariffs for European Union a few days ago. The US and China have agreed for a 90-day pause on tariffs, pending final negotiations.

Even Indonesia will face lower tariff than India at 15%. Trump has announced that 10% will be the basic tariff that all nations have to pay.

Gregory Brew an energy analyst, warned that the US-India relations could face stress in the wake of Trump’s post on Truth Social. “Trump: 25% tariff on India, plus a ‘penalty’ for buying Russian energy, starting on Friday. Will the penalty be another tariff? Sanctions? Unclear,” he said in a post on X.

Trump in the past had also warned of slapping penalty on nations buying Russian oil. He had also warned of punitive actions against BRICS nations for working against the American dollar.

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