‘Studying new opportunities…’: India on Trump's reciprocal tariffs

India on Thursday said that it is carefully examining the implications of the 27 per cent tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration, adding it is also studying new opportunities that may arise due to the development in new US trade policy.

“We are carefully examining the implications of the various measures /announcements made by the President of the USA. Keeping in view the vision of Viksit Bharat, the Department is engaged with all stakeholders, including Indian industry and exporters, taking feedback of their assessment of the tariffs and assessing the situation,” ANI quoted the ministry of commerce and industry as saying. 

“The Department is also studying the opportunities that may arise due to this new development in the US trade policy,” the ministry added. 

“US President issued an Executive Order on Reciprocal Tariffs imposing additional ad-valorem duties ranging from 10% to 50% on imports from all trading partners,” the ministry said.

“The baseline duty of 10% will be effective from April 05, 2025 and the remaining country specific additional ad-valorem duty will be effective from April 09, 2025. The additional duty on India as per the Annex I of the Executive Order is 27%,” the statement added.

On Thursday, Trump imposed a 27% tariff on imports from India, slightly higher than the 20% levy for the European Union, the 24% for Japan and the 25% for South Korea.

‘PM Modi my friend, but not treating us right’: Trump

“India, very, very tough. Very, very tough. The prime minister just left, and he’s a great friend of mine. But I said, you’re a friend of mine, but you’re not treating us right. They charge us 52%," Trump said at the news conference in the White House.

The levies are likely to ratchet up pressure on officials in New Delhi to hash out a trade pact with Washington.