US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that India has agreed to significantly reduce its tariffs. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump expressed his frustration with the high tariffs imposed by India, stating, “They charge us massive tariffs, making it almost impossible to sell anything there. It’s very restrictive.”
Trump’s comments followed India’s recent declaration of intent to enhance trade relations with the United States, including efforts to lower both tariff and non-tariff barriers as part of a bilateral trade agreement.
Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, noted that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US last month, both nations committed to negotiating a mutually beneficial trade pact. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who was recently in the US, has been engaging with his counterparts to advance these discussions on a multi-sector trade deal.
“The goal of this trade agreement is to strengthen India-US trade in goods and services, improve market access, and integrate our supply chains more closely,” Jaiswal explained.
In a recent joint address to Congress, Trump highlighted India’s tariffs along with those from the European Union, China, and Canada, calling out these nations for imposing high tariffs on American goods. He remarked that other countries have been using tariffs against the US for many years, and now it’s time for the US to respond in kind.
Modi and Trump had previously met on February 13 in Washington, where they aimed to negotiate a major trade deal by the end of this year and set a target of $500 billion in annual trade by 2030 to help address the trade deficit.
Both leaders acknowledged that achieving these ambitious goals would require establishing fair trade terms, and they agreed to start negotiations for the first phase of a Bilateral Trade Agreement by the fall of 2025.
In India’s recent budget for 2025-26, the government proposed to lower tariffs on several products, including bourbon whiskey and electric vehicles, seen as a gesture to address Trump’s concerns.
The US has also been urging India to increase its purchases of American oil, gas, and defense equipment to help reduce the existing trade deficit, which currently stands at around $45 billion in India’s favor. The US remains India’s largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade in goods and services reaching approximately $190 billion in 2023.
