United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods, accusing the country of continuing to import Russian oil both directly and indirectly. The new tariff will be added to a separate 25 percent duty already set to take effect on Thursday.
The latest move follows Trump’s warning a day earlier that tariffs on India would increase within 24 hours due to its ongoing energy trade with Moscow. The newly announced tariff will come into force in three weeks and includes exemptions for items already covered under existing sector-specific duties such as steel and aluminum, as well as for sensitive categories like pharmaceuticals.
The announcement adds fresh pressure to already strained US-India relations, which have reached their most serious crisis in years following the failure of bilateral trade talks. American officials have grown increasingly frustrated with New Delhi’s refusal to scale back Russian crude purchases, viewing them as indirect support for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Trump’s decision was first signaled earlier this week and follows a series of meetings in Moscow between his top diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian officials. The discussions were part of a broader push by the Trump administration to secure a peace agreement in Ukraine. Trump has also threatened further tariffs on Russia and the possibility of secondary sanctions on countries aligned with Moscow if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not take steps to end the conflict.
The tariff escalation comes at a moment of shifting geopolitics, as a senior Indian government source confirmed Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit China later this month for the first time in over seven years.
