Trump makes good on his threat: doubles tariffs on India to 50% for its purchase of Russian oil

President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most imports from India Tuesday night, making good on his threat to punish that country for its discounted Russian oil purchases. While the 25% tariffs on Indian goods had gone into effect earlier this month, Trump recently announced plans to double this rate after explaining that the Indian government was indirectly funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine by being a major buyer of Russian crude.

In response to the White House position, the Indian government has argued to have been unfairly singled out for its business relationship with the Kremlin. Despite this, Trump has gone so far as to state on his social media that his administration would have no qualms about executing tariff punishments on India. "I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care," the Republican leader commented on his Truth Social account last month.

Just hours before the imposition of the 50% tariffs, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his country's population to buy domestic products, and even encouraged traders to display signs promoting local products, after refusing to halt purchases of Russian oil. "All of us should follow the mantra of buying only ‘Made in India’ goods. Pressure on us may increase from the tariffs, but we will bear it," Modi commented in a speech.

Another Indian government official who was recently defiant of the Trump administration was the Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who went so far as to comment during an Economic Times media forum that the White House's demand to stop buying Russian oil was "unjustified and unreasonable." Jaishankar even accused both the United States and the West of being hypocrites, after arguing that Europe had greater trade relations with Russia.

As detailed by the Reuters news agency, a notice from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) gave shippers a three-week waiver for Indian products that were loaded onto ships and were in transit to the U.S. before the midnight deadline. Such products will still be able to enter the country at the previous 25% tariffs by 12:01 a.m. EST on Sept. 17. Similarly, aluminum and its derivative products, passenger vehicles, steel, copper and other goods subject to separate tariffs of up to 50% are exempted.