New Delhi: Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal on Thursday (July 31) said in the Lok Sabha that the government is “examining the impact” of 25% tariffs announced by the US.

Goyal’s seven-minute long statement focused on the creation of an 'Atmanirbhar India', and how it has been recognised as a “bright spot” in the world economy, but did not provide any details of the government’s response to Trump’s tariffs.

“The government is examining the impact of the recent events. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is holding talks with exporters, industries and all stakeholders and gathering information on their assessment of this issue,” he said.

“The government gives utmost priority to the safeguarding of welfare of farmers, labourers, entrepreneurs, industrialists, exporters, MSMEs and stakeholders of the industrial sector.  We will take all necessary steps to safeguard our national interest," he added.

Goyal’s statement was only read out in Hindi and was not allowed to be read out in English by Speaker Om Birla. The statement comes after Trump on Wednesday announced that a 25% tariff, plus a penalty, will be imposed on India starting August 1. Later on Wednesday, Trump mounted a sharp attack and said,” I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care”.

However, Goyal did not respond to any of Trump’s charges. Instead, he read out the timeline of events that led to the imposition of the tariffs going back to April and then elaborated on how India had emerged as the fourth largest economy in the past decade.

Goyal said that in April, Trump had issued an executive order on reciprocal tariffs under which a 10%  baseline duty was implemented. 

“With a 10% baseline tariff, a total of 26% tariff was announced for India. The dull country-specific additional tariffs were scheduled to come into effect on April 9, 2025. But on April 10, 2025 this was initially suspended for 90 days and then extended till August 1, 2025,” he said.

Goyal said that India and the US decided to talk over a mutually-beneficial trade deal aimed to be completed by the fall of this year i.e by October-November. On March 29, representatives of the two countries conducted the first physical meeting and finalised the Terms of Reference, following which four physical meetings and several virtual meetings were held.

The rest of Goyal’s speech focused on the achievements of the Indian economy under the Modi government in the last decade.

“In less than a decade, the government has emerged from Fragile 5 economies to become the world’s fastest growing economy.  Through its reforms and MSMEs and industry's efforts, we are currently the fourth largest economy and will in a few years become the third largest economy,” he said.

“International agencies and economists look at India as a bright spot in the world economy and [India] contributes to 16% of the world economy. India has taken transformational developments under Make in India," the minister said.

Goyal said that India has signed FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) with several countries including the UK, UAE, Australia and plans to do so with other countries soon.

“We are constantly working towards protecting and promoting our farmers. The government is confident of achieving Viksit Bharat goals. India is progressing towards Make in India with Atmanirbharta,” he said.

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