Trump Announces 26% Reciprocal Tariffs on 'Very, Very Tough' India
New Delhi: US president Donald Trump has announced 26% reciprocal tariffs on India.
Tariffs on India are lower than those on key Asian exporters China (34%), Vietnam (46%), Thailand (36%), Taiwan (32%) and Indonesia (32%).
Asian economies who seem to have got away with lower tariffs than India are South Korea (25%), Japan (24%) and Malaysia (24%).
The White House has posted the percentages levied on 50 countries on X, with a caption in capital letters saying that these were 'liberation day reciprocal tariffs'. Trump had been calling April 2 'liberation day' – ostensibly because the US according to him has been reeling from the imposition of tariffs in various countries so far.
LIBERATION DAY RECIPROCAL TARIFFS 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ODckbUWKvO
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 2, 2025
"This is one of the most important days... in American history; it's our Declaration of Economic Independence. For years, hard-working American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines... But now it's our time to prosper," Trump said.
Trump called the tariffs "discounted" because the US was charging countries half of what they levied on the US.
PTI has reported that Trump also mentioned India's "high tariffs" in his address from the White House on April 2.
"India, very, very tough. Very, very tough. The Prime Minister just left. 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%. You have to understand, we charge them almost nothing for years and years and decades, and it was only seven years ago, when I came in, that we started with China," he said.
He also mentioned that the US charges other countries "only a 2.4% tariff on motorcycles" but India charges 70%.
The executive order Trump signed is called 'Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits'.
India has as yet not issued an official reaction to the announcement.
This article went live on April third, two thousand twenty five, at nineteen minutes past eight in the morning.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
