US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with India that slashes US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent in exchange for India halting Russian oil purchases and lowering trade barriers. Trump announced the deal on social media following a call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, noting that India would now buy oil from the US and potentially Venezuela.
“Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25 per cent to 18 per cent,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
He said PM Modi has committed India to “BUY AMERICAN at a much higher level,” in addition to buying more than $500 billion worth of U.S. energy, including coal, along with technology, agricultural and other products. “They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO,” Trump said of India.
“Congratulations to President Trump for a superb accomplishment on today’s trade agreement with India,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Jim Risch said in a post on X.
He said he is “very glad to learn that the world’s oldest and largest democracy has agreed to reduce trade barriers with the United States.” Describing India as a “close partner” of the US, with a prominent diaspora in America, Risch said New Delhi is an integral partner in countering China’s “malign influence” in the Indo-Pacific.
“Now, under this new agreement India has pledged to buy American. It will also help the US counter Russian aggression and in its work to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine by cutting off India’s support of the Russian energy sector,” Risch said.
US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins thanked Trump for “once again” delivering for American farmers.
“New US-India deal will export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America,” she said in a post on X.
Noting that in 2024, America’s agricultural trade deficit with India was $1.3 billion, she said India’s growing population is an “important market” for American agricultural products and the deal will go a long way to reducing this deficit.
“America First victory on top of the dozens of deals for agriculture,” she said till Trump returned to office and raised U.S. tariff rates to double-digit levels last year, India had some of the world’s highest tariffs, with a simple applied rate of 15.6 per cent and an effective applied tariff of 8.2 per cent, according to World Trade Organization data.
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