Public sentiment is mixed, with a notable segment supporting Prime Minister Modi's response to U.S. tariffs as a matter of national pride and self-reliance. However, a significant number express frustration and criticism towards both Modi's negotiation tactics and Trump's aggressive tariff strategy, indicating concerns over their economic implications. The overall mood reflects a blend of nationalism, skepticism towards U.S. intentions, and a call for India to diversify its alliances.

Government of India

U.S. Government

Indian Congress Party

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Hopefully India will use those trade negotiators for more productive discussions with other countries. EU, Canada, ASEAN countries, maybe even Russia...

an_iconoclast

Blud wasn't letting a day pass without boasting trade deals with ind and suddenly his hormonal cycle altered

dwite_schrut

Good luck playing tough guy with India and China…

sector16

India: we are putting tariffs on call centers. Check mate.

2beatenup

Present-Anteater6848

I don’t believe this will strengthen China-India relations. At current climate, 25% does not look so terrible for India. The Indian economy relies heavily on domestic consumption and exports are more about tech service, so a 25% tariff on India differs from one on Korea, Taiwan, Germany, or Japan which exports automobiles and semiconductors.

However, if more measures are taken against India due to Russian oil or weapons, China will likely exploit India significantly and India will have some difficulty retaliating or coping with a situation. Also, how Trump sets tariff rates against China, Pakistan and Bangladesh will influence India's situation.

wsyang

Thats a poor article actually. Tariffs on China or India impact their exports to the US and thats all. For things to change, China would have to export more to India or the other way around… wont happen.

Politically China and India are at odds in the Himalayas and it wont change. China supports Indias ennemy, Pakistan…. So unless China change policy on these 2 topics, nothing will change between them.
But it might impact India - US relationships. Maybe make India closer to EU

vorko_76

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Aren't China and India having border wars with one another? How will they strengthen each other bonds?

UserLesser2004

Backfire from whose perspective?  Americans would love all the visa workers to go home.  It’s a dream come true.

Nofanta

The fact is Trump's tariffs are Making America Hated Again and strengthening ties everywhere against the US. 

sepata

What happened? Donny got mad because Indians are not getting pushed around?

Expert_Average958

Could? It's already happening, though it's broader than just the India tariffs.

All of the Trump's tariffs have done damage to America's standing in the world. Both the arbitrary and haphazard way they were decided on, and the utterly chaotic way they've been implemented, have destroyed te US's reputation as a reliable trading partner. Countries aren't even trying to make deals with such a partner, instead they're offering a few meaningless baubles which they know Trump will accept as he's an idiot. The EU e.g.

[Fossil Fool - How Europe took Trump for a ride](https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/fossil-fool); Paul Krugman

In such a world countries will look elsewhere for reliable partners and meanigful trade deals. To other large trading blocks and economies, such as the EU, India and China. Investment will take place with and between these blocks, not with the US which will increasingly be shunned.

Skandling

China and India have a pretty major border dispute and relationships are sour. It goes beyond some tariffs.

China is currently building the largest dam ever conceived by mankind near Tibet, at a big river that goes from there into India and Bangladesh. That gives China a direct leverage once completed, as they can close the dam and greatly reduce the flow of water.

Misfiring

I know it sounds too good to be true, but just imagine a China India Russia axis. Not even for defence, more like an exclusive squad to push back against Western economic dominance. Yeah, BRICS is a thing, but if just these three came together? That alone could give Trump a mini meltdown.

Appropriate_Stage164

Here is my answer with experience. Our govt need to Lift all ban from Chinese apps etc. In past I work for ecommerce startup and we used do crores/millions worth sale from Tiktok. After I started my startup, I sold huge no of electronics on ClubFactory which had Zero fees for platform, my projection was to reach 1 cr/1o millions sale in year until, in covid our govt banned it. While I was getting screw on Amazon than Flipkart. Now they have monopoly on everything. Lets bring Chinese here on 50:50 partnership give them access to our economy in exchange of Money and Tech. Only then we can survive and have our own industry. We can handle Trump.

AHVANstartup

No it won't. India and Pakistan hate each other. China loves Pakistan. China looks down on India. Indians see China as a threat to their existence.

There's no trust between the two countries. Quite the opposite in fact. They spy on each other like there is no tomorrow.

The only way it will mend is if India gives into Chinese demands and accepts the Chinese hegemony like all India's neighbors (Bhutan still pending).

dookie224

res0jyyt1

[deleted]

He is pouring water over the previous US administrations efforts and in fact making progress towards the opposite. If Trump actually manages to cause a realignment and make BRICS into a thing, then it'll actually be impressive.

Old-Machine-8000

India and china really are coming closer. A month ago this headline would have been impossible. I hope india can strike deals with them and Europe next

reddragonoftheeast

Trade wars are about what nations average citizen can lose the most wealth without rebelling against the government. This might work with Europe, but I don't think the average American can abstain from more consumption than the average Indian

last_laugh13

SS: As U.S. President Donald Trump escalates threats of punitive tariffs on India over its Russian oil imports, China has stepped into the conversation—this time to back New Delhi. A Chinese embassy spokesperson in India publicly endorsed an editorial from The Hindu that sharply criticized U.S. and European pressure, emphasizing that “India’s sovereignty is non-negotiable.”The post comes amid Trump’s renewed efforts to force India to cut energy ties with Moscow. In a recent CNBC interview, Trump slammed India’s continued Russian crude imports and warned of “substantially” raising tariffs on Indian goods within 24 hours. “India has not been a good trading partner,” he said. “They do a lot of business with us, but we don't do business with them.”

India has sharply pushed back. In a forceful statement released Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs accused Washington and its European allies of double standards, noting they too continue significant trade with Russia. “The U.S. imports uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV sector, fertilizers, and chemicals,” the statement read. “In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable.”

The rare public backing from China may signal deeper strategic maneuvering. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit China later this month for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit—his first such trip since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash. The proposed visit suggests a thaw in relations and a subtle warning to Washington that India’s diplomatic options remain open.

Then_Reception38

It works out for china on two fronts-leverage this as posturing against the US, and back India as a neighbor. But India will be foolish to buy that blindly as China can wake up tomorrow and blur borders like none of this ever happened.

wodkaholic

India and china telling dump to F off together. We really are making America great again aren’t we

ndndr1

It's all friendship and hugs until another border fight.

Mysterious-Coconut24

It's really interesting to see how India is so determined to try and become a world power by making sure the West knows that its support is not unconditional. That said, it seems this is driven not by some ideology like the Soviet's under Communism or America as trying to create a liberal hegemony but by more an emotional-national sentiment of 'respect us because we are big'. Not a critique–just a comment (so many countries do the same I feel).

Carson121212

What India wants with China is \`peaceful co-existence'. Though we have an adversarial relationship, it is easier to have a mature discussion with the Chinese and figure out how to reduce tensions, than it is to guess what Trump will tweet next, or how to handle his extortionate demands. 

We recently had an understanding to de-escalate on the border, where our soldiers faced each other in a disputed area. This was done with a handshake and the agreement has held.

Dean_46

Tariffs aren’t a threat to sovereignty. I think the tariffs are stupid but this kind of language is too dramatic.

loggy_sci

There are two things going on here at the same time: 

**1).)** U.S. is looking for an excuse to renegotiate trade with India. Both sides have been trying to negotiate a trade deal for quite some time, but there are huge issues: India will not sell out its agricultural base and the U.S. can’t really put tariffs on digital services from India the way it can physical imports from other nations. This makes India extremely difficult to negotiate with but at the same time, extremely important for America to strike a deal with before India erodes America’s white collar base without giving reciprocal access to its consumer market. You simply can’t put tariffs on your IT guy in Bangalore the way you can car parts from Germany because no physical good is crossing a physical border.

What’s happening now is that the gloves are coming off: America is trying to play hardball and express displeasure with India. The problem is that India is just in the flat out superior negotiating position. America may have a technology edge but this is being eroded and India is trending towards further expansion economically and in terms of human capital. Withholding technological transfer to India will not work, because the technological gatekeeping the U.S. used in the past is already being eroded by China. If the U.S. continues then it opens up the U.S. to IP/technological theft not just from China but India as well, which will be fatal to U.S. domestic industry. 

The U.S. should have renegotiated trade deals with China and India after the 2008 financial crisis but both the Chinese and the Indians were too effective at stalling the negotiations to the point that now they have the upper hand. Now they are trying to make up for lost time and doing too much from too weak of a bargaining position. 

**2.)** The bigger issue is that the recent India - Pakistan conflict exposed America’s position. During the conflict Pakistan could reliably count on diplomatic support from Turkey, China, **and America**. India received no support at all from the Quad during this conflict. The IMF even financially bailed Pakistan out during the conflict and Trump/Vance attempted to mediate on behalf of Pakistan while equivocating the two sides internationally. For India, this was a massive red line. 

Subsequently, Trump invited General Asif Munir (ie not Pakistan’s PM) to the White House to negotiate using Pakistani airspace to bomb Iran. This demonstrated to India that the U.S. simply will never give up Pakistan. 

So now India in a position where it sees that the U.S. is not only unreliable diplomatically but that it will always prioritize relations with its mortal enemy *and* that will try to impede India’s technological development further. 

I’d argue that all of this was very predictable.

CoachKoranGodwin

He already tanked the relation with India. 
Even if he backtracks tomorrow, which we all doubt, there is no guarantee that he wouldn’t change his mood again the day after. 
And even if he is out of office we now all have seen, that Americans could vote another lunatic into office anytime. 
Trump is the beginning of the end of US dominance. We, the world, should thank him for this.

mastermindman99

An entire new generation of Indians, born from the late 90s to 2000s will now learn &amp; internalize why their previous generations took a cautious distrustful approach with the US. Sigh. This is penny wise pound foolish move by Trump.

PersonNPlusOne

Thing is, India never relied on US. So title is kinda...you know..

JustGulabjamun

I’ll agree about the bizzare nice treatment of Pakistan and China  but the stuff about secondary sanctions over Russian oil is pretty classic American stuff and viewed from a Rus/Ukr view instead of a south Asian foreign policy one makes a lot of sense.

spinosaurs70

What I don’t quite understand is why the U.S. deep state appears to be giving Trump so much leeway.

The strategic direction of a nation is shaped over years—often decades—not in reaction to short-term political shifts.

Trump now seems singularly focused on forcing Russia to end the war. But even if that happens in the next couple of months, the underlying damage to U.S. alliances and trust is already done. The relationship with key partners is strained, perhaps irreparably.

So what exactly is the endgame here?

curiousstrider

Henry Kissinger said \`It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend, is fatal. To understand what being America's friend meant to Afghans, an Afghan army officer shared his personal story for my blog. A story on fighting the Taliban, to the heart wrenching time he was abandoned, as Kabul fell. My article also features a first person account from a student in Kabul, on life under the old US ally, the Taliban.  
  
[https://rpdeans.blogspot.com/2025/07/fighting-taliban-and-betrayal-afghan.html](https://rpdeans.blogspot.com/2025/07/fighting-taliban-and-betrayal-afghan.html)

If India genuinely does employ a pragmatic and transactional approach to relations with major powers beyond its region then surely a few ripples in US bilateral affairs can be managed easily 

The Indian logic of buying Russian oil is it is simply pursuing its interests. ‘We do balancing, it’s the cheapest option and our economy takes precedence, Ukraine is not our fight’. Fair enough.

The US logic is it is simply pursuing its own interests. ‘We have an opportunity to humble Russia and protect Ukraine, India’s support of Russia enables them and imposes costs on the US in terms of military aid and posture’. Fair enough. If Russia can be stopped the US can get troops out of Europe quicker.

Strong_Remove_2976

I’m not sure there’s much I can add here that hasn’t been said already. It’s a huge mistake for the US to antagonise both India and Brazil at the same time, especially since it’s for idiotic reasons in the first place. 

The best way to get both nations to limit their trade with Russia is to offer them long term stable commitments that help improve them. India has a population of well over 1.4 billion and one that is still growing. 

The other way to get those countries to limit their trade with Russia is to let them see that Russia is an unreliable partner and one that isn’t capable of offering much. That’s something they need to experience on their own terms and not be subject to threats of sanctions or tariffs. 

Biden had a much better grasp of geopolitics.

Ethereal-Zenith

Why did you reelect Trump, my American friends? But on a more serious note I think that indian people and the American people are very much aligned - far more stable than earlier. I don't think that the president can spoil this much.

houstonrice

Just 25? Go to the back of queue. They ripped 80+ years of relationship with us.

Jazzlike_770

That's someone's plan, no doubt. Or the plan of a number of state actors. Or both, either way.

DanoPinyon

trump is risks thanking every countries relation

Legitimate-Proof5152

Consider it tanked. 

The Indian-US rapprochement of the last few years bucked a decades long trend of misalignment and disconnect. Trump’s erratic behavior now basically confirms some of the long held fears and prejudices in India regarding Western interests and influence.

Trump really is a bull in a China Shop

Open_Management7430

India has been tanking relations with the West by supporting Russia’s war crimes

Edit: Truth hurts, aye?

Deucalion667

Trump always sees everything as a zero sum game- I.e. I win, you lose kind of situation. So to force nations into a disproportional trade deal that overwhelmingly favors the US that he can sell to his voter base. 

One of the big holdup in the trade deal is : agriculture and dairy.  Trump has no regard for India’s redlines on agriculture or dairy sectors, cannot care less for the developmental imperatives that form the fulcrum of India’s economic policies, and seeks New Delhi to commit to zero tariffs for American goods in exchange for high double-digit levy on Indian exports to the US. It is none of Trump’s concern, for instance, that India has zero appetite for genetically modified American agricultural crops, and zero tolerance for American dairy products fed on blood meal because a vast majority of Hindu Indians are vegetarians

hinterstoisser

Despite being one of the few pro US voices in Indian subreddits, deep down I always knew the US was not a truly reliable partner. Still, I hoped the relationship would improve and strengthen over the long term(because of common Chinese threat). But Trump has dragged it under the ocean for good. This damage feels irreversible.

Generations of Indian youths who will be future policymakers and politicians, will remember this betrayal. The trust deficit created now will shape how India approaches its foreign policy for decades to come.

This trade drama is just the surface. In my opinion, a lot has happened in the past 2–3 months, both publicly and behind the scenes, that has led to the current mess.

Guess India should improve ties with China for good instead of trying to mend ties with US. Democrats or Republicans there is no certainty who will backstab India in future.

AIM-120-AMRAAM

I would agree with the article if this was between two professional negotiating teams.  
The problem is I doubt even the White house knows what tariff Trump will impose next.

India had recently signed trade deals with Australia and the UK and we are close to signing   
one with the EU. There were similar problems of India allowing access to agricultural products and dairy. There was no way we could agree to US demands when we said no to others (and our interlocutors understood our sensitivities). The deals with the UK and Australia were signed with give and take on both sides. 

The premise behind trade deals is that both sides seek to strengthen trade by removing bottlenecks, acting within WTO commitments and with compromise on both sides. A trade deal is not a mafia style shakedown. The Indian public was riled not just by Trump making repeated references to stopping the war, but hosting the Pak army chief (not the elected head of state) after the latter appeared at a state funeral of US &amp; UN designated terrorists and reiterating Pakistan's support for terror groups. He also referred to India being a dead economy, which is inaccurate when we are the 3rd largest in the world (in PPP) and the fastest growing in the G-20. 

I don't see any statement from Japan, South Korea or Vietnam where they have agreed to the terms Trump says the have. There is a similar lack of clarity over the terms of the EU-US deal.

It appears the Indian negotiators were far too naive and optimistic, the American negotiators were far too greedy and in the end Trump nuked the negotiating table when he decided he wouldn't be getting the kind of announcement he wanted.

From various articles, the sequence of events that led to this seems to be:

1. In July, India offered to essentially meet the Americans halfway with immediate concessions on 40% of American industrial exports and gradually some consumer products. They also offered $25 billion of American oil purchases. With Trump announcing a 'big deal with India' they actually believed he was satisfied and would at least give them an interim trade deal.

2. On the American side, Trump and his advisors wanted nothing less than an announcement that India would open up most or all of its economy *and* pledge $350 billion or more(comparable to South Korea, Japan and the EU) of US purchases.

3. When it was clear that India wasn't going to offer that much Trump brought up the Russian oil import(which he previously didn't care about) to tighten the vice on India. The announcement on 25% tariffs is meant to go into effect immediately but the one on 50% is intentionally timed for 2 weeks in the future in order to pressure India to surrender.

This is reminding me of Trump's first attempt at a trade war, with China, when tariffs were going up to 100%, 200% and so on. He seems to have realised that India would be a much softer target for this kind of offensive.

Meanwhile, the indications are that the current 'truce' where tariffs on China are only at 30% will be extended, even though the US has far more reason to resent China on all fronts than India. Probably because of their leverage on rare earth minerals, their willingless to bribe Trump's cronies, and Trump's preference for dictators.

1-randomonium

Basically, Trump wanted India to kiss the ring and confirm to the world that they kissed the ring.

SS

After five rounds of trade negotiations, Indian officials were so confident of securing a favourable deal with the United States that they even signalled to the media that tariffs could be capped at 15%.
Indian officials expected U.S. President Donald Trump to announce the deal himself weeks before the August 1 deadline. The announcement never came.

New Delhi is now left with the surprise imposition of a 25% tariff on Indian goods from Friday, along with unspecified penalties over oil imports from Russia, while Trump has closed larger deals with Japan and the EU, and even offered better terms to arch-rival Pakistan.
Interviews with four Indian government officials and two U.S. government officials revealed previously undisclosed details of the proposed deal and an exclusive account of how negotiations collapsed despite technical agreements on most issues.

The officials on both sides said a mix of political misjudgment, missed signals and bitterness broke down the deal between the world's biggest and fifth-largest economies, whose bilateral trade is worth over $190 billion.
The White House, the U.S. Trade Representative office, and India's Prime Minister's Office, along with the External Affairs and Commerce ministries, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
India believed that after visits by Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal to Washington and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance to Delhi, it had made a series of deal-clinching concessions.
New Delhi was offering zero tariffs on industrial goods that formed about 40% of U.S. exports to India, two Indian government officials told Reuters.

Despite domestic pressure, India would also gradually lower tariffs on U.S. cars and alcohol with quotas and accede to Washington's main demand of higher energy and defence imports from the U.S., the officials said.
"Most differences were resolved after the fifth round in Washington, raising hopes of a breakthrough," one of the officials said, adding negotiators believed the U.S. would accommodate India's reluctance on duty-free farm imports and dairy products from the U.S.
It was a miscalculation. Trump saw the issue differently and wanted more concessions.
"A lot of progress was made on many fronts in India talks, but there was never a deal that we felt good about," said one White House official.

"We never got to what amounted to a full deal - a deal that we were looking for."


OVER-CONFIDENCE AND MISCALCULATION


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Washington in February, agreed to target a deal by fall 2025, and more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.
To bridge the $47 billion goods trade gap, India pledged to buy up to $25 billion in U.S. energy and boost defence imports.

But officials now admit India grew overconfident after Trump talked up a "big" imminent deal, taking it as a signal that a favourable agreement was in hand. New Delhi then hardened its stance, especially on agriculture and dairy, two highly sensitive areas for the Indian government.

"We are one of the fastest growing economies, and the U.S. can't ignore a market of 1.4 billion," one Indian official involved in the negotiations said in mid-July.

Negotiators even pushed for relief from the 10% average U.S. tariff announced in April, plus a rollback of steel, aluminium and auto duties.



Later, India scaled back expectations after the U.S. signed trade deals with key partners including Japan, and the European Union, hoping it could secure a similar 15% tariff rate with fewer concessions.

That was unacceptable to the White House. "Trump wanted a headline-grabbing announcement with broader market access, investments and large purchases," said a Washington-based source familiar with the talks.
An Indian official acknowledged New Delhi wasn't ready to match what others offered.

South Korea, for example, struck a deal just before Trump's August 1 deadline, securing a 15% rate instead of 25% by offering $350 billion in investments, higher energy imports, and concessions on rice and beef.

This range plot displays U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff rates or the most recent previously announced or threatened tariff rates for the U.S.'s top trading partners on Aug. 1, 2025.

This range plot displays U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff rates or the most recent previously announced or threatened tariff rates for the U.S.'s top trading partners on Aug. 1, 2025.


COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

"At one point, both sides were very close to signing the deal," said Mark Linscott, a former U.S. Trade Representative who now works for a lobby group that is close to the discussions between the two nations.
"The missing component was a direct line of communication between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi."
A White House official strongly disputed this, noting other deals had been resolved without such intervention.
An Indian government official involved in the talks said Modi could not have called, fearing a one-sided conversation with Trump that could put him on the spot.

However, the other three Indian officials said Trump's repeated remarks about mediating the India-Pakistan conflict further strained negotiations and contributed to Modi not making a final call.

"Trump's remarks on Pakistan didn't go down well," one of them said. "Ideally, India should have acknowledged the U.S. role while making it clear the final call was ours."

A senior Indian government official blamed the collapse on poor judgment, saying top Indian advisers mishandled the process.

"We lacked the diplomatic support needed after the U.S. struck better deals with Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and the EU," the official said.
"We're now in a crisis that could have been avoided."
Trump said on Tuesday he would increase the tariff on imports from India from the current rate of 25% "very substantially" over the next 24 hours and alleged that New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil were "fuelling the war" in Ukraine.
WAY FORWARD
Talks are ongoing, with a U.S. delegation expected in Delhi later this month and Indian government officials still believe the deal can be salvaged from here.
"It's still possible," one White House official said.
The Indian government is re-examining areas within the farm and dairy sectors where concessions can be made, the fourth official said. On Russian oil, India could reduce some purchases in favour of U.S. supplies if pricing is matched.
"It likely will require direct communication between the prime minister and the president," said Linscott.
"Pick up the phone. Right now, we are in a lose-lose. But there is real potential for a win-win trade deal."

I think it is a direct impact from the border skirmish earlier in May. The series of fights basically proves that India has no proper means to keep that subcontinent in order. Pakistan, indeed, is much inferior in military power, but it can pose significant threat and damage to India.

TBH, the capability of planning and execution shown by India in that air fight is very much impressive. I dare to say, except US, no NATO country can properly plan and execute an aerial raid with over 70 jet fighters in four to five fronts. But the loss is still unbelievable, and someone or something must be held accountable.

For India, they really don't think that is their fault since they have demonstrated their execution beautifully. PAF has some weapon systems from China, what could India do without F-35A and EA-18G? Nothing.

However, for US, they really cannot admit that China is getting edge on military equipment over NATO, otherwise the confidence within NATO will collapse. 

That is a deadlock for Modi and Trump. They both want the other side to admit something that is one stone away from political, even biological suicide, and of course, they cannot agree on any deals.

Glory4cod

Tensions between the U.S. and India have escalated as President Trump announced the doubling of tariffs on Indian imports, raising them to 50%. Trump stated he would not engage in trade negotiations until the tariff dispute is resolved.

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