Public sentiment overwhelmingly reflects anger and skepticism towards the US tariffs on Indian goods, with a strong emphasis on India asserting its independence and prioritizing national interests over compliance with US demands. Many commenters express pride in India's self-reliance and advocate for reducing reliance on US imports, highlighting the desire for an economic pivot towards self-sufficiency. There is a noticeable frustration regarding the US's perceived double standards and hypocrisy, further reinforcing calls for India to explore alliances that better serve its strategic goals.

India

United States

**Submission Statement:**

The United States has paused trade negotiations with India, originally scheduled for late August in New Delhi, according to Indian media reports. The delay is a setback for Indian businesses already facing steep U.S. tariffs currently at 25% and set to rise to 50% on August 27, the highest imposed on any country. Talks, ongoing since February, remain deadlocked over U.S. demands to open India’s farm and dairy sectors and reduce imports of Russian oil. The pause comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls for greater self-reliance, while Indian exporters brace for mounting economic pressure.

donutloop

It's hilarious that refusing to make a deal with Trump often gets you better tariff rates than capitulation.

Currently it's something like 15% if you don't respond, 10% if you make a deal,  but then he takes an interest in your country and starts adding all this additional stuff.

CatGoblinMode

Trump Administration's actions are undermining US' trade relations around the world and turning the US into a protectionist, anti-free trade country, which is unfortunate. 

However, world has grown multipolar in the last 2 decades, driven by China's economic miracle and strong economic growth in India, ASEAN, Brazil and Africa. Several trade agreements have taken shape around the world in the last 2 decades that don't include the US.

Trade/economic/geopolitical groupings that don't include the US and that have the potential to grow and become important drivers of global economic growth in the next few years are:

1. BRICS+, which is now 10-member strong, including 5 of the 10 most populous countries in the world

2. RCEP, which comprises China, Japan, South Korea, ASEAN, Australia, New Zealand. India may be persuaded to join too, which could make RCEP the defining trade pact of the Asian century, similar to post-war Trans Atlantic trade and military alliance (Marshall Plan, GATT, NATO) that defined 20th century's global economic system.

3. Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FoCAC) that defines economic and trade cooperation between China and African Union member states.

4. African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), covering 43 African Union members as parties and additional 11 AU members as signatories

5. India's trade deals with European countries - India has already signed trade deals with the UK (2025) and EFTA countries Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein (2024); India is in negotiations with EU to sign a trade deal as well.

6. ASEAN's FTAs with China, India, Australia, New Zealand (already in place).

7. Shanghai Cooperation (SCO), which is now 10-member strong, and includes China, India, Russia and Central Asian countries.

8. China's ongoing large trade with the Middle East and India's growing trade with the Middle East are quite important as well. Also India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is proposed.

9. India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Brazil also maintain important trade relations and forums of their own with African Union member countries

10. China's large ongoing trade relations with Latin America and India's growing trade with this region will be a significant as well!

disc_jockey77

This pause may be related to the uncertainty regarding how Trump views the future of India relationship and it may not be a priority at the moment. They have opened up too many fronts and are struggling to keep up with engagement on so many issues.

Resident_Astronaut87

I mean what is the point. India has signaled that they don't willing to even compromise on importing oil from Russia (not that important to them politically). Good luck touching any actual industry.

petepro

[deleted]

I would broadly agree with the OP except that Trump has caused a rift with almost everyone. He as antagonised the closest US allies. He has got BRICS to be more relevant and serious discuss reducing their reliance on the dollar and Europe to start thinking of being more independent of the US. This will get India to explore more areas of cooperation with both China and Russia.

Dean_46

There is way too much doomerism wrt India-US in this publication as well as on Foreign Policy, on Stimson Centre and a bunch of others. Mostly because the majority of Indian readers are likely to click on this type of content. Indians are paranoid that they will not become a developed country.

From my perspective it’s good to have such articles. Because as a great man once said - Only the Paranoid Survive.

noobflounder

This provides a brutally realist view of how bad the relationship is and how limited India's future options are. Not very pleasant reading for any Indian or any proponent of the US-India relationship, or even the India-Russia relationship.

&gt;Trump’s return to the White House has complicated each of the assumptions New Delhi held. **Instead of girding itself for great-power competition, the White House is scouring the world for short-term gains. Through that lens, Washington has much more to gain from China than it does from India; the war in Ukraine must end because supporting Ukraine is not worth American taxpayers’ money; and Europe’s problems with Russia are Europe’s problems, not those of the United States.** In such a worldview, India’s geopolitical profile invariably shrinks.

&gt;...

&gt;Washington’s revised approach to great-power competition has not only transformed its own policy toward New Delhi but has also influenced the choices and decisions of other major players—with significant implications for India. **Russia, for instance, has sensed that Trump is far less committed to supporting Ukraine than was Biden, is less interested in the systemic challenge posed by China to the U.S.-led world order, and is reluctant to provide security commitments to allies in Europe and Asia.** As Trump prepares for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, he seeks to punish India for buying Russian oil—a policy that the United States previously encouraged. With Trump in the White House, Russia has more options and needs India less.

&gt;...

&gt;Indeed, Moscow feels a diminishing obligation to New Delhi and is unwilling to offer more support than it receives, which explains its lukewarm backing during India’s clash with Pakistan in May. Russia’s public statements at the time were vague: they neither mentioned Pakistan by name nor endorsed India’s military reprisals, but simply called for settling disagreements diplomatically. In a sense, Russia echoed India’s own messaging after the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the statements alarmed New Delhi’s Russia watchers, who expected the Kremlin to stand by India, condemn Pakistan, and affirm India’s right to retaliate—much as Israel did in its full-throated support for India. Indian analysts suspect that Russia refrained from doing so because it didn’t want to irritate China, which has become a close strategic partner of Pakistan and provided it with a great deal of new weaponry.

&gt;**Going forward, Russia is likely to prioritize closer ties with China over its declining relationship with India. Sensing victory in Ukraine, Moscow has new priorities: it now seeks partners capable and willing to challenge the United States and Europe, not merely offering commercial relationships.** China can do that, but India is only interested in trade. Russia may therefore be reluctant to support India in any future Indian-Pakistani conflict, owing to China’s ties with Pakistan. If Russian support for India is doubtful during a conflict with Pakistan, it’s safe to assume that Russia will do little to help India in any future conflict with China.

It's also not pleasant reading for anyone who is worried about the long-term fate of the current US-dominated world order.

&gt;**Trump seeks deals with China and Russia, browbeats traditional allies and friends, and seems content to speed the emergence of some kind of G-2 condominium in which the United States and China carve up the world between them.** In such a world, India’s geopolitical importance declines dramatically.

&gt;This is not just India’s plight. The story in Europe and among American treaty allies in Asia is similar. In that shared doubt about the United States, however, lies a potential salve for India’s injured foreign policy. India could strengthen partnerships with European countries and major Asian powers, such as Japan and South Korea, who face their own balancing dilemmas because of the unreliability of the Trump administration.

1-randomonium

A pretty good objective summary.

A transactional US meets with the world. Everybody for themselves. Which isn't a bad thing in the long run: it will just get more volatile.

SubstantialSquash3

India, with the highest tariff rate in Asia, will still be the fastest growing major economy. These massive tariffs will have a paltry affect of hitting growth rates by about 0.2-0.3%. India is also a consumption-driven economy. This explains why such worthless agenda pieces keep sprouting up.

&gt; And yet, paradoxically, India’s response to its current predicament is likely to be, well, more of the same.

Because its the correct path.

Old-Machine-8000

Good article but we are reading too much into it. 

Trump operates like a king in a courtroom. He is tackling the 3 courtiers one by one, punishes India to signal to Russia that he means business when it comes to making peace deal and sends a warning to China that it’s next if peace deal is not reached. In turn both China and India now need to push Russia to make peace else they will suffer.

Empty-Pumpkin7618

I think they have gotten better coz after meeting Putin, Trump says that he will likely not impose the extra 25% tariffs on India and China for importing Russian oil

snowballkills

Good. Time for India to take a stance. Instead of trying to play both parties, how about India commit to BRICS.

scan_line110110

Wrong read of the situation.

If US-Russia talks are progressing well, which it sounds like they are, the facade of additional 25% tariff on India because of Russian oil purchase is no longer needed. 

This whole thing had nothing to do with India in the first place.

The 25% tariff are here to stay (and were always there to stay). 

Net net, bi lateral talks are no longer “needed” as additional 25% tariff will go away and base 25% tariff are going to stay, no matter what.

_swades_

Translation. India didn’t try to bribe me with enough money to have talks.

Responsible-Ad8591

Trump promised his base- rural, agriculture, HUGE AG business- that he’d open markets. Modi can’t give an inch on this as a rural revolt (which has happened), is too ballistic… trump will revise, he’s got more room. The ruzzian oil thing was red herring- trump could care less- it’s about his BASE, and so far trump has SCREWED MAGA ECONOMICALLY…. he needs a bone to throw

lostsailorlivefree

Maybe Trump and Modi will hold hands and jump off a tall building together

Low-Win-6691

India is not even among the top five trading partners of the US. If the US can impose tariffs on Canada without any reason, then India should not be surprised.

Savings_Prior_7108

Namo don’t know the meaning of Tariffs ?

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AutoModerator

What about Software exports like Google, facebook, whatsapp. Why are they not counted.

Tacama

All major rating agencies like Moody's, barkley, fitch, s&amp;p foresee impact of about 0.2-0.3 pp on Indian GDP growth by this.

Sun1385In

Does this include IT &amp; software exports? We have many IT companies that have many US customers whom we charge in USD. Any idea? I believe that number may be more than this.

Any_Contribution_238

So, china exported 428 billion worth of goods.

80 billion isn't "more than any other country.'

LateScientist6316

I'm not an economist but can someone tell me what will we lose if we Boycott USA completely?

iceinmyveinsIguess

What is everything else ? Can anybody explain

ehmotherfuckers

This chart really shows how important the U.S. is for Indian exports—nearly $80 billion worth. If Trump goes ahead with a 25% tariff, it's not just numbers on paper. It could hit millions of Indian jobs and small businesses that depend on U.S. markets. Sure, the trade balance favors India, and that’s why we’re in the spotlight. But let’s be real if tariffs go up, U.S. consumers will feel it too. Things like affordable medicines, jewellery, and electronics from India won’t come cheap anymore. In the end, both sides lose if politics gets in the way of smart diplomacy

spirit101_gg

Thanks for the info. We should do more trade with every country in the world. More exports and less imports would be better.

Rus1996

Now compare it to russia..where they don't buy anything from us..still we put them on a pedestal

Accomplished-Rip5200

Why the f countries import and export same things

Do the exports include services / offshoring?

SiliconTheory

India's External Affairs Minister criticized new US tariffs on Indian goods, addressing trade tensions.

India-US Trade Relations and Tariffs

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