Rama Krishna Sangem
Narendra Modi led Government of India has hit back at Trump administration of the US for imposing 50 per cent tariffs on India. This hitting back is in the form of pressing pause button on the proposed defence deals with the US, which amount to around 39 billion US dollars. This is almost equal to Trump’s tariffs on around 56 billion US dollar worth of Indian exports.
New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India’s first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades.
India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh cancelled his next week’s US trip..
Reuters breaks the story
India pausing talks to purchase Stryker combat vehicles, Javelin missiles and some Boeing planes amid tariff dispute-sources.Defence minister cancels planned trip to Washington. Officials stress that deals could be finalized but Delhi wants clarity on tariffs and bilateral relations. India open to reducing oil imports from Russia as part of tariff settlement, says Reuters.
Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50% – among the highest of any U.S. trading partner.
The president has a history of rapidly reversing himself on tariffs and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of the people said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but “just not as soon as they were expected to.”
No written orders
Written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, another official said, indicating that Delhi had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was “no forward movement at least for now.”
India’s defence ministry and the Pentagon did not respond to Reuters’ questions. Delhi, which has forged a close partnership with America in recent years, has said it is being unfairly targeted and that Washington and its European allies continue to trade with Moscow when it is in their interest.
Reuters is reporting for the first time that discussions on India’s purchases of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab have been paused due to the tariffs. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February announced plans to pursue procurement and joint production of those items.
