 "India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. File image/ Reuters")
As Donald Trump imposes a 50 per cent tariff on India, the country’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has a message for America — India would “not bow down to anybody”.
The comment came when a journalist at the Business Today India @100 event asked Goyal about the global tariff war and whether there was an attempt to make the country bow down.
“No one has ever come who could make India bow. It is impossible. Even if someone tries a hundred thousand times, they cannot make India bow,” the minister of commerce and industry said.
When further asked about the impact of Trump tariffs, he retorted by saying that India finds opportunities in crisis. “The nation’s morale is high… There is a lot of strength in the Indian economy… India will emerge as the winner,” he said.
On Wednesday (August 7), Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25 per cent tariff on India for purchasing Russian oil. The penalty was on top of another 25 per cent tariff that took effect on Thursday (August 8).
Trump has criticised India and Russia over the past few days regarding its trade and energy ties, and has urged New Delhi to reduce its Russian oil imports.
At the summit, the minister also stated that India was looking ahead to develop new trade partners and was actively pursuing or finalising trade deals with the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Australia, the EFTA bloc, the UK, the EU, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, the US, and more countries in the coming years.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“India today is stronger, more respected, led by a tall leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said, underscoring his optimism for India’s place in the evolving global trade order.
Goyal also expressed confidence in the Indian economy, questioning Trump’s previous remark of calling it a dead economy. “Samajhne wale samajh gaye, jo na samjhe woh anari hain (those who are wise have understood, but the naive haven’t).
“It’s so sad, the whole world is looking up to India, whole world recognises us as the fastest growing large economy… Today, the world recognises the strength of India, recognises our demographic advantage, recognises what 1.4 billion aspirational Indians bring to the table as demand. India is a huge market: Why do you think India is queuing up to trade or have better market access?” he said.
With inputs from agencies