July 4: America needed India-made clothes in its Independence fight but British put up tariff walls

America rejoices as the nation celebrates its 249th Independence Day on Friday (4th of July). This is also the time to look back at the birth of the world’s most powerful nation and government. Many call the United States of America the ‘oldest’ modern democracy — though, not factually accurate. India is undoubtedly the biggest democracy on the planet. What kind of relationship did the two nations have when America fought a war for its Independence from 1776 to 1783?

It would not be completely off the mark to recall that Charles Cornwallis, known in India for establishing British civil service — often called as the father of British India civil service — and land reforms through the famous or infamous Permanent Settlement of land revenue in Bengal, was the same British general who lost the war in America. He surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 to the combined forces of America and France — considered the turning point in the War of Independence.

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The story of its birth, however, is not just one of battles fought on its own soil but also of a complex global web of trade, politics, and empire — one that intricately involved India, thought through Britain, which governed much of present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century.

While George Washington led the Continental Army against British forces, thousands of miles away, an independent Indian ruler Tipu Sultan — heading one of the largest Indian kingdoms at the time — allied with another major power (the Marathas) to challenge the British imperial ambitions. Both stories, though distant, were connected by the threads of commerce and conflict, especially through the tariffs Britain imposed on Indian goods that inflamed colonial unrest in America.

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George Washington and the American struggle for Independence

In 1775, as tensions between the American colonies and Britain erupted into open conflict, George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the newly formed Continental Army. Washington faced enormous challenges: a poorly equipped, inexperienced force pitted against the world’s most powerful military.

Yet, through bold campaigns — such as the daring crossing of the Delaware River in December 1776 and the subsequent victories at Trenton and Princeton — he kept the revolutionary cause alive during its darkest hours.

By July 4, 1776, the colonies had formally declared independence, a bold statement that would lead to years of war. Washington’s leadership culminated in the decisive Siege of Yorktown in 1781, forcing British General Cornwallis to surrender and paving the way for the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which recognised the United States as a sovereign nation.

India-made clothes had a role to play, and so did British tariffs

While Washington marshalled troops and strategy, the American colonists were also fighting an economic war. They depended heavily on Indian textiles — fine cotton and calico fabrics imported through British trade channels. These India-made clothes were essential everyday commodities, but British mercantilist policies imposed heavy tariffs on these imports to protect domestic British manufacturers and raise revenue.

This trade line was serving both the Americans and Indian fairly well. Indian cotton growers and cloth-makers were earning profits, bolstering confidence in their industrial abilities that the colonial government, then under the British East India Company in India, had been trying hard to destroy so that the British factories could scale up their business. To hit both their rivals — Americans and Indians — the British imposed high levies, weaponising tariffs much the same way as US President Donald Trum p has been attempting to do in his second presidency in the past six months.

These tariff walls made Indian textiles expensive and scarce in the colonies, frustrating many colonists who saw them as unjust taxes levied without their consent. This economic strain was a key grievance that helped spark resistance, including boycotts of British and Indian goods and the symbolic rise of homespun cloth as a mark of patriotism and defiance.

Back then Indian kingdoms united against British

A geopolitical calculation was in play at the time. The French, a colonial power rivalling the British back then, was in alliance with American leaders, and also the Kingdom of Mysore, whose military was led by Hyder Ali in 1776. The French encouraged him to resist the British expansion in India. As a result a confederation was formed between two of the most powerful Indian kingdoms — Mysore and Maratha — against the English colonial power.

While the American struggle was still on, the Second Anglo-Mysore War broke out in southern India in 1780. Stretched thin in wars, the British found it difficult to maintain its military supremacy in America. The Indian war prolonged — under Tipu Sultan after his father Hyder died of cancer in 1782 — to 1784. By this time, Cornwallis had surrendered, practically sealing the fate of the British in America.

It is left to speculation what would have been the outcome of the American War of Independence had two of the most powerful Indian kingdoms not allied against the British, who had a much bigger stake in India economically and strategically than in America, the new world with unknown potential. The Indian forces were also supported by French naval power.

The intertwined global struggle: Tariff and territory

The American Revolution was not an isolated event but part of a wider conflict involving European powers vying for global supremacy. Britain’s tariff policies on Indian goods were not just economic measures; they were tools to maintain imperial control over both the American colonies and India.

The tariffs on India-made clothes strained colonial economies and contributed to revolutionary sentiment in America, while in India, British efforts to dominate trade and politics led to fierce resistance from Indian rulers. The loss of the American colonies forced Britain to intensify its focus on India, eventually leading to deeper colonial control.

Modern echoes: tariffs and trade tensions today

Fast forward to today, and the spectre of tariffs once again shapes relations between the US, India, and Britain. Under Trump, US tariff policies have forced a reset of policies across the globe including India and the UK. Negotiations for bilateral trade agreements have been complex. And, interestingly, the UK and India signed a bilateral free trade deal in May to reduce tariffs on key goods.

The historical tariff walls that Britain erected to control colonial trade find a modern parallel in these contemporary trade disputes that Trump has triggered. Then, tariffs on India-made clothes helped ignite America’s fight for independence; now, tariffs risk complicating the traditional partnerships that have governed global economic cooperation for decades in the post-Second World War world.

As America celebrates its independence, the story of the Indian role in George Washington-led struggle against colonialism remains understated. However, the tariff walls that the British erected ultimately contributed to the explosion of the cotton and garment industry in America.