‘We’ll be bringing tariffs on India down’: Trump hints at ending Russia oil tariff

US President Donald Trump on Monday said he will “be bringing the tariffs on India down” as India has started reducing Russian oil imports.

Trump said, “Right now, tariffs on India are very high because of Russian oil. They have reduced purchases from Russia. So yeah, we will be bringing the tariffs on India down.”

Trump has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India — the highest in the world. He initially imposed 25 per cent tariff as part of the broader rollout of so-called reciprocal tariffs and then slapped 25 per cent additional tariff as a penalty for the purchase of Russian crude oil.

Trump said that a trade deal with India was close. He acknowledged the troubled relationship and said Indians do not love him at the moment but said they would love him at the moment.

Trump further said, “India is home to one of the world’s oldest civilisations. It is an amazing country and an important strategic partner for America in the Indo-Pacific region. We have a great relationship with PM Modi.”

As Firstpost’s Madhur Sharma previously reported , India-US trade talks were going well until Trump abruptly dumped the progress and ramped up his demands to unrealistic levels. These demands stalled trade talks.

Previously, Firstpost has reported that Trump was a fickle in trade talks, offering India tariff rates of 10 per cent, 15 per cent, and 19 per cent at various points.

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In Trump’s second term, the India-US relationship has plunged to its lowest point in several years as he has tried to bully India on trade, undermine India on Operation Sindoor, join hands with Pakistan and parrot its narrative on Kashmir and Operation Sindoor, and strengthen Turkey’s hand in West Asia.

Unlike previous American presidents that pursued a mutually-beneficial relationship with India, there now exists a trust deficit as Trump does not care what India —or any other partner for that matter— wants and pursues a ‘my way or the highway’ approach, Prof. Swasti Rao, who teaches geopolitics at the Jindal School of International Affairs, Jindal Global University, previously told Firstpost .

“This is why he has ignored all the sensibilities of India whether it is the Kashmir issue, the India-Pakistan conflict, or the issue of agriculture and dairy in trade talks. He has complicated the India-US relationship that had been on an upward trajectory not just bilaterally but also multilaterally — look at the progress with Quad and IMEC in the past few years. Now, instead of taking the relationship forward, the focus will be on containing the fallout,” said Rao.