Trump threatens India with 25% tariff — plus ‘penalty’ for buying Russian energy

WASHINGTON — President Trump threatened Wednesday to impose a 25% tariff on India starting Friday — along with an additional penalty for buying Russian energy and weapons.

While describing India as a “friend,” the president raged against the country’s high tariffs on the US, including their “obnoxious” non-monetary trade barriers.

“Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

India is the first country to be hit with a direct penalty for engaging with Russia in Trump’s tariff war.

The new punishment comes as Trump has threatened Russia with additional tariffs and potential secondary sanctions in 10 days from Tuesday in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin not putting an end to the war in Ukraine.

The president is negotiating with countries ahead of his Aug. 1 tariff deadline, when he will impose higher rates on the nations that have yet to strike a deal with the US.

The 25% rate for India is just slightly less than the original 26% tariff Trump levied in April on “Liberation Day.” He then dropped rates to 10% while the US negotiated for long-term deals, and has since come to terms with a number of trading partners, including the EU, the UK, Japan and Indonesia.

India applied an average rate of 5.2% on US goods in 2022 and imported a wide range of products, including oils and machinery.

The US, meanwhile, tariffed India at an average rate of 2.4% in previous years.

The high rate on India may also be a ploy to get Apple to produce its iPhones in the US, as CEO Tim Cook has eyed manufacturing up to 25% of the phones there with the aim of moving away from China.

Trump said in March he told Cook to produce the phones in the US instead, expressing frustration over the tech company’s potential move to India.

“I said to Tim, I said, ‘Tim look, we treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years, now you got build us. We’re not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves … we want you to build here,’” Trump said at the time.

The high rates for India still come as a surprise given Trump’s close relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi in his first term and Vice President JD Vance’s moves to strike a deal back in April.

Vance said April 21 that he and Modi had come to a “road map” on trade, and that a firm agreement would be coming soon.