- US last month doubled tariffs on imports from India to 50%.
- Indian FM says country will continue to buy Russian oil.
- US-India two-way goods trade totalled $129 billion in 2024.
US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on India could reduce the country’s gross domestic product by half a per cent this year, the nation’s Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Monday.
“Depending upon how long it lasts even in this financial year, it may translate into a GDP impact of somewhere between 0.5% to 0.6%,” he told the broadcaster.
Trump, who is seeking to broker an end to the Ukraine conflict, has said India’s oil imports are helping fund Moscow’s war effort and last month doubled tariffs on imports from India to 50%.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said last week the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer will continue to buy Russian oil as it proves economical.
US-India two-way goods trade totalled $129 billion in 2024, with a $45.8 billion US trade deficit, according to US Census Bureau data.
Exporter groups estimate the tariffs could affect nearly 55% of India’s $87 billion in merchandise exports to the US, while benefiting competitors such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.
Nageswaran said he would stick to the government’s 6.3-6.8% growth forecast for the current fiscal year ending in March 2026, citing the April-June quarter’s 7.8% expansion, the fastest in over a year.