NEW YORK, AUGUST 5 : In a sharp escalation of trade rhetoric, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he plans to “very substantially” increase tariffs on India within the next 24 hours, citing what he described as unfair trade practices and India’s ongoing imports of Russian oil.
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Trump criticized India for maintaining what he called “the highest tariffs in the world,” alleging that the trade relationship between the two nations is disproportionately in India’s favor. “India has not been a good trading partner,” Trump said. “They do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do much with them because their tariffs are so high.”
He further claimed that the existing 25% tariff rate was insufficient in balancing the trade equation and hinted at a significant increase in duties aimed specifically at addressing what he sees as an ongoing imbalance. “I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours,” Trump stated. “They’re buying Russian oil, and we’re not going to allow that without a response.”