Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a nine-section Executive Order imposing an additional 25% tariff on India in response to its continued purchase of Russian oil. With this, the total tariff on Goods From India will be 50%. Trump had announced a 25 per cent tariff on India last week. The order states that India is directly or indirectly importing oil from Russia, which the US considers a threat to its national security and foreign policy.
The new tariffs will be effective to all eligible Indian goods entering the US from 21 days after the order’s signing, except for shipments already in transit before the deadline and cleared before September 17.
White House Order
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby determine and order:
Section 1. Background. Executive Order 14066 of March 8, 2022 (Prohibiting Certain Imports and New Investments With Respect to Continued Russian Federation Efforts To Undermine the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine), expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14024 of April 15, 2021 (Blocking Property With Respect To Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation), to include the actions taken against Ukraine by the Government of the Russian Federation. To address that unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, Executive Order 14066 prohibited, among other things, the importation into the United States of certain products of Russian Federation origin, including crude oil; petroleum; and petroleum fuels, oils, and products of their distillation.
I have received additional information from various senior officials on, among other things, the actions of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to the situation in Ukraine. After considering this additional information, among other things, I find that the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066 continues and that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.
To deal with the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066, I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. In my judgment, imposing tariffs, as described below, in addition to maintaining the other measures taken to address the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066, will more effectively deal with the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066. Sec.
2. Imposition of Tariffs. (a) I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.
(b) Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent. Subject to section 3 of this order, this rate of duty shall be effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 21 days after the date of this order, except for goods that (1) were loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transit prior to entry into the United States before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 21 days after the date of this order; and (2) are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 17, 2025.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump announced he was hiking tariffs “very substantially” beyond the stipulated 25% over the next 24 hours. Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday the president described India as the “highest tariffs nation” in the world that continued to “fuel the war machine” in Russia.
"With India, what people don't like to say about India, they are the highest tariff nation. They have the highest tariff from anybody. We do very very little business with India because their tariffs are so high," Trump said.
He further stated, "India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don't do business with them. So we settled on 25 percent but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil and fueling the war machine, if they are gonna do that, I am not gonna be happy."
India's Response
Earlier on Monday, India on Monday issued a firm six-point statement in response to US President Donald Trump’s threat to raise tariffs. In its statement, India asserted that it has been unfairly targeted by both the United States and the European Union for continuing to import oil from Russia.
