Trump's first tranche of 25% tariffs on India comes into effect

New York/Washington: The initial 25 per cent tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on Indian imports came into effect on Thursday.

Last week, the White House announced that India will face tariffs of 25 per cent after Trump issued an executive order listing the various duties that Washington will impose on exports from countries around the world.

In the Executive Order titled ‘Further Modifying The Reciprocal Tariff Rates’, Trump had announced tariff rates for nearly 70 nations.

The 25 per cent “Reciprocal Tariff, Adjusted” imposed on India came into effect beginning Thursday.

In addition to the 25 per cent tariff announced last week, Trump on Wednesday imposed another 25 per cent levies on India for its purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties slapped on India to 50 per cent, among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world.

The additional 25 per cent duty will come into effect after 21 days or August 27.

Trump had said in the executive order that some trading partners have agreed to, or are on the verge of agreeing to, meaningful trade and security commitments with the United States, thus signalling their sincere intentions to permanently remedy trade barriers and to align with the United States on economic and national security matters.   Trump had further said in the order that there are also some trading partners that have failed to engage in negotiations with the United States or to take adequate steps to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters.

The tariff modifications will be “effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time 7 days after the date of this order.”

The tariffs in the list ranged from 10 per cent to 40 per cent, with Japan being charged 15 per cent, Laos and Myanmar (40 per cent each), Pakistan (19 per cent), Sri Lanka (20 per cent) and the United Kingdom (10 per cent).