Defence Ministry denies report of India pausing arms purchase from US after tariff row

The Ministry of Defence on Friday denied media reports claiming that India has paused defence purchase from the United States after President Donald Trump announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods. 

Reuters, citing sources reported earlier that New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new US weapons and aircraft.

Terming the reports as “false and fabricated,” Defence Ministry officials clarified that “various cases of procurement are being progressed as per the extant procedures."

The report also claimed that India's plans to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases was also cancelled.

Trump on August 6 imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50 per cent - among the highest of any US trading partner.

The report citing another source claimed that written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, indicating that Delhi had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was "no forward movement at least for now."

With inputs from Reuters