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India, Others Brace For Impact As Trump’s Tariff “Liberation Day” Dawns

by aweeincm1

April 2, 2025

“You would start with all countries, so let’s see what happens,” Trump told reporters, dashing hopes that he might scale back some of the levies or that they would target a select group of nations. “I haven’t heard a rumour about 15 countries, 10 or 15… Essentially all of the countries that we are talking about. We have been talking about all countries, not a cutoff,” he said.
A day before the expected announcement, Trump claimed India would be dropping its tariffs “very substantially”. “I think a lot of (countries) will drop their tariffs because they have been unfairly tariffing the United States for years. I think I heard that India, just a little while ago, is going to be dropping its tariffs very substantially. I said why didn’t somebody do this a long time ago?” he said.
Hours before that, the White House said India imposes a 100 per cent levy on American agricultural products. “You have a 100 per cent tariff from India on American agricultural products,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, holding up a chart with tariffs levied by countries.
From 2021-22 to 2023-24, the US was India’s largest trading partner. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India’s total goods exports, 6.22 per cent of imports, and 10.73 per cent of bilateral trade, a PTI report said. With the US, India had a trade surplus (difference between exports and imports) of $35.32 billion in goods in 2023-24. The figure was $27.7 billion in 2022-23, $32.85 billion in 2021-22, $22.73 billion in 2020-21 and $17.26 billion in 2019-20
India and the US have decided to hold sector-specific talks in the coming weeks to finalise the structure of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA). Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said discussions are progressing well and will be for the “good” of both nations while protecting India’s interests.
The Sensex and Nifty tanked on Tuesday, with the fall being driven by the uncertainty over the impact of Trump’s tariffs. The Sensex fell 1,390.41 points, or 1.8 per cent, to settle at 76,024.51 while the NSE Nifty dropped 353.65 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 23,165.7.
Last week, Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on all auto imports and a similar tariff on steel and aluminum was implemented in March.
Many countries have also vowed to retaliate against the US tariffs, if needed. European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc still hopes for a “negotiated solution” but “all instruments are on the table” to hit back if necessary. “We are open to negotiations,” the European Commission chief told a European Parliament session, “but we have a strong plan to retaliate if necessary.”
China, Japan and South Korea agreed to jointly respond to US tariffs, a social media account affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. The comments came after the three countries held their first economic dialogue in five years on Sunday, news agency Reuters reported.
The White House said on Tuesday that Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs will take effect immediately after they are announced. “My understanding is that the tariff announcement will come tomorrow, they will be effective immediately,” Press Secretary Leavitt said.