India Tariffs: Is Modi-Trump Bromance Over?
President Donald Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on India's exports to the United States. This is far higher than most countries facing US tariffs. Explaining the punitive India tariffs, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: "India came to the table early. They’ve been slow rolling things. So I think that the president, the whole trade team has been frustrated with them. And also, you know, India, India has been a large buyer of sanctioned Russian oil that they then resell as refined products. So, you know, they have not been a great global actor".
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| Indian Cartoonist Satish Acharya on Trump-Modi Dialog. Source: Satish Acharya |
Since taking office in January 2025, President Trump has been signaling his intent to apply tariffs on India's exports repeatedly. Trump has been singling out India as a country with the highest tariffs it applies on exports from the US.
Indian cartoonist Satish Acharya published a caricature of Modi-Trump conversation portraying Modi's ignorance or pretense of ignorance of what Trump said to him. The cartoon shows Modi thinking Trump was heaping "taarif" (praise) on him when in fact Trump was threatening to impose high tariffs on India. As an aside, tariff originates from the Arabic word "taʿrīf" (تعريف), which means "notification," "definition," or "announcement". This term probably entered the European lexicon through interactions between Arabic-speaking merchants and European traders in the medieval Mediterranean region.
Cartoons aside, it's clear that Mr. Modi failed to take the Trump tariff threat seriously, and Indian negotiators dragged their feet hoping that Mr. Trump would flinch. Meanwhile, India's supporters in Washington continued to argue for a US policy of "strategic altruism" toward India that has characterized US-India ties since the beginning of the 21st century.
In a 2019 piece titled "The India Dividend: New Delhi Remains Washington’s Best Hope in Asia" published in Foreign Affairs journal, authors Robert Blackwill and Ashley Tellis argued that the Trump Administration should continue this US policy of "strategic altruism" with India that began with US-India nuclear agreement. They asked President Trump to ignore the fact that the US companies and economy have only marginally benefited, if at all, from this policy. They saw India as a "superpower in waiting" and urged Washington to focus on the goal of having India as an ally to check China's rise. They see Chinese support for India's arch-rival Pakistan and China’s growing weight in South Asia and beyond as a threat to India.
At the same time, Mr. Modi has suffered from delusions of personal rapport with Mr. Trump, describing him as "my friend Dolund Trump" at mass rallies in India. Modi and his supporters in Washington should have heeded the advice of Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani. "One hard truth that Indians have to contend with is that America has also had difficulty treating India with respect", wrote the Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani in his latest book "Has China Won?". "If America wants to develop a close long-term relationship with India over the long run, it needs to confront the deep roots of its relative lack of respect for India", adds Ambassador Mahbubani. It's not just Mahbubani who suspects the United States leadership does not respect India. Others, including former President Bill Clinton, current US President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CNN GPS host Fareed Zakaria have expressed similar sentiments.
President Trump has rejected all pleas from pro-India analysts for special treatment of New Delhi. Prior to his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in February this year, the US president described India as the "worst abuser of tariffs" and announced "reciprocal tariffs" on Indian imports to the United States. At the same time, Mr. Trump cracked down on both legal and illegal immigration from India. His administration is deporting thousands of illegal Indian immigrants in handcuffs and shackles on US military aircraft. Meanwhile, stringent new regulations on temporary work visas could significantly delay visa processing times and reduce the number of Indian workers employed in the United States on H1B visas.
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Comments
https://thewire.in/politics/everyone-knows-indian-economy-is-dead-except-modi-and-sitharaman-says-rahul-gandhi
New Delhi: Hours after US President Donald Trump equated India with Russia and said that they can take their “dead economies down together”, Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi echoed his statement and said that the whole world knows this fact, except Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“He [Trump] is right. Everybody knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy, except the prime minister and the finance minister. I am glad that President Trump has stated a fact. The whole world knows – India’s economy is a dead economy and the BJP has destroyed the economy. Why did they destroy it? To help Adani,” said Gandhi speaking to reporters outside the parliament on Thursday.
Gandhi’s statement came hours after Trump on Wednesday announced that a 25% tariff, plus a penalty, will be imposed on India starting August 1. The Union government has responded to it saying that it “will take all steps necessary to secure our national interest”. Later on Wednesday, Trump mounted a sharp attack and said, “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,” he said.
Gandhi said that the Modi government had “destroyed India’s economic, defence and foreign policy. They are running this country into the ground.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Gandhi in his speech during the discussion on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, demanded that the prime minister show the courage to tell parliament that US President Donald Trump is a liar in response to his continued claims of having mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Four days of military conflict between the two countries following Operation Sindoor was brought to an end, according to Trump, after he used trade as leverage and brought the two countries back from the brink of a nuclear war. Modi in his reply said no world leader had asked Operation Sindoor to be stopped but did not name Trump.
“The foreign minister, while giving a speech, says that our foreign policy is very good. On one hand, America is criticising India, and on the other hand, China is after us. When you send your delegations around the world, no country condemns Pakistan. How are they running this country – they don’t even know how to run a country, there is total confusion,” said Gandhi on Thursday.
“Trump has said 30-32 times that he brokered a ceasefire. Trump has also said that five Indian jets have been shot down, and now he is talking about imposing a 25% tariff. Have you asked yourself why Narendra Modi is unable to respond? What is the actual reason? Who is in control – understand the situation.”
Later on Thursday Gandhi also said in a statement on X that the Indian economy is dead. “The Indian economy is dead. Modi killed it,” he wrote.
“Adani-Modi partnership, Demonetisation and a flawed GST, Failed “Assemble in India”, MSMEs wiped out, Farmers crushed – Modi has destroyed the future of India’s youth because there are no jobs,” he wrote.
@clary_co
The core reality of India’s foreign policy dilemma is this: Russia is too weak and too backward to provide India what it needs to ascend, the EU is militarily incapable and riven by its own divisions, China is too strong, and the US is erratic.
https://x.com/clary_co/status/1953062441215984120
Christopher Clary
@clary_co
Why is the US erratic? In part because it can be. It is quite powerful and far away from the most threatening other great powers (China and Russia). India is also not lucky in this regard sharing a long disputed border with the most powerful of the threatening great powers.
https://x.com/clary_co/status/1953088204518600958
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Christopher Clary
@clary_co
“Amitabh Kant, until recently Mr. Modi’s envoy for dealing with the Group of 20 economies, said, ‘[E]ven if the trade issues are sorted out, the trust would have been lost forever.’” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/world/asia/modi-india-trump-china-tariffs.html
https://x.com/clary_co/status/1954511540368912889
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AI Overview
According to recent news reports, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly been experiencing a period of "soul-searching" following what has been described as the collapse of his efforts to improve ties with the United States and China.
Background
The New York Times reported that India's efforts to transform its relationships with the US and China have highlighted the limitations of India's influence on the world stage.
Prime Minister Modi acknowledged that he might face political consequences due to the ongoing trade dispute with the US.
Despite these developments, there are indications of renewed attempts to improve relations with China, with Modi scheduled to visit later this month for the first time in seven years. However, tensions remain due to border skirmishes and China's support for Pakistan's military escalation with India.
Impact
These events have led to a moment of introspection in India, revealing the constraints on its global power despite its large size and growing economy.
Recent developments
On Sunday, August 10, 2025, Prime Minister Modi indirectly criticized US President Donald Trump's "dead economy" comment during a public event in Bengaluru, emphasizing India's progress toward becoming one of the world's top three economies. He attributed this growth to a spirit of reform, performance, and transformation driven by clear intentions and honest efforts.
In summary, recent reports suggest that Prime Minister Modi and India are reassessing their foreign policy strategy and global positioning following setbacks in their relationships with the US and China.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/08/11/india-modi-trump-friendship-alliance-trade-tariff/
Trump’s annoyance appears to have opened the door to anti-India sentiment from multiple quarters in the White House. For economic right-wingers such as Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, long-held gripes about India’s protectionist economy and high trade barriers are finally seeing the light of day. And for the anti-immigration right — people including Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff — India is in the crosshairs as the largest beneficiary of the H-1B visa program, which offers skilled foreign workers a pathway to U.S. permanent residency.
Domestically, the Modi government is caught between a rock and a hard place. New Delhi’s best hope out of punishing U.S. tariffs is to negotiate a trade deal, but to do so, Modi faces a difficult political balancing act back home.
One of Washington’s main demands is to open the Indian market to U.S. agricultural crops and dairy products. But unfortunately for Modi, the country’s agriculture and dairy industries are the third rail of Indian politics: Any attempt to loosen the trade barriers protecting these two sectors is a surefire way to lose the next election.
Farmers, who account for around 45 percent of India’s labor force, are a critical constituency for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). As Maya Prakash noted in a recent Washington Post opinion piece, one of the few stinging defeats in Modi’s 11-year premiership came in 2020, when his government passed legislation that would have potentially reduced farmers’ earnings, leading agricultural workers to mount widespread protests across northern India. After 16 months of highway shutdowns and routs for the BJP in state-level elections, the government was forced to repeal the bills.
Importing U.S. dairy — which may come from cows fed with animal-derived products such as tallow — is also a no-go for India, where an 80 percent Hindu population opposes animal-fed dairy on cultural grounds.
Though the domestic Indian opposition is no fan of Trump — opposition leader Rahul Gandhi called the tariffs “economic blackmail” on Wednesday — they know to pounce if Modi budges on agriculture or dairy. The “government needs to stand up straight and demonstrate some spine against this coercion and bullying,” Manish Tewari, a member of the opposition Congress party, told Indian media Thursday.
In the meantime, Modi will have to do his best to navigate tariff turbulence. During a rally on Aug. 2, Modi obliquely referred to the U.S. tariffs without mentioning Trump by name, exhorting his citizens to buy Indian-made goods “made with the sweat of the people of India” while unveiling a new slogan, “Vocal for Local.”
But talk, especially defiant talk, is cheap in Indian politics. In 2020, after Chinese and Indian soldiers clashed in a deadly border dispute, Modi announced an initiative to boycott Chinese imports and build an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” — a self-reliant India. Even so, Indian imports from China surged from $65 billion in 2020 to $113 billion in 2024.
India's labor-intensive textile, jewelry, and auto parts industries are likely to be among the hardest hit by Trump's 50% tariffs.
https://www.dw.com/en/indian-workers-fear-economic-downturn-under-trumps-tariffs/a-73597048
According to the Diamond Workers Union Gujarat, there are about 800,000 to 1 million diamond workers in Gujarat, employed in roughly 6,000 diamond polishing units.
"The US is our single largest market, accounting for over $10 billion in exports — nearly 30% of our industry's total global trade. A blanket tariff of this magnitude is severely devastating for the sector," said Kirit Bhansali, chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
"For cut and polished diamonds, half of India's exports are US-bound. With the revised tariff hike, the entire industry may come to a standstill, placing immense pressure on every part of the value chain — from small workers to large manufacturers," added Bhansali.
Big tariffs on the horizon
Trump last week added a 25% tariff rate to a previously announced levy of 25%, bringing the total to 50% for goods from India. The White House said India's continued purchases of Russian oil are enabling Russia's war machine in Ukraine, and are undermining US efforts to bring the war to an end. Russia is currently the single largest seller of Indian oil imports.
The US tariffs apply to Indian exports like gems, textiles, automotive parts and footwear. Electronics, smartphones and pharmaceuticals remain exempt, for now.
Even so, the tariffs threaten a significant portion of India's export economy to the US, which is valued at nearly $87 billion (€74.7 billion) annually, representing about 2.5% of India's GDP.
The 50% rate is due to take effect on August 27, leaving the door open for potential negotiations.
India was one of the first countries to initiate trade and tariff talks with the second Trump administration, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Trump in February.
The two leaders had then announced a target to double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.
However, ties have now been strained by the new tariff rate and Trump's insistence that India stop buying Russian oil.
Textiles brace for impact
Millions are employed in knitwear and garment factories in the textile city of Tiruppur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
According to exporters' associations, about 30% of Tiruppur's exports go to the US, particularly in the cotton and knitwear segment. This amounted to $5.1 billion (€ 4.4 billion) in the last financial year.
The industry, which directly employs around 1.25 million workers in the wider textile belt of Tiruppur, Karur and Coimbatore, faces the risk of 100,000–200,000 job losses if exports contract in the coming months.
"With prices of Indian goods rising in the US due to these duties, trade is expected to suffer significantly. It will hit the industry and we will need to see how this plays out," K M Subramanian, President of the Tirupur Exporters' Association, told DW.
The tariffs are set to make Indian textiles more expensive for US buyers than those of competitors like Vietnam, Bangladesh, or Pakistan.
Tiruppur has a reputation for high-quality, eco-friendly knitwear and has established relationships with global brands like Walmart, GAP, and Costco.
"Standalone exporting companies will be hit first. When the first round of 25% tariffs was imposed, we were sent to the intensive care unit. But with the additional 25% penalty tariff because of Russian oil, it looks as if we have been placed in a coma," Kumar Doraiswamy of Eastern Global Clothing told DW.
"It has put exporters in crisis, which threatens jobs, revenues, and the global standing of India's textile sector," added Doraiswamy.
Auto parts exporters face headwinds
Similarly, India's automotive components sector faces the risk of declining orders as tariffsincrease costs for buyers in the US.
From 2024 to 2025, the US accounted for 27% of the $22.9 billion worth of auto components exported from India.
https://youtu.be/sh9GVDKc_hw
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, "There are some people who are not happy with the speed at which India is developing. They are not liking it. 'Sabke boss toh hum hain', how is India growing at such a fast pace? And many are trying that the things made in India, by the hands of Indians become more expensive than the things made in those countries, so that when the things become expensive, the world will not buy them. This effort is being made. But India is progressing so fast, I say with full confidence that now no power in the world can stop India from becoming a big power of the world..." "As far as the defence sector is concerned, you will be happy to know that now we are exporting defence items worth more than 24 thousand crores. This is the strength of India, this is the new defence sector of the new India and the export is increasing continuously..."
A hundred years after it was founded, the RSS is getting closer to its goal of a Hindu-first state
https://www.ft.com/content/da3bcde0-635f-4c33-b206-e6a496acae5d
On a blistering summer evening in Nagpur, a city in Central India, a sea of almost a thousand men clad in brown trousers, crisp white shirts and black caps stood stiffly, as a saffron-coloured flag quivered up a mast. A whistle shrieked and the graduating karyakartas, or “workers” — most of them moustachioed, some of them wiry, others with bulging bellies over their belt buckles — held their right arms and open palms stiff across their chests in salute, followed by a quick head bow. To the background of beating drums, they chanted in Hindi: “The collective consciousness of the people is awakening; change is surely coming.” At their sides they carried lathis, sturdy bamboo sticks.
The graduation ceremony marked the end of a month-long training programme, designed to be character-building, “man-making” and to mould the men into a brotherhood of Hindu nationalists, part of a long campaign waged by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or National Volunteers’ Organisation, which marks its centenary in September. This all-male group has become arguably the largest far-right movement in the world, with, it is claimed, some six million members. Crucially, it forms the heart, soul and muscle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party, which is steeped in RSS ideology and has been accused of turning India into a Hindu nation at the expense of its Muslim minority. That ideology imagines India to be a Hindu state. It is deeply suspicious of, and often hostile to, the country’s minority faiths. “From its inception, the goal before the Sangh was to attain the pinnacle of glory of the Hindu Rashtra [nation] . . . through organising the entire society,” reads the RSS mission statement. The 21st century will be “dominated by Hindutva” or “Hindu-ness”. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief, or sarsanghachalak, gave the graduation speech. “Our society needs to be vigilant and united,” he said. “While we celebrate our diversity, I will speak my language with pride, and my faith is dear to me. These are my unique identities — and I want to protect them.”
Bhagwat is not alone in harbouring such feelings in India today. The perceived threats to Hindu identity he alluded to included those posed by neighbouring Pakistan to the west and by Bangladesh to the east as well as from an enemy within — India’s religious minorities. Modi has expressed similar fears. The prime minister has been a member of the Sangh since his youth, and went through the same set of rites as these men. He was a pracharak, or full-time RSS worker, until he entered politics in the 1980s.
@SushantSin
These guys in the Trump orbit seem to have complete disdain for Modi's India.
https://x.com/SushantSin/status/1960694262254727417
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Shashank Mattoo
@MattooShashank
Fox News Anchor: Do you worry that India will set trade in the rupee and not the dollar? (Laughs)
US Treasury Secretary: There are a lot of things I worry about. The rupee becoming a reserve currency is not one of them. The rupee is at an all time low against the US dollar
https://x.com/MattooShashank/status/1960687351425814934
https://singjupost.com/transcript-why-trumps-tariffs-on-india-are-part-of-a-wider-geopolitical-game-george-friedman/
https://youtu.be/dgPROuLq2gA
India’s Strategic Value to the US
GEORGE FRIEDMAN: Well, the relationship between US and India has been moderately good. But India is not an essential country from the American standpoint. We have fundamental allies that we need badly, and then allies which we give, lose or win doesn’t much matter. India goes into that category.
When the Chinese cut were unable to continue to sell to the United States, everybody looked at India as an alternative. It’s not. It’s far from the level of the Chinese economy. And therefore, while we had good relations, this was an opportunity at the cost to India, which we didn’t much mind to both signal things to the Chinese and Russians, which we do mind. So different signals to both sides. But on the other hand, India is not a critical element in our strategy.
————
GEORGE FRIEDMAN: Well, trust is not a major term in international relations. Interest is we did not do these things with India before. We’ve had a non confrontational strategy toward China. We’ve not done anything particularly aggressive against China. China has on a number of occasions done some things aggressive against our allies. We’ve been defensive but passive in that.
So when you ask the question, what’s more important in the United States, a changed relationship with China, a changed attitude on the part of Russia or a relationship with India? If you have to ask the question, which is the most dangerous things in there? It’s Russia and China, which is least in that configuration? It’s India.
So if you can signal and then turn around and drop tariffs too, if it works, if you can just signal to the Russians that we will raise tariffs on anyone who trades with you and we’ll start with one of your biggest customers and the strongest, that’s helpful. Same with the Chinese side. If we signal that we are not going to go to war with you, that’s a good signal.
Strategic Unpredictability as Foreign Policy
In other words, when you are engaged in diplomacy or buying a house, there are two things you do. You act like you don’t want it and then you manipulate it until you can get your best price. Diplomacy is not necessarily best a consistent policy. Doing the unexpected. Sometimes when you’re carefully moderated, and this was carefully moderated, doing the unexpected and feeling the pressure is a possible way to reach an accommodation.
India was in this sense a victim, a minor, relatively minor cost to the Indians, certainly nothing to break relations over. On the other hand, it did signal to the Chinese that we’re not going to be going to war with them, which they worried about India and to the Russians that we really are going to impose tariffs. The most useless thing to do is say we’re going to really hurt you and never hurt them. The other thing not to say is, we’re going to attack you and then attack them. So in both cases, diplomacy consists both of having some advantages presented and some disadvantages, and this did both.
https://www.wsj.com/world/while-trump-rattles-the-world-china-basks-in-the-limelight-e3de45a7?st=L7WRYP&reflink=article_email_share
BEIJING—The leaders of three of the world’s four most powerful nations will meet in China this weekend to discuss how to react to the upending of the international order wrought by the fourth: the U.S. under President Trump.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently being wooed by Washington, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country—long cultivated by the U.S. as a centerpiece of its aspirations to contain Beijing—has just been slapped by punitive American tariffs.
They will be joined by several other national leaders, including those from Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan, at a summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin that starts Sunday and aims to showcase Beijing’s global economic and political clout.
Putin and some of these guests will then stand alongside Xi, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, and the presidents from countries as far afield as Cuba and Zimbabwe, to watch the Sept. 3 military parade in Beijing. The event will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Japan in World War II—or, as China calls it, the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance.
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To some in the Trump administration, the outreach to Putin at the expense of Ukraine and European security makes sense as part of a “reverse Kissinger” approach. The grand idea is to drive a wedge between Russia, which is seen as a power that could be accommodated, and China, which is considered a challenge to America’s global pre-eminence.
In a Fox News interview after the summit in Alaska, Trump openly mused about how Russia and China are “basically natural enemies” and blamed former President Joe Biden for bringing them together. “Russia has tremendous amounts of land. China has tremendous amounts of people, and China needs Russian land,” he said.
The entire population of Russia’s Far East region, which accounts for 40% of its territory, is fewer than eight million people, or smaller than the number of inhabitants in a medium-size Chinese city like Shenyang or Foshan.
During the first Trump administration, Chinese officials were genuinely alarmed by the prospect of a U.S. rapprochement with Russia at Beijing’s expense, said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center in Berlin and an expert on Sino-Russian relations. But today, he said, they no longer consider it a serious concern because of just how dependent Russia has become on China as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
“The Chinese understand that Russia is in their pocket to a much greater extent than before the war, and they also understand that because of Putin’s obsession with Ukraine, a normalization of Russian relations with the West as a whole remains impossible,” Gabuev said. “Xi and Putin also know just how mercurial Trump is—and that the Russians can’t trust any American promises and inducements.”
@SushantSin
Many myths of India’s ruling regime that have been busted by Trump’s tariffs. Two (three) of them here.
1. US-India ties enjoy bipartisan support in Washington.Not true under Trump. New Delhi should have anticipated this and recalibrated its approach.
2. Indian diaspora in the US is very powerful. Trump's overwhelming support from the right has blunted it.
3. Goals and ideologies of the right-wing in both countries align. Many in India prayed for Trump's victory and celebrated it.
https://x.com/SushantSin/status/1962842457143447833
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/05/scared-losing-jobs-industries-india-fear-impact-trump-tariffs
Textiles, footwear, jewellery, gems and seafood are sectors most affected in trade with US, India’s biggest market
India has long been one of the world’s great garment houses, turning out everything from cheap T-shirts to intricate embroidery. Last year, textile and garment exports to the US alone fetched £21bn, riding a wave of strong consumer demand.
Now the trade is in jeopardy. With the stroke of a pen, the US president, Donald Trump, last week slapped a 50% tariff on more than half of India’s £65bn worth of merchandise exports to the country’s largest market. A supply chain once prized for being cheap suddenly became among the priciest.
The scale of the hit is sobering. Christopher Wood, the global head of equity strategy at the investment bank Jefferies, puts the economic blow at £41bn-£45bn, singling out textiles, footwear, jewellery and gems, all of which are highly labour-intensive, as “the most negatively impacted”.
The pain is visible in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu’s booming textile hub. “We’re scared of losing our jobs. Many of us borrowed money to come here. If the factories cut workers, we will have nothing,” Harihar Pradhan, a 32-year-old migrant worker from Odisha told the Times of India.
Tirupur’s half a million workers churn out cotton T-shirts, tracksuits and undergarments. They are shipped worldwide, but Americans have always been the biggest customers. Factories in Tirupur, as well as Noida in Uttar Pradesh, near Delhi, and Gujarat, are already shuttering production lines, according to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
Alongside textiles, India’s gems, jewellery and seafood industries face the same tariffs: 50%, compared with 15-20% for competitors in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and South Korea.
Effective rates, once exemptions and existing duties are folded in, are even more punishing: 62% for ready-made garments, up from 12%, and 60% for shrimp, for example. “That’s a massive competitive disadvantage,” said Aurodeep Nandi, an economist at the Asian investment bank Nomura.
Margins in these industries were razor-thin to begin with. The new tariffs could push them into loss-making territory, threatening factory closures, mass job losses and the unravelling of supply chains built over decades.
Kirit Bhansali, the chair of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, warned of “devastation”. The US “is our single largest market, accounting for over $10bn [£7.4bn] in exports – nearly 30% of our industry’s total global trade,” he said. “A blanket tariff of this magnitude will inflate costs, delay shipments, distort pricing and place immense pressure on every part of the value chain. We fear exports to the US could fall by over 75%, impacting polished diamonds, jewellery and coloured gemstones alike.”
Indian exporters rushed shipments to the US in August to beat the fall of the tariff hammer. “If the tariffs stick even for just three to six months, I fear India will lose a major share of this [apparel and garment] business,” said Pallab Banerjee, a senior executive at Pearl Global Industries, a leading garment manufacturing firm. A Jaipur exporter added: “Global buyers are highly price-sensitive. Even a 5% tariff difference can turn away buyers.”
Pearl Global can shift orders to factories abroad. But most Indian firms lack that luxury.
The stakes for India’s government are political as well as economic. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has pitched manufacturing as a way to provide jobs to the millions of young Indians who join the labour force each year. These industries employ tens of millions, directly and indirectly.
@INCKerala
Our trade with China:
Exports: $14.25B
Imports: $113.5B
Deficit: $99.25B
Our trade with Russia:
Exports: $4.88B
Imports: $67.15B
Deficit: $62.27B
Our trade with US:
Exports: $86.50B
Imports: $38.99B
Surplus: $47.51B
What this news tells us that even after 11 years and Modi meeting Xi Jinping more than 20 times, we still don't have access to Chinese market. We are running nearly half of our deficit with China. The recent visit means that China will have more unbridled access to the Indian market.
And Modi-Trump ego clash is killing our US market access too. Where are we really headed? What will our farmers do? What will our industries do?
https://x.com/INCKerala/status/1964175320342528441
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/west-bengal-durga-puja-idol-trump-demon-trade-tariffs-india-2794419-2025-09-27
The portrayal reflects grievances over trade policies, including tariffs imposed on India, which the committee views as detrimental to the country's interests
The Khagra Crematorium Ghat Durga Puja Committee in West Bengal’s Baharampur has attracted widespread attention with a unique theme for its Durga Puja celebrations, unveiling an idol this year that features a demon modeled after US President Donald Trump.
The committee explained that the Trump-shaped demon represents the perceived betrayal by Trump, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to maintain friendly relations. The idol was crafted by artist Asim Pal.
The portrayal reflects grievances over trade policies, including tariffs imposed on India, which the committee views as detrimental to the country’s interests
The idol was inaugurated in the presence of Baharampur Municipality Mayor Naru Gopal Mukherjee and attracted a large audience soon after. The Trump demon quickly became the centerpiece of discussions, illustrating how global political developments resonate within local cultural practices.
Notably, this is not the first instance of Trump’s image being integrated into Indian cultural contexts. In 2018, a Telangana farmer built a temple dedicated to Trump, hoping to foster goodwill between nations.
Speaking about the idol, Pratik, a member of the puja committee, said, "We created this idol in response to the fifty percent tariff he imposed on us. Our Modi, who considered Donald Trump a friend, was betrayed by him. To reflect this, we have portrayed him as a demon.”
India deserves a stronger voice on the global stage. But, expecting Indian Americans, increasingly under attack from both ends, to continue sacrificing and paying for it is not a sound strategy.
Suhag A. Shukla
SUHAG A. SHUKLA
https://theprint.in/opinion/shashi-tharoor-diaspora-india-in-the-us/2757908/
AI Overview
Suhag A. Shukla, co-founder and executive director of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), responded to Indian politician Shashi Tharoor's comments by stating that Indian-Americans are not "proxies" for the Indian government. In an opinion piece for The Print and on social media in early October 2025, Shukla countered Tharoor's criticism that the Indian-American diaspora was largely silent on US policies affecting India.
The exchange of views
Tharoor's original comments:
Following a meeting with a US congressional delegation in September 2025, Tharoor questioned why the diaspora appeared apathetic to US policies affecting India, including H-1B visa fees and tariffs.
He cited a conversation with a US congresswoman who claimed to have received no calls from Indian-American voters regarding these policy changes.
Tharoor suggested that this silence undermines India's interests and that the community should be more vocal in advocating for the relationship.
Shukla's response:
In her response, Shukla clarified that Indian-Americans are US citizens with primary loyalties and civic duties in the United States.
She argued that expecting them to act as lobbyists for the Indian government's sovereign policy decisions is unreasonable and that India can hire professional lobbyists for such work.
Shukla contended that Tharoor's claims misrepresent the diaspora's involvement and engagement in US issues, and she defended their active participation in shaping policy.
She pointed out that statements like Tharoor's can undermine the diaspora's hard-earned credibility in the US by fueling suspicions that they are not "true Americans".
While acknowledging the deep cultural ties Indian-Americans have with India, Shukla asserted that this does not negate their identity as Americans.
She also highlighted the community's diversity and the unique challenges they face compared to other diaspora groups that Tharoor mentioned.
Tharoor's subsequent reaction:
After Shukla's response, Tharoor welcomed the pushback, stating he was happy his questions got the Indian-American diaspora thinking.
He acknowledged that the challenges of the Indian diaspora are different from others but maintained that they could still make their voices heard within the rules of US democracy.
https://www.newsweek.com/h-1b-visa-sponsor-will-not-h-1b-applicant-going-forward-10871156
Tata Consultancy Services’ CEO K Krithivasan said that the Indian tech company would reduce the number of H-1B visa holders in its U.S. offices.
Krithivasan told the Times of India that the company would “continue to hire more locally,” adding that this was part of a “reduction in dependency on visa-based talent.”
Why It Matters
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to hire skilled foreign workers.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September that would impose an annual $100,000 fee to companies for H-1B visas, citing “abuse” of the program.
Critics of the visa scheme have said it undercuts the U.S. workforce, while its proponents have argued that it helps the country draw in skilled talent from around the world.
What To Know
Tata Consultancy Services was the second largest sponsor of H-1B visas in the U.S. in the financial year of 2025, second only to Amazon, with 5,505 visas approved, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/10/17/india-trump-tariffs-modi-manufacturing/
Just seven weeks after Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on India, many of Tiruppur’s garment factories have ground to a halt, putting thousands out of work.
By Supriya Kumar
TIRUPPUR, India — If the tag on your T-shirt says “Made in India,” there’s a good chance it came from this southern industrial hub — long known as “Dollar City” for its dominance in the U.S. market.
Now, just seven weeks after the Trump administration imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian exports, many of Tiruppur’s garment factories have ground to a halt. The slowdown has rippled through a vast network of hulking plants and small workshops, which employ more than 600,000 people. Thousands of fabric cutters, thread trimmers and sewing machine operators are suddenly out of work.
“Production has fallen by 25 percent across the board,” said G. Sampath, general secretary of the Center of Indian Trade Unions in Tiruppur. This city’s garment exports were valued at $3.7 billion last year, according to the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association, and a third of the apparel manufactured here is normally shipped to American retailers, including Walmart, Target and Sears.
Interviews with more than a dozen factory workers, labor contractors and business executives revealed how rapidly President Donald Trump’s trade war has upended lives and livelihoods across Tiruppur, a one-industry town where many workers have no written contracts or job security. Migrant laborers from rural villages have been sent home. Those still employed on the production lines said their hours and wages have been slashed. Exporters faced with frozen or canceled orders are focused on shipping out existing inventory, fearing new stock will go unsold; some said U.S. buyers have begun demanding discounts of up to 20 percent to offset the cost of tariffs.
Manohar Sahni, 44, spent the past two years here trimming loose threads from freshly stitched garments. He migrated to Tiruppur with his family from the impoverished state of Bihar in eastern India, drawn by the promise of steady work. His wife worked in a factory, too, and together they earned about $450 a month — enough for a modest living, and far more than they could make back home.
They were paid for each piece of clothing they produced. When production slowed and shifts disappeared, their income cratered to just over $250 a month, scarcely enough to cover food and rent, let alone the debts they had taken on for their eldest daughter’s wedding.
“I don’t know what to do,” Sahni said. “Should I use the little money I have to feed my family or repay what I owe?”
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Beyond the short-term pain, there are fears that Indian manufacturers could quickly lose their U.S. market share to competitors like Bangladesh and Vietnam, which face only 20 percent tariffs. “It will be easy for [American] companies to make the switch,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative, a trade and technology think tank based in New Delhi.
Sanoj Kumar, 32, recalled rushing to finish and ship final orders for his employer before the heightened duties went into effect.
“They made us work day and night to get everything out in time,” said Kumar. “The brands even had agents come here to supervise and put pressure.” Days later, he said, he and his colleagues were told not to report to work. There were no more orders to fill.
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/narendra-modi-is-great-but-good-friend-donald-trump-can-destroy-his-political-career
“Modi is a great man. He loves Trump… Mow I do not know if the word ‘love’… I do not want you to take that… I don’t want to destroy his political career,” mulled US president Donald Trump at the White House on 17 October, Wednesday.
He had started by saying that Modi had called to say that Trump was great and that India would stop buying oil from Russia, before he corrected himself and added that that Modi is a great man — something that the US president repeats often enough, to the delight of Modi fans.
It is not easy to decipher what President Trump says at the best of times, but he does usually manage to at least signal what he wants to. In this case, however, he baffled observers by saying that he did not want to destroy Modi’s political career.
Whatever could he have meant? Why would Modi’s career end if he called the US president ‘great’? Was it related to Trump’s use of the word ‘love’, and did the word carry any special significance that only Modi and Trump are aware of?
It was certainly inappropriate, because whether world leaders love each other or not, they scarcely talk about it in public. It made people uneasy because it suggested to fertile minds that the American deep state had more information about ‘love’ than Trump or Modi would divulge.