by Anietie anii-bassey
Lawmakers from India’s governing coalition lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced plans to cut U.S. tariffs on Indian goods, while opposition parties questioned the implications of the proposed agreement for sensitive domestic sectors such as agriculture and dairy.
Trump said Monday that Washington would lower import duties on Indian products six months after imposing steep penalties aimed at pressuring New Delhi over its continued purchases of Russian oil, which the U.S. president has argued help sustain Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.
In a social media post, Trump claimed Modi had agreed to halt those purchases, though India’s government has not publicly confirmed whether such a commitment has been made.
According to Trump, tariffs on Indian goods would fall from 25 percent to 18 percent in exchange for India ending its imports of Russian crude, reducing its own duties on U.S. products to zero and purchasing $500 billion worth of American goods over time.
“This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week!” Trump wrote in an online post.
Modi responded cautiously but positively, writing on X that he was “delighted” by the prospect of reduced tariffs and praising Trump’s “leadership” as essential to global peace, stability and prosperity. Indian officials have not yet released detailed explanations of the scope, timing or legal framework of the proposed arrangement, leaving analysts and political rivals pressing for further information.
Although Trump did not explicitly state that a separate 25 percent penalty imposed over Russian oil purchases would be eliminated, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi said late Monday that the final tariff rate would be 18 percent. That would effectively remove the additional punitive levy, offering relief to Indian exporters who had faced combined duties as high as 50 percent.
India became one of the largest buyers of discounted Russian crude after Western sanctions reshaped global energy flows, a development that irritated Washington. New Delhi has repeatedly said its energy policy is driven by market prices and the needs of its 1.4 billion citizens, but it has avoided specifying whether it would curtail purchases from Moscow under a U.S. deal.
The announcement quickly sparked political confrontation in Parliament. Opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings in the lower house, demanding that the government disclose full details of the negotiations and their potential impact on farmers and rural livelihoods. The session was later adjourned for the day.
Agriculture and dairy have long been among India’s most politically sensitive sectors, employing a large share of the workforce and protected by tariffs and quotas. The United States has for years sought wider access for its farm exports to the Indian market, pressing for sharp tariff reductions or outright elimination of duties.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooker Rollins welcomed the prospective agreement, thanking Trump in a social media post and saying the deal would allow American farmers to sell more products in India, boost prices and inject new revenue into rural communities. U.S. agricultural trade with India ran a deficit of $1.3 billion in 2024.
Indian officials sought to frame the announcement as an opportunity rather than a threat. Arvind Shrivastava, a senior official in India’s Finance Ministry, said Tuesday that the proposed accord would “further expand and deepen trade between two of the world’s largest economies.” He added that it could open doors for India’s labor-intensive manufacturing sectors in the U.S. market while accelerating cooperation in advanced and emerging technologies.
Trade analysts, however, urged restraint. Ajay Srivastava, an Indian commerce expert, said it was premature to celebrate without knowing which products would be covered, how quickly changes would be implemented and whether India had truly agreed to eliminate both tariff and non-tariff barriers, particularly in politically delicate areas such as agriculture.
He also questioned the feasibility of Trump’s projection that India would buy $500 billion worth of American goods, noting that current imports stand near $50 billion a year and that reaching such a figure could take decades.
For now, the competing political reactions underscore both the promise and the uncertainty surrounding a potential reset in U.S.-India trade relations, with businesses, farmers and policymakers awaiting concrete details that could reshape commerce between the two countries.