Tariff Trouble: Why Trump Needs to Lift the 25% Duty on India Without Delay

The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that the Donald Trump administration should immediately remove the extra 25% tariff it placed on India for buying crude oil from Russia. Trump had added

this 25% penalty in August, on top of an existing 25% “reciprocal” tariff. He argued that India’s Russian oil purchases were helping fund Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, GTRI points out that things have changed since then. India has sharply increased its oil purchases from the United States and its imports of Russian crude have come down noticeably.GTRI says the US should now cancel the additional “Russian oil duty” because the original reason for it no longer exists.

Why Trump Should Remove The Tariff

GTRI cites Trump’s own recent comments. He has said that India has “very substantially” cut its Russian oil imports. He also noted that the surcharge was introduced only for this specific reason and hinted that “we’re going to be bringing the tariffs down.”According to GTRI, since India has done what the US asked, Washington should remove the tariff without linking it to the larger India–US trade deal.GTRI also argues that keeping this tariff now hurts Indian exporters for no reason. India has clearly shifted towards buying more American energy. Keeping the surcharge even after India changed its oil sourcing, it says, signals bad faith and could slow ongoing trade talks.