US President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order withdrawing the additional 25 per cent tariff imposed on imports from India, the White House said.
The decision follows the recent conclusion of a long-delayed trade agreement between India and the United States, ending nearly a year of strained trade relations. In the past, Trump had repeatedly accused New Delhi of indirectly supporting Moscow by continuing to purchase Russian oil, which he said helped finance Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Trump announced a new trade pact under which US tariffs on Indian goods were reduced from 50 per cent to 18 per cent. In exchange, India agreed to suspend purchases of Russian crude and ease several trade restrictions.
A White House official had previously told Reuters that Washington would withdraw the punitive 25 per cent duty linked specifically to India’s Russian oil imports. This surcharge had been imposed in addition to an existing 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariff.
India has been one of the world’s largest buyers of Russian oil, meeting nearly 90 per cent of its import requirements through long-term contracts. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the imposition of Western sanctions on its energy exports, India’s purchase of discounted Russian crude helped lower its overall import bill.
However, New Delhi has recently begun scaling back these imports. According to Reuters, shipments from Russia averaged about 1.2 million barrels per day in January and are expected to decline to around 1 million barrels per day in February and approximately 800,000 barrels per day in March.
