US President Donald Trump believes India will soon reduce tariffs on American products. He shared this view in an interview. “I believe they are going to probably going to be lowering those tariffs substantially, but on April 2, we will be charging them the same tariffs they charge us,” Trump said.

US Plans Reciprocal Tariffs on India

Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. They make foreign products more expensive.

Last week, the Indian government informed Parliament that the US had not yet imposed reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods. This clarification came after Trump criticized India and other nations for imposing high duties on American products. He called these tariffs “very unfair.” Consequently, he announced that starting April 2, the US would apply the same charges to countries that tax American exports.

Moreover, on February 13, the US issued a memorandum on trade and tariffs. It instructed the commerce secretary and the US Trade Representative (USTR) to examine the impact of unequal trade policies. They must also determine if these policies harm the US economy and propose countermeasures for each trading partner.

India and US Aim to Double Trade

Meanwhile, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington, India and the US committed to significantly increasing their trade. Their goal is to reach USD 500 billion by 2030. Additionally, both nations agreed to finalize the first phase of a Bilateral Trade Agreement by fall 2025.

In fact, trade between the two countries already reached USD 190.08 billion in 2023. This total included USD 123.89 billion in goods and USD 66.19 billion in services. Notably, India exported USD 83.77 billion worth of goods to the US while importing only USD 40.12 billion. As a result, India had a trade surplus of USD 43.65 billion.

Furthermore, between 2021 and 2024, the US became India’s largest trading partner. It remains one of the few countries where India exports more than it imports.

If both nations continue strengthening trade ties, they could achieve their ambitious goals in the coming years.