Despite the US Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate reciprocal tariffs, President Donald Trump on Friday asserted that there would be no change in the trade deal with India, maintaining that New Delhi would continue to pay 18 per cent tariffs.
Earlier this month, the US and India announced that they had reached a framework for an interim trade agreement. Under the arrangement, Washington agreed to reduce reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. India, on the other hand, will impose zero tariffs on US goods.
However, in a 6–3 ruling on Friday, the US Supreme Court held that Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly all trading partners violated federal law.
Speaking at a news conference at the White House, Trump described the verdict as “deeply disappointing” and even launched a personal attack on the judges.
“The Supreme Court's ruling is deeply disappointing, and I am ashamed of certain members of the court for not having the courage to do what is right for our country,” he said.
When asked how the decision would affect the India–US trade deal, Trump responded: “Nothing changes.”
“They’ll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs. The deal with India is that they pay tariffs. This is a reversal of what it used to be. As you know, India — and I think Prime Minister Modi is a great gentleman, a great man, actually — but he was much smarter than the people that he was against in terms of the United States. He was ripping us off. So we made a deal with India,” Trump said.
“It’s a fair deal now. We are not paying tariffs to them, and they are paying tariffs. We did a little flip,” he added.
Trump also reiterated his claim that India had reduced its purchases of Russian oil at the request of the United States.
“I think my relationship with India is fantastic, and we’re doing trade with India. India pulled out of Russia. India was getting its oil from Russia, and they pulled way back at my request because we want to settle that horrible war where 25,000 people are dying every month,” he said.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court found that the President did not have the authority under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad import duties on goods from nearly all US trading partners.
The decision is expected to have far-reaching economic implications. According to The Washington Post, the contested tariffs cover trillions of dollars in trade, and the US government collected nearly $134 billion in levies through December 14 under the challenged authority.