The opposition Congress slammed the 50 per cent tariff hike on imports from India to the United States and called on the Narendra Modi-led Centre to defend national interests in a befitting manner.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi termed the 50 per cent hike an "economic blackmail". "Trump’s 50% tariff is economic blackmail - an attempt to bully India into an unfair trade deal. PM Modi better not let his weakness override the interests of the Indian people," Gandhi said in a post on X.
US President Donald Trump announced a 50 per cent hike on Indian imports, citing India's oil and defence purchases from Russia. Trump alleges India's oil purchase from Russia is funding its war against Ukraine.
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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called the unprecedented hike a blow to India and said China imports far more Russian oil than India, and they have been given a 90-day break. "Uranium, Palladium, there are various things they (US) are importing from Russia. There is, unfortunately, a certain double standard involved. They have given the Chinese a 90-day break, but the Chinese are importing far more Russian oil than we are. So clearly this has not been a particularly friendly gesture from a country we thought was well disposed towards us, an administration that we thought was well disposed," the Congress leader told reporters.
"We will have to learn our lessons from this experience. I think there is certainly a likelihood that there will be some pressure within India now to impose comparable reciprocal tariffs on American exports to India. So I think we're going to have to really start looking at other trading partners much more in these circumstances," Tharoor added.
India called the tariff hike "unjustified". In a statement, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We have already made clear our position on these issues," and added that Indian imports are based on market factors and are decided to ensure that the energy requirements of 1.4 billion people are met.
