Donald Trump’s steep 50% tariffs on India have kicked in, weeks after the US president issued an executive order hitting the Asian country with an additional 25% penalty over its purchases of Russian oil and weapons, the BBC reports.
This makes India – one of the US’s strongest partners in the Indo-Pacific – among the countries paying the highest tariffs in the world. This could deal a blow to exports and growth in the world’s fifth largest economy, given that the US was, until recently, India’s largest trading partner.
The tariff setback has sent the Indian government into firefighting mode. Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a promise to cut taxes to mitigate their economic impact. He has also rallied for domestic self-reliance.
He said that a Diwali gift in the form of a “massive tax bonanza” was on its way for the common man and the millions of small businesses that power Asia’s third largest economy.
Modi also urged small shop owners and businesses to put up boards of “Swadeshi” or “Made in India” outside their stores.
“We should become self-reliant – not out of desperation, but out of pride,” he said. “Economic selfishness is on the rise globally and we mustn’t sit and cry about our difficulties, we must rise above and not allow others to hold us in their clutches.”
He has since repeated these comments in at least two other public addresses this week.
