US additional tariff on India reaches 50%

The US administration of President Donald Trump raised additional tariffs on imports from India to 50 percent on Wednesday, citing India’s purchases of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia.

The latest hike was initiated on August 6, when Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional rate of 25 percent on imports from India.

The executive order says, “I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.”

The additional 25 percent tariff came into effect after 12 a.m. US Eastern Time on Wednesday. The move brought the total additional tariffs targeting India to 50 percent. The US had already imposed 25 percent levies on New Delhi under the country-specific tariff measures starting August 7.

Vice President JD Vance spoke about the trade levy to US media outlet NBC News on Sunday.

Vance said the aim of the tariff is “to make it harder for the Russians to get rich from their oil economy.”

He also expressed an intention to increase pressure on Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The vice president said that the US tried to “make it clear that Russia can be re-invited into the world economy if they stop the killing, but they’re going to continue to be isolated if they don’t stop the killing.”