NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday he will not compromise on the interests of the country’s farmers even if he has to pay a heavy price, in his first comments after US President Donald Trump’s salvo of a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods.
“For us, our farmers’ welfare is supreme,” Modi said at an event in New Delhi. “India will never compromise on the wellbeing of its farmers, dairy (sector) and fishermen. And I know personally I will have to pay a heavy price for it,” he said.
Trump announced an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday, raising the total duty to 50 percent — among the highest imposed on any US trading partner. The new tariff, effective August 28, is meant to penalise India for continuing to buy Russian oil, Trump has said.
While Modi did not explicitly mention the US or the collapsed trade talks, his comments marked a clear defence of India’s position.
Trade talks between India and the United States broke down after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India’s vast farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases.
India’s foreign ministry has called the US decision “extremely unfortunate” and said it would “take all necessary steps to protect its national interests.”
The US has yet to impose similar tariffs for China, the biggest buyer of Russian oil. Experts say China’s dominance in rare earth minerals gives it leverage that India lacks.
“The US tariff hike lacks logic,” Dammu Ravi, secretary of economic relations in India’s foreign ministry, told reporters. “This is a temporary aberration, a temporary problem that the country will face, but in course of time, we are confident that the world will find solutions.”
India is already signalling it may seek to rebalance its global partnerships. Modi is preparing for his first visit to China in over seven years, suggesting a potential diplomatic realignment amid growing tensions with Washington.
India’s Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva discussed “regional and global issues of mutual interest” in a phone call, as the Latin American nation’s leader maps out plans for BRICS nations to tackle the levies by Trump.
Brazil in its statement said that it and India are the most affected countries by Trump’s levies and that they needed to address the challenges of the current situation.
India’s Ravi in his statement to the media had said “like-minded countries will look for cooperation and economic engagement that will be mutually beneficial to all sides.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval at the Kremlin on Thursday, with Russia’s state-run RIA news agency reporting that they had stressed their commitment to a “strategic partnership”.
Both supporters of Modi and the opposition Congress party have called on him to respond firmly to the US tariffs, urging action “with self-respect and dignity.”
“India’s national interest is supreme. Any nation that arbitrarily penalises India for its time-tested policy of strategic autonomy, rooted in the ideology of non-alignment, does not understand the steel frame India is made of,” Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Indian industry, already struggling with global headwinds, has expressed alarm.
Sudhir Sekhri, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, said: “There is no way the industry can absorb such a steep hike”. He demanded fiscal support from the government.
The US tariff has stunned US garment buyers and their Indian suppliers, who say they are considering taking their manufacturing operations beyond Indian shores.
