Trump calls India a Tariff King - a toothless allegation

Contrary to US President Donald Trump's allegations that India is a "Tariff King" or an "abuser" of tariffs, many nations including America protect their domestic industries by imposing high customs duties on certain products.

The top 100 US export products account for 75% of India's total imports from the US amounting to $42.2 billion in 2023-24. While India's simple average tariff is 17%, the actual duties on key American imports are much lower. The weighted average tariff on US exports to India is below 5%, much lower than India's overall tariff average.

As per the World Trade Organization (WTO), the US too imposes high duties on items such as dairy products (200%), Fruits and vegetables (132%), cereals and food preparations (196%), oilseeds, fats and oils (164%), Beverages and tobacco (350%), Fish and fish products (35 %), and Minerals and metals (38%).


While India imposes 150% on whiskey and wines and 100-125% on automobiles, it is not alone in doing so as Japan levies around 400% duty on rice, Korea 887% on fruits and vegetables, and the US 350% on tobacco as they protect domestic industries by imposing significant tariffs on certain items.

The departments of commerce and revenue are working to resolve any data discrepancy as wrong data would lead to higher tariffs. "The data on India's tariffs in international databases were on the basis of reported data while the US data normally draws from the WTO," said an official.

According to an ET analysis of government data from both countries since 2018, the US consistently records higher imports from India than New Delhi reports as exports to the US.

For example, Washington reported $87.4 billion in merchandise goods imports from India in 2024, whereas New Delhi recorded $80.7 billion in exports to the US - a gap of $6.7 billion. The gap was $8 billion in 2023.