Welcome to the India Tariff News and Tracker podcast, where we break down how trade tensions and tariff moves are reshaping India’s economic landscape and its critical relationship with the United States.

According to The Conversation, Washington imposed a 25 percent “reciprocal” tariff on Indian goods on August 1, 2025 over long-standing disputes about access to India’s agricultural market, and then piled on an additional 25 percent punitive duty tied to New Delhi’s continued purchases of discounted Russian oil, pushing the effective US tariff on many Indian exports to about 50 percent. The US remains India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade touching roughly 132 billion dollars in the 2024–25 fiscal year, so these tariffs bite directly into one of India’s most important economic lifelines.

The Economic Times reports that this new “reciprocal tariff” regime has put a combined 50 percent duty on most Indian goods, hitting labor‑intensive sectors such as textiles, auto components, metals, and gems and jewellery, where even small cost changes can wipe out margins. An analysis published in the International Journal of Future Management Research on December 19, 2025 describes these additional 50 percent tariffs on Indian imports into the US as the highest in Asia, warning that roughly 48 billion dollars of Indian exports are now at risk.

India is not standing still. Moneycontrol notes that New Delhi has accelerated a strategy of using free trade agreements as a shield against rising global tariff walls. India recently signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Oman, following a deal with the United Kingdom in May. Under the Oman pact, more than 98 percent of Oman’s tariff lines will move to zero duty for Indian exports, and nearly all of India’s major export categories to Oman will become duty‑free, offering an alternative destination especially for sectors hurt by US tariffs. Firstpost adds that India has agreed to reduce or remove tariffs on about 78 percent of its own tariff lines under the same deal, while keeping sensitive products such as dairy, tea and coffee protected.

According to EU‑India Centre reporting, India now has 15 free trade agreements covering 26 countries, plus several preferential deals, and is negotiating with more than 50 partners as it tries to diversify away from tariff‑heavy markets like the US. At the same time, Rediff reports that President Trump has just signed a US defence bill that explicitly calls for deeper engagement with India through the Quad framework, underscoring the paradox of strategic convergence alongside a bruising tariff war.

India’s challenge over the coming months will be to preserve access to the US market, leverage new tariff‑free corridors in West Asia and Europe, and convert today’s tariff shock into long‑term gains in competitiveness and investment.

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