US businesses are apprehensive because of the additional Trump tariffs on Indian imports which will come into effect on August 27, 2025.
Published: August 8, 2025 5:41 PM IST
Trump tariffs: US President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs on Indian imports, which came into effect on August 7, has triggered panic among Indian as well as American businesses as orders worth hundreds of crore have either been cancelled or put on hold since Wednesday, when the Trump administration imposed an 25% penalty on India for buying arms and crude oil from Russia.
Why US and Indian businesses are in panic?
According to media reports, US businesses are apprehensive because of the additional tariffs on Indian imports which will come into effect on August 27, 2025. The issue of purchasing Russian oil has also been the subject of talks between Indian exporters and American importers, they said.
“After 25 percent tariffs, we will have to pay 15 percent import duty, but the burden will become unbearable when the 50 percent tariff rate kicks in. Our product isn’t unique and can be easily replaced by other exporters,” the CEO of an an Indian garments firm that exports Rs 600 crore worth of apparel, told his US client in a phone call, the Times of India reported.
The Indian exporter said that apart from his business, Trump tariffs will also affect the livelihood of over 8000 workers in his company.
How Trump tariffs impact India’s marine exports?
Similarly, Thomas Jose, a Kerala-based exporter whose family has been exporting lobsters to the US for three generations, said that a majority of his US buyers called him after the Trump tariffs came into effect, and told him to halt shipments.
Jose, who runs the Choice Group– a Kerala based export firm that ships goods worth Rs 900 annually, said his clients said that anything above 25 percent import duty would be unbearable for this business, as the imports goods would be too costly to be sold in the US.
India exports marine products worth more than Rs 25,000 crore to the US each year.
What about textile and jewellery industry?
Meanwhile, India’s jewellery industry is also under stress due to the fresh tariffs. Vijay Kumar Mangukiya, the MD of Dhani Jewels– a Surat-based jewellery exporter– revealed his US clients are asking to negotiate on diamond prices to circumvent the effect of Trump’s additional 25 percent tariffs.
The jeweler said price negotiations are possible till the tariff rate is 25 percent, but will become impossible at 50 percent tariffs. “The buyer has talked about negotiating with his retail customers to bear the increased price, but if it doesn’t happen, then we have no other option but to cancel the order,” he said.
In the textile industry, which is likely to be hit hardest due to Trump tariffs, the CEO of an Indian textile export firm said he received a call from his American client, asking the exporter to bear the increased cost. The CEO refused, following which the buyer threatened to shift his order to Bangladesh.
Indian textile industry exports goods worth Rs 87,525 crore to the US annually, which is about 28 percent of India’s textile imports.
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