Trump imposes ‘secondary tariffs’ for first time, aimed at stopping factories from moving to India: Report

US President Donald Trump (File image)

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that the United States will impose 25 percent tariffs on all imports from India starting Friday, August 1, and, for the first time, threatened to impose "secondary tariffs" and additional “penalty” in response to India’s oil and military equipment purchases from Russia, reports said. NYT reported that this is first case where Trump has imposed "so-called secondary tariffs" which he has threatened as part of an "expanded use of trade measures for economic warfare".

The NYT report interpreted Trump's threat of levying secondary penalties on India as an example of how the US President is replacing its often-used threat of imposing sanctions with an "expanded use of trade measures for economic warfare". Report also hinted that the tariffs and secondary penalties are tactics aimed at stopping factories from moving to India.

This comes after Trump, in social media posts on Truth Social, attacked India’s trade barriers by threatening to impose 25% tariffs on all Indian imports and targeted India’s purchase of Russian oil and military equipment by threatening to levy an additional “penalty”.

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Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country. Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!”

CNN quoted officials as saying that the serious threats of tariff escalation and secondary penalties stems from Trump's aim to have trade barriers removed for US producers.

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India’s oil imports from Russia have risen in 2024, with Russia continuing to be India's top supplier accounting for 35 percent of India’s overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.