US President Donald Trump on Friday (Feb 20) said India will continue to face 18 per cent tariffs, even after the Supreme Court struck down sweeping reciprocal tariffs. The remarks came days after the court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that Trump's sweeping duties on imports from nearly all trading partners violated federal law. The judges held that he lacked the authority under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose such wide-ranging tariffs.
What happens to 18% India tariffs?
Trump was blunt when asked about the impact on the India deal. "Nothing changes," he said in response to ANI. The trade arrangement, he added, remains intact and is expected to be signed by the end of March.
Under the interim US-India trade deal framework announced earlier this month, Washington reduced proposed tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from an earlier 50 per cent. In return, New Delhi agreed to eliminate tariffs on US goods.
"Nothing changes. They'll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs. This is a reversal of what used to be," Trump said, calling it a "fair deal". He also described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "a great gentleman a great man" and said the agreement marked a reversal of past trade terms.
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"In terms of the US, He was ripping us off. So we made a deal with India. A fair deal now. We are not paying tariffs to them, and they are. We did a little flip," said Trump.
What the US-India trade deal covers
India has agreed to cut or remove duties on US industrial goods and a range of farm products. These include dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, fruits, soybean oil, wine and spirits.
The US, on its part, will apply the 18 per cent tariff to Indian exports such as textiles, leather goods, footwear, chemicals, plastics, home decor and certain machinery.
Notably, while the two nations announced the framework, the deal is yet to be signed. Officials from both countries are set to meet in the US on February 23 for three days to finalise the legal text. Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal recently said the agreement is likely to take effect in April.

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