U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods—raising the total to 50 percent—citing the country’s direct or indirect imports of Russian oil.
Trump, writing in an Aug. 6 executive order, said India’s government is “currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.”
“Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent,” the executive order states.
The tariffs would go into effect 21 days after the signing of the order, meaning that both India and Russia might have time to negotiate with the administration on the import taxes.
The move comes shortly after an Indian government source said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit China for the first time in over seven years later this month.
The Indian government on Wednesday called the additional tariffs “unfortunate."
“We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement, adding that India would take all actions necessary to protect its interests.
U.S.-India ties are facing their most serious crisis in years after talks with India failed to produce a trade agreement.
The White House move, first signaled by Trump on Monday, follows meetings by Trump’s top diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow aimed at pushing Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine.
Trump has threatened higher tariffs on Russia and secondary sanctions on its allies if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not move to end the war in Ukraine.