November 11, 2025 : US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that the country would be “bringing down” the tariffs, when asked about the ongoing trade negotiations with India. Trump said that India faces such high tariffs because of its oil trade with Russia, and yet again claimed that New Delhi has “stopped” the purchase.
Trump said the US was planning on bringing the tariffs down at some point, and also said that they were getting close to a “fair deal” with India.
“The tariffs are very high on India due to Russian oil and they (India) have stopped doing the Russian oil very substantially,” Trump said when asked about the trade negotiations with India. “We’re gonna be bringing the tariffs down…at some point, we’ll bring them down,” Trump further said.
The US President’s latest remarks come months after he doubled the tariffs on Indian imports to 50% back in August, citing New Delhi’s energy deals with Moscow. The move was seen as a pressure tactic for Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion and war in Ukraine.
Trade talks have since been ongoing between India and the US, and Trump claimed multiple times that India was going to end its oil trade with Russia.
The first time he made this assertion, he attributed it to an “assurance” he got from PM Modi. However, India had denied any phone call between the two leaders back then, clarifying that they were not aware of any conversation.
When asked about the ongoing trade talks on Tuesday, Trump said: “We’re making a deal with India, much different than we had in the past. So right now, they don’t love me, but they’ll love us again. We’re getting a fair deal, just a fair trade deal. We had pretty unfair trade deals…But we’re getting close.”
The President then pointed to US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, and repeated the claim on inching closer to a deal “that’s good for everybody”.
Bessent was among the top US officials who targeted India for doing oil trade with Russia, and backed Trump’s tariffs. Days ahead of Trump’s tariff deadline, Bessent had accused India of making “huge” profits on the sale of Russian oil during and after the war in Ukraine.
Summary:
Donald Trump stated that the US is achieving a “fair deal” with India and promised to gradually reduce tariffs to strengthen bilateral trade relations.