On 5th August, hours after India called out the West’s hypocrisy for importing Russian goods while targeting New Delhi for doing the same, US President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on Indian goods “very substantially over the next 24 hours”.
Trump on tariffs on India: "We settled on 25%, but I think I'm gonna that very substantially over the next 24 hours." pic.twitter.com/m2h7NDXwtP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 5, 2025
Speaking to CNBC over the phone, he accused India of being “the highest tariff nation” and “not a good trading partner”, despite the US doing “very, very little business” with them. He lashed out at former President Biden’s energy policy and blamed him for “the largest inflation in the history of our country”. Trump praised his own drilling record and suggested that Biden had quietly returned to Trump-era oil strategies after prices surged.
On India, he once again raised objections to oil purchases from Russia, claiming such moves “fuel the war machine”, and claimed India would offer “zero tariff” but that it would not be good enough considering “India’s actions”.
