President Trump Announces New Tariffs On Imports From India

On Aug. 6, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) imposing an additional 25 percent tariff rate on U.S. imports from India. The president said the penalties, which will take effect Aug. 27, 2025, are necessary to address India’s continued purchase of Russian oil. (As background, on March 8, 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Joe Biden issued an EO that prohibited U.S. imports of certain products from Russia, including crude oil, petroleum, and related products. President Trump cited that order in his own EO.)

The secondary tariffs will be levied in addition to the 25 percent modified International Emergency Economic Powers Act reciprocal tariffs that already are being levied on products from India.

President Trump’s order includes an “on the water” exception for products that were loaded and in transit on their final mode of transit prior to Aug. 27 and that enter the United States by Sept. 17, 2025. Additionally, the secondary tariff will not apply to goods subject to “existing or future actions under Section 232,” and it will not apply to goods identified in Annex II to EO 14257 of April 2, 2025. (Read Annex II at this link.)

In his EO, President Trump also suggested he may impose secondary tariffs on other countries that continue to purchase Russian oil. As such, the EO directs officials from the U.S. Department of Commerce to coordinate with other federal agencies to “determine whether any other country is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” and to recommend whether to impose an additional 25 percent tariff rate on that country.