Former US President Donald Trump has described India–US trade relations as a “disaster” and accused New Delhi of maintaining excessively high tariffs that kept American businesses out of the Indian market. In a recent post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that India has now offered to reduce import duties on US goods to “nothing”, but argued that the move comes “too late”.
Trump alleged that while India enjoys significant access to the US market, American firms have long struggled to sell in India due to prohibitive tariffs. “It has been a totally one-sided disaster,” he wrote.
The statement follows comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who last week criticized not only India’s tariff structure—especially in the context of its energy ties with Russia—but also the slow progress of trade negotiations.
Trump further noted that India continues to rely heavily on Russian oil and military supplies, purchasing very little from the United States. He linked this as one of the factors behind the 50% tariff burden placed on Indian exports to the US, which includes a 25% “penalty” component.
Despite claiming that India has offered to eliminate tariffs, Trump suggested that New Delhi should have acted years earlier when talks first stalled. “They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late,” he wrote, framing the issue as an example of failed trade diplomacy.
