Washington, D.C. – Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has given India another warning, saying that he will “substantially raise” the tariffs it has on the country. This most recent statement, issued on Monday, August 4, 2025, comes only a week after Trump said that India would have to pay a 25 percent tariff on US goods since New Delhi has “high tariffs on US goods” and continues to buy Russian oil and military hardware.
President Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, that India’s tight links with Russia could lead to higher tariffs because of the current conflict in Ukraine.
Direct Accusation and Reason for Higher Tariffs
Trump’s most recent post on Truth Social, which is part of his larger attempts to end the crisis in Ukraine, directly accused India of making money off of it:
India is not only buying a lot of Russian oil, but they are also selling a lot of it on the open market for a lot of money. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are dying because of the Russian war machine. Because of this, I will be boosting the Tariff that India pays to the US by a lot. “Thank you for paying attention to this!” Trump wrote.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, India has been buying a lot more cheap Russian crude oil. This comment makes things even harder for India. Before the war, Russian oil made up less than 0.2% of India’s imports. Now, it makes up a large part of them, with reports saying it makes up between 35% to 40% of India’s overall crude intake. India has always said that its energy acquisitions are based on national interest and market factors.
A history of warnings and a trade stand-off
The current threat of “substantially raising” tariffs is based on Trump’s past comments. Last week, before the August 1 deadline for reciprocal tariffs, Trump put a 25% duty on Indian imports and a “penalty” on buying goods from Russia.
He had previously verbally attacked India in a prior Truth Social post, saying, “I don’t care what India does with Russia.” For all I care, they may take their dead economies down together. He went on to say, “We haven’t done much business with India because their tariffs are too high, among the highest in the world,” and he lambasted New Delhi for having the “most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country.”
India and the US are still trying to reach a trade deal, but things are stuck since India doesn’t want to let US imports into its agriculture and dairy industries. US officials have said that trade problems with India are “complex” and “won’t be resolved overnight.” This means that these tariffs will probably be in place even as talks continue.
India has made it plain that its national interest is the most important thing in any trade deal and that it will do everything it can to protect it. Piyush Goyal, India’s Commerce Minister, has said before that India is looking at the effects of the 25% tariffs and that it is the fastest-growing major economy in the world.
The US President’s increasingly harsh words about tariffs make the already complicated relationship between the two countries even more complicated. This is especially true when it comes to the crisis in Ukraine, where economic interests and geopolitical alignments must be balanced.