Donald Trump, the President of the United States, said on Wednesday that India would have to pay an extra 25 pc trade tax on top of the 25 pc tax it already had to pay. This brought the total tax to 50 pc.
Trump signed an Executive Order on Wednesday that added a 25% tariff to commerce with South Asia. This was in response to the country's continued purchase of Russian energy.
On Wednesday, Trump signed a nine-part order that went into depth about a number of things, such as the backdrop, the tariffs, the scope of levies and stacking, and more.
"To deal with the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066, I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil," the order further said.
Expanding further on the background, Trump spoke about various legislation in effect in the US restricting the import of Russian goods, including energy and oil, for waging a war against Ukraine, and adversely affecting America's foreign policy.
This happened a day after Trump threatened to raise duties on India for buying oil from Russia, saying it would happen in the next "24 hours."
Stressing that he found that India was directly or indirectly importing Russian oil, the order said that Indian imports into the US should be subject to the additional tariff with effect from 21 days after the date of the latest order.
The Trump order further said, "The term "Russian Federation oil" means crude oil or petroleum products extracted, refined, or exported from the Russian Federation, regardless of the nationality of the entity involved in the production or sale of such crude oil or petroleum products".
Unfair, unjustified, unreasonable: India hits back at Trump
In its official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs has called the additional tariffs and targeting of New Delhi "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable."
He also explained what "indirectly importing" meant, saying it included purchasing Russian Federation oil through intermediaries or third countries where the origin of the oil can reasonably be traced to Russia.
Goods that were already in transit on the final mode of transit prior to entry into the US were exempted from the deadline.
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