Trump announces initial trade deal with India, U.S. tariff cut to 18%

President Trump announced on Monday that the United States had reached a trade arrangement with India that would roll back some tariffs in return for India’s dropping tariffs on some American goods and ceasing its purchases of Russian oil, saying the agreement would take effect immediately and that the U.S.

tariff would fall to 18 percent. The deal was announced by Mr. Trump in a social media post that offered few concrete details beyond the reduced U.S. tariff. In his post Mr. Trump also said India would move to reduce its tariffs and non-tariff barriers to “ZERO.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted that he was “delighted” by the tariff reduction but was similarly spare on specifics, including whether India would stop buying Russian oil.

Mr. Modi wrote that cooperation between the two democracies “benefits our people and unlocks immense opportunities.” The announcement defuses tariff tensions that Mr. Trump had escalated last year. The Times reported that Mr. Trump had imposed steep duties on many U.S. trading partners, settled on a 25 percent tariff on imports from India and then doubled that rate in August as a punishment for India’s continued purchases of Russian oil.

Mr. Trump has urged many nations to halt Russian oil purchases to undercut Moscow’s financing of the war in Ukraine. Mr. Trump said the leaders discussed ending the war in Ukraine and that Mr. Modi agreed to “BUY AMERICAN” at a much higher level, which Mr. Trump said included "$500 BILLION DOLLARS of U.S.

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