United States President Donald Trump reportedly had a verbal spat with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick regarding the tariffs placed by India on US goods.
In the book titled “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump”, written by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Trump was convinced that India’s tariffs on the US were much higher than the ones recorded by the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
“Nobody has f***ing given me any numbers. Hard facts of how much China tariffs us, how much India tariffs us. You give me bullshit numbers,” Trump was quoted as saying in the book.
However, when commerce secretary Lutnick presented the US president with the duties on record at USTR, Trump lost his cool and accused his administration of giving him false data.
“No, these are bullshit numbers,” repeated Trump, calling government data “f***ing bullshit,” despite Lutnick’s best attempt to convince the US president.
As per the book, Trump was convinced that India’s tariffs on US goods were at least 175 per cent, if not higher. Several US officials, such as treasury secretary Scott Bessent have also reffered to India as the “maharaja of tariffs.”
Mentioned in the fact sheet for the interim bilateral trade deal between India and the US, the White House mentioned that “India has maintained some of the highest tariffs on the United States of any major world economy, with tariffs as high as an average of 37% for agricultural goods and more than 100% on certain automobiles.”
Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ and tariff row with India
These arguments took place in the run-up to Trump’s “liberation day” exercise, where the US president would slap India with 25 per cent tariffs.
A few months later, the US President would announce another hike on tariffs on New Delhi for its purchase of Russian oil.
In August 2025, Trump accused India of “fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine” due to its purchase of Russian crude, and slapped an additional 25 per cent of tariffs on India, taking the total up to 50 per cent.
With this move, India was among the countries with the highest tariffs from the US, along with fellow BRICS nations Brazil and China.
The increase in tariffs sparked a row between Washington and New Delhi, adding to the tensions already caused by Operation Sindoor, during which Trump took credit for ending a “potential war” between India and Pakistan.
Furthermore, the trade negotiations between India and US also took a hit, with delegation visits cancelled.
India-US reach trade deal
On February 2, 2026, India and the US announced they had reached a framework for a bilateral trade agreement. While scant details were made public, one of the key agreements was the reduction of tariffs on India and vice versa.
The trade deal, once implemented, would bring the tariff on New Delhi down to 18 per cent.
Meanwhile, based on the fact sheet issued by the White House, India will reduce its tariffs on US goods such as ” food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products.”
“President Trump agreed to remove the additional 25% tariff on imports from India in recognition of India’s commitment to stop purchasing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly, the President signed an Executive Order last Friday removing that additional 25% tariff,” the fact sheet added further.
While an exact timeline has not been provided for the implementation of the trade deal, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with union commerce minister Piyush Goyal this week for a final round of discussions regarding the India-US deal.
