New Delhi / Washington: The United States has formally notified that Indian imports will no longer face an additional 25 per cent tariff that had been imposed last year, a move that could significantly ease trade barriers between the world’s two largest democracies.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published an updated guidance on Tuesday stating that the extra tariff — imposed under a Trump administration executive order in August 2025 — will not apply to Indian goods entering the United States for consumption or withdrawn from warehouses for consumption on or after February 7, 2026, reported Hindustan Times.
This decision follows last week’s historic interim trade framework agreed between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which both sides outlined a pathway toward broader bilateral trade cooperation. Under the agreement, the U.S. also said it would reduce its tariff on other Indian imports from previous punitive levels to a lower, reciprocal rate.
In mid-2025, the Trump administration had slapped an additional 25 per cent ad valorem tariff on Indian goods as a punitive measure linked to India’s continued purchases of Russian oil, taking the overall tariff burden on many products to as high as 50 per cent when combined with existing reciprocal tariffs.
Under the interim trade framework announced on February 6 2026, the US committed to lowering its tariff on Indian imports to around 18 per cent, while India agreed to reduce tariffs on a wide range of U.S. industrial, food and agricultural products — including dried distillers’ grains, tree nuts, soybean oil, wine and spirits — and to enhance cooperation on regulatory and market access issues.
The framework also envisages India purchasing more than USD 500 billion worth of U.S. goods over the next five years across sectors such as energy, technology, agriculture and coal.
What The Customs Notification Says
According to the CBP update, the tariff lines associated with the additional 25 per cent duty have been effectively removed from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), meaning products of Indian origin shipped after February 7 will not attract this levy.
However, the reciprocal tariffs established under previous executive orders — which set a base rate on Indian imports to address longstanding trade imbalances — remain in effect at the new negotiated level.
The White House, in its fact sheet last week, linked the removal of the punitive tariff to India’s commitment to stop or significantly reduce purchases of Russian oil. While India has not officially confirmed a full halt to such imports, New Delhi has signaled a willingness to boost energy imports from the United States and other markets.
