Highlights:
An eminent Indian-American physician and community leader, Dr Bharat Barai, has warned that India-US relations could remain strained unless Washington reverses recent tariff measures imposed on Indian imports. He said India had been unfairly singled out despite complex global trade and energy realities.
Dr Barai said the steady progress made in bilateral ties over several US administrations had suffered a setback after president Donald Trump's return to the White House. He argued that recent trade actions appeared to be driven more by political considerations than by sound economic reasoning.
While acknowledging that the US does have a trade deficit with India, Dr Barai said addressing if required a balanced and calibrated approach. “Doing X amount of tariffs purely on economic grounds to remove the trade deficit will be one thing, and they impose 25 per cent that so-called reciprocal duty to wipe out the trade deficit,” he said. He added that the tariff rate should have been lower, “more like 15 per cent or so.”
He was particularly critical of the additional 25 per cent duty imposed as a penalty linked to India's imports of Russian oil. Though he condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine, Dr Barai said India had become 'a sort of innocent bystander casualty' of a policy that lacked consistency.
“China is importing more oil than India, but China has a Trump card, and their Trump card is the rare earth metals,” he said. He pointed out that the US and Europe depend heavily on China for rare earths used in electric vehicles, defense systems, and advanced aircraft. He also noted that several European nations continue to import Russian energy without facing similar penalties.
“So why single out India with 25 per cent additional import duty when China is only at 47 per cent? Most European countries are around 15 per cent. There is no extra duty on Hungary or Slovenia for continuing to import Russian oil,” he said.
Dr Barai attributed the tariff decisions to a small group within the administration, naming president Trump, immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, and trade adviser Peter Navarro. He said many lawmakers privately disagreed with the policy but were afraid to challenge it publicly.
“Many congressmen and senators are very unhappy about it in private when they have a conversation. They do admit that this is wrong, but they all are afraid that President Trump will try to take revenge on them,” he said, adding that fear of primary challenges had kept them silent.
He said recent election results in New Jersey, Virginia, and Miami reflected growing public dissatisfaction. “His policies are becoming very unpopular. They are totally arbitrary, made up by three people sitting in the Oval Office rather than the United States Congress,” Dr Barai said. He expressed hope that the Supreme Court would eventually rule that tariff powers lie with Congress.
On future ties, Dr Barai warned that relations could remain frozen unless the additional duties were removed through a trade agreement. He noted that Indian companies, including Reliance, had reduced Russian oil imports following sanctions, but said India could not fully abandon a key energy source.
“For India, serving the population of 1.4 billion, wherever they can find a reliable source and cheaper source of energy, it is important,” he said.
Dr Barai praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach, calling it “very diplomatically, very politely, very gentlemanly,” and said he was acting in India’s national interest. He also said India’s global standing had improved, citing stronger ties with Europe, a UK free trade agreement, deeper engagement with Africa and a defence pact with Australia.
