Take inspiration from Indira Gandhi, stand up to Donald Trump: Congress to PM Modi after tariff hike

The Congress on Wednesday slammed PM Narendra Modi-led government after US President Donald Trump slapped a tariff of 25 per cent plus penalty on imports from India, saying the thought of PM Modi to keep quiet on the “insults that the US President has hurled on India” would get special treatment at the hands of President Trump has not happened.

The Opposition party also urged PM Modi to take inspiration from former PM Indira Gandhi and stand up to the US President Trump.

“President Trump has slapped a tariff of 25 per cent plus penalty on imports from India. All that tariff between him and Howdy Modi has meant little,” said MP and Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh in a post.

“Mr Modi thought that if he kept quiet on the insults that the US President has hurled on India—the 30 claims of stopping Op Sindoor, the special lunch for the Pakistan Army Chief whose inflammatory remarks provided the immediate backdrop to the brutal Pahalgam terror attacks, and US support for financial packages to Pakistan from the IMF and the World Bank --- India would get special treatment at the hands of President Trump. Clearly that has NOT happened,” he said.

Jairam added, “He should take inspiration from Indira Gandhi and stand up to the US President.”

Earlier, US president Trump announced that India will have to pay 25 per cent tariff from August 1. Trump also said that India will have to pay an additional penalty for buying energy and arms from Russia. The 25% tariff rate announced for India is 1% less than the 26% declared by Trump in his April 2 ‘Liberation Day’ conference.

“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!” he said.

Despite announcing the intent for a bilateral trade agreement during PM Modi’s visit to the US, the two countries have not been able to work out an interim trade deal. Five rounds of talks have taken place between officials of the two countries and a sixth round is slated to take place in August end when a US team will visit India.

Trump has repeatedly called for India to open its market to US goods, but the sticky points in the trade deal talks have been agriculture and dairy sectors. India has hardened its stance on these, refusing to open them.