“The two countries are reacting to Trump’s tariffs,” Amit Ranjan, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies, told FT. “It’s a tactical move, not a big policy shift.”
“Praveen Donthi, senior analyst for India with the Crisis Group, said Modi’s visit marked “a significant step in the strategic re-engagement”. “After five years of heightened tensions, it was time to engage and restart economic co-operation,” he said. “Trump’s tariff war could have, at best, provided much-needed clarity to New Delhi.”
US President Donald Trump’s staggering 50 percent tariff could have massive repercussions in India—from job losses to leaving 2.5 million people “in subsistence level poverty”, reports Alex Travelli in The New York Times. The industries most likely to face “unbearable wipeouts” include shrimp farming, textiles, and furniture.
“We were shocked with the 25 percent tariff, and thinking about how to meet this problem, how to face this,” Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, a fourth-generation carpet maker in Bhadohi, in “the giant state of Uttar Pradesh”, has been quoted as saying. “But now it’s 50 percent, so it has become impossible. We’re afraid that a lot of people will be unemployed.”
Another industry that stands in the line of fire is jewellery.
“The potential damage the tariffs could inflict on India’s gems and jewellery industry, another big-ticket part of the trading relationship, is not yet fully clear. But insiders are raising alarms, in part because the United States is India’s biggest buyer of gems,” the report notes.
Modi’s announcement, part of his Independence Day speech, marked a new dawn: The coming of GST 2.0. A blueprint is being circulated to states and the new tax system will abandon two current rates, “leaving one of 5 percent on essential products and one of 18 percent on everything else, except some luxury and “sin” goods and services,” writes Veena Venogopal in the Financial Times’ India Business Briefing.
“This is the first of a series of steps the government is expected to take in order to counter criticism of its failure to secure a deal with the Trump administration. Modi’s government portrays the trade hit as an opportunity for India to focus on its domestic industry and market, and to look inward for growth,” she writes. “In the past couple of weeks, a number of corporate leaders have also suggested the government should reform various regulations to make it easier for businesses to operate in India. Measures may be announced soon.”
India has the maximum number of “abandoned seafarers”, crew members forsaken by shipowners who “fail to provide for repatriation, regular provisions and wages,” reports Neyaz Farooqui in the BBC, delving into stories of certain seafarers who refused to abandon ship for fear of losing out on more wages.
“We were without adequate food and provisions. The ship had run out of diesel and was in complete blackout,” Prabjeet Singh, an abandoned seafarer, who had been employed on the ‘Niravana’, an Indian-owned oil tanker, told the BBC. “We were forced to break and burn the ship’s wood to cook food.”
“Seafarers often blame India’s maritime regulator, Directorate General (DG) of Shipping—which is tasked with verifying the credentials of ships, their owners and recruitment and placement agencies—for lax scrutiny of stakeholders. The DG Shipping didn’t respond to a request for comment.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: ‘Pragmatic reset’ in India-China ties, the Trump factor, and the India-Russia ‘oil mathematics’