Textile Industry Concerned Over 50% US Tariff on Indian Goods

27-Aug-2025 01:55 PM

Tirupur. As per the earlier announcement, the Trump administration issued a formal notification on August 26 to impose 50 percent import duty (tariff) on many Indian products and the new tariff became effective from August 27.

The sectors of India which are likely to be most adversely affected by this new tariff mainly include textile industry and agriculture sector. It is worth mentioning that America is the largest market for Indian textile products and is also India's most important trading partner.

There, very high tax has been imposed on Indian textile products as compared to rival countries like Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. America has deliberately targeted India.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIO) says that textile and apparel manufacturers in Tirupur (Tamil Nadu), Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and Surat (Gujarat) have stopped production because there is a possibility of a significant decrease in the export of Indian textile products due to very high tariff in America.

Although the Indian government has postponed the 11 percent import duty on cotton till 30 September 2025 so that the cost of the textile industry can be reduced, but this effort is not enough.

From August 7, an import duty of 25 percent was applicable on Indian products in the US, which has now been doubled to 50 percent, which is the highest compared to any other country.

Apart from this, the export of many other products including seafood products, spices, basmati rice and cashews from India to the US is also likely to be badly affected. In fact, India refused to accept two major demands of America.

America wanted India to completely open its market for its GM corn and soya products, while its import is banned in India. Along with this, America was asking India to stop the purchase of petroleum and defense equipment from Russia, while India was not ready for this.

This problem will be resolved only if there is any positive result of bilateral trade talks with America. According to FIEO, India exports products worth 47-48 billion dollars to the US, of which about 55 percent is expected to have a price difference of 30-35 percent. This will benefit other supplier countries.