A day after US President Donald Trump announced mass trade tariff cutoffs with several countries globally, India’s import duty was announced at 25%, making it one of the highest in the Asian subcontinent. In addition, he also termed India and Russia as ‘dead economies’ in an official tweet and went ahead to sign a deal with Pakistan for building its oil reserves.
In the aftermath of this entire episode, the news reports on Indian government’s decision to withdraw from purchasing F-35 Fighter Jets from the United States have been circulating like wildfire. However, the Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that there has been no formal discussion on this matter with US counterparts as of yet.
The minister made the remarks after he noted that in February, India and US had issued a joint statement saying the US “will undertake a review of its policy on releasing fifth generation fighters (such as the F-35) and undersea systems to India.”
Singh’s response came against the questions posed by Congress MP Balwant Wankhade, who enquired about the relationship with the US on military assistance. On the role of American diplomats to stop hostilities between India and Pakistan, MoS Singh said that there were a number of diplomatic conversations with various countries, including the US.
When asked about whether India has evaluated the impact of receiving US military assistance on the autonomy of its foreign policy, considering strategic implications, especially in a conflict scenario involving third-party mediation, Singh said that the outstanding issues with Pakistan will be discussed only bilaterally, sending out a clear message that matters between India and another country are to be resolved only between the two involved nations, and no mediation or intervention from a third-party, let alone United States is required, unless requested so.
As far as the trade tariff of 25% imposed by Trump’s cabinet on July 31 midnight, the MoS also remarked that such an imposition matters less than 0.2% to India’s GDP, as it refuses to back down in front of the apparent over-arching dominance being projected by the United States.
As per credible sources from PTI and ANI published reports, the Indian government will not bow down to any American pressure to open price-sensitive agriculture and dairy markets for tariff or allow the import of milk taken from cows that are fed animal based products, as it’s likely to offend the religious sentiments of native citizens.
Meanwhile, the US President Trump on Friday stated that he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be moved closer to Russian borders in response to threatening remarks from Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian President and current deputy head of Russia’s Security Council. The announced figure on India’s exports to US is said to have a ‘negligible’ impact on the economy.
Helene Elliott is the senior reporter for News Raise. She covers Science news. She also has a keen interest in photojournalism. Helene holds a nomination for the prestigious Red Smith Award. She is married to author Dennis D’Agostino, a former publicist with the New York Mets.
