Trump indicators India tariff cuts as loyalist Sergio Gor sworn in as ambassador

U.S. President Donald Trump faces a recent take a look at of his political diplomacy with India as longtime loyalist Sergio Gor takes up his put up as ambassador in New Delhi, amid pressure over commerce and Russian oil imports, which have weighed on the 2 nations’ strategic ties.

At Gor’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Trump mentioned Washington could quickly decrease tariffs on Indian items, suggesting each side are transferring nearer to a commerce deal.

“The tariffs on India are actually excessive due to the Russian oil [imports], however they’ve now considerably diminished Russian oil [imports], so we will probably be bringing the tariffs down,” Trump mentioned.

Nevertheless, information from market analysis agency Kpler confirmed that India’s imports of Russian crude had been largely unchanged in October at 1.59 million barrels per day (mbd) from September.

“To this point, 1.73 mbd of October Russian exports have been signaled to India, with one other 302 kbd (thousand barrels per day) not but displaying a ultimate vacation spot (a portion of which may additionally find yourself in India),” the tank tracker mentioned, including “it is nonetheless too early to attract a transparent image for November”.

Trump mentioned Gor’s priorities would come with selling funding in key U.S. Industries, growing American vitality exports and increasing safety cooperation.

“I’m Sergio to strengthen certainly one of most essential relationships and that’s the strategic partnership with the Republic of India,” Trump mentioned.

Gor, whose nomination as U.S. ambassador to India was confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 7, arrived in New Delhi a number of days later and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to debate protection, commerce and know-how. “We additionally mentioned the significance of important minerals to each of our nations,” Gor mentioned in a press release.

Gor represents the White Home’s push for sooner, extra direct communication with New Delhi, bypassing the same old diplomatic forms, mentioned Alexandra Hermann of Oxford Economics.

“[This] suggests a need to achieve a commerce deal sooner reasonably than later,” Hermann mentioned.

“A ‘political’ ambassador reasonably than a ‘conventional’ diplomat could certainly pace issues up, however it additionally raises the chance that if opinion in both nation sours, they’re much less insulated and ties can turn into much more risky,” she added.

Steep tariffs, a $100,000 price for H1B visas, and Trump’s repeated claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan are amongst points which have led to the deterioration of strategic ties between New Delhi and Washington in current months, in accordance with specialists.

“It may well’t be that you’re essentially the most tariffed nation on the planet, greater than even China, after which speak about navy friendship and joint maneuvers,”  former Reserve Financial institution of India Governor Raghuram Rajan mentioned at a Nov. 6 occasion organized by the Chicago Council on World Affairs.

The final time Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger tilted the U.S. in the direction of Pakistan throughout the 1971 India-Pakistan struggle, it pushed India nearer to the Soviet Union for the subsequent 25 years, warned Rajan, now a professor of Finance on the College of Chicago Sales space.

Shortly after the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on Indian exports in August, Modi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Group Summit in Tianjin, the place a viral clip confirmed him laughing with Chinese language President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The New York Occasions described the second as a “smiling manifestation of a troika that Moscow had just lately mentioned it hoped to revive,” noting the optics of closeness between Modi and Putin, who even shared a experience to a gathering on the sidelines.

India’s outreach to Russia has continued. This week, a delegation of 20 Indian firms participated on this yr’s Moscow Worldwide Instrument Expo, the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), a physique beneath India’s Ministry of Commerce & Business, mentioned in a press release Monday.

“Our engineering exports to Russia is rising quickly and anticipated to achieve $1.75 billion this yr,” FIEO President S C Ralhan mentioned within the assertion, including that the participation within the exhibition will “deepen industrial ties” and assist in boosting bilateral commerce between the 2 nations.

However specialists say that Russia stays a restricted associate in contrast with the U.S.

India exported $4.88 billion to Russia and imported $63.84 billion in fiscal 2025, in accordance with the Indian Model Fairness Basis. In contrast, the U.S. accounted for 18% of India’s exports, in contrast with only one% for Russia, mentioned Hermann of Oxford Economics.