Donald Trump and Shashi Tharoor (R)

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday responded to the Trump administration’s decision to impose an additional 25% tariff on India for importing crude oil from Russia. With this, the total tariff imposed by the US on Indian goods now stands at 50%.The new announcement comes just a week after Trump had already declared a 25% tariff on Indian exports. Tharoor said this development is not “good news” for India, warning that such high tariffs will make Indian products too expensive in the US market. He said, “That’s going to make Indian goods unaffordable to a lot of people in America.”He also compared India’s situation with other countries and raised concerns about competitiveness. “I’m afraid that if you look at people like Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, even Bangladesh and Pakistan have lower tariffs than us, then ultimately people will not be buying goods from us in America if they can buy them cheaper elsewhere. So that’s not very good for our exports to America,” he said. Tharoor added that India now needs to focus on expanding trade elsewhere. “This means we need to very seriously diversify to other countries and other markets that may be interested in what we have to offer. We now have an FTA with the UK. We are talking to the EU. There are many countries in which hopefully we would be able to, but in the short term, it is definitely a blow”The ministry of external affairs also criticised the US decision in a strongly worded statement, calling it “unfortunate” and reaffirming India’s intention to protect its national interests. “It is extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest,” the statement said.President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday announcing the extra 25% tariff, which will apply over and above the existing 25%. While the first tariff comes into effect on August 7, 2025, the second one will be enforced 21 days from now.