India-US Trade Deal Timeline: From 'Tariff King' Taunts To 18% Reciprocal Duty Cut Tracking The 12-Month Journey

(MENAFN- Live Mint) India-US trade deal concludes nearly 12 months of tense negotiations, which comes days after the announcement of the India-EU trade deal. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor dropped an update about the pact on social media at 9:16 PM Indian time.

Gor's announcement was followed by a lengthy post by US President Donald Trump on Truth Social, where he declared that the US“effective immediately” lowered reciprocal tariffs on India to 18% from existing 25%.

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Almost two hours later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a post on X wrote,“Wonderful to speak with my dear friend President Trump today. Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18%. Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement.”

Making the groundbreaking deal public, PM Modi added,“When two large economies and the world's largest democracies work together, it benefits our people and unlocks immense opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.”

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Trump said in his post that India has agreed to stop buying Russian oil. The US President said that India agreed to buy much more from the US and potentially Venezuela. According to Trump's statement, India agreed to purchase $500 billion worth of US energy, agriculture, coal and other products under the trade deal.

“It was an Honor to speak with Prime Minister Modi, of India, this morning. He is one of my greatest friends and, a Powerful and Respected Leader of his Country. We spoke about many things, including Trade, and ending the War with Russia and Ukraine. He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela (sic)." This agreement comes after most of the world, including China, arrived at a trade deal with the US," he said.

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A trade deal that took months to make comes after India addressed several US demands in the Budget 2026-27. Have a look at the timeline of events here:

• On 2 February, 2026, US President Trump and PM Modi had announced the commencement of bilateral trade agreement negotiations and had indicated that a settlement will appear by year end.
• On 3 April, 2025the US announced 27% 'reciprocal' tariffs on India. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) report on trade barriers criticised India's high applied tariffs on a wide range of goods.
• On 9 April,2025 US paused the implementation of the 'liberation day' country-specific reciprocal tariffs for 90 days country-specific reciprocal tariffs, except for China.
• Trump consistently labelled India as the 'tariff king', suggesting that American companies such as Harley-Davidson did not excel in India due to high tariffs. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget 2026 speech, announced a series of customs duty cuts on more than two dozen items.
• On 10 May,2025 India and Pakistan agreed to an immediate ceasefire following days of high-level military escalation along the border as a fallout of "Operation Sindoor" launched on 7 May. However, Trump claimed that the two nations arrived at a truce after the US used tariff leverage.
• On 7 August 2025, Trump doubled the tariffs on India to 50% after India failed to strike a chord with American demands in connection with agricultural market access.

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