US-India Trade Deal Done: Saat Phere Of MAGA-MIGA; Trump Slashes 50% Tariffs To 18%, PM Modi Says Big Thanks

The much-awaited India-US trade deal has finally been signed, with President Donald Trump slashing his tariffs to a steep 18% from the previously imposed 50% on India. This is a major reunion of Trump's 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus on 'Make India Great Again' (MIGA), something that the two leaders had vowed together in early 2025.

The big cuts in India-US trade tariffs come as major good news for both countries, whose total bilateral trade (goods and services) reached $132.2 billion in FY25.

In the late hours of February 2nd, President Trump said, "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."

Trump revealed that PM Modi has agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela.

"This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week!," he added.

PM Modi also confirmed about the trade deal in a late-night post. Through his X account, PM Modi said, "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."

Furthermore, 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."

"President Trump's leadership is vital for global peace, stability, and prosperity. India fully supports his efforts for peace," PM Modi added, "I look forward to working closely with him to take our partnership to unprecedented heights."

That being said, here are seven pointers of India-US trade deal which is aligned to make the USA and India great again.

1. Effectively immediately, Trump announced that US will reduce reciprocal tariffs from 25% to 18%. This will eventually lead to scrap the additional 25% tariffs that was imposed in August last year.

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2. By mid-2025, US tariffs on Indian exports reached 50% which was a combination of 10% baseline, 15% reciprocal making 25% plus additional 25% punitive duty imposed with effect from August 27, 2025.

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3. Now, with the additional 25% punitive duty is removed and 25% reciprocal tariffs is reduced to 18%. Accordingly, US tariffs on Indian exports is chalked down to 18% on most of Indian goods.

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4. US is looking forward to make more cuts in tariffs till they reach to zero levels. Trump said, "we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%. They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO."

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5. PM Modi has given commitment to buy more US oil and potentially from Venezuela. Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital told CNN that Venezuelan oil is of the same quality as Russian oil - heavy, sour and perfect for making derivatives like fuel oil and diesel, which India's refineries are already set up to process.

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6. As per the latest Economic Survey, the share of India's crude oil imports increased to 8.1% between April to November 2025, from the US compared to 4.6% in the same period a year ago. On the contrary, India's crude oil imports have declined from Russia.

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7. A recent data showed that Russian oil flows to India has seen significant decline. For instance, in December 2025, India's imports of Russian oil dropped to about 22% to 1.38 million barrels per day, which further, squeezed lower Russian's share in Indian oil imports to 27.4% which is lowest since January 2023. In 2024 alone, Russia accounted about 36% of India's crude imports to about 1.8 million barrels per day.

This is not all, Trump claims that PM Modi has also committed to buy 'American' at a much higher level in addition to over $500 billion dollars of US energy, technology, agricultural, coal and many other products.

Not to surprisingly, Trump's latest lean towards India comes after the Asian country announced 'mother of all deal' with European Union.

Last month, India and EU signed a behemoth deal which will given economic boost to both the powerhouses. The new trade deal leads to about 96.6%% trade liberalisation for India and 99.3% trade benefits for the EU.

Under the FTA agreement, India will eliminate tariffs on 86% of its tariff lines for goods and services imported from EU. While EU has announced to cut tariffs on 90% of their tariff lines on goods and services from India.

For European Union, sectors like agri-food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, machinery, medical devices, avionics and automotive industries has received major boost. For India, sectors like fisheries, chemicals, textiles, footwear and pharmaceuticals are key beneficiaries.