Will India Now Face Just 10% US Tariffs? White House Official Suggests Reset

Last Updated:February 21, 2026, 10:08 IST

Donald Trump said the broader India-US trade arrangement would remain intact despite the sweeping tariff overhaul.

A White House official said that US President Donald Trump’s sweeping new 10% global tariff will reset rates for all major trading partners, lowering duties previously set at 15% for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, South Korea, the European Union and Japan, 20% for Vietnam while leaving the United Kingdom unchanged at 10%.

For India, the reset effectively reduces US tariffs on its exports to 10% from 18%, marking another shift in trade terms between the two countries within weeks of a landmark bilateral agreement.

“This is, however, only temporary as the administration will be pursuing other legal authorities to implement more appropriate or pre-negotiated tariff rates," a White House official told AFP.

Read more: ‘Adjustment Process Begins’: Trump Announces New 10% Global Tariff After Supreme Court Ruling

Trump said the broader India-US trade arrangement would remain intact despite the sweeping tariff overhaul and a recent ruling by the Supreme Court restricting his use of emergency tariff powers.

“I think my relationship with India is fantastic, and we’re doing trade with India. India pulled out of Russia. India was getting its oil from Russia. And they pulled way back at my request, because we want to settle that horrible war where 25,000 people are dying every month," Trump said after the verdict.

“Nothing changes with respect to the trade deal with India," he said, adding, “they will be paying & we will not be paying tariffs."

Read more: ‘Embarrassment To Their Families’: Trump’s Personal Attack On Supreme Court Justices Over Tariff Ruling

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump said, “PM Modi is a great man; he was much smarter than the people that he was against in terms of the US. We are not paying tariffs to India now & they are paying to us; we did a little flip."

He also defended tariffs more broadly, saying, “Tariffs have likewise been used to end 5 of the 8 wars I have settled… including India-Pakistan, big ones, could have been nuclear."

The global reset follows the US Supreme Court’s decision to limit Trump’s use of emergency economic powers to impose tariffs, forcing the administration to restructure its trade measures.

But Trump asserted all bilateral agreements would proceed regardless of the legal setback.

“The India deal is on… all the deals are on, we’re just going to do it," he said, adding it would be implemented “in a different way."

The latest change comes just two weeks after Washington and New Delhi announced a trade deal under which US tariffs on Indian goods were sharply reduced to 18% from 50%.

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