‘India’s Trade Cannot Be Dictated By Foreign Nation’: RSS Affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch Criticises Trump’s Tariff Punch

Days after United States President Donald Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on India, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch on Friday lashed out at the US President’s move, threatening “unspecified penalties” over India’s growing trade and defence ties.

In a statement released by the organisation, the SJM described the US President’s decision as coercive tactics, stating India must firmly resist.

India’s Strategic Choices Cannot Be Dictated by Foreign Pressure.

It reaffirmed India’s right to independently procure defence equipment and secure affordable crude oil, highlighting its essential role in ensuring national security and containing inflation.

The Manch asserted that India’s strategic choices cannot be dictated by foreign pressure, especially in the context of its emergence as a global power — a status it says was “decisively demonstrated during the Operation Sindoor.” 

Calling out the outdated “unipolar worldview” of the United States, the SJM emphasised the need for the world to adopt a cooperative, multipolar trade order. It criticised the US decision to target a strategic partner like India at a time when global efforts should instead be focused on countering China’s disruptive control over rare earth exports and global value chains.

The Manch warned that the US has increasingly sought to bypass WTO rules by invoking “reciprocity” in a non-trade context, a strategy that undermines fair negotiations.

It reaffirmed that “India’s approach to trade must protect farmers, small-scale industries, and long-term economic self-reliance. Indian exports will continue to thrive on a mutually beneficial basis, regardless of the fate of the FTA”

Highlighting the importance of reducing dependency on traditional trade partners, SJM urged the Indian Government to deepen ties with Latin America, Africa, the expanded BRICS alliance, and the Global South.

While acknowledging the US as India’s largest trading partner, the group cautioned against allowing trade to become a tool of pressure.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 25% tariff on India, which will go into effect from August 1.

Tariffs For Purchasing Oil And Defence Equipment From Russia: Trump

Trump took his social media platform ‘Truth’ to make the announcement. He said, “India will also have to pay an additional penalty for purchasing oil and defence equipment from Russia.”

“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

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