This comes after India addressed several US demands in the Budget and also began aggressively signing trade deals with other countries, including the UK and the EU. India had begun stepping up crude oil imports, now nearly comprising 10% of its total oil imports. As Trump consistently called India ‘tariff king’ talking about American companies such as Harley Davidson failing in India due to high tariffs, India slashed duty on more than two dozen items in the Union Budget. However, the tariffs on India were higher than the 24% duty on Japan and 25% on South Korea. While Pakistan nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, India refrained from any such gesture.

Source: Indian Express February 03, 2026 17:26 UTC