{"id":3413,"date":"2026-02-03T15:15:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/?p=3413"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:15:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:15:44","slug":"india-us-trade-deal-explained-in-visuals-how-tariffs-fell-from-50-to-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/?p=3413","title":{"rendered":"India-US trade deal explained in visuals: how tariffs fell from 50% to 18%"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In August 2025, the United States hit India with 50% tariffs, the steepest levied on any Asian economy as trade tensions with Washington boiled over.<\/p>\n

Six months later, those duties have been slashed to 18%.<\/a><\/p>\n

The stunning reversal followed months of stalled talks, rising geopolitical friction, and one explosive fault line: India\u2019s Russian oil imports.<\/p>\n

On February 2, 2026, the world\u2019s two largest democracies unveiled a breakthrough trade pact, announced by Donald Trump on Truth Social and echoed by Narendra Modi on X.<\/p>\n

India-US trade deal in visuals<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n
<\/figure>\n

The Russian oil trigger<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

The original trade standoff began in August 2025, when Donald Trump imposed a 25% penalty tariff specifically targeting India\u2019s purchases of Russian crude, later stacked with reciprocal duties to reach 50%.<\/p>\n

India had emerged as one of Russia\u2019s largest oil buyers during the Ukraine war, capitalizing on deep discounts. <\/p>\n

That dependence became the single biggest obstacle to any trade deal.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough came when Modi agreed to halt Russian oil imports entirely. <\/p>\n

Trump explicitly linked energy purchases to geopolitics, arguing that cutting oil revenues was essential to ending the Ukraine war. <\/p>\n

Venezuela was cited as a US-approved alternative supplier.<\/p>\n

Trump said:<\/p>\n

\n

He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The personal diplomacy factor<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Beyond policy, the deal was driven by personal diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Trump described Modi as \u201cone of my greatest friends,\u201d framing the agreement as proof that strong leaders can break deadlocks. <\/p>\n

The two leaders reportedly spoke multiple times in December 2025 and again in early February, just days before the announcement.<\/p>\n

The timing mattered. The US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, had just taken office, calling the relationship\u2019s potential \u201climitless.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, India\u2019s advancing trade pact with the EU, dubbed the \u201cmother of all deals\u201d added urgency in Washington.<\/p>\n

Modi\u2019s response praised Trump\u2019s \u201cleadership\u201d in advancing global peace, reinforcing the image of two dealmakers who \u201cget things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Market impact and what\u2019s next<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

India’s Nifty 50 opened 4.86% higher on February 3 following the announcement, and was trading at 2.74% up at the time of writing. <\/p>\n

Analysts expected markets to open 3% higher, marking a 1,000-point rebound from Budget-day lows.<\/p>\n

Stocks of Indian companies Infosys, ICICI Bank, and Wipro gained over 2% at the start of the trading session. <\/p>\n

Currency pressure on the rupee eased, as trade uncertainty has driven capital outflows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rupee gained over 1% to trade at $90.25 at the time of writing. <\/p>\n

Key export sectors to watch include IT services, pharma, chemicals, auto ancillaries, and engineering goods.<\/p>\n

Still, officials caution that \u201ctechnicalities remain to be worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post India-US trade deal explained in visuals: how tariffs fell from 50% to 18%<\/a> appeared first on Invezz<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August 2025, the United States hit India with 50% tariffs, the steepest levied on any Asian economy as trade tensions with Washington boiled over.Six months later, those duties have been slashed to 18%.The stunning reversal followed months of stalled talks, rising geopolitical friction, and one explosive fault line: India\u2019s Russian oil imports.On February 2,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradertideinsights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}