Former British PM Boris Johnson supports tariffs imposed by Trump on India

London: India has come under fire from former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for its continued purchases of Russian oil. He publicly backed Donald Trump’s proposal to impose an extra 25% tax on Indian products and accused New Delhi of providing finance for Putin’s ruthless war machine. “Donald Trump has finally punished the countries that were funding Putin’s genocide, which is a bold, principled, and logical thing to do,” the former British prime minister said on the social media site X. When will the United Kingdom and the European Union have the guts to follow suit?

“Europeans love to complain about Trump and claim that he is soft on Russia, but three years later it is Donald J. Trump who has finally made India pay the price,” Johnson remarked, taking aim at the European leaders. How does the prime minister of Britain feel about the example?

The US raised its tariff on India to 50%

Johnson’s comments follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic free trade agreement with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which was inked during his visit to London a few days ago. In addition to the 25% tariffs that were put in place last week, US President Donald Trump unveiled a new executive order on Wednesday that will slap an extra 25% duty on Indian products. As a result, the overall tariff rate will reach 50%.

India is not going to bend down

The new charge will take effect 21 days after the first tranche of tariffs on India, which will start on August 7. Together with Brazil, India is now the largest duty payer in the US market under the updated regime. The action was deemed “extremely unfortunate” by India’s foreign ministry, which also emphasized that “New Delhi will continue to defend its national interests.”