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COVER STORY OCTOBER 03, 2025 | The Indian Eye 4

TRUMP’S TURBULENCE

TWIN CHALLENGE

FOR INDIA

Tariffs on Indian exports and a sudden embrace of Pakistan test New Delhi’s resolve,
but India is betting on patience and strategy over confrontation.

OUR BUREAU
Washington, DC / New Delhi
hen Donald Trump re-
turned to the White House
Wearlier this year, New Delhi
was quick to prepare for turbulence.
It did not take long for the warning
signs to appear. From the Oval Of-
fice on Thursday, Trump announced
a sweeping 100 per cent tariff on
branded and patented pharmaceuti-
cals imported into the United States
unless companies set up plants on
American soil. For India, one of the
world’s biggest producers and export-
ers of medicines, the move struck at
the very heart of its most successful
global industry.
Just days later, Trump welcomed
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif and the country’s powerful
army chief, General Asim Munir,
for a closed-door meeting in Wash-
ington. Unlike the heavily publicized
sessions with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip
Erdogan or Japan’s Fumio Kishida,
the meeting with Pakistan’s leader-
ship was kept under wraps, with no On Thursday, Trump announced a sweeping 100 per cent tariff on branded and patented pharmaceuticals imported into the United States unless
official photos or transcripts released companies set up plants on American soil (Agency)
by the White House. The secrecy
added to the unease in New Del- strategic partnership that New Delhi measure that directly affects India, tients and undermine India’s com-
hi, where officials saw the renewed has carefully nurtured with Washing- one of Moscow’s biggest energy cus- petitiveness. “This is not about pro-
warmth between Washington and ton over the past two decades. tomers. tecting American consumers,” said
Islamabad as a potential setback to Trump’s economic nationalism The pharmaceutical industry is a senior executive at a leading Indi-
India’s long campaign to isolate Pa- is nothing new. During his first presi- the most immediate casualty. India an drugmaker. “It’s about forcing
kistan internationally. dency, he targeted Chinese steel, alu- exported $8.5 billion worth of drugs companies to relocate to the United
For India, the one-two punch minum and electronics, using tariffs to the United States in 2024, making States. For us, it means losing the ad-
carried a double sting: tariffs that as a blunt instrument to force supply America its single largest market. vantage we built over decades.”
threaten billions in exports and jobs, chains back to American soil. This While much of this trade is in low- The policy also cuts across In-
and a geopolitical shift that could time, his gaze has widened. In addi- cost generics, Indian companies have dia’s domestic ambitions. Under
once again complicate its position tion to pharmaceuticals, Trump has also expanded into branded formula- its Production-Linked Incentive
in South Asia. Together, they under- slapped a 50 per cent tariff on a wide tions through licensing and joint ven- schemes, New Delhi has been pour-
scored the challenge of managing range of Indian goods, from textiles tures. Industry executives warn that ing resources into building a global
Trump’s America First agenda with- to furniture, and added a 25 per cent Trump’s new tariff will disrupt supply pharmaceutical hub at home. If In-
out allowing it to derail the broader surcharge on trade with Russia — a chains, raise costs for American pa- Continued on next page... >>

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