India and Brazil Strengthen Trade Ties Following U.S. 50% Tariffs
Two founding members of the BRICS alliance, India and Brazil, are facing new 50% tariffs on their goods exported to the United States, according to a report from Yahoo Finance. These tariffs, the highest imposed by the U.S. on any nation, have prompted the two countries to seek closer strategic, economic, trade, and energy cooperation, including the signing of new deals to expand their trade agreements.
Read also: Brazil and India Triple Trade Partnership Amid US Tariffs
Brazil’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin visited India last week for meetings with high-ranking Indian officials at the India-Brazil Business Dialogue event. The nations are expanding their partnership in agriculture and global food security.
Indian and Brazilian chambers of industry and commerce signed a cooperation charter. India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, described this as “an important milestone in institutionalising the India-Brazil business partnership and creating new avenues for cooperation in sectors such as infrastructure, renewable energy, healthcare and innovation.”
India and Brazil also agreed to pursue a deepening of the current preferential trade agreement between India and MERCOSUR, the South American trade bloc. The two countries agreed that “the expansion of the Agreement should be substantial, aiming for a significant share of bilateral trade to benefit from tariff preferences.”
“We can have a fantastic alliance with India – political, space, entrepreneurial, and economic,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said. “We will create a strategic alliance with India and develop both Brazilian and Indian economies,” he added.
The 50% tariffs on imports to the U.S. were imposed by the Trump Administration. U.S. President Donald Trump slapped an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, effective August 6, bringing the total tariff rate to 50%. India also received a 50% tariff as of the same date, as President Trump doubled an earlier 25% tariff due to India’s continued imports of Russian crude oil.
The pressure on India intensified recently after President Trump reiterated his threat to make India pay “massive” tariffs unless it stops buying Russian oil, repeating that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him those purchases would stop. Last week, India neither confirmed nor denied that it would cut or halt imports of Russian crude and said its key energy policy driver is “to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer.”
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