Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday said that India is closely “studying all developments and implications” of the US Supreme Court’s ruling striking down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs across the world.In its first statement, the ministry of commerce & industry said, “We have noted the US Supreme Court judgement on tariffs yesterday. President Trump has also addressed a press conference in that regard. Some steps have been announced by the US administration.”“We are studying all these developments for their implications,” it added.
The remarks come a day after the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 6–3 verdict, ruled that Trump’s sweeping global tariffs violated federal law. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, held that the tariffs exceeded the scope of the law.Following the setback, Trump termed the ruling a “terrible decision” and announced a new 10% global tariff “effective immediately.”Invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, Trump said he would sign an executive order imposing the additional levy.This provision allows the US president to impose a temporary import surcharge of up to 15% for 150 days to address balance-of-payments deficits.“Effective immediately, all the national security tariffs under Section 232 and existing Section 301 tariffs remain in place… Today, I will sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff under Section 122 over and above our normal tariffs already being charged,” Trump said.Trump also asserted that the India-US trade deal would remain unaffected.“Nothing changes, they’ll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs. So, the deal with India is they pay tariffs. This is a reversal for what it used to be,” said Trump.“I think Prime Minister Modi is a great gentleman, a great man, actually, but he was much smarter than the people that he was against in terms of the United States. He was ripping us off, India. So we made a deal with India, it’s a fair deal now, and we are not paying tariffs to them and they are paying tariffs. We did a little flip,” he added.However, when further asked whether India will have to pay a 10% tariff and whether it would replace previous tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a White House official said, “Yes, 10% until another authority is invoked.”
