India is pausing plans to acquire new weapons and plane from the US in obvious retaliation for President Donald Trump’s tariff hike on its exports this week, based on information company Reuters, citing three Indian officers.
Two of the officers acquainted with the matter informed Reuters that India had been planning to ship Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington within the coming weeks for an announcement on among the purchases, however that the journey had been cancelled, the information company reported.
Following publication of the story on Friday, India’s authorities issued an announcement it attributed to a Ministry of Defence supply describing information stories of a pause within the talks as “false and fabricated”. The assertion additionally stated procurement was progressing as per “extant procedures”.
Relations between the 2 nations nosedived this week after Trump imposed a further 25 p.c tariff on Indian items on Wednesday as punishment for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which he stated meant the nation was funding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
That raised the overall responsibility on Indian exports to 50 p.c – among the many highest of any US buying and selling associate.
Trump has a historical past of reversing course on tariffs and India has stated it stays actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of many officers who spoke to Reuters stated the defence purchases might go forward as soon as India had readability on tariffs and the path of bilateral ties, however “simply not as quickly as they have been anticipated to”.
Written directions had not been given to pause the purchases, one other official stated, indicating that India had the choice to shortly reverse course, although there was “no ahead motion at the least for now”.
New Delhi, which has solid a detailed partnership with the US in recent times, has stated it’s being unfairly focused and that Washington and its European allies proceed to commerce with Moscow when it’s of their curiosity.
Reuters reported that discussions on India’s purchases of Stryker fight autos, made by Normal Dynamics Land Methods, and Javelin antitank missiles, developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, had been paused as a result of tariffs.
Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February introduced plans to pursue procurement and joint manufacturing of these gadgets.
Singh had additionally been planning to announce the acquisition of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance plane and assist methods for the Indian Navy throughout his now-cancelled journey, two of the individuals stated.
Talks over procuring the plane in a proposed $3.6bn deal have been at a complicated stage, based on the officers.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Normal Dynamics referred queries to the Indian and US governments. Raytheon didn’t return a Reuters request for remark.
Strained relations
India’s deepening safety relationship with the US, which is fuelled by their shared strategic rivalry with China, was heralded by many US analysts as one of many key areas of foreign-policy progress within the first Trump administration.
New Delhi is the world’s second-largest arms importer, and Russia has historically been its high provider. India has in recent times, nevertheless, shifted to importing from Western powers like France, Israel and the US, based on the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute suppose tank.
The shift in suppliers was pushed partly by constraints on Russia’s means to export arms, which it’s utilising closely in its invasion of Ukraine. Some Russian weapons have additionally carried out poorly within the battlefield, based on Western analysts.
The broader US-India defence partnership, which incorporates intelligence sharing and joint navy workouts, continues with out hiccups, one of many Indian officers stated.
India additionally stays open to scaling again on oil imports from Russia and is open to creating offers elsewhere, together with the US, if it may get related costs, based on two different Indian sources chatting with Reuters.
Trump’s threats and rising anti-US sentiment in India have “made it politically troublesome for Modi to make the shift from Russia to the US”, one of many individuals stated. Nonetheless, reductions on the touchdown value of Russian oil have shrunk to the bottom since 2022.
Whereas the rupture in US-India ties was abrupt, there have been strains within the relationship. New Delhi has repeatedly rebutted Trump’s declare that the US brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after 4 days of preventing between the nuclear-armed neighbours in Might. Trump additionally hosted Pakistan’s military chief on the White Home within the weeks following the battle.
In latest months, Moscow has been actively pitching India on shopping for new defence applied sciences like its S-500 surface-to-air missile system, based on one of many Indian officers, in addition to a Russian supply acquainted with the talks.
India at present doesn’t see a necessity for brand new arms purchases from Moscow, two Indian officers stated.
However India is unlikely to wean itself off Russian weapons fully because the decades-long partnership between the 2 powers means Indian navy methods will proceed to require Moscow’s assist, one of many officers stated.
The Russian embassy in New Delhi didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.
