India is pausing plans to obtain new weapons and plane from the USA in obvious retaliation for President Donald Trump’s tariff hike on its exports this week, in keeping with information company Reuters, citing three Indian officers.
Two of the officers accustomed to the matter instructed Reuters that India had been planning to ship Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington within the coming weeks for an announcement on a few of 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 studies of a pause within the talks as “false and fabricated”. The assertion additionally mentioned procurement was progressing as per “extant procedures”.
Relations between the 2 international locations nosedived this week after Trump imposed an extra 25 % tariff on Indian items on Wednesday as punishment for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which he mentioned meant the nation was funding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
That raised the whole responsibility on Indian exports to 50 % – among the many highest of any US buying and selling associate.
Trump has a historical past of reversing course on tariffs and India has mentioned it stays actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of many officers who spoke to Reuters mentioned the defence purchases may go forward as soon as India had readability on tariffs and the course 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 mentioned, indicating that India had the choice to rapidly reverse course, although there was “no ahead motion at the least for now”.
New Delhi, which has cast a detailed partnership with the US lately, has mentioned 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 automobiles, made by Common Dynamics Land Programs, 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 objects.
Singh had additionally been planning to announce the acquisition of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance plane and help methods for the Indian Navy throughout his now-cancelled journey, two of the individuals mentioned.
Talks over procuring the plane in a proposed $3.6bn deal have been at a sophisticated stage, in keeping with the officers.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Common 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 lately, nevertheless, shifted to importing from Western powers like France, Israel and the US, in keeping with the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute assume 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, in keeping with Western analysts.
The broader US-India defence partnership, which incorporates intelligence sharing and joint navy workout routines, continues with out hiccups, one of many Indian officers mentioned.
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 could actually get related costs, in keeping with two different Indian sources talking to Reuters.
Trump’s threats and rising anti-US sentiment in India have “made it politically tough for Modi to make the shift from Russia to the US”, one of many individuals mentioned. 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 combating 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, in keeping with one of many Indian officers, in addition to a Russian supply accustomed to the talks.
India presently doesn’t see a necessity for brand spanking new arms purchases from Moscow, two Indian officers mentioned.
However India is unlikely to wean itself off Russian weapons completely because the decades-long partnership between the 2 powers means Indian navy methods will proceed to require Moscow’s help, one of many officers mentioned.
The Russian embassy in New Delhi didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.