It is to return. India has suspended several projects to buy US weapons in response to Donald Trump’s decision to impose additional customs tariffs, while saying that he is willing to reduce his imports of Russian oil to reach a commercial agreement with Washington, three Indian sources to Reuters said due to the file.
New Delhi’s decision, materialized by the cancellation of a Washington trip to the Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh scheduled for the coming weeks, is related to the purchase project for six maritime surveillance planes P-8I Poseidon de Boeing, armed Stryker vehicles and anti-telín anti-Hongual missiles, developed by Rayheon and Lockheed Martin.
You ripos to customs tasks
India expresses its disapproval after the decision announced Wednesday by Donald Trump to impose additional customs duties of 25% in Indian products, to punish New Delhi to buy Russian oil and thus finance the war in Ukraine.
Customs tariffs on Indian imports have taken 50%, one of the highest rates of all commercial partners in the United States, which strongly penalizes local businesses.
Donald Trump, after having worked quickly in the taxes of certain customs duties, used as negotiation instruments, India has said that he is willing to continue negotiations to reach a commercial agreement with Washington.
According to one of the sources, the discussions for the purchase of American weapons could also be resumed when a solution was found, but “not as fast as we expected.”
Two of them added that the Minister of Defense of India had planned to formalize the purchase of the six P-8i Poseidon aircraft, for a total amount estimated at 3.6 billion dollars, during his trip to Washington.
India already has a fleet of 12 maritime patrol planes P-8i Poseidon, which has been operating since 2013. The Indian Army would become the first producer under license in Stryker armored vehicles and had to acquire several hundred copies. As for javelin missiles, discussions were also underway to co -produce this armament in association with the Indian defense industry.
Neither the Indian Ministry of Defense nor the Pentagon answered Reuters questions.
Degradation of Indo -American relations
The dispute issues a trial to the approach initiated in recent years between India and the United States, especially in defense matters, the area in which the Indian Army continues to depend largely on Russia, due to the common hostility of the two countries to China.
The virulent criticisms of Donald Trump, who hit Indian nationalism, complicate the task of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, India hopes to reach a commercial agreement with Washington and is ready to reduce its imports of Russian oil if you can obtain similar prices in other countries, even in the United States, two Indian sources said.
Nueva Delhi is even more willing to embark on this road since the discounts that benefited from the price of raw Russian barrel since the beginning of the great large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 arrive at their part, and that the difference in prices with oil from other countries is now very low, the sources said.
The Indian Ministry of Petroleum responded immediately to Reuters requests.
Source: BFM TV
