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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know India’s Modi Vows No Compromise On Farmers Interests Amid Trump’s Tariff Salvo Exclusive-India Pauses Plans To Buy U.S. Arms After Trump’s Tariffs stopping Russian oil purchases. India’s foreign ministry has called the U.S. decision “extremely unfortunate” and said it would “take all necessary steps to protect its national interests.” The U.S. has yet to impose similar tariffs for China, the biggest buyer of Rus- sian oil. Experts say China’s dominance in rare earth minerals — critical to high-tech industries — gives it leverage that India currently lacks. “The U.S. tariff hike lacks logic,” Dam- mu Ravi, secretary of economic relations in India’s foreign ministry, told reporters. “This is a temporary aberration, a tem- porary problem that the country will face, but in course of time, we are confident that the world will find solutions.” India is already signalling it may seek to rebalance its global partnerships. Modi is preparing for his first visit to China in over seven years, suggesting a potential diplo- matic realignment amid growing tensions withWashington. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said onWednesday he would initiate a conversation among the BRICS group of developing nations about how to tackle Trump’s tariffs. He said he planned to call Modi and China’s Xi Jinping. The BRICS group also includes Russia and South Africa. India’s Ravi added that “like-minded countries will look for cooperation and economic engagement that will be mutu- ally beneficial to all sides.” MODI FACES MOUNTING DOMESTIC PRESSURE Both supporters of Modi and the oppo- sition Congress party have called on him to respond firmly to the U.S. tariffs, urging action “with self-respect and dignity.” “India’s national interest is supreme. Any nation that arbitrarily penalises India for its time-tested policy of strategic autonomy, rooted in the ideology of non- alignment, does not understand the steel frame India is made of,” Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge said. Indian industry, already struggling with global headwinds, has expressed alarm. Sudhir Sekhri, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, said: “There is no way the industry can absorb such a steep hike”. He demanded fiscal support from the government. Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Re- liance Industries in its annual report said continuing geopolitical and tariff-related uncertainties may affect trade flows and demand-supply balance. India’s equity market, which has been weakening due to tariff risks and muted earnings growth slipped another 0.5% on Thursday to three-month lows. The reac- tion was muted as investors bet on the tariffs being negotiated down. - Reuters N ew Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India’s first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs im- posed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh toWashington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50% – among the highest of any U.S. trading partner. The president has a history of rapidly reversing himself on tariffs and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions withWashington. One of the people said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but “just not as soon as they were expected to.” Written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, another official said, indicating that Delhi had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was “no forward movement at least for now.” Post publication of this story, India’s government is- sued a statement it attributed to a Ministry of Defence source describing news reports of a pause in the talks as “false and fabricated.” The statement also said procure- ment was progressing as per “extant procedures.” Delhi, which has forged a close partnership with Amer- ica in recent years, has said it is being unfairly targeted and thatWashington and its European allies continue to trade with Moscow when it is in their interest. Reuters is reporting for the first time that discussions on India’s purchases of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been paused due to the tariffs. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February announced plans to pursue procurement and joint production of those items. Singh had also been planning to announce the purchase of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance aircraft and support systems for the Indian Navy during his now- cancelled trip, two of the people said. Talks over procur- ing the aircraft in a proposed $3.6 billion deal were at an advanced stage, according to the officials. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics referred queries to the Indian and U.S. governments. Raytheon did not return a request for comment. RUSSIAN RELATIONS India’s deepening security relationship with the U.S., which is fuelled by their shared strategic rivalry with China, was heralded by many U.S. analysts as one of the key areas of foreign-policy progress in the first Trump administration. Delhi is the world’s second-largest arms importer and Russia has traditionally been its top supplier. India has in recent years however, shifted to importing fromWestern powers like France, Israel and the U.S., according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think- tank. The shift in suppliers was driven partly by constraints on Russia’s ability to export arms, which it is utilizing heavily in its invasion of Ukraine. Some Russian weapons have also performed poorly in the battlefield, according toWestern analysts. The broader U.S.-India defence partnership, which includes intelligence sharing and joint military exercises, continues without hiccups, one of the Indian officials said. India also remains open to scaling back on oil imports from Russia and is open to making deals elsewhere, including the U.S., if it can get similar prices, according to two other Indian sources. Trump’s threats and rising anti-U.S. nationalism in India have “made it politically difficult for Modi to make the shift from Russia to the U.S.,” one of the people said. Nonetheless, discounts on the landing cost of Russian oil have shrunk to the lowest since 2022. India’s petroleumministry did not immediately re- spond to a request for comment. While the rupture in U.S.-India ties was abrupt, there have been strains in the relationship. Delhi has repeat- edly rebutted Trump’s claim that the U.S. brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May. Trump also hosted Pakistan’s army chief at theWhite House in the weeks following the conflict. In recent months, Moscow has been actively pitching Delhi on buying new defence technologies like its S-500 surface-to-air missile system, according to one of the Indian officials, as well as a Russian source familiar with the talks. India currently does not see a need for new arms pur- chases fromMoscow, two Indian officials said. But Delhi is unlikely to wean itself off Russian weapons entirely as the decades-long partnership between the two powers means Indian military systems will continue to require Moscow’s support, one of the officials said. The Russian embassy in Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. - Reuters PHOTO:REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025. By Shivam Patel and Aftab Ahmed US-India News India Times (August 9, 2025 - August 15, 2025) August 15, 2025 5 - Continued From Page 4