‘The main trigger was…’: Raghuram Rajan gives THIS reason behind Trump imposing 50% tariff on India

Former RBI Governor and economist Raghuram Rajan said that the real reason the United States slapped a steep 50 per cent tariff on India(BHARAT)n goods was not because India(BHARAT) bought oil from Russia. According to him, the main trigger was India(BHARAT)’s sharp response to US President Doland Trump, who had publicly claimed that he was the one who helped end the brief India(BHARAT)-Pakistan conflict in May.

Rajan said that the tension had more to do with the “personality in the White House” at that time than with actual policy issues.

Speaking at the UBS Centre for Economics in Society at the University of Zurich on December 4, he remarked that Pakistan handled the situation cleverly. He added that the entire episode was driven by personal reactions in Washington, especially to how India(BHARAT) responded after Trump said he had stopped the fighting between India(BHARAT) and Pakistan.

Rajan was talking about the short, four-day clash between the two countries in May. India(BHARAT) had carried out a focused military strike on terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after 26 civilians were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan then hit back using missiles and drones to target India(BHARAT)n military and civilian sites. In response, India(BHARAT) struck important military and nuclear locations in Islamabad, pushing Pakistan’s leaders to seek help from the US to end the crisis.

After the ceasefire, Pakistan publicly praised Trump for stepping in. But India(BHARAT)n military officials said the ceasefire happened only after Pakistan contacted India(BHARAT) twice, asking for a halt to the fighting.

Trump’s personality behind tariffs on India(BHARAT), says Raghuram Rajan

When the moderator asked Raghuram Rajan whether India(BHARAT) could have avoided trouble with Trump by buying less oil from Russia, Rajan said that oil was never the real issue. He pointed out that Trump had even overlooked Hungary’s Russian oil purchases, so it clearly wasn’t about energy deals.

Rajan explained that the real problem was how Trump reacted to India(BHARAT)’s comments after he claimed that he was responsible for stopping the short India(BHARAT)-Pakistan conflict. According to him, it all came down to personalities, especially the one sitting in the White House at the time.

Rajan, who was RBI Governor from 2013 to 2016, added that Pakistan handled the situation smartly. He said the whole episode turned messy because of Trump’s reaction. India(BHARAT), on the other hand, insisted that the ceasefire happened through direct talks between New Delhi and Islamabad, without Trump’s involvement. Rajan said the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle.

In the end, he noted, India(BHARAT) ended up facing a steep 50% tariff from the US, while Pakistan was hit with only 19%.