US President Donald Trump announces 26% 'discounted reciprocal tariff' on India; What does it mean?

United States President Donald Trump has announced significant reciprocal tariffs on India as part of a major tariffs announcement that will affect countries around the world. Describing it as "discounted reciprocal tariff," Trump said the US will charge an import duty of 26% on India. The 78-year-old US president called the tariffs levied by New Delhi as "very very tough."
"Their Prime Minister (PM Narendra Modi) just left (the US)...he is a great friend of mine, but I said to him that 'you're a friend of mine, but you've not been treating us right.' India charges us 52 percent, so we will charge them half of that -- 26 percent."

Tariffs on other countries
In his speech on Wednesday (April 2), Trump announced an even harsher 34 percent tariff on imports coming from China. He said he was being kind to India and China by charging roughly half of their own tariffs.
Trump further announced that countries in the European Union (EU) will face a 20 percent import duty while the United Kingdom will face a 10% levy.

'We do to them what they do to us'
"For far too long, other countries have looted and plundered us, while taking advantage of our policies. But no longer. April 2nd will forever be known as Liberation Day -- when America reclaimed its industries. We will now impose reciprocal tariffs on countries that tariff us -- Reciprocal means we do to them, what they do to us, as simple as that," he said.
"By doing this we will reclaim our jobs, we will reclaim our industry, we will reclaim our small and medium scale businesses...and we will make America wealthy again. Jobs will come roaring into America now."

Impact on India
The exact and industry-specific impact of the US tariffs will become clear once more details emerge. But the hiked tariffs could have wide-ranging effects on the Indian economy. Indian goods are set to become more expensive for consumers in the US, potentially leading to lower demand. This could eventually disrupt India's GDP growth as US exports are a key part of it.