India and US Seal Trade Deal After Tough Talks, Tariffs Cut to 18 Percent

India and the United States have finally agreed on a trade deal. This is a thing. It took them a year to talk it out.

The new deal is good for India. Now when India sends goods to the United States those goods will have a tariff. The tariff is 18 percent.

This is news for people in India who export goods to the United States. India had problems with high tariffs before. In fact India had some of the tariffs, in the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared some news on Monday. This was after he talked to US President Donald Trump on the phone. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote a post on X. In this post Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he felt good about his talk with President Donald Trump. He thanked President Donald Trump for lowering tariffs on products that are made in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this was a thing for the people of India all 1.4 billion of them. He also said it would help India and the United States grow together. Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks this decision will be good, for both India and the United States.

Modi said that when two big countries like India and the United States work together it is really good for the people of India and the United States. Modi did not talk about the trade deal in what he wrote. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said later that India and the United States have agreed on a trade deal. Ashwini Vaishnaw thinks that this trade deal is a thing, for India and the United States and that both countries will benefit from the trade deal. The trade deal is what Modi and the people of India and the United States were waiting for and now India and the United States have finally reached a trade agreement.

Before Modis post we got the information about the phone call from the US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor. He put the update on media at around 9.16 pm. President Trump then posted a message, on his platform Truth Social than an hour after Sergio Gor did. Modi shared his message on the phone call almost two hours after President Trumps post.

President Trump made a post where he talked about speaking with Prime Minister Modi. He said it was a feeling to talk to Prime Minister Modi. President Trump thinks of Prime Minister Modi as one of his friends.

President Trump and Prime Minister Modi both want to get things done. They like to work and finish what they start.

President Trump said that India will make some changes. India will lower the fees and rules that make it hard for American goods to come into India. He said these fees and rules will be zero.

India will also buy a lot of things from America. These things are worth, than 500 billion dollars. India will buy energy and technology and food from farms. They will also buy coal and other things from America. President Trump and Prime Minister Modi talked about these purchases.

Donald Trump said that India is going to stop buying oil from Russia. Instead India will buy oil from the United States and maybe from Venezuela.

Donald Trump thinks that these steps will really help to bring peace around the world. For example it can help to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The main goal of these steps is to help peace efforts like ending the war, between Russia and Ukraine which is what Donald Trump wants.

The President of the United States said that the United States will lower the tariff on goods right away. The tariff will go from 25 percent to 18 percent.

A person who works at the White House said later that the tariff on goods will really be 18 percent. The extra 25 percent tariff will be taken away because India agreed to buy oil from Russia. The United States and India made this deal and the United States will lower the tariff, on goods as part of this deal.

The new tariff of 18 percent is less than the 19 percent tariff that Pakistan has to deal with now. This gives exporters a little edge, which is really important for Indian exporters. Indian exporters can benefit from this because the 18 percent tariff is lower, than the 19 percent tariff that Pakistan faces.

This big change happened one year after India and the United States started having formal trade discussions during Prime Minister Modis visit to the United States last February. India and the United States had these trade talks for twelve months now. During this time India and the United States had six trade meetings and many other informal discussions. Then in December 2025 a group of people from the United States led by Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer went to India to help move the trade discussions, for India and the United States.

The United States officials were really happy about the agreement. The Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg said that this deal is going to bring a lot of things and help the two countries work together better on industrial projects. Now that the trade deal is done both the United States and the other country can focus on things they want to work on together and make their partnerships even stronger. The trade deal is a thing, for the United States and the other country and it will help them with industrial cooperation. Jacob Helberg thinks that the trade deal is an opportunity for the two countries to work together.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also liked the agreement. He thinks India and the United States are allies. India and the United States have things they’re good at that go well together. This means India and the United States can work together to make technologies and solutions for the world. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the trade deal will be good for the people and industries in India and the United States. The trade deal will make the future better, for India and the United States.

The US Ambassador Sergio Gor is really happy about what’s happening. He said that President Trump thinks of Prime Minister Modi as a close friend. President Trump also believes that the relationship between India and the United States has a lot of possibilities. The relationship, between India and the US is something that President Trump thinks can go a way. India and the US can do a lot of things together according to President Trump.

The trade deal details are not out yet. This news came out a few days after India and the European Union made a big trade agreement. People in charge from India and the European Union said this trade agreement is the one, the European Union and India called it the mother of all deals the trade deal, between India and the European Union is really big India and the European Union think the trade deal is the mother of all deals.

On Monday evening President Trump shared a picture of India Gate. I think it is really beautiful. He said too. President Trump also posted a magazine cover. It had a picture of himself and Prime Minister Modi on it. You can see how friendly President Trump and Prime Minister Modi are, with each other. President Trump and Prime Minister Modi have a relationship.

Modi and Trump talked on the phone before this. They last spoke on the phone in October 2025.

Modi and Trump had a talk in February year. At that time Modi and Trump agreed to finish the part of a trade deal by autumn.

Things did not move forward as planned. This happened because the US put tariffs on Indian goods. The tariffs were as high as 50 percent. There was also a 25 percent penalty tariff, on some goods.

India buys a lot of energy from Russia. This happened because Western countries were upset with Russia about the war in Ukraine so they stopped doing business with Russia. Now India is buying a little energy from Russia. India says it only buys energy when it needs to and it wants to make sure it has energy for its people. Indias energy purchases, from Russia are going down.

Relations between the two countries were also affected by other issues, such as US immigration rules and criticism of India’s ties with Russia. Despite these challenges, the new trade deal signals a fresh start and a stronger partnership between India and the United States.