It is said that India has taken this step in response to US President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariff on Indian exports.
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International media reported that India has decided to postpone the plan to purchase new weapons and aircraft from the US.
It is said that India has taken this step in response to US President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariff on Indian exports.
Reuters news agency quoted three Indian officials as saying that India planned to send Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington to announce the arms purchase within a few weeks. However, now the visit has been cancelled.
According to Reuters, the discussions regarding India's purchase of the 'Stryker' combat vehicle made by General Dynamics Land Systems and the 'Javelin' anti-tank missile developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are currently on hold. However, India issued a statement on Friday saying that the news that the arms talks had stopped was "false and fabricated".
Relations between the two countries have soured after Trump imposed a 25 percent additional tax on Indian goods earlier this week. Trump said this was done to punish India for providing financial support to Moscow in the Russia-Ukraine war. Along with this, the total customs duty on the export of Indian goods has reached 50 percent. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier planned to go ahead with the purchase and joint production of these materials in February.
After there is more clarity on the tariff and the direction of the relationship between the two countries, India may move forward with the procurement of defense materials, but not as soon as expected, Reuters wrote, citing an Indian official.
America and its European allies are doing business with Moscow according to their own interests, New Delhi has responded that it has been unfairly targeted.
Prime Minister Modi called a high-level cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss the impact of the heavy tax imposed on Indian goods exported to the US. Trump has said that he will not hold trade talks with India until the current tensions are resolved.
Trump imposed this punitive tax on India to increase economic pressure on Moscow during the Russia-Ukraine war, according to NDT's analysis. India is the second largest buyer of Russian oil. Trump has also given Russia a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire. He said he would impose a punitive tax on all buyers of Russian oil. After the
, he reduced this time to 12 days, which ended on Friday. The customs duty imposed by him on Indian exports is said to be effective from August 27.
