The United States Supreme Court Friday struck down President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs that he had imposed on several countries, including India, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
However, Trump has said he can use Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to continue to impose 10 per cent tariffs on partner countries.
India and the United States have reached a framework for an Interim Trade Agreement (ITA), announced on February 6, 2026, following negotiations initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump in early 2025.
The deal aims to de-escalate a trade war and serves as a precursor to a comprehensive Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
“We have to go back to the drawing board and we have to re-strategise. There are countries who have stood up to Trump tariffs and there are fellow travellers in the BRICS – Brazil and China – who also have been imposed steep tariffs and who decided to battle it out,” Dhar, former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), told StratNewsGlobal on the Gist.
He said India should leverage its role of being a “strong negotiator” even as it safeguarded its own interest at the cost of mega trade deals collapsing in the past.
“Today, as the fourth largest economy, we should have better leverage … We should be doing these deals looking at the best interest of our country. If Trump says he wants to Make America Great Again, then our government is saying it wants to be a ‘Viksit Bharat’…
“We need our partners to understand where we are coming from because international negotiations are all about give and take,” Dhar, former Head of the Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), said.
He said India should create a grouping of sorts with other developing countries to address the Trump administration’s tariff measures.
“India has been talking about a Global South for the last three years since the G-20 Summit. What better opportunity than now to re-energise the Global South discourse bringing all these issues on the table and negotiate in a fair and a square manner with the United States,” he suggested.
President Trump, in his second tenure, has used trade and tariffs as geopolitical tools to put pressure on all its allies and adversaries. In India’s case, he has consistently spoken about bringing about a ceasefire with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, which took place in May 2025.
While trade tensions continue to put pressure on the bilateral ties between India and the US, New Delhi was made a full-time member of the Pax Silica coalition of countries on 20 February. The grouping includes the European Union, Canada, Japan and South Korea.
In a media conference held by Trump after the Supreme Court’s ruling was unveiled, the US President said “nothing changes” in the ITA with India.
“Core of the interim agreement goes now. The 18 per cent tariff no longer remains. So there is no ambiguity at this point … As far as the trade deal is concerned, we have not signed on it and we are still negotiating it… We should use this moment and try to extract benefits,” Dhar highlighted.
