India has suspended plans this week to procure new weapons and aircraft from the United States in clear retaliation over President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes, according to Indian Reuters.
Two officials familiar with the matter reported to Reuters that India had planned to send Defence Minister Rajnassin to Washington in a few weeks for several announcements of its purchase, but the trip was cancelled.
Following the publication of the story on Friday, the Indian government issued a statement attributed to a Ministry of Defense source describing the news reports of the suspension of discussion as “false and manufacturing.” The statement also said procurement is progressing in accordance with “existing procedures.”
He said he said the relationship between the two countries this week was said after Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday as a punishment for New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil.
This has raised the total export obligations of India to 50%.
Trump has a history of turning back courses on tariffs, and says India is actively involved in discussions with Washington. One official who spoke with Reuters said that once India clarify the direction of tariffs and bilateral relations, it could move forward with the purchase of defense, but said “as soon as they could be expected.”
Another source said no written instructions were given to suspend purchases, another source indicated that India has the option to quickly reverse the course despite “no progressive movement, at least for now.”
New Delhi, which has formed a close partnership with the US in recent years, says it has been unfairly targeted, and that Washington and its European allies continue to trade with Moscow for their interests.
Reuters reported that debate over the purchase of Indian striker combat vehicles created by the land system of general dynamics and that Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been suspended due to tariffs.
Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans in February to pursue the procurement and joint production of these items.
Singh was also planning to announce the purchase of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance aircraft and support systems for the Indian Navy during his current trip, two people said.
The talks over the procurement of the aircraft in the proposed $3.6 billion deal were at a high level, according to authorities.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics introduced questions to the Indian and US governments. Raytheon did not return a Reuters request for comment.
Tension relationship
The deepening of security ties with the US, supported by India’s shared strategic rivalry with China, has been told by many US analysts as one of the key areas of foreign policy advancements in the first Trump administration.
New Delhi is the second largest arms importer in the world, and Russia has traditionally been its top supplier. India has recently moved to imports from Western countries such as France, Israel and the United States, according to a think tank at the Stockholm Institute of International Peace.
The change in suppliers was driven in part by constraints on the ability to export Russian arms, which are being used in large quantities in Ukrainian invasions. According to Western analysts, some Russian weapons have also been performing poorly on the battlefield.
According to one Indian official, the broader US-India defense partnership, including sharing intelligence news and joint military exercises, continues without hiccups.
According to two other Indian sources speaking to Reuters, India is receiving an expansion of oil imports from Russia and can trade elsewhere, including the US, if they can get similar prices.
Trump’s threat and rising anti-AU-US sentiment in India “has made it politically difficult for Modi to make the transition from Russia to the US,” one of the people said. Nevertheless, discounts on Russian oil landing costs have been reduced to their lowest since 2022.
The rupture of US-India ties was sudden, but there was tension in the relationship. New Delhi repeatedly rebutted Trump’s claim that the US brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day battle between nuclear-armed neighbours in May. Trump also held the Pakistani Army Secretary at the White House in the weeks following the conflict.
Moscow has been actively promoting India in recent months by purchasing new defense technologies, such as the S-500’s surface-to-air missile system, according to one Indian official.
India is currently not seeing the need to purchase new arms from Moscow, two Indian officials said.
But India is unlikely to completely withdraw from Russian weapons, as decades-long partnership between the two powers means that India’s military system will continue to require Moscow’s support, one official said.
The Russian Embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
