‘How are India’s tariff-free exports to the US falling,’ asks Congress amid 50% tariffs

The Congress said it was expected that India’s exports to the US would fall but questioned why the tariff-free exports to the US are falling. It said the fall in the tariff-free products is a cause for concern.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “It was only to be expected that India's exports to the USA that have been subjected to higher Trump tariffs would fall. And indeed they have. But why and how are India's TARIFF-FREE exports to the USA falling?”

He quoted a news report, and added, “The analysis by the respected New Delhi-based research outfit GTRI is cause for concern, even if the data is only for four months. Of course, it reveals that exports of gems and jewellery, seafoods, textiles and garments, and chemicals have fallen. But surprisingly India's export of tariff-free products have also declined from $3.37 billion in May 2025 to $1.96 billion in August 2025. This includes exports of pharmaceuticals and smartphones. This is certainly not a seasonal fall.”

India's smartphone exports to its largest market, the US, fell 58 per cent from USD 2.29 billion in May to USD 964.8 million in August, according to the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).

The think tank described the decline as alarming and counter-intuitive, noting that there are no tariffs on smartphones. GTRI called for an urgent investigation to identify the reasons behind the fall.

Smartphone exports, which are India's largest export to the US, showed a steady month-by-month decline from May to August 2025. Tariff-free products, making up 28.5 per cent of India's exports to the US in August, experienced the sharpest contraction of 41.9 per cent, dropping from USD 3.37 billion in May to USD 1.96 billion in August.

Pharmaceutical exports also weakened during this period, falling 13.3 per cent from USD 745 million in May to USD 646.6 million in August.