New Delhi/IBNS: In a strong response to US President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariffs on Indian imports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his country won't compromise and he is even "ready to pay heavy personal price".

The Prime Minister made the remark addressing the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in Delhi.

"For us, the welfare of our farmers is the highest priority. India will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, livestock rearers, and fisherfolk. I know I will have to pay a heavy personal price for this. But I am ready," Modi said.

"For the fisherfolk of my country, for the livestock rearers of my country — today, India is ready. We are continuously working towards increasing farmers’ income and creating new sources of livelihood," he added.

India calls Trump's 25 pct additional tariffs 'unfair, unjustified'

In a calm but strongly worded statement, New Delhi said the extra tariff was "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable" and declared that it would "take all actions necessary to protect national interests".

Within hours, the External Affairs Minister, in a statement, said the United States "has in recent days targeted India's oil imports from Russia".

"We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India. It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest".

"We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests," the statement added in no uncertain terms.

Trump's latest tax crusader takes total duties on import of Indian goods into the United States to 50 percent, 20 percent more than the tariff on China and 31 percent more than on Pakistan.

In an executive order signed, Trump wrote, "I find the Government of India is currently, directly or indirectly, importing Russian Federation oil... in my judgement I determine it necessary to impose an ad valorem duty on imports of articles from India..."

The 50 percent tariff hit comes hours after angry comments about India-US trade relations.

"India has not been a good trading partner... we settled on 25 percent... but I think I'm going to raise that substantially over the next 24 hours because they're buying Russian oil," he told a US broadcaster.

That potential change has been underlined by Trump giving Pakistan a big rate cut on Islamabad's tariff to 19 percent and signing a new trade deal, including plans to develop Pak's oil reserves.

Trump announced on Wednesday that he would increase the tariffs imposed on Indian imports "very substantially" over the next 24 hours due to India's continued purchases of Russian oil.

"India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don't do business with them. So we settled on 25 percent but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil," he told CNBC in a televised interview.

This comes a day after Trump threatened that he would "substantially" raise US tariffs on India over its purchase of Russian oil, stating that the South Asian country doesn't care for the lives lost in Ukraine.

"India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

"Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA," he said without specifying what tariff level he had in mind.

As a response to that, India had criticised the United States and European Union for singling out Indian refiners over their exports of crude.

Earlier, justifying its shift to Russia for crude, the government had said that while India's imports are "a necessity compelled by the global market situation", the nations criticising it are themselves "indulging in trade with Russia".

"In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability," it said.

"India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by the global market situation. However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion," the statement said.

India had said the European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia. In addition, it had trade in services estimated at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023.

"This is significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia that year or subsequently. European imports of LNG in 2024, in fact, reached a record 16.5mn tonnes, surpassing the last record of 15.21mn tonnes in 2022," the statement said.

(From L to R) US President Donald Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on February 25, 2020. Photo: PIB

India said Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment.

"Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals," it said.

"In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the statement said.