India appears to have taken one of its first concrete retaliatory actions against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as three Indian officials told Reuters on Friday that arms purchases from the United States have been put on hold, and a planned visit by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington has been canceled.
President Trump imposed a 25 percent general tariff on India at the beginning of August, plus another 25 percent punitive tariff against India’s vast purchases of Russian oil. The total 50 percent tariff rate is scheduled to take effect on August 26.
Reuters’ sources said the “pause” on arms purchases was indefinite and could be lifted quickly, if trade negotiations between India and the United States bear fruit before the 50 percent tariff takes effect.
India has traditionally relied upon Russian and Soviet Union military hardware, but that seemingly began to change after a series of border clashes with China in the Himalayas in 2020.
Although the border battles did not actually involve military gear — both sides required their soldiers to fight without firearms to avoid escalation, so they wound up pummeling each other with fists and improvised melee weapons — the shadow of a larger all-out military conflict hung over the region. Both India and China moved troops and weapons to the Himalayan border, and both sides soon began allowing their border forces to carry guns.
The situation on the Himalayan border has settled down quite a bit, although tensions have not completely dissipated. The border crisis prompted some deep thinking in India about its military posture and heavy dependence on Russia for weapons.
The uninspiring performance of Russian equipment in Ukraine and Iran may have encouraged New Delhi to shop around.
Also, India has long been one of the world’s top importers of weapons, nudged out of the top spot only because Ukraine began receiving huge arms shipments after Russia invaded in 2022. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to increase domestic arms production as part of his “Make in India” initiative.
When President Donald Trump returned to the White House in February 2025, he pushed hard for India to buy more arms from the United States, suggesting it might be a way for India to reduce its massive trade deficit with America. Trump further hoped that developing a strong defense relationship with India would help to pry it away from the China-dominated BRICS economic bloc, which also includes India’s traditional arms supplier, Russia.
Trump paved the way for this transition during his first administration. India had been designated a “Major Defense Partner” near the end of the Obama administration, and in 2018 Trump granted Strategic Trade Authorization Tier 1 status, clearing the way for India to purchase a broad range of military and dual-use equipment.
Indian arms purchases soared to over $24 billion, including top-shelf American helicopters, transport aircraft, drones, missiles, air defenses, and electronics. Many of those deals included co-production options so India could begin manufacturing the items domestically. India’s arms imports from Russia meanwhile dwindled to about 36 percent over the past five years.
The U.S. was India’s third-largest arms supplier at the dawn of the second Trump administration, leaving plenty of room for growth. Trump offered to bring India into the F-35 joint strike fighter program, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew from the offer after Trump announced the first 25 percent tariff on Indian goods at the beginning of August, announcing he would buy the fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 “Felon” fighter from Russia instead.
Some observers thought India was never all that serious about buying F-35s, since they are far more expensive than the Russian plane and incompatible with India’s vast inventory of legacy Russian hardware, but Modi was evidently willing to entertain the offer to stay in Trump’s good graces while trade negotiations were underway.
According to Reuters, the arms deals India intends to put on hold over the second round of Trump tariffs include the Stryker combat vehicle, the Javelin anti-tank missile, and the Boeing P-8I reconnaissance aircraft.
The Stryker deal, which also involved Canada, was already in trouble because some Indian officials preferred to push forward with a program to manufacture domestic fighting vehicles known as Wheeled Armored Platforms (WhAP). As of February 2025, the plan was for India to buy a few hundred Strykers with mounted anti-tank weapons and later begin co-producing the vehicles.
India is also seeking a co-production deal for the Javelin anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), possibly after buying some missiles from the U.S. under an “emergency procurement” order to beef up India’s anti-tank capabilities against Pakistan and China.
India purchased small numbers of Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft in 2009 and 2016, primarily to improve its surveillance capabilities over the Indian Ocean region where China has become more active.
India was apparently pleased with the performance of the P-8I as it made a $2.42 billion offer to buy six more of them, which was approved by the U.S. State Department in 2021. Indian media reported on Thursday that the purchase was delayed due to “significant cost escalations and changing strategic priorities.”
On Friday, the Indian Defense Ministry rejected the Reuters report as “false and fabricated.”
“It is clarified that the various cases of procurement are being progressed as per the extant procedures,” the ministry said, hinting at the above-mentioned hitches in procurement of the Stryker, Javelin, and P-8I.
The Defense Ministry insisted there is “no pause in talks related to buying U.S. arms.”
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