Chris Wood of Jefferies has slammed the Donald Trump-led administration for levying 50 per cent tariffs on Indian products entering the United States. He termed the increased tariffs as “draconian”. The US has imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods as a penalty for buying Russian oil.
While coming down hard on the Trump administration, Wood stated that India’s economy could absorb a direct hit of $55–60 billion from the tariffs.
The Trump administration has accused India of fuelling the Russia-Ukraine war by purchasing discounted crude oil from Moscow. Trump’s trade advisor, Peter Navarro has stated that money from India’s oil purchases goes straight into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war chest”.
US Tariff impact: $55-60 bn blow to Indian economy
“This amounts to an estimated $55–60 billion blow to the economy, with the most negatively impacted sectors being textiles, footwear, jewellery, and gems – all of which are employment-intensive,” Wood stated in his weekly newsletter, GREED & Fear.
Wood, the Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies, in his weekly newsletter was critical of Trump saying that the tariffs on India are a result of the incumbent USA president’s “personal pique” as New Delhi denied his role in resolving India-Pakistan tensions in May 2025.
Wood noted that India’s firm stand that no third country played any role in putting an end to military conflict with Pakistan, deprived Trump of “one of his opportunities to win the Nobel Peace Prize.”
“The draconian tariffs India now faces are the result of an unfortunate series of events, compounded by the fact that Trump has not ended the Ukraine conflict as he had promised,” he said.
US-India tariff row: Impact on Agriculture, IT sectors
Wood emphasised that despite the 50 per cent tariffs, India’s agriculture and IT sector are largely insulated. He maintained that no Indian government would open agriculture to imports as a vast section of the population is dependent on farming.
“Nearly 250 million farmers and related labour derive their incomes from agriculture, with the sector accounting for nearly 40% of India’s workforce,” he said.
Commenting on India’s IT sector, he mentioned that Trump has not hit India’s IT services sector which is worth $150 billion. “When Trump talks about trade, he seems almost solely focused on goods,” Wood said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s GST reforms agenda which calls for reducing the four current tax bands to just two, i.e. 5% and 18% is projected to boost the domestic sector and withstand the tariff impact to a great extent.
Woods also opined that the US-India tariff war would push New Delhi closer to China. “India needs China’s cheap goods, for example, solar panels,” he noted.
He cautioned the United States that India getting closer to China is not good for America’s interests.