India offers ‘final’ deal to U.S., but tariff removal is focus Business News & Hub

India has offered the U.S. a revised “final” deal, but its priority now is the removal of the additional 25% tariffs linked to Russian oil, two different sources have confirmed to The Hindu. 

As per the latest submission, India has offered to “immediately” remove tariffs on the import of items like walnuts, almonds, apples, and industrial goods. However, these would be part of a larger Bilateral Trade Agreement, while India right now is focussing on the removal of the 25% tariffs.

A U.S. team led by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Rick Switzer was in New Delhi for two days until December 12. The U.S. currently imposes a 50% tariff on imports from India, including a 25% reciprocal tariff and a 25% ‘penalty’ for India’s import of Russian oil. 

“India has offered the U.S. team a revised deal,” an official in the Government of India aware of the latest developments in the trade deal told The Hindu on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue. “This is the final offer that India can make.”

Removing Russian oil tariffs

“The focus now is on removing the 25% Russian oil tariffs,” the official explained. “Indian exporters have told the government that they can deal with 25% tariffs since the lowest global tariff is 19%, but 50% tariffs are hurting.”

Two days ago, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, while testifying before the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, said that India was a “tough nut to crack”, but that the offers it has made to the U.S. were the “best we’ve ever received as a country”.

According to a second official, Indian exporters are currently retaining customers by absorbing the higher tariffs as they feel that this is cheaper and easier than losing customers and then trying to reacquire them later. But this is eating into their profits. 

Concessions and compromise

“They have appealed very sincerely to the government that at least the additional 25% tariff be handled and so the government is pushing for that,” the second official said. 

The latest version of India’s offer to the U.S. includes an offer to “immediately” remove tariffs on the import of tree nuts such as almonds and walnuts, apples, industrial goods, and items such as luxury motorcycles in return for the U.S. removing the additional 25% tariff. 

“The two teams of negotiators have broadly done what they can, the ball is in Trump’s court to accept the deal or not,” the second official said.

This is confirmed by the fact that Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday told reporters in Mumbai that Mr. Switzer’s visit was not “centred around negotiations”. 

Stepping back on Russian oil

A previous analysis of government trade data by The Hindu found that India has been cutting back on its Russian oil imports well before the U.S. imposed its penalty tariffs in August.

The data shows that India’s imports of Russian oil in October 2025 were down 38% in terms of value and 31% in terms of volume as compared to October last year.

The data also shows that, over the previous 12 months up to October 2025, India had cut its Russian oil imports in nine.