04.08.2025 19:17
On August 4th, 2025, former US President Donald Trump announced a significant escalation of trade tensions with India. His declaration, disseminated via Truth Social, targeted India's alleged practice of purchasing and reselling Russian oil at a substantial profit. This action, he claimed, warranted an immediate and substantial increase in tariffs on Indian imports.
The threatened tariff hikes, if implemented, could dramatically reshape the billions of dollars in bilateral trade between the US and India. Sectors like automotive manufacturing and information technology stand to be particularly vulnerable to the potential economic fallout. While the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, publicly endorsed Trump's stance, emphasizing the importance of transparent financial dealings, no official policy documents detailing these new tariffs have yet been released. Furthermore, neither the Indian government nor major Indian corporations have issued any formal responses to Trump’s announcement.
Interestingly, the immediate impact on the cryptocurrency market appears minimal. Major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH), currently trading at $3,648.81 with a market cap of $440.45 billion and a 11.73% market dominance, showed no significant immediate reaction. Although Ethereum's 24-hour trading volume dipped slightly by 7.31%, its 90-day price increase of 105.67% (according to CoinMarketCap data) suggests a continued resilience against this geopolitical development. A daily chart screenshot from CoinMarketCap at 15:29 UTC on August 4th, 2025, further supports this observation.
The potential economic ramifications, however, remain a significant concern. Analysts from the Coincu research team, citing internet sources, suggest that a full-blown tariff war could cause considerable disruption to industries heavily reliant on US-India trade relationships. This echoes Trump’s previous trade actions; his 2018-2019 tariff measures against China created substantial volatility in both equity and cryptocurrency markets, prompting investors to shift towards safer assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The current situation, therefore, warrants close monitoring to assess its long-term effects on global trade and financial markets.
