
India's electronics manufacturing sector grapples with uncertainty over Trump's tariff threat
US recession. A raging tariff war. Supply chains in disarray. Companies grappling with uncertainty. Governments on tenterhooks.
It hasn't even been two months since Donald Trump was sworn in as US President and it has been more dramatic than an episode of his reality show The Apprentice. On March 5, Trump underlined this with his plan forreciprocal tariffs on countries such as India and China.
“Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal, back and forth,” Trump said in his first address to the joint session of Congress.
In the past, Trump has gone so far as to call India a “tariff king.” Last month, during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House, Trump had said that India has “been very strong on tariffs.” As an example, he said that a 70% tariff on US cars going into India “makes it pretty much impossible to sell those cars.”
Though Trump specifically mentioned the auto sector and didn't refer to electronic goods in his address to Congress, Indian electronics are a key item imported by US tech firms. Apple and others have been rapidly expanding their manufacturing presence in India but tariffs threaten to drive up their overall costs and squeeze the advantage of making in India.
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For context, India's net exports of electronics amount to $30 billion. Of this, 60% is that of smartphones and two-thirds of those are said to be Apple’s iPhones. So