"‘We’re scared of losing our jobs’: industries in India fear impact of Trump’s 50% tariffs", 5 September 2025

[...]

...the US president, Donald Trump, last week slapped a 50% tariff on more than half of India’s £65bn worth of merchandise exports to the country’s largest market...

The pain is visible in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu’s booming textile hub. “We’re scared of losing our jobs. Many of us borrowed money to come here. If the factories cut workers, we will have nothing,” Harihar Pradhan, a 32-year-old migrant worker from Odisha told the Times of India...

Factories in Tirupur, as well as Noida in Uttar Pradesh, near Delhi, and Gujarat, are already shuttering production lines, according to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

Alongside textiles, India’s gems, jewellery and seafood industries face the same tariffs: 50%, compared with 15-20% for competitors in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and South Korea.

Effective rates, once exemptions and existing duties are folded in, are even more punishing: 62% for ready-made garments, up from 12%, and 60% for shrimp, for example. “That’s a massive competitive disadvantage,” said Aurodeep Nandi, an economist at the Asian investment bank Nomura.

Margins in these industries were razor-thin to begin with. The new tariffs could push them into loss-making territory, threatening factory closures, mass job losses and the unravelling of supply chains built over decades.

Kirit Bhansali, the chair of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, warned of “devastation”...“A blanket tariff of this magnitude will inflate costs, delay shipments, distort pricing and place immense pressure on every part of the value chain. We fear exports to the US could fall by over 75%, impacting polished diamonds, jewellery and coloured gemstones alike.”

Indian exporters rushed shipments to the US in August to beat the fall of the tariff hammer... A Jaipur exporter added: “Global buyers are highly price-sensitive. Even a 5% tariff difference can turn away buyers.”...

The economic ripple effects spread quickly: fewer tiffin meals get ordered; smaller earnings for drivers and delivery staff, and weaker sales for local vendors.

A Kolkata [shrimp] exporter said: “With the tariffs, India’s shrimp will become super-expensive in the US market...” Leather exporters, too, are bracing for tough times. The US buys a fifth of India’s leather goods, from shoes to handbags...

Many Indian exporters had expected tariffs of 10-15%, low enough to keep themselves in play as a seller to the US. Instead, they are finding themselves priced out...

Economists reckon the tariffs could shave up to one percentage point off India’s GDP this year...