Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 8: India’s senior defence officials on Friday rejected a British media report claiming that New Delhi has paused its plans to procure several US defence systems in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs.
Officials dismissed the report as “false and fabricated” and clarified that the various cases (deals) of procurement are being processed as per the extant procedures.
News agency Reuters had released an “exclusive report” quoting three Indian officials familiar with the matter, claimed that India has put on hold its plans to procure news US weapons and aircrafts as the first “concrete sign of discontent” after 50% tariffs imposed on India’s exports by President Donald Trump, among the highest of any U.S. trading partners.
In a strong statement, India called the US President’s move “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said India will take all actions necessary to “protect its national interests.
Reuters had reported India has paused its plans to procure several US defence systems in the backdrop of Trump’s tariff dispute with New Delhi. “The discussions to purchase– Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N)– have been put on hold for now by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.”
The share of Russia, which is India’s largest arms supplier, has come down in recent years as New Delhi looked beyond Moscow for its defence needs. After signing a historic nuclear deal in 2008 with India, the US emerged as the second-largest arms supplier to New Delhi.
The US-India defence trade has grown from under USD 1 billion to over USD 18 billion. Major acquisitions of India include C-130J, C-17, P-8I Poseidon, AH-64 Apaches, CH-47 Chinooks, and M-777 howitzers.
Last month, the Indian Army received the first consignment of Apache helicopters from the United States. India-US Defence cooperation remains multifaceted and includes regular institutionalised bilateral dialogue, military exercises, and defence procurements. Since 2022, four USʼ Maritime Sealift Command ships have visited Indian Shipyards for repair and allied services based on commercial contracts.
During PM Modi’s meeting with Trump at the White House in February, both leaders announced plans to pursue this year new procurements and co-production arrangements for “Javelin” Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and “Stryker” Infantry Combat Vehicles in India to rapidly meet India’s defence requirements. To advance defence ties further, they also announced plans to sign this year a new ten-year Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership in the 21st Century.
Claiming that the Trump’s tariffs had “dragged the ties between the two countries to the lowest level in decades,” Reuters in its report said, “India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said.”
The report also said President Trump had a “history of rapidly reversing himself on tariffs, and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of the people said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but “just not as soon as they were expected to.” It also claimed that “written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, another official said, indicating that Delhi had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was “no forward movement at least for now.”