There is a fundamental shift underway in US trade policy. After more than a year in which President Donald Trump relied mainly on executive powers to impose tariffs, the US Congress is now moving to strengthen and expand his tariff strategy through legislation.

The clearest example is the Russia sanctions Bill. On July 28, the US Senate voted 86-12 to advance the Bill, which would authorise Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries buying Russian oil, including India. The strong bipartisan vote makes Senate approval highly likely. The Bill must still pass the House of Representatives and be signed by the President before becoming law.

The message is clear: Tariffs are no longer just presidential actions under existing laws — they are increasingly becoming an instrument of US economic and foreign policy, backed by Congress. India should recognise this structural shift and frame its trade strategy accordingly, rather than treating each new tariff measure as temporary or isolated.

The events of July 24 had already pointed in the same direction. Exporters had expected the temporary Section 122 tariff to expire and US imports to revert to normal WTO most-favoured-nation (MFN) tariff rates. Instead, Washington kept the tariff in place by replacing one legal instrument with another.

Just hours before the Section 122 tariff expired, the US Trade Representative imposed new Section 301 tariffs on imports from 60 economies, citing forced-labour concerns. The tariff burden remained largely unchanged; only its legal basis changed. This showed that maintaining higher tariffs had become a policy objective, regardless of the legal instrument used.

India’s experience illustrates this shift. Although Washington reduced India’s tariff from the proposed 12.5 per cent to 10 per cent after recognising its ban on imports made with forced labour, it still imposed the tariff despite producing no credible evidence that India........

© Indian Express