The Australia India Institute hosted a webinar on ‘Tariffs and Tensions: Assessing India’s ‘America’ Dilemma’ on Wednesday, September 10 2025.
A burgeoning India-US relationship has suddenly run off course as the US President doubled tariffs to a punitive 50% on Indian goods exports and the reported cancellation of his visit to New Delhi for the Quad summit later this month.
Trumps aggressive tariffs threaten to stall India’s economic growth, while his absence at the Quad could signal a deprioritisation of a strategically significant Indo-Pacific partnership. India’s ‘America’ dilemma looms large, managing economic pressure from its largest export market, the sudden escalation threatens to upend hard-won diplomatic progress and test New Delhi’s resolve to maintain both strategic autonomy and regional stability.
Moderated by CEO of the Australia India Institute, Lisa Singh, attendees heard from the diplomatic editor of the Hindu, Suhasini Haidar, Former Australian Ambassador to the United States of America and High Commissioner to India, John McCarthy AO, CEO of the United States Studies Centre, Michael J Green and Research Fellow at the Australia India Institute, Teesta Prakash.