Textiles, footwear, jewellery, gems and seafood are sectors most affected in trade with US, India’s biggest market
I
ndia has long been one of the world’s great garment houses, turning out everything from cheap T-shirts to intricate embroidery. Last year, textile and garment exports to the US alone fetched £21bn, riding a wave of strong consumer demand.
Now the trade is in jeopardy. With the stroke of a pen, 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. A supply chain once prized for being cheap suddenly became among the priciest.
The scale of the hit is sobering. Christopher Wood, the global head of equity strategy at the investment bank Jefferies, puts the economic blow at £41bn-£45bn, singling out textiles, footwear, jewellery and gems, all of which are highly labour-intensive, as “the most negatively impacted”.
