SRINAGAR: Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, a former carpet weaver in India’s Jammu and Kashmir region, now sells tea on the shores of the scenic Dal Lake, abandoning his craft of 35 years after increased US tariffs left him unable to afford his children’s school fees and medicine for his family of six.
Thousands of Indian artisans and weavers have been battered by US President Donald Trump’s move in August to double tariffs to 50 percent on Indian goods. Bhat, 49, hired a weaver to finish his last carpet before he laid down his tools.
“This profession is dying,” he told Reuters, days before he switched occupations.
The US buys nearly 60 percent of India’s handmade carpets, according to industry estimates.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir, with a handicraft industry that, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Industry Chamber, employs about 400,000 people, is known for its Persian-style tufted and knotted varieties.
