A vast majority of Indians think the country’s relationship with Russia behind Trump’s tantrums: Survey

By: Team CVoter

Despite having one of the highest tariffs, Indians still feel that a retaliatory tariff on the US could be a good response in return. Nearly 42% respondents picked the option “India should also impose higher tariffs on goods exported from the US”

A vast majority of Indians believe that the country’s familial relationship with Russia, especially with regards to its oil and weaponry, could be attributed to Donald Trump led US government to impose 25% blanket tariffs on all Indian exports to the US, shows a CVoter survey.  

The survey was conducted on 1st of August this year over 1,239 respondents across India using a Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview (CATI). When asked "In your opinion, what is the main reason behind Trump Tariffs?", nearly 35% of respondents picked the option ‘Anger over India buying crude oil and weapons from Russia’. About 17% respondents said it could be Trump’s ‘Anger over India not getting credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan’ and the remaining respondents picked India’s BRIC.

Though Indians feel that the country’s relationship with Russia might have triggered Trump, a vast majority of them believe that dealing with Russia is absolutely correct. When asked - "America has cited India's purchase of oil and arms from Russia as one of the main reasons for imposing the 25% tariff. Which of these matches with your opinion the most?" - more than 54% of the respondents agreed to the option - ‘India's decision to buy oil and arms from Russia and prioritize the best prices is absolutely correct’.  

Another 22% added - “Russia is an old friend of India, buying oil and arms from 22.8 it is in India's interest in every way”. Barely any Indians thought that going pro-Russia was India’s mistake as only 8.6% Indians said -  “It is India's mistake to keep buying oil and arms from Russia against American interests”.  

Despite having one of the highest tariffs, Indians still feel that a retaliatory tariff on the US could be a good response in return. Nearly 42% respondents picked the option “India should also impose higher tariffs on goods exported from the US” when asked - "What do you think is the strongest step India should take in response to the US imposing a 25% tariff on Indian goods?". For the same question, about 20% respondents said “India should be fair and simplify its trade policies with the US”.  

Nearly 15% respondents also said that the country should strengthen its relations with the US when they picked“India should reduce dependence on America by increasing trade in markets of the EU, ASEAN, Africa, etc.”