India Won't Yield to U.S. Tariffs: Swadeshi Jagran Manch

RSS-affiliated body warns the U.S. against pressure tactics, defends India's trade autonomy

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Calling out the United States' latest tariff measures as coercive and counterproductive, Ashwani Mahajan, national convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch—an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—has issued a blunt message: India cannot and will not yield to unjust demands or trade blackmail.

Reacting to the U.S. administration's imposition of a 25% tariff on Indian imports, Mahajan asserted that "tariff and its impact is relative," adding that the move, while aggressive in tone, is neither unprecedented nor uniquely damaging to India. "The U.S. is trading with multiple countries including India's competitors—many of them are already facing some form of tariff. Its effects vary based on each country's export profile," Mahajan told The Sunday Guardian.

He pointed out that other BRICS nations like China, Brazil, and South Africa are attracting even more intense tariff scrutiny, underlining that India is hardly being singled out. "This is a broader pattern of U.S. economic pressure, not a calibrated policy," he said.