A 50% US tariff on most goods from India took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on 27 August 2025. The rate combined an additional 25% duty that was already in place with a further 25% that Washington imposed as a penalty for India's purchases of Russian crude oil and military equipment, the Deccan Herald reported, citing the US notice. Textiles and apparel were among the sectors expected to be hit hardest.
Mithileshwar Thakur, secretary general of India's Apparel Export Promotion Council, said textiles, with about $10.3 billion of exports to the US, were among the worst affected. Pharmaceuticals and some electronics were exempt.
How big the trade is
The rating agency CareEdge put India's textile and apparel exports at about $35 billion in calendar 2024, of which about $10.5 billion, or 28% to 29%, went to the US. Ready-made garments made up 51% of those US shipments, worth $5.18 billion, and home textiles 37%. CRISIL Ratings estimated that India exported $16 billion of garments in the fiscal year to March 2025, $5.3 billion of it to the US, its largest market.
The new rate left India well behind its competitors. CareEdge's comparison of the additional US tariffs showed:
| Country | Additional US tariff | Textile exports to US, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 50% | $10.5 billion |
| China | 30% | $30.6 billion |
| Mexico | 25% | $5.1 billion |
| Vietnam | 20% | $16.4 billion |
| Bangladesh | 20% | $7.5 billion |
| Indonesia | 19% | $4.4 billion |
| Pakistan | 19% | $3.9 billion |
| Turkey | 15% | $2.5 billion |
Source: CareEdge Ratings, 28 August 2025. Rates are in addition to normal US duties.
Forecasts and factory stoppages
CareEdge expected India's total textile exports to fall 9% to 10% in 2026, to about $30 billion, and margins at garment and home textile exporters to shrink by 300 to 500 basis points. CRISIL forecast that revenue growth for India's ready-made garment industry would slow to 3% to 5% in the fiscal year, from 8% to 10% a year earlier, and that the US share of India's garment exports could fall to 20% to 25%. It named Tiruppur, the knitwear center in Tamil Nadu with more than 10,000 garment units, as the worst-hit hub.
On the day the tariff took effect, The Wire reported that India's apex exporters' body said textile and apparel manufacturers in Tiruppur, Noida and Surat had halted production and called for immediate government support. US buyers had brought some orders forward before the deadline: exports to the US rose 19.94% to $8.01 billion in July 2025, according to the Deccan Herald.
What it means for tailoring
India's US trade is dominated by ready-made garments and home textiles, and the sources do not break out suits or wool tailoring separately. The effect on suit buyers is indirect: brands that source tailored clothing or shirts from India face higher US import costs on those lines than on goods from Vietnam or Bangladesh. CareEdge expected some of India's lost US business to be offset by exports to the UK under the India-UK free trade agreement, to the EU and to the Middle East.
The legal basis for the 2025 country-by-country tariffs was later challenged in the US courts, and on 20 February 2026 the Supreme Court ruled that the emergency-powers law used for them did not authorize tariffs. Shoppers comparing fabric quality across price points can read our guide to polyester versus wool suits.
