Claim : US President Donald Trump has raised India’s tariff from 18% to 28%
Conclusion : The claim is false. There is no credible, confirmed move by the United States to raise tariffs on Indian imports from 18 percent to 28 percent. As of now, it is uncertain whether India’s tariff will fluctuate between 10 percent or 18 percent after the US Supreme Court Ruling. The White House has confirmed that India is to temporarily pay 10 percent tariff.
Rating : Mostly False 
Several social media users have claimed that India will now pay the USA 28 percent of tariff instead of 18 percent that was agreed in a trade deal. Verified X user ‘TikeshMeshram28’ shared such a post that following a recent 10% tariff imposition by former President Donald Trump, India now pays a 28% tariff on exports to the USA, while the USA pays 0% on exports to India. The post includes a video clip and attributes a quote to Trump: “Deal with India is great. Now India is giving us tariffs, we are not giving tariffs to India.” View the post below –
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be false. There is no verified or official decision showing that the United States has increased tariffs on Indian goods from 18 percent to 28 percent. Following the US Supreme Court ruling, there is still some uncertainty over whether the applicable rate will settle at 10 percent or return to 18 percent. The White House has clarified that India will, for the time being, face a 10 percent tariff, and any claim suggesting a hike to 28 percent is false.
1.Before February 2, 2026 trade deal, India faced a 25 percent tariff. This rate was reduced to 18% under the new agreement announced between India and the United States.
2. Next, we learnt about the trade deal which India and the United States of America already had in place. On February 2, 2026, India and the USA announced a trade deal which reduced India’s tariff from 25% to 18%. The White House published an official fact sheet regarding this deal.
3. We learnt from a report that Trump’s administration imposed a 10 percent tariff “on all goods not covered by current exemptions” after the US Supreme Court struck down a bulk of Trump’s tariffs. Trump imposed this 10 percent using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows “the president to enact tariffs to address “large and serious United States balance-of-payment deficits.”
This announcement was made hours after the US Supreme court ruling and set to take effect from 24 February 2026 at 12:01 a.m. EST.
View a section from the report below –
The claim’s 28 percent figure appears to be calculated by adding the 10 percent global tariff announced by Trump on February 21, 2026, to the earlier 18 percent reciprocal tariff under the US-India trade deal. This interpretation is incorrect because the new 10 percent tariff imposed under Section 122 replaces the earlier country specific reciprocal rates rather than being added on top of them. After understanding this, we examined whether India continues to face 18 percent or whether the rate has been reduced to 10 percent.
According to a report published by The Hindustan Times on February 27, 2026 “India now faces a lower tariff rate of 10 per cent, down from 18 per cent,” after the US Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump’s earlier reciprocal tariffs. White House later clarified that, for now, India would be charged a 10 per cent tariff.” View a section from the report below –
This has also been confirmed by a report published by News on AIR which mentions “a White House official has clarified that the tariff on India will drop to 10 per cent temporarily following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new global tariff.” Meanwhile, India’s External Affairs Ministry said both sides are working to finalise a mutually beneficial trade deal, with an Indian delegation set to visit the US next week. We did not find any evidence of a 28% tariff being mentioned anywhere or imposed by the United States.
Lastly, regarding the video from the claim, it has been taken from a press conference which CNN-News 18 has covered it here. The Hindustan Times has also covered his statement, where Trump saying “Nothing changes. They’ll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs,” However, as confirmed by The White House, India is now to temporarily pay 10 per cent tariff and not 18 percent.
Thus, the claim is false.
