Indian spice merchants and tea growers will be among global exporters who will breathe a sigh of relief along with American consumers after US President Donald Trump, feeling the heat of rising domestic prices due to tariffs, moved to lower import duties on nearly 200 food, farm, and agricultural items.
While coffee from Brazil, beef from Argentina, and bananas and other fruits from Latin and Central American countries made headlines for Trump’s tariff rollback stemming from domestic disquiet about cost of living, tucked deep in the so-called TACO (Trump always chickens out) list is a range of spices including black pepper, cloves, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, ginger etc, varieties of tea, mango derivatives, and some nuts including cashew, all of which India exports to the U.S.
Indian spice exports to the U.S was valued at more than $ 500 million in 2024, and the U.S imported tea from India worth nearly $ 90 million in the same period. The U.S also imported $843 million worth of fresh or dried cashew nuts — which also got a break — from across the world, with India accounting for around 20 percent of the imports.
Not making the cut however are Indian seafoods, including shrimp, and basmati rice, which are multi-BILLION dollar exports from India to the U.S. Indian gems, jewelry, and apparel too remain under 50 percent US tariff+sanctions, pending a trade deal that Trump has said will happen once New Delhi turns off the Russian oil spigot and steps up buying U.S energy.
