Politics
In India, Trump’s tariffs spark calls to boycott American goods
- US-based beverage companies often dominate store shelves in India.
- Country biggest market for popular messaging platform WhatsApp.
- Growing chorus on social media to buy local and ditch US products.
NEW DELHI: US-based multinationals are facing boycott calls in India as business executives and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supporters stoke anti-American sentiment to protest against US tariffs.
India, the world’s most populous nation, is a key market for American brands that have rapidly expanded to target a growing base of affluent consumers, many of whom remain infatuated with international labels seen as symbols of moving up in life.
India, for example, is the biggest market by users for Meta’s WhatsApp and a popular pizza chain has more restaurants than any other brand in the country.
US-based beverage companies often dominate store shelves, and people still queue up when a new smartphone store opens or a coffee shop doles out discounts.
Although there was no immediate indication of sales being hit, there’s a growing chorus both on social media and offline to buy local and ditch American products after Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on goods from India, rattling exporters and damaging ties between New Delhi and Washington.
Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of a local company selling skin-care products, took to LinkedIn with a video message urging support for farmers and startups to make “Made in India” a “global obsession,” and to learn from South Korea, whose food and beauty products are famous worldwide.
“We have lined up for products from thousands of miles away. We have proudly spent on brands that we don’t own, while our own makers fight for attention in their own country,” he said.
Rahm Shastry, CEO of a local company which provides a car driver on call service, wrote on LinkedIn: “India should have its own home-grown Twitter/Google/YouTube/WhatsApp/FB — like China has”.
To be fair, Indian retail companies give foreign brands stiff competition in the domestic market, but going global has been a challenge.
Indian IT services firms, however, have become deeply entrenched in the global economy, with the likes of TCS and Infosys providing software solutions to clients worldwide.
On Sunday, Modi made a “special appeal” for becoming self-reliant, telling a gathering in Bengaluru that Indian technology companies made products for the world but “now is the time for us to give more priority to India’s needs”, however, he did not name any company.
‘Don’t drag my coffee into it’
Even as anti-American protests simmer, Tesla launched its second showroom in India in New Delhi, with Monday’s opening attended by Indian commerce ministry officials and US embassy officials.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch group, which is linked to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), took out small public rallies across India on Sunday, urging people to boycott American brands.
“People are now looking at Indian products. It will take some time to fructify,” Ashwani Mahajan, the group’s co-convenor, told Reuters. “This is a call for nationalism, patriotism”.
He also shared with Reuters a table his group is circulating on WhatsApp, listing Indian brands of bath soaps, toothpaste and cold drinks that people could choose over foreign ones.
On social media, one of the group’s campaigns is a graphic titled “Boycott foreign food chains”, with logos of many restaurant brands.
In Uttar Pradesh, Rajat Gupta, 37, who was dining at a US-based restaurant chain in Lucknow on Monday, said he wasn’t concerned about the tariff protests and simply enjoyed the INR49 ($0.55) coffee he considered good value for money.
“Tariffs are a matter of diplomacy and my coffee should not be dragged into it,” he said.
A number of Iranian senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have embraced martyrdom in the “unprovoked and unwarranted” airstrikes by Israel and the United States.
As crowds gathered in Tehran, explosions rang out, and the Israeli military announced that it was again striking targets in the heart of the city — as more blasts were heard in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and Manama.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian declared Khamenei’s assassination a “declaration of war against Muslims” and warned: “Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime.”
Iranian state media have confirmed the killing of several senior figures:
1. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran
2. Ali Shamkhani, representative of the Supreme Leader in the Supreme Defence Council
3. General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Iran’s Armed Forces chief of staff
4. Major General Mohammad Pakpour, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
5. Aziz Nasirzadeh, Minister of Defence
6. Gholamreza Rezaian, police intelligence chief of Iran
Separately, the daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter of Ali Khamenei also embraced martyrdom in the US and Israeli airstrikes.
Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations has vehemently denounced the fresh and unprovoked Israeli-American war on the Islamic Republic, asserting that the country will continue to act in self-defense until the end of the unlawful aggression.
Amir-Saeid Iravani made the remarks at a UN Security Council meeting on Sunday regarding the joint strikes that were launched against the country earlier on Saturday.
The nation, he stated, was facing armed aggression and a war against international law, which could not be justified by any excuse.
Referring to Iran’s decisive and ongoing retaliatory strikes, under the codename Operation True Promise 4, the envoy said it serves as a legitimate act of self-defense.
The Islamic Republic would continue to exercise its legitimate right to self-defense until the aggression ends, Iravani told the world body.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has so far launched at least five waves of counterstrikes against numerous Israeli and American targets in response to the aggression.
IRGC has pledged to sustain the counterstrikes until the enemies’ “complete defeat,” while noting that the reprisal exceeds by far the proportions of its previous round of retaliations against Tel Aviv’s and Washington’s imposed war on the nation last June.
Addressing the same meeting, Russia’s UN envoy said Iran had been once again “stabbed in the back,” referring to the country’s coming under fresh aggression, while engaging in indirect talks with the United States aimed at resolving standing issues.
Vasily Nebenzya condemned an attack on a school in Iran that took place as part of the renewed aggression, claiming the lives of more than 100 people, calling it a sign of “unjustified aggression” by the Israeli regime and the United States against a UN member state.
He described the atrocities as “unjustifiable” and a “betrayal of diplomacy.”
- PM Modi describes accident as “deeply distressing”.
- Maharashtra CM terms it “extremely unfortunate.”
- Industrial accidents are common in India.
A blast at an explosives factory killed at least 17 people and injured 18 others on Sunday, officials in the western Indian state of Maharashtra said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the accident was “deeply distressing” and wished a speedy recovery to the survivors.
Maharashtra state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis called the incident “extremely unfortunate and tragic” in a post on X.
The accident happened in Nagpur, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) from state capital Mumbai.
“Rescue operations have been accelerated, and so far, 17 people have lost their lives,” Fadnavis said, adding 18 others were injured.
An investigation has been ordered into the incident.
On Saturday, 21 people were killed in an explosion at a firecracker factory in the southeastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Industrial accidents are common in India, often due to disregard for safety requirements and lax enforcement.
Last year, a firework factory explosion in western India killed 21 people.
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