US imports from India reached $103,776.3 million in 2025, and an additional 25 percent duty came and went within six months
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Ossiano Guides · Sectors and corridors
The India to US corridor runs with a wide US goods deficit, an extra duty that applied from August 27, 2025 to February 7, 2026, and payment terms that range from letters of credit to open account.
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01 · The corridor in numbers
India ships more than twice as much to the United States as it buys
The United States bought $103,776.3 million of goods from India in 2025. It sold $45,354.3 million of goods to India in the same year. Both figures come from the US Census Bureau's Trade in Goods with India page, in nominal US dollars.
Both flows grew. In 2024, US imports from India were $87,284.8 million and US exports to India were $41,581.2 million, per the Census Bureau. Imports rose 18.89 percent from 2024 to 2025. Exports rose 9.07 percent. In 2025, imports were 2.29 times exports. Our Research Desk calculated these changes from the Census figures.
The gap between the two flows is the , the value of exports minus the value of imports. The Census country page shows a US balance with India of $-58,422.1 million in 2025 and $-45,703.6 million in 2024. A negative balance is a deficit: the United States buys more from India than it sells there.
The Census Bureau's Annual 2025 Press Highlights put the 2025 deficit with India at $58.2 billion and called it the highest on record. That report uses a different basis from the country page, so the two figures differ slightly. This guide uses the country page for the corridor series.
The flow has kept going in 2026. From January to July 2026, US imports from India were $58,876.3 million and US exports to India were $30,437.9 million, a balance of $-28,438.4 million, the Census Bureau reports. Over those seven months, imports were 1.93 times exports, on our Research Desk's calculation.
Figure 1 · Interactive
US goods trade with India, 2024 and 2025
Tap a bar to see the value for that year and direction.
Source: US Census Bureau, Trade in Goods with India, accessed September 30, 2026. Millions of US dollars, nominal, not seasonally adjusted. Year-on-year changes calculated by our Research Desk.
02 · The duty window
An extra 25 percent duty applied from August 2025 to February 2026, with an exception for goods already at sea
A US duty on goods from India rose for about five months. A duty is a tax paid when goods enter a country. This one was an , which means it was charged as a share of the goods' value.
Executive Order 14329, signed on August 6, 2025, added a 25 percent duty on imports of "articles of India", meaning goods from India. An executive order is a formal order from the US President, published in the Federal Register. The extra duty applied from 12:01 a.m. EDT on August 27, 2025. It came on top of any duty the goods already paid.
The order made an exception for goods already on their way. Goods loaded and in transit before 12:01 a.m. EDT on August 27, 2025 were excepted if they were entered into the United States before 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 17, 2025, the order states. "Entered" here means brought into the country through customs, part of .
Executive Order 14384 removed the extra duty. From 12:01 a.m. EST on February 7, 2026, goods from India were no longer subject to it, according to the Federal Register notice.
During the window, dates mattered. On our Research Desk's reading of the order, the loading date on the and the date of entry decided which rate applied to a shipment. A bill of lading is the document a shipping line issues when it receives the goods.
Figure 2
The additional duty on articles of India, by date
Read down for each date and what changed.
Sources: Federal Register, Executive Order 14329 (FR Doc. 2025-16419) and Executive Order 14384 (FR Doc. 2026-02818).
03 · Payment routes
Indian exporters sell to US buyers on letters of credit, collections and open account
An Indian seller and a US buyer must agree when and how the buyer pays. Three common routes are a letter of credit, a documentary collection and open account. Each one shares the risk in a different way.
A is a bank's promise to pay. The US International Trade Administration (ITA) describes it as a commitment by a bank on behalf of the buyer, the , that the seller, the , will be paid if the terms of the LC are met. The ITA Trade Finance Guide sets out an eight-step LC transaction, from the buyer's application to the release of documents.
A seller can ask a second bank to stand behind the LC. That bank is the . Its is a definite undertaking added to the own, as ICC Academy explains. The seller then has two banks committed to pay.
In a , banks pass the shipping papers but do not promise to pay. Under , the buyer signs a promise to pay a draft on a set future date, per the ITA. That draft is a : a written order to pay at a later date. Signing it releases the the buyer needs to collect the goods.
On , the goods ship before payment is due. Payment typically falls due in 30, 60 or 90 days, the ITA guide says. The seller carries the risk until the buyer pays.
Figure 3 · Interactive
Three ways an Indian shipment gets paid
Pick a payment route to follow the shipment from India to the US buyer.
Steps are drawn from the US International Trade Administration Trade Finance Guide, 2022, and ICC Academy.
04 · Court records from Indian commodity trade
Indian sugar and cotton sales show these payment tools at work
Court cases show how Indian commodity sellers use these tools. Neither case below is a sale to the United States. They show the same instruments in real Indian trades.
A shipment of Indian white refined crystal sugar to Sri Lanka was sold on D/A terms, 45 days from the date of the bill of lading. The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka recorded the terms in Sivakumara v People's Bank, decided March 26, 2026. The buyer had 45 days after shipment to pay.
In Deutsche Bank AG v CIMB Bank Berhad, decided December 14, 2017, the High Court of England and Wales heard a claim on LCs that financed Indian cotton trades. Deutsche Bank, as confirming bank, claimed repayment from CIMB, the issuing bank. The case shows how a confirming bank looks to the issuing bank once it has paid.
05 · Protecting the receivable
Credit insurance and LC confirmation protect sellers on this corridor
A seller that ships on credit is owed money until the buyer pays. That amount is its receivable. Two tools protect it: insurance against the buyer not paying, and a confirmed LC.
pays the seller if the foreign buyer does not pay. typically covers consumer goods, materials and services up to 180 days, and small capital goods, consumer durables and bulk commodities up to 360 days, according to the ITA.
On the US export leg of the corridor, US sellers to India can use the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM). Its short-term policy is a one-year renewable policy that generally covers terms up to 180 days, at 95 percent for and nonpayment, per the EXIM Export Finance Solutions Guide.
For an Indian seller, our Research Desk reads two US-side protections. The first is a confirmation added to a US buyer's LC, which gives the seller a second bank's promise. The second is credit insurance on the receivable, which covers a buyer that does not pay.
06 · Ossiano view
The India corridor grew on both legs in 2025
OBSERVATION 01
Imports from India rose faster than exports to India
Imports rose 18.89 percent and exports 9.07 percent from 2024 to 2025, on Census figures and our Research Desk's calculation. The flow of Indian goods, and the receivables it creates, is the larger and faster-growing leg.
OBSERVATION 02
Shipment dates carried value during the duty window
The August 2025 order excepted goods loaded and in transit before August 27 and entered before September 17. Bills of lading and entry records dated the exposure.
OBSERVATION 03
Seven months of 2026 already equal 56.73 percent of 2025 imports
Imports from India were $58,876.3 million from January to July 2026. That is 56.73 percent of the full 2025 total, on our Research Desk's calculation. The extra duty was removed from February 7, 2026.
Summary
A large, growing corridor that runs on dates and documents
US goods imports from India were $103,776.3 million in 2025, against US exports to India of $45,354.3 million. Imports reached $58,876.3 million from January to July 2026.
An extra 25 percent duty applied from August 27, 2025 and was removed from February 7, 2026. Indian commodity sales appear in court records on letters of credit and on documents against acceptance. Open account terms typically run 30, 60 or 90 days.
Related guides: The payment terms spectrum; Letters of credit; Documentary collections; Open account trade; Buyer, country and performance risk; The trade documents checklist; Trade credit insurance. Instrument cards: Letter of credit (sight); Confirmed letter of credit; Documentary collection, documents against acceptance (D/A); Open account; Trade credit insurance. Terms are defined in the Trade Finance Glossary.
For questions on how these shifts affect existing or planned trade finance exposures, contact the Ossiano Research Desk.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, Trade in Goods with India, 2026. Supports: annual totals for 2024 and 2025; 2026 year to date through July; published balances.
- US Census Bureau, Annual 2025 Press Highlights, February 19, 2026. Supports: the 2025 deficit with India on the highlights basis, the highest on record.
- Federal Register, Executive Order 14329 (FR Doc. 2025-16419), August 6, 2025. Supports: the additional 25 percent ad valorem duty, its effective date and the in-transit exception.
- Federal Register, Executive Order 14384 (FR Doc. 2026-02818), February 6, 2026. Supports: removal of the additional duty from February 7, 2026.
- US International Trade Administration, Trade Finance Guide: A Quick Reference for US Exporters, 2022 edition, July 2022. Supports: open account terms; the LC definition and eight-step flow; the D/A definition.
- ICC Academy, Introduction and Types of Documentary Credit, undated. Supports: the definition of confirmation.
- US International Trade Administration, Export Credit Insurance, undated. Supports: short-term cover up to 180 days and 360 days by type of goods.
- Export-Import Bank of the United States, EXIM Export Finance Solutions Guide (EBK-EFSG-26-03-20), March 20, 2026 (date read from the document code). Supports: one-year renewable policy, terms up to 180 days, 95 percent cover.
- Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, M.D. Sivakumara v People's Bank, SC/CHC/APPEAL/102/2018, March 26, 2026. Supports: Indian sugar sold on D/A, 45 days from the bill of lading date.
- High Court of England and Wales, Commercial Court, Deutsche Bank AG v CIMB Bank Berhad [2017] EWHC 3380 (Comm), December 14, 2017. Supports: a confirming bank's claim for reimbursement under LCs for Indian cotton trades.
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