Trump tariff may dampen growing Indo-US business ties

NEW DELHI: The Trump tariff jolt has come at a time when India-American business ties were on upswing. According to latest data from the US department of commerce, the country saw highest number of overseas business visitors from India this May at about 43,000, second only to over 50,000 from the UK.

"The top five overseas business arrivals for May were the United Kingdom (50,636), India (42,944), Germany (29,249), Japan (28,529), and China (17,948)," the department said. Overall, international visitation to the US is slowing down. "In May 2025, international visitor arrivals to the US (about 56.3 lakh) - a decrease of 7% from May 2024," it said. India was the second biggest overseas market for inbound.

"The largest number of international visitor arrivals was from Mexico (13.9 lakh), Canada (12.8 lakh), UK (3.6 lakh), India (2.6 lakh), and Brazil (1.6 lakh). Combined, these top five source markets accounted for 61.4% percent of total international arrivals," it added. Since Canada and Mexico share land border with the US, India was the second biggest overseas source market for Uncle Sam.

"The top five overseas student arrivals for May were China (7,658), India (7,397), South Korea (2,473), Brazil (1,564), and Taiwan (1,520)," the department said.