US tariffs should prompt India to correct its own regional economic imbalances

When US President Donald Trump announced sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” earlier in April – a blanket 10% on all imports and a specific 26% levy on Indian goods – reactions were swift. There were stock market jitters and headlines warning of shocks to the information technology and pharmaceutical sectors.

But behind this global disruption lies a deeper domestic reckoning: India’s vulnerability to trade shocks stems as much from geopolitics and as from its own regional economic imbalances.

If India wants to insulate itself from future volatility and become a resilient export power, it must confront the uncomfortable truth that the country’s internal trade map is skewed.

India’s export success is heavily concentrated in some states. , together with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, that figure goes up . These few states carry the burden of global exposure and are also immediately affected by Trump’s new tariffs.

By contrast, India’s most populous states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan – contribute marginally. Exports from of the national total. Madhya Pradesh and . This disparity isn’t due to size or lack of resources but political will and structural inertia.