India’s air cargo shipments to US hit nine-year low after Trump tariff

Air cargo movement between India and the US, after the steep tariff hikes by the Donald Trump administration, has hit a nine-year low. Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that India shipped 4,319 tonnes of goods to the US between January and June – down from 7,152 tonnes during the same period last year. Even during the pandemic years of 2020 to 2023, freight volumes ranged between 5,000 and 9,000 tonnes. The last time India-US trade figures hit such lows was in 2016, when they touched 3,750 tonnes. The tariff spike has reportedly led to a significant drop in demand, pushing exporters to drastically cut order sizes. Traders who would normally ship 30 orders of engineering tools daily are now sending only 10 to 12, with just a handful of buyers willing to purchase increasingly expensive goods, as per a report.