GST Reforms Made To Mitigate Trump's 50% Tariffs? Sitharaman Responds

She clarified that the GST Council had been working on these reforms for over a year and a half, predating the US tariffs, focusing on rate rationalisation and compensation cess.

Finance Minister Sitharaman stated that GST reforms were not influenced by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on India.

Source : PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday clarified that the dual slab reforms made in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) were not influenced by the 50 per cent tariffs slapped by the Trump administration on India. 

"The tariff turmoil is not a matter that influenced the GST reform," the Union Minister said, addressing a press conference following the 56th GST Council Meeting in New Delhi. 

Sitharaman said that the GST council has been working on the reforms for more than one and a half years, way before US President Donald Trump imposed 50 per cent tariff on New Delhi for its trade of oil with Russia.

#WATCH | Delhi: After the 56th GST Council meeting, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says, "The tariff turmoil is not a matter that influenced the GST reform. Because we've been at it now for more than one and a half years. Some group of ministers was working on rate… pic.twitter.com/CsAO5GeKbM

— ANI (@ANI) September 3, 2025

"We've been at it now for more than one and a half years. Some group of ministers was working on rate rationalisation. Some other group of ministers, a bit later, was working on insurance and so on. And compensation cess was a reality, that it is going to end the moment you pay back the loan. None of this has anything to do with the tariffs," she said.