Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday termed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s foreign policy as “failed”, and the tariff imposed by the US blamed the government for the “loss” of India’s businesses and trade.
This strict criticism of Akhilesh Yadav came after the announcement of the imposition of 100 percent tariff on the import of branded and patented pharmaceutical drugs by US President Donald Trump, which will be effective from October 1. Akhilesh Yadav said to ANI, “They are constantly harming our economy. And due to tariffs, our business is being damaged. Our business is failing. The BJP’s foreign policy is failing. Our nation is suffering losses. If 50-100% tariff is applied, what will our businessmen and business do?
100 percent tariffs will only apply to patent or branded products and will not affect generic drugs. Experts say the exports done by India to the US mainly include generic medicines and active drug content (APIs), which do not come under the purview of this tariff.
Sudarshan Jain, General Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) of India, said, “This [आयातित दवाओं पर 100 प्रतिशत टैरिफ] Patent made outside the US is applicable to branded products. This does not apply to generic drugs, as India supplies most of the generic products to the US. India exports around US $ 10 billion to the US. These mainly include generic products and APIs. Therefore, this order is unlikely to affect India. “
The Indian pharmaceutical sector completes more than 50 percent of the global demand for various vaccines, 40 percent of generic demand in the US and 25 percent of all drugs in the UK. India’s annual drug and drug exports reached a record of US $ 30 billion in the financial year 2025, which further strengthened with an increase of 31 percent year-on-year in March.
According to a government release, drug and pharmaceutical exports increased by US $ 2.35 billion in August 2024 to US $ 2.51 billion in August 2025 alone.
Apart from this, Akhilesh Yadav, while targeting the BJP government over GST reforms, asked whether the government was unaware of the negative effects of GST for the last nine years. Yadav argued that new reforms maintains the profit of the government, as they increased GST in one area and reduced the other. The SP chief said, “They did not know for nine years how GST is harming the poor … GST is being reduced on one side, GST is being increased on the other side. (Government) profit is not decreasing.”
Improvement in the Goods and Services Tax framework, which was approved during the 56th meeting of the GST Council earlier this month, came into force from Monday. The first four-rate system has been replaced by a two-slab system of 5% and 18%. A separate slab of 40 percent has been retained for luxury and harmful items. The Committee (FICCE Cascade) and Thought Casked and Thought Caskets (FICCAS) and Thought Arbitration Research Institute (TARI), against the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, destroy the economy of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, is released from Indian families for 27 to 30 percent under the new GST 2.0 percent, according to a report released by the new GST 2.0 percent. You will get the benefit of savings.