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Instagram · May 14, 2026

Source-backed Mostly False Truth Percentage: 0% CORRECT

The video describes how India maintained high tariffs to protect its local markets from foreign competition, becoming the country with the highest tariffs by 1980, and resisted US pressure to open its agriculture and dairy markets, even banning some US agricultural products in 2012, until the US-China trade war under President Trump led the US to seek India as an alternative market.

The video describes how India maintained high tariffs to protect its local markets from foreign competition, becoming the country with the highest tariffs by 1980, and resisted US pressure to open its agriculture and dairy markets, even banning some US agricultural products in 2012, until the US-China trade war under President Trump led the US to seek India as an alternative market.

What's right

India imposed high tariffs after independence to protect its local market from foreign companies.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, India had some of the highest tariffs in the world, with average tariffs reaching 123-129% for key sectors and some rates as high as 355%.
High tariffs in India made US and Western products expensive to sell, limiting access to better-quality imports and raising consumer prices.
The US has consistently tried to make India lower its tariffs and address non-tariff barriers to facilitate sales of US products in the Indian market.
India has historically safeguarded its agriculture and dairy sectors, resisting pressure from developed nations like the US to open these markets.
India had a ban on US poultry and some agricultural items, citing avian influenza concerns, which the US formally challenged at the WTO in March 2012.
Prior to the trade war, China was a significant, often the largest, market for US agricultural exports, including soybeans, corn, and other bulk commodities.
US agricultural exports to China were strong up to and including 2016, with China being the top market for US agricultural products in that year.
The US-China trade war officially began in 2018, after Donald Trump became US President in January 2017.
The US lost a significant portion of the Chinese market due to the trade war, with US agricultural exports to China falling sharply.

What's wrong

The claim that India became the country with the highest tariffs by 1980 is not precisely supported; sources indicate India had extremely high tariffs by the late 1980s and early 1990s, but do not definitively state it was the highest in the world by 1980.
The claim that India banned US poultry in 2012 is misleading; the ban was already in place prior to 2012 (some sources indicate 2007 or 2011), and 2012 was when the US formally challenged this existing ban at the WTO.
The claim that the dispute between India and the US over the agriculture market was not a big issue because the US was fulfilling its needs from the Chinese market is false. The US actively pursued the WTO case against India's poultry ban, viewing India as a significant export opportunity, indicating the dispute was considered important by the US.
The claim that India was the only alternative market for the US after losing China is false. American firms also shifted production to other countries like Vietnam, and China diversified its agricultural imports to other suppliers such as Brazil and Argentina.

Breakdown

India's post-independence protectionist policies and high tariffs are well-documented, as is its resistance to opening its agriculture and dairy markets to the US. The US-China trade war under President Trump led to significant losses for US exports to China.

However, the claim that India became the country with the highest tariffs by 1980 is not definitively proven, though tariffs were extremely high around that period. The video is misleading in stating India banned US poultry in 2012, as the ban predates this, with 2012 being the year the US challenged it at the WTO.

Furthermore, the assertion that the India-US agricultural dispute was 'not a big issue' due to US trade with China is contradicted by the US's active pursuit of market access in India. Finally, the claim that India was the only alternative market for the US after losing China is false, as other countries like Vietnam, Brazil, and Argentina also became alternative trade partners.

Sources include articles from Food Safety News (2012), WTO (2014), Down To Earth (2015), USTR (2012, 2013), Scarbrough Global, The Economic Times (2012, 2023, 2026), AviNews (2026), The White House (2026), Business Standard (2026), The Financial Express (2026), Upstox (2026), Britannica Money (2025), DD News (2026), Economics Observatory (2024), Cato Institute (2018), Policy Archive (2005), ICRIER, PIIE (2021), Council on Foreign Relations (2025), PBS (2026), China Briefing News (2020), Farm Flavor (2025), Investigate Midwest (2025), Yeutter Institute (2025), Decision Innovation Solutions, Choices Magazine, USDA (2023), and Wikipedia. [1][2][3]

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