Abstract: The recent rise of trade policies that are protectionist in nature in the US has led to a major change in global trade, and exporters from developing countries are the ones who are most affected by the high tariffs imposed on them. This paper is about India and the US tariffs during the years 2018-2024 and how they will influence labor-extensive export sectors like textiles and gems & jewellery. Through a mixed-methods approach, the author analyses the trade data over the pre and post-tariff periods as well as conducts a survey of 285 exporters mainly from the textile and gem & jewellery sectors. The analysis shows that a 7.5% to 25% increase in US tariffs led to a reduction of 18-32% in the volume of Indian exports to the US, where textiles suffered more than the effected gems & jewellery. SMEs (small and medium enterprises) encountered the greatest difficulties, whereas large exporters managed to cope due to their adaptive capacity. The Indian exporters had to change their strategies and seek market diversification by developing alternative markets, upgrading products and expanding into the domestic market. The markets of Vietnam, Bangladesh and the EU were identified as the primary destinations for diversification although none completely compensated the losses incurred in the US market. The research report points out the major factors determining diversification success and offers policy recommendations for boosting the resilience of the export sector. The implication of the results is a better understanding of how the exporters in developing countries cope with protectionist shocks and how they subsequently change their trade strategies in the uncertain global environment.

Keywords: US tariffs, Indian exports, trade policy, textiles, gems and jewellery, export diversification, labor-intensive industries, protectionism, trade strategies