India will not “bow down” to the United States and will instead turn its attention to attracting new markets, its trade minister has said, in his first public remarks since the US’s stiff 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods took effect.

Speaking at a construction industry event in New Delhi on Friday, Piyush Goyal said India was “always ready if anyone wants to have a free trade agreement with us”. But, he added, India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak”.

“We will continue to move together and capture new markets.”

The remarks came as the steep tariffs on many Indian imports into the US took effect this week as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of US efforts to pressure Moscow into ending its more than three-year war in Ukraine.

Since his ret

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