US trade tariffs: Gokaldas Exports, Vardhman Textiles and other garment stocks surge; here's why

Shares of domestic garment exporters such as Gokaldas Exports, Vardhman Textiles, KPR Mill, Trident, Arvind, Indo Count, Kitex Garments, S P Apparels, Century Enka, Sportking India, Nahar Spinning and Nandan Denim rose in range of 3-9% in trade on Thursday after US President Donald Trump announced comparatively lower tariff on Indian imports to the US.

President Trump announced 26% "discounted reciprocal tariff" on India which was sharply lower than India's competing textile exporting nations like China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

US has imposed 49% tariff on Cambodia and 46% on Vietnam which have over the years become major competitors to India in terms of textile exports. Likewise, US imposed tariff of 34% on China, 36% on Thailand, 37% on Bangladesh and 44% on Sri Lanka. Analysts say that with comparatively lower tariff on India, it will make India a preferred destination for textile exports to the United States.

Trump on Wednesday announced a 26% "discounted reciprocal tariff" on India, stating that he is being kind by charging "half of what they charge us."

Addressing the media from the Rose Garden at the White House, Trump said, "This is Liberation Day, a long-awaited moment. 2nd April 2025 will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again. We are going to make it wealthy, good, and wealthy."

While announcing tariffs, the POTUS held up a chart showing details of tariffs imposed by India, China, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, along with the reciprocal tariffs these countries have to pay.

"India, very, very tough. Very, very tough. The Prime Minister just left. He’s a great friend of mine, but I said, ‘You’re a friend of mine, but you’re not treating us right," the US President said, adding, "They charge us 52%. You have to understand, we charge them almost nothing for years and years and decades, and it was only seven years ago, when I came in, that we started with China."

As of 11:01 am, all the textile exporters were outperforming the NIFTY50 index which was trading with a negative bias.