Ludhiana, India – On the floor of a Ludhiana spinning mill, 29-year-old Pankaj Kumar stands at his station, his fingers a blur as he knots loose threads and feeds them onto a spinning wheel. The yarn will soon make its way to the city’s textile factories, which produce woollen knitwear, hosiery, and other garments, much of it destined for the United States.Kumar has worked in different spinneries for nearly a decade, but for the past four months, this one has been his livelihood, bringing in 18,000 rupees ($203.87) a month. But now that US President Donald Trump has slapped India with 50 percent tariffs, Kumar’s income is uncertain. “I don’t know,” he says. “The factory owner was saying we are unsure how much to manufacture in the coming months. They might not need me.”Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listRajesh Kumar, who manages the unit, told Al Jazeera that orders for yarn have plunged by nearly 30 percent in just two weeks since the US rolled out a sweeping 50 percent tariff on Indian goods – a two-tiered levy which took full effect on August 27. Of that, the first 25 percent kicked in on August 7 and was later doubled as punishment for India’s imports of Russian oil.“The local textile factories we supply are telling us there’s uncertainty in future US orders,” he said. “Until that clears, new production cannot be planned.”India has denounced the tariff hike as “unfair” and “unjustified”. But the shock is already rippling through textile units across the country. The sector …
