The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has called on the Indian government to take urgent action following the signing of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by US President Donald Trump, warning that additional tariffs authorised under the legislation could put India's textile and apparel export trade at risk.

The industry body, which represents manufacturers and exporters across India's textile value chain, raised the alarm within days of the Act's enactment, framing it as a conditional duty threat for any country whose commercial or political ties with the sanctioned economies draw scrutiny from Washington.

What does the Act change for Indian exporters?

The legislation, named for its lead sponsor Senator Lindsey O. Graham, is built around sanctioning Russia and Iran but includes a secondary-tariff mechanism that allows the US President to impose additional duties on imports from jurisdictions deemed to be supporting either country. India is not named in the statute, but the discretionary authority creates a tariff overhang for Indian-origin shipments if New Delhi's posture toward Moscow or Tehran is later contested.

For US brands, sourcing teams and retail importers, the question is whether the new authority will translate into additional duties on Indian garments on top of existing Section 301 and Most Favoured Nation rates, or whether India secures an exemption before implementing rules are issued.

How is CITI framing the commercial risk?

CITI has asked the Commerce Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs to engage Washington immediately to clarify India's status under the new law. The body is positioning the request as a competitiveness issue: Indian apparel is priced against Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia on landed cost, and any incremental duty widens the gap on the orders already in the production pipeline.

Indian mills typically book fabric, cut and ship on calendars that run several months from purchase order to delivery. A tariff introduced between booking and ex-factory date would fall on whichever party — exporter, importer or brand — bears the cost under the existing terms. CITI's intervention is timed to give the Indian government a window to negotiate before that scenario becomes a settled commercial fact.

What are sourcing and compliance teams doing now?

US apparel importers with India exposure are reviewing two workstreams. The first is vendor master files: compliance staff are checking Tier 2 and Tier 3 Indian suppliers for any commercial relationship with counterparties in Russia or Iran that could trigger secondary sanctions. The second is contract language: legal and sourcing teams are auditing open purchase orders for tariff-pass-through and force-majeure clauses that determine who absorbs a duty imposed after the order is placed.

For buyers weighing origin diversification, the calculus is whether to absorb potential duty as a cost of preserving India's cotton, knitwear and denim capacity, or to accelerate sample development in Vietnam, Bangladesh or Mexico before the Act's implementing regulations clarify the scope.

What happens next?

The next concrete step is whether India's Commerce Ministry opens a formal channel with the US Trade Representative and Treasury to seek clarification or a country-specific carve-out, parallel to exemptions previously granted to allies under earlier secondary-sanctions frameworks. Until that engagement produces a written outcome, CITI members and their US counterparts are operating on conditional rather than confirmed duty schedules — a position that typically pushes both sides to lock in alternate-origin samples while the diplomatic track runs its course.