All American soft drink brands have been banned from the campus of Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab from 27 August, the day President Donald Trump’s new tariff measures on India took effect, raising the overall burden on Indian goods to nearly 50 per cent.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Ashok Kumar Mittal, who is also the founder-chancellor of LPU, made the annoucement at a press conference in the national capital.
Mittal has also appealed to all Indians to join hands in boycotting American products and join what he calls the Swadeshi 2.0 movement in response to Trump Tariffs.
The move comes in direct response to America’s ‘unfair’ decision to double tariffs on Indian goods, taking the overall hike to a staggering 50 per cent — one of the highest tariff rates imposed by the USA on any country in the world, a statement from the office of Mittal said.
When asked about which brands have been banned, the office responded saying: ‘Coca-Cola and Pepsi brand’ products have been banned for now.
“While the US and their European allies continue to purchase oil from Russia, India is being unfairly targeted for putting its own national interests first. LPU, one of India’s largest private universities with 40,000 students, has enforced the boycott immediately, and I am proud to see tremendous support for this cause from across the country,” the AAP leader said.
LPU is a private university founded and governed by Chancellor Ashok Kumar Mittal, while administration and operations are governed by his wife, Rashmi Mittal, as the pro-chancellor of the university.
‘By banning American soft drinks at LPU, we want to send a clear message to the world that India will not bow down to any unfair diktats," he said.
Earlier, Mittal wrote an open letter to US President Donald Trump, where he described the tariff hike as ‘unfair’ and disruptive. Mittal urged the US President to “choose dialogue over discord, coordination over coercion”.
“India is a 'dead economy,' you said. Yet this 'dead' economy is the 4th largest in the world, soon to be third, and remains the fastest growing among major nations. American companies generate $80+ billion annually from the Indian market across education, tech, finance, and IP," Mittal wrote in the letter.
Mittal's letter came a day after US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India.
By banning American soft drinks at LPU, we want to send a clear message to the world, that India will not bow down to any unfair diktats.
