Days before US President Donald Trump's punitive 50 per cent tariffs take effect on Indian exports, India's embassy in Washington has reportedly hired a second lobbying firm with close ties to the Trump administration.

Speaking to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, Kumar described the United States’ move to increase tariffs by 25 per cent raising duties to more than 50 per cent, as “unfair, unreasonable and unjustified”.

Vinay Kumar's statements came after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Saturday reiterated that the US tariff was “unjustified and unfair”, and said it was being wrongly “presented as an oil issue”.