Which products Americans are searching amid India-US trade deal

Even as the fine print on the trade deal with the United States remains hazy, Donald Trump’s decision to lower reciprocal tariffs on India from 50 per cent to 18 per cent has been met with relief for not only Indians but America’s seafood-loving consumers.

As Trump moved to lower tariff rates, Indian equity markets responded almost immediately, with shrimp exporters among the clearest beneficiaries. Stocks of seafood export companies rallied in anticipation of improved access to the US market.

Parallel signs emerged in the digital sphere as well. An analysis by India Today’s OSINT team shows that among major Indian export categories tracked through search data, American online interest in shrimp consistently recorded the sharpest spikes around key moments of tariff escalation and rollback.

Tiny, antennaed and easily overlooked at home, the shrimp became an unlikely casualty of a modern trade war. In many Bengali homes, it is often waved off as an insect; but in America, it is a dinner-table staple that Americans have come to expect— boiled, battered and buttered — found in everything from classic Louisiana stews and shrimp cocktails to popcorn shrimp.

More than 90 percent of the millions of pounds of shrimp consumed annually in the United States is imported, with a majority coming from India, Ecuador, Indonesia and Vietnam.

India is the world’s second-largest producer of shrimp – predominantly for export – after Ecuador. In the financial year ending March 2025, India exported frozen shrimp worth USD 500 crore globally, with the United States accounting for roughly 48 per cent of those sales.

Among India’s top export items to the United States, textiles and smartphones dominate, followed by seafood, gems and jewellery, auto components, carpets and engineering goods. Some categories including pharmaceuticals, smartphones and energy products are currently exempt from tariffs.

When these items were entered as search terms on Google, America’s love for the Asian delicacy was hard to miss. Set against keywords ranging from diamonds to petroleum, Google Trends data showed shrimp drawing the strongest and most sustained interest.

What stands out in the data is how closely American interest in seafood appears to surge around moments tied to tariff announcements. An India Today analysis identified three sharp spikes in US search interest for the keywords shrimp and prawns.

The first spike coincided with Donald Trump’s initial tariff announcement in August, with elevated interest prices continuing through the end of the month and aligning with the decision to raise tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent on August 27. Another distinct surge appeared in December, broadly tracking the timeline of US–India trade delegation meetings in New Delhi in early December. That rise in interest, however, also overlaps with the Thanksgiving and Christmas season in the United States, when shrimp-based dishes such as garlic shrimp crostini and shrimp cocktails feature prominently on holiday menus.

Following the US President's announcement on Monday of a trade deal with India that slashes the tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50% in exchange for India halting Russian oil purchases and lowering trade barriers, Google Trends data showed a renewed uptick in search interest for shrimp, alongside indications of easing prawn prices.

The shares of shrimp exporters had come under sustained pressure after the announcement of reciprocal tariffs. With the tariff cut, however, export-focused seafood companies such as Avanti Feeds, Apex Frozen Foods and Coastal Corporation saw their stocks rebound sharply on Monday.