AAP MP Ashok Mittal calls for boycott of U.S. soft drink companies at LPU over tariff hike

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal on Saturday (August 23, 2025) said that if the 50% tariff hike on Indian goods comes into effect on August 27, all soft drinks and beverage companies of the United States of America will be banned from the campus of Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab’s Jalandhar.

“Why shouldn’t there be a boycott? As a citizen of India, as a businessman from Punjab, as LPU’s Founder-Chancellor and as a Member of Parliament, I think the move is absolutely justified. In fact, my boycott call has resonated with scores of people across the globe,” he said in a statement.  

Earlier, Mr. Mittal wrote an open letter to U.S. President Donald J. Trump on August 7, where he described the tariff hike as ‘unfair’ and disruptive.

He urged Mr. Trump to roll back the decision and return to the principles of dialogue, not diktats. In the letter, he had quipped, “What if 146 crore Indians initiate a strategic restriction of U.S. businesses?”