US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the trade relationship between the United States and India had long been one-sided, adding that tariff barriers had made it difficult for American companies to compete in the Indian market.
“We get along with India very well. But India, you have to understand, for many years, it was a one-sided relationship. Only now since I came along and because of the power that we have with tariffs, India was charging us tremendous tariff. In fact, it was one of the highest in the world,” Trump said.
He added that while Indian goods entered the US market without facing high duties, American exports to India faced barriers. “We weren’t doing much business with India, but they were doing business with us because we weren’t charging them foolishly," he said.
"They would send in massive, you know, everything they’d send it in, pour it into our country and therefore it wouldn’t be made here,” Trump stated.
Giving an example, he said, “Harley Davidson couldn’t sell into India. There was a 200% tariff on a motorcycle. So what happened, Harley Davidson went to India and built a motorcycle plant and now they don’t have to pay tariff. Same thing as us.”
Trump also claimed that the US is now seeing major investment inflows. “What we were doing is literally thousands of companies are coming into the US, car companies,” he said.
50% tariff on India
In August, Trump imposed a 25% punitive tariff on Indian goods over purchases of Russian oil, on top of an earlier 25%, raising total tariff to 50% for key sectors like textiles, leather, engineering goods and chemicals.
India and the US have been negotiating a trade agreement since March. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed.
A US team was scheduled to visit India from August 25 to hold the next round of talks. However, the US team deferred the visit following the imposition of a 50% duty on Indian goods from August 27.
So far, no new dates have been finalised for the sixth round of negotiations.
India and the US have planned to conclude the first phase of BTA by the fall this year with an aim to more than double bilateral trade in goods and services to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the current USD 191 billion, as per a PTI report.
“We get along with India very well. But India, you have to understand, for many years, it was a one-sided relationship. Only now since I came along and because of the power that we have with tariffs, India was charging us tremendous tariff. In fact, it was one of the highest in the world,” Trump said.
He added that while Indian goods entered the US market without facing high duties, American exports to India faced barriers. “We weren’t doing much business with India, but they were doing business with us because we weren’t charging them foolishly," he said.
"They would send in massive, you know, everything they’d send it in, pour it into our country and therefore it wouldn’t be made here,” Trump stated.
Giving an example, he said, “Harley Davidson couldn’t sell into India. There was a 200% tariff on a motorcycle. So what happened, Harley Davidson went to India and built a motorcycle plant and now they don’t have to pay tariff. Same thing as us.”
Trump also claimed that the US is now seeing major investment inflows. “What we were doing is literally thousands of companies are coming into the US, car companies,” he said.
50% tariff on India
In August, Trump imposed a 25% punitive tariff on Indian goods over purchases of Russian oil, on top of an earlier 25%, raising total tariff to 50% for key sectors like textiles, leather, engineering goods and chemicals.
India and the US have been negotiating a trade agreement since March. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed.
A US team was scheduled to visit India from August 25 to hold the next round of talks. However, the US team deferred the visit following the imposition of a 50% duty on Indian goods from August 27.
So far, no new dates have been finalised for the sixth round of negotiations.
India and the US have planned to conclude the first phase of BTA by the fall this year with an aim to more than double bilateral trade in goods and services to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the current USD 191 billion, as per a PTI report.
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