US President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that India has consented to reducing its tariffs, accusing the nation of charging extremely high duties on US products. His comments come amidst continuing trade negotiations between the two countries.
“India imposes upon us gigantic tariffs gigantic. You can’t even sell goods in India,” Trump said. “They’ve agreed, by the way, they want to reduce their tariffs greatly now because someone is finally revealing them for what they have done.”
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) previously reacted to Trump’s tariff comments but did not give a clear response on whether the government has agreed to lower duties. The MEA underscored that the two countries are actively negotiating increasing bilateral trade cooperation.
Tariffs have become an issue again with Tesla set to enter the Indian market. The maker of electric cars has, for a long time, desired reduced import levies, and its CEO Elon Musk has before now decried India’s taxation system as one of the highest in the world. The country currently has import levies of up to 110% on cars, something that discouraged Tesla from going into the country before.
While that, Trump stood up for his administration’s more general tariff policies on India, China, Canada, and Mexico, which go into effect on April 2. “Our nation has been taken advantage of by everybody, and that is going to stop now,” he said. “I had it stopped in my first term, and we’re really going to stop it now.”
Though China, Canada, and Mexico have retaliated by imposing retaliatory tariffs and lodging complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO), India has been cautious in its approach.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reasserted that both governments are engaged in a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) to promote trade in goods and services, expand market access, and lower both tariff and non-tariff barriers.