Trump certainly doesn’t know what’s happening in Asia and India: Jim Rogers on US tariffs

New Delhi: As US President Donald Trump imposes 25 per cent tariffs on India, with an additional 25 per cent slated to come into effect from August 27, ace American investor Jim Rogers said on Friday that Trump doesn’t understand much of the world, and he certainly doesn’t understand what’s happening in Asia and particularly, India.

Speaking to IANS, Rogers who is one of the top financial commentators in the world, said that India remains the fastest growing economy in the world and Washington should actually be doing a lot of business with New Delhi rather than hampering long-standing trade and investment ties by slapping unrealistic tariffs.

“Trump wakes up, watches TV and then decides what to do. He doesn’t understand much of the world, and he certainly doesn’t understand what’s happening in Asia and India,” Rogers told IANS.

According to him, both the countries can actually increase trade to $500 billion by 2030, an envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, if the US President aims to bring Washington and New Delhi closer with reasonable gestures.

“For the first time in my life, I see that people in New Delhi seem to understand economics. They understand that prosperity is good, and success is good too. It is a very exciting and wonderful change for India,” Rogers emphasised, adding that India “could be an extremely exciting country, extremely exciting economy”.

He further stated that India is going to be one of the most exciting investment destinations in the world and it will certainly be compared to China and, maybe, even do much better than China in coming years.

On Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Rogers told IANS that more free trade is better for the world, especially India. “It will be extremely exciting for the world, including foreign investors,” he mentioned.

New Delhi has signed 13 FTAs with its trading partners. The country is currently negotiating the following FTAs with its trading partners: India-EU FTA, India Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), India-Peru Trade Agreement, covering goods, services and investment, India-Sri Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and India-Oman FTA.

IANS