Trump targets India again over trade and tariffs, calls business ties ‘one-sided’

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday escalated his criticism of Washington’s trade ties with New Delhi, calling the business relationship a “one-sided disaster”.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump argued that while India exports “massive amounts of goods” to the United States, American companies face high tariff barriers that severely limit their ability to sell into the Indian market. “What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” he wrote.

According to Trump, India has historically imposed high Tariffs, “the most of any country”, creating what he described as an imbalanced and unfair trade relationship lasting “for many decades”. He claimed that this situation left American businesses at a disadvantage while making the US India’s “biggest client”.

The US President also criticised India’s defence and energy purchases from Russia. “India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the US,” he said.

Trump claimed that India has now “offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late”.

On August 4, Trump raised similar concerns over India’s purchase of Russian Oil. “India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Officials of the Trump administration, like Senior Trade Advisor Peter Navarro and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have frequently targetted India for buying Russian crude and demanded that India change course.

India has rejected those accusations, calling the imposition of 50 per cent US tariffs as “unfair and unjustified”.

The remarks are set to escalate heightened trade tensions between Washington and New Delhi, with tariffs and market access emerging as major points of contention.

Trump’s comments come on a day when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin in China.

PM Modi also held bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Russia and China during his two-day stay in China.

IANS