Trump calls India-US ties ‘one-sided’ over high tariffs, criticises trade practices

Washington: US President Donald Trump reiterated his complaints against India’s trade practices, calling the India-US relationship “one-sided for many years” and pointing to high tariffs as a barrier to American exports.

“We get along with India very well,” Trump said. “But India, you have to understand, for many years, it was a one-sided relationship.”

He once again pressed his allegation that India’s tariffs on US exports are “about the highest in the world.”

“India was charging us tremendous tariffs, about the highest in the world. They were about the highest in the world, number one. And we therefore weren’t doing much business with India. But they were doing business with us because we weren’t charging them foolishly,” he added.

The president argued that prior administrations had failed to act while India sent goods into the US market. “They would send in massive, you know, everything they made… pour it into our country. Therefore, it wouldn’t be made here. But we would not send in anything, because they were charging us 100 per cent tariffs,” Trump remarked.

According to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Bank data, India does not have the highest tariffs in the world. However, it imposes high levies in specific sectors such as agriculture to protect its farmers.

The US president once again returned to his often cited example from his first term – India’s steep tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

“Harley-Davidson couldn’t sell into India. There was a 200 per cent tariff on a motorcycle. So, what happens? Harley-Davidson went to India and built a motorcycle plant, and now they don’t have to pay tariffs,” Trump said.

Harley-Davidson indeed built an assembly plant in Haryana but shut it in 2020 due to a lack of sales. The Indian government in February slashed import duties on foreign motorcycles from 50 per cent to 30-40 per cent.

India and the United States had been engaged in months of trade negotiations before the Trump administration abruptly imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports in August, later raising them to 50 per cent over New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil.

IANS