US President Donald Trump has rolled out a series of reciprocal tariffs against India and China, claiming that he is being generous by imposing only "half of what they charge us."
Terming these as "discounted reciprocal tariffs," Trump said imports from India would incur a 26 percent duty, and those from China would be charged a 34 percent tariff.
Discussing India's trade tariffs, President Trump criticized New Delhi for instituting what he called "very, very tough" trade restrictions. He mentioned his recent talk with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, explaining, "Their Prime Minister just left (the US recently). he is a great friend of mine. But I told him, 'You're my friend, but you haven't been treating us fairly.' India charges us 52 percent, so we'll impose half of that – 26 percent."
Along with these tariffs, Trump imposed a 20 percent tariff on imports from the European Union and a 10 percent tariff on imports from the United Kingdom—two of America's most important allies and trading partners. Imports from Japan would also be subject to a 24 percent tariff.
Under the White House, these responsibilities will be added to a current 10 percent base import tax for all foreign goods imported into the United States. Trump, however, did not give an industry-by-industry breakdown of how these tariffs would be outlined.
The announcement, which was made in the White House Rose Garden, was greeted with raucous applause as Trump proclaimed, "For too long, other countries have taken advantage of us, taking advantage of our policies while looting our industries. But that ends today. April 2nd will forever be remembered as Liberation Day – the day America restored its economic sovereignty. From now on, any nation that puts tariffs on us will face retaliatory measures—meaning, we will do to them precisely what they do to us."
He also claimed, "Through these tariffs, we will bring back our economy, create jobs, restore our small and medium-sized businesses, and make America prosperous again. Jobs will now pour back into the country."
After the announcement, the White House informed reporters that a "national emergency" had been declared because of security threats generated by persistent trade deficits. Consequently, a "baseline" 10 percent tariff would become active at 12:01 AM local time (9:30 AM IST) on April 5, and the additional tariffs based on countries would become effective at 12:01 AM local time (9:30 AM IST) on April 9.
Read also| Israel Embassy Shares Ghibli-Inspired Artwork Celebrating PM Modi-Netanyahu Friendship
Read also| Israel Removes All Duties on US Imports Amid Anticipation of Trump's Tariff Decision
