US President Donald Trump has indicated expectations that India would lower its tariffs substantially but reaffirmed that he would go ahead with his decision to impose reciprocal tariffs.
Trump said in an interview released on Thursday, "I think they're probably going to lower those tariffs considerably, but on April 2 we will be levying on them the same tariffs that they levied on us.
Trump admitted having a good rapport with India but criticized India for maintaining some of the highest tariffs in the world. He explained to Breitbart, a right-wing news site, "The only problem I have with India is they're one of the highest tariffing nations in the world."
In regard to the India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor (IMEC), Trump said that the program is one of a coalition of countries united to respond to trade practices of other nations. Although he did not mention the nations by name that they were responding to, it was apparent that China was one of the main targets.
The IMEC was launched at the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi, and the project was signed on a Memorandum of Understanding by India, the US, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, the UAE, France, Germany, and Italy. The corridor has the vision of creating both sea and land links between India and Italy through the Middle East with hopes of going as far across the Atlantic as the US.
Trump reiterated American support for the project during last month's White House visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, referring to it as "the greatest trade route in all of history."
Earlier, Trump had called India a "tariff king" and had taken exception to India's high tariffs on products such as motorcycles, luxury vehicles, and whiskey. In retaliation for this, India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut in tariffs on luxury vehicles from 125% to 70%, and on high-end motorbikes from 50% to 40%.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal also traveled to Washington this month to hold talks with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as part of a bid to circumvent the mooted tariff increases. The US, specifically, is seeking that India reduce tariffs on farm imports.
Trump raised concerns regarding India's relations with the European Union in the same Breitbart interview, criticizing the EU for not being as friendly towards the US as other nations. He said, "The ones that wouldn't be as friendly to us in some cases treat us better than the ones that are supposed to be friendly, like the European Union, which treats us terribly on trade."
Trump placed a premium on equitable trade relations, declaring, "India and everybody would consider them an ally. I can say the same about others. But this is a group of great nations that is opposing other nations that are looking to hurt us on trade."
He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the EU, saying that it was established to destabilize the United States, and lauded the increasing trade alliances that the US shares with other countries. While European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was visiting New Delhi last month, India and the EU committed to fast-tracking negotiations to seal a free trade agreement by the end of this year.
Trump finished by saying, "We have a very strong set of trading partners. Again, we can't let those partners be nasty to us, however. We do better in many ways frankly with our enemies than we do with our allies."
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