U.S. President Donald Trump revealed on Friday that he intends to impose reciprocal tariffs on countries like India and China, noting that the United States will charge the same tariffs imposed by these nations on American products.
"We will be imposing reciprocal tariffs—if they tax us, we tax them. Whether it's a business or a nation, like India or China, we want fairness," Trump said.
He also added, "This has never been done before. We were getting ready to do it, but then Covid struck."
Only last week, before his bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump had spoken about India's tariff policies, saying that the nation levies "the highest tariffs" and calling it a difficult market for companies.
Trump's comments were made at a press conference when he was asked about Tesla CEO Elon Musk's recent meeting with PM Modi.
"They sat down, and I guess he wants to do more business in India. But it's a hard market because it has a tariff. They have the highest tariffs—it's a hard place for business. I think he met with Modi because he is running a company and has been very interested in this problem for a long time," Trump said.
Tackling the overall issue of trade policies, Trump referred to India's historical tariff regimes, highlighting the example of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. He described how high import tariffs had earlier compelled the US motorcycle company to open manufacturing units outside the country.
"India has traditionally been one of the highest in terms of tariffs. A few small countries might have even higher rates, but India has huge tariffs. I remember Harley-Davidson having a tough time selling bikes in India because of very high taxes. The tariffs were so high that Harley was eventually forced to produce locally," he said, according to the U.S. Network Pool through Reuters.
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