Donald Trump Claims He ‘Exposed’ India on Trade Practices, Country Agrees to Lower Tariffs

United States President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that India is ready to cut tariffs as he has finally "exposed" New Delhi's trade practices. Addressing reporters at the White House, he again criticised India over tariff policies and reiterated that due to "massive tariffs," it is hard to sell anything in the country.

“India charges us massive tariffs. Massive. You can't even sell anything in India. They have agreed, by the way; they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody is finally exposing them for what they have done,” said the 78-year-old Republican.

His comment came when Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited Washington on March 4-6 and held talks with his US counterpart Howard Lutnick.

Meanwhile, addressing India Today Conclave from Washington virtually yesterday, Lutnick emphasised that India needs to buy more defence products from the US, cutting away from Russia, and lower its tariffs on US products. He said this would enable both the countries to sign a grand bilateral deal.

He also stated that India's agricultural trade cannot remain closed, suggesting that it can be smarter while dealing with the most "important trading partner" US on the other side of the table.

Trump’s Push for Reciprocal Tariffs

Trump on Tuesday vowed to impose reciprocal tariffs on America's many trading partners, including India, from April 2 onwards. He also defended this move as "unfair trade practices" by US counterparts.

“India charges us tariffs, 100%. The system is not fair to the US, it never was,” Trump reiterated.

Despite constant push from Washington, unlike countries like China, Canada and Mexico that announced retaliatory tariffs on the US, so far India has taken measured steps. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal informed that India is looking at deepening trade ties with the US.

As per a report from Nomura, India's weighted average effective tariff on US exports to India is 9.5%, which is significantly higher than the 3% tariff the US imposes on Indian exports.