US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on India, reiterating his long-standing complaints that New Delhi charges high tariffs, The Independent reports.
Trump made the remarks at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, standing next to his nominee for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The former president, who threatened tariffs on several countries as part of his “America First” approach, ended preferential trade status for India during his first term in 2019.
Under the first Trump administration, India faced a bitter tariff war, which affected trade ties between both sides even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Trump maintained a close relationship.
Forget about the word tariff for a second, Mr. Trump said, adding that: “If they tax us, we tax them the same amount. They tax us. We tax them. And they tax us almost in all cases and we haven’t been taxing them.”
He also added:
“India charges a lot. Brazil charges a lot. If they want to charge us, that’s fine, but we will charge them the same.”
India-China relations have gained momentum over the past two decades as tensions between Washington and China have risen sharply. Under the Biden administration, relations improved further as Washington viewed India as a strategic partner to counterbalance China’s rise in the Indo-Pacific region.
However, analysts say India-US ties under the second Trump administration will have to be put to the test with the looming tariff war.
After winning the election, Trump threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – if they try to replace the dollar in international trade. Mr. Trump said on Truth Social on November 30:
“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new Brics Currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US Dollar or, they will face 100 per cent tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy.”
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in December that India was not nervous about co-operating with Trump. Jaishankar said:
“India is in a much more advantageous position than many other countries to build deeper relations with the incoming Donald Trump 2.0 administration in the US. Some countries are looking at Trump 2.0 as a political challenge, we are not.”
The US is India’s top export destination, with exports of goods and services from it set to reach $120 billion in 2023.
