WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on India reiterating his longstanding complaints of New Delhi charging high tariffs.
He made the remarks at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, alongside his commerce secretary pick Howard Lutnick.
Trump who threatened high tariffs on several countries as part of his “America First” approach, terminated preferential trade status for India during his first tenure in 2019.
India faced a higher tariff under the first Trump administration that affected the bilateral trade ties. “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,” Trump said.
“The word reciprocal is important because if somebody charges us – India, we don’t have to talk about our own – if India charges us 100%, do we charge them nothing for the same?” he said.
“India charges a lot. Brazil charges a lot. If they want to charge us, that’s fine, but we’re going to charge them the same thing,” he said.
Experts say the India-US ties under Trump’s second administration will have to pass the test of a looming tariff issue.
After his election win, Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on the BRICS nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa if they tried to replace the dollar for global trade.
“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% tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump said on Truth Social on 30 November.
Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in December said India is not nervous about working with Donald Trump.
Trump scrapped trade privileges under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for India, the biggest beneficiary of a scheme that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion.
In 2019, India imposed higher retaliatory tariffs on 28 US products including almonds, apples, and walnuts.
