Trump vows to protect US industry, no plans to cut tariffs on India

US President Donald Trump has sent a strong message to the Modi government, making it clear that he has no intention of reducing tariffs on India.

Speaking at the Oval Office, Trump sharply criticized India’s trade practices, accusing New Delhi of maintaining a one-sided relationship with Washington for years.

“We get along with India very well, but India has, you have to understand, for many years, it was a one-sided relationship only now, since I came along, and because of the power that we have with tariffs, India was charging us tremendous tariffs, about the highest in the world. They were about the highest in the world, number one,” Trump said in response to a question.

He continued, “And we therefore weren't doing much business with India. But they were doing business with us because we weren't charging them foolishly. We weren't charging them. So they would send in massive, you know, everything they made. They'd send it in, pour it into our country. Therefore it wouldn't be made here, you know, which is a negative, but we would not send in anything because they were charging us 100% tariffs.”

Trump argued that American manufacturers had long suffered losses because of Indian trade policies. Citing an example, Trump said US motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson was forced to set up a plant in India after New Delhi imposed a 200 percent tariff on its products.

Highlighting his administration’s economic approach, Trump noted that companies worldwide were now choosing to invest in the United States. “We have so many car company factories under construction or being designed right now, and they're coming from China. They're coming from Mexico, I must tell you, and they're coming from Canada. A lot of them are coming from Canada, but they're coming into our country because they want to build here,” he said.

Just a day earlier, Trump revealed that India had offered to slash its tariffs to zero. However, he dismissed the move as “too late,” insisting that such concessions should have been made years ago.