US wants trade with India to be fair and reciprocal: Donald Trump
India and the US have indicated that a limited trade deal is likely to be reached by the end of the year
New Delhi: President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized India for putting high tariffs on US goods even as the two sides indicated a limited trade deal could be reached by the end of the year and negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement could start thereafter.
“India is the highest tariff nation in the world, meaning charging tariffs to outsiders. I said (to PM Narendra Modi) we have to stop that, at least what pertains to the US. So they understand that," Trump told reporters at a conference in New Delhi. Declaring he wants reciprocity, Trump again gave the example of Harley Davidson—a pet peeve with him. “Harley Davidson has to pay tremendous tariff when they send motorcycles here. When India sends motorcycles to the US, there is virtually no tariff. I said that’s unfair and we are working it out," he said.
Trump has previously threatened to impose high tit-for-tat tariffs on Indian products if India did not reduce its tariffs to narrow a trade imbalance. “We have a tremendous deficit for many, many years with India, $30 billion with India, it’s now down to $24 billion because of what we have been doing. But still that’s too high. We should not have a $24 billion deficit," he said.
Trump cited China as a reminder of how he forced that country to buy more US products by imposing higher tariffs on Chinese goods.
“With China, we worked a deal and we worked it because of the tariffs... They (India) want a deal with us. Just like China. Everybody said you are not going to make a deal with China, I made a deal with China. It’s a great deal," said Trump.
The president said he expected the initial trade deal to happen by the year’s end. “I would say if the deal happens with India, it is towards the end of the year. And if it does not happen, we will do something else that would be satisfactory, that would be very good."
Separately, commerce minister Piyush Goyal told an event organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, “On the economic front, having almost closed the last contours of the limited trade deal and with the announcement of a much larger trade deal in the offing, we have moved to a new level of engagement."
Earlier in the day, Modi during his joint address to the press, along with Trump, said both leaders have asked for legal vetting of the limited trade pact agreed between the two sides. “Talks between our two trade ministers have been constructive. President Trump and I have today agreed that our teams will give legal shape to the understanding that has been reached between our trade ministers. We have agreed to negotiate a big trade deal. We hope that for mutual benefit, it will have a good outcome," he said.
Trump said the US will establish a permanent presence of the US International Development Finance Corp. in India to provide financing for private development projects.
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