President Donald Trump has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “much tougher negotiator than him” as the two nations continue to grapple with tariffs.
“He is a much tougher negotiator than me. He is a better negotiator than me. There is not even a contest,” Trump said at a news conference after their bilateral meeting on Thursday, where tariffs were a key topic of discussion.
Earlier in the day, Trump unveiled a plan for a system of reciprocal tariffs and criticized India, calling it “just about the highest tariff nation anywhere in the world.”
“It’s very hard to sell into India because they have trade barriers, very strong tariffs,” said Trump, who has made the global trade deficit of $98.4 billion that the US faces a key issue in his trade policies.
He threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs, mirroring what India and other countries charge on imports from the US. “We are, right now, a reciprocal nation,” he said. “We’re gonna have whatever India charges (on imports from the US), we’re charging them.”
“We’re just going to do it the easy way—we’re just going to say whatever you charge, we charge. And I think that’s fair for the people of the United States, and I think it’s actually fair for India,” he added.
When he unveiled the reciprocal tariff plan earlier on Thursday, Trump did not set specific new tariffs but issued a memorandum directing his nominees, Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary and Jamieson for international trade representative, to develop a tariff plan for each country within 180 days.
Speaking after signing the memorandum, Trump reiterated his concerns about India’s tariffs on Harley Davidson motorcycles. “Harley Davidson couldn’t sell their motorbikes in India because the tax was so high, the tariff was so high,” he said.
“I think they built a factory in India in order to avoid paying the tariffs,” he added. “And that’s what people can do with us. … If you build here, you have no tariffs whatsoever.”
However, the White House factsheet on reciprocal tariffs contained incorrect information about India’s tariffs on Harley Davidson motorcycles. It stated that India “charges a 100 percent tariff on US motorcycles, while we only charge a 2.4 percent tariff on Indian motorcycles.” In reality, India had already reduced tariffs on heavier Harley Davidson models to 50 percent and, in this month’s budget, further reduced them to 30 percent, with a 40 percent tariff for other models.
— IANS
