WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump, the President of the United States, gave a press conference in the Oval Office on Tuesday. He repeated his criticism of India’s trade practices, saying that the relationship has been “one-sided” for a long time. He defended his administration’s decision to put a 50% tax on Indian goods by saying that the main reason for the trade imbalance was that Indian goods had high import tariffs.
President Trump talked on Harley-Davidson motorbikes, which he has used as a main example of “unfair trade” during his first term. He said that the famous American brand couldn’t sell its motorcycles in India due of “200% tariffs.” The president said the tariff was 200%, but when he originally said this in 2018, the real amount was 100%. The tariff has been slowly lowered since then. According to the most recent union budget, the import duty on bikes over 1,600 cc is currently 30%, and the duty on motorcycles up to 1,600 cc is now 40%.
“We weren’t doing much business with India, but they were doing business with us because we weren’t charging them,” Trump remarked. “So they sent everything they made to the US, and it flooded the US market. We didn’t send anything because they charged us a 100 percent tariff.” He said that the tariffs his administration put in place transformed this situation, saying, “the relationship has only changed now that I’ve come along and because of the power we have.”
The trade spat that is going on right now got really bad in August when the Trump administration levied a 25% “reciprocal” tariff on Indian imports and then another 25% “punitive” penalty on India’s continued purchases of Russian oil. The 50% tariff has become a major point of disagreement, and talks about a trade deal have been put on hold for now.
Piyush Goyal, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, recently said he hoped a bilateral trade agreement could be reached by November, even if the two countries’ relations are tense. He said that “a little bit of geopolitical” issues had slowed down the talks. India, on the other hand, has stuck to its “red lines” in the talks and won’t let the US into its dairy and agriculture industries.
When asked if he would think about lowering the 50% tax, Trump said, “We get along very well with India.” But you need to know that the connection was one-sided for a long time. India is apparently trying to diversify its economic partnerships and get closer to China and Russia to fight the US’s tough tariff strategy. The president’s statements come at a time when this is happening.