New Delhi/Pennsylvania: President Trump of the United States has said that his government is not “looking for leverage” in continuing talks with other countries about tariff rates. Instead, they are aiming for “fairness.” Trump told reporters in Pennsylvania on Sunday night local time that the US wants “reciprocal tariffs wherever we can.”
The US is now in trade talks with several countries, including India, and his comments come at a time when those talks are going on. Trump has lately put a 25% blanket tariff on all commodities from India. This is interesting because it comes at the same time as his criticism of India’s trade ties with Russia. He made a controversial comment that both countries had “dead economies” because of their economic connections.
VIDEO | US President Donald Trump (@POTUS) on tariffs says, "I'm not looking for leverage, I'm looking for fairness."
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 4, 2025
He added, "We want to see reciprocal wherever we can, and all I can say is this: our country will be taking in hundreds of billions of dollars."
(Source: Third… pic.twitter.com/z36rOn6aD8
Even though tariffs and harsh words have been used recently, a sixth round of trade discussions between India and the US is set to happen in August, with an American negotiating team expected to head to India. Hindustan Times has said before that both India and the US are working hard to reach a “mutually beneficial early trade deal by the end of this month.” They are also committed to sticking to the rules set out in the March 29 agreement, no matter what the politicians say.
During his meeting with reporters on Sunday, Trump didn’t name any specific country, but he did say that it might not be possible for some countries to have equivalent reciprocal rates. In the past, emerging economies have typically charged higher tariffs on goods coming from more developed countries, like the US. This was done to protect their own markets from being flooded with foreign goods. On the other hand, they usually have to pay lower tariffs when they sell their own goods and services in more developed areas.
Trump has always promised to fight this long-standing trade pattern. His stated goal is to stop foreign goods made in nations like China from becoming cheaper than US-made items. This is a fundamental part of his “America First” trade policy. He also said again that his tariff program will “bring in hundreds of billions of dollars” into the US economy. He also said that Joe Biden, his predecessor, was bad at managing the economy. The US government is trying to change global economic agreements based on its “fairness” premise, which makes the ongoing negotiations a difficult balancing act.