Former US President Donald Trump brought up the issue of high tariffs in India on certain American products again and warned that if he returns to power in 2024, he will impose reciprocal taxes on the Asian superpower.
During an interview with Larry Kudlow of Fox Business News, Trump, who has repeatedly called India the “tariff king,” slammed the country for its protectionist tax policies.
Overview
In the interview, Trump attacked the Indian tax rates and said they were extremely high.
In response to a question, Trump said, “If India is charging us too, so what I want to have is a — call it retribution. You could call it whatever you want. If they are charging us, we charge them.”
“The other thing I want to have is a matching tax [...] India is very big with tariffs,” he further remarked.
Former U.S. president #DonaldTrump, who is seeking his term, has once again raised the issue of high tax by India on certain American products, and has threatened to slap with reciprocal tax if voted to power in the 2024 presidential elections.https://t.co/Wp6WljR8ny
— The Hindu (@the_hindu) August 21, 2023
Responding to a question on whether he wanted to impose tariffs on foreign goods coming into the US and cut taxes on American goods, Trump underlined his prospective policies if he managed to secure a second term and said there should be a system of imposing an automatic 10% tax for companies coming to the US.
India’s Tariffs on Harley
Trump remarked that while Indians can sell an Indian motorbike in the US without any tax or tariff, the tariff is too high for a Harley sold in India.
He stressed, “I mean, I saw it with Harley-Davidson. I was saying, how do you do in a place like India? Oh, no good sir. Why? They have 100% and 150% and 200% tariffs.”
Calling out Indian PM Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative, Trump said, “But what they want us to do is, they want us to go over and build a plant, and then you have no tariff.”
The former president outlined that countries like India and Brazil are huge on tariffs.
He cited a conversation with a Pennsylvania senator on the topic, in which he asked him, “If India is charging us 200%, and we’re charging them nothing for products, can we charge them 100%?”
When the senator replied in the negative and said that that would not be free trade, Trump said, “Can we charge them 50%? No, sir. Twenty-five, 10, anything? No. I said, what the hell is wrong? There’s something wrong.”
Trump’s Tariff Policies with India
During his tenure from 2017 to 2021, Trump attempted to reverse the course of trade concessions given to India by the US.
Former US President #DonaldTrump has once again raised the India tax issue on certain American products in particular the iconic Harley-Davidson motorcycles.https://t.co/yXytPNGNps
— Mint (@livemint) August 21, 2023
The Trump administration increased duties on 14% of Indian exports to the US.
Trump also removed India from the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) program in June 2019, which had a large bearing on Indian exports.
Trump’s Presidential Bid
The Republican frontrunner candidate for the presidential elections in 2024 was recently indicted for his attempts to reverse the 2020 election.
Despite being found guilty of sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996 by a US jury, Trump remains the top contender.
As the country gears up for the presidential elections, Trump has decided to skip the upcoming Republican primary debates citing his significant lead in the opinion polls as proof of his popularity among voters.