US President Donald Trump said Friday (March 7) India that had agreed to lower tariffs because “somebody is finally exposing them”.
Earlier in the day, India’s foreign ministry said they were negotiating a multi-sector trade deal to tackle tariff and non-tariff barriers and increase market access.
While speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump said, “India charges us massive tariffs. Massive. You can’t even sell anything in India…They have agreed, by the way; they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody is finally exposing them for what they have done."
#WATCH | Washington, DC: US President Donald Trump says, "...India charges us massive tariffs. Massive. You can't even sell anything in India...They have agreed, by the way; they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody is finally exposing them for what they have… pic.twitter.com/XwytKPli48
— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2025
This is the third time that Trump has talked about India’s tariffs in recent days.
Notably, India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is visiting Washington these days to resolve trade issues and hold negotiations with his American counterpart Howard Lutnick.
In a statement, India’s Ministry for External Affairs said earlier in the day, “The two governments are in the process of advancing discussions on a multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement. Through the BTA, our objective is to strengthen and deepen India-US two-way trade in the goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsTrump also justified additional import duties on Canada, China, Mexico and India under his reciprocal tariff regime, saying, “Our country has been ripped off by everybody, and that stops now. I had it stopped in my first term and we’re going to really stop it now because it has been very unfair. Our country from an economic standpoint, a financial standpoint and a trade standpoint, has been absolutely ripped off by almost every country in the world.”
While China has responded by imposing similar tariffs on Chinese goods, India is treading down a cautious path and holding negotiations.
(With inputs from agencies)