iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday, February 21, that the United States would soon impose reciprocal tariffs on countries like India and China, aiming to match the tariffs these nations charge on American goods.
Trump explained, “We will soon impose reciprocal tariffs — they charge us, we charge them. Whatever a company or a country, such as India or China, charges, we want to be fair; hence, reciprocal.”
He emphasized that this had been in the works before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Earlier, before his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump had criticized India’s tariff policies, calling the country “a hard place to do business” due to its high tariffs. He remarked, “They have the highest tariffs.”
Trump made these comments during a press conference in response to a question about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s meeting with Modi. “They met. I assume he wants to do business in India. But India is a very hard place to do business in because of the tariffs,” Trump said, adding that the country’s tariff structure made it challenging for foreign companies to operate.
Highlighting India’s trade policies, Trump pointed to the example of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, explaining how American companies had been forced to set up production units abroad due to high tariffs. “India charges tremendous tariffs,” he said, citing the case where Harley-Davidson couldn’t sell motorcycles in India because of steep taxes and was compelled to build manufacturing facilities in the country.
(Photo courtesy: IANS)
