New Delhi: Will the US bring down tariffs imposed on India anytime soon?
US president Donald Trump has indicated that it will.
He announced on Tuesday that tariffs would be “brought down” when asked about the ongoing trade negotiations with India. While noting that India faces such high tariffs because of its oil trade with Russia, Trump said that New Delhi has “stopped” the purchase.
Trump initially imposed 25% tariffs on Indian exports to the US. Within days, he announced an additional 25% penalty for India’s insistence on purchasing cheap crude from Russia. Washington had claimed that such purchase is paying for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Trump said the US is planning on bringing the tariffs down at some point. He also said that the country is getting close to a “fair deal” with India.
“The tariffs are very high on India due to Russian oil and they (India) have stopped doing the Russian oil very substantially,” Trump said when asked about the trade negotiations with India.
“We’re gonna be bringing the tariffs down…at some point, we’ll bring them down,” he added.
Trade talks have been underway between New Delhi and Washington after the imposition of the 50% tariff. On multiple occasions thereafter, Trump claimed that India was going to end its oil trade with Russia.
The first time he made this assertion, he attributed it to an “assurance” he got from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India, however, denied any phone call between the two leaders back then, clarifying that they were not aware of any conversation.
“We’re making a deal with India, much different than we had in the past. So right now, they don’t love me, but they’ll love us again. We’re getting a fair deal, just a fair trade deal. We had pretty unfair trade deals…But we’re getting close,” Trump said on Tuesday.
The US president’s main concern was that India does not import as many US goods as it exports to that country. The high import duties imposed by India on US products was also highlighted by Trump.
After his statement on Tuesday, the US president pointed to the country’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent, and repeated the claim on inching closer to a deal “that’s good for everybody”.
Bessent is not someone who is very popular in India. A few days ahead of Trump’s tariff deadline, he had accused India of making “huge” profits on the sale of Russian oil during and after the war in Ukraine.