US President Donald Trump on Thursday said India’s imposition of retaliatory tariffs was “unacceptable” and must be withdrawn, reports NDTV.
He tweeted saying he was looking forward to discussing the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders have a bilateral summit scheduled for Friday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan’s Osaka.
“I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!” President Trump’s tweet read.
Reuters quoted sources in India as saying its tariffs are not high compared to other developing countries.
New Delhi had slapped tariff on 28 US products earlier this month after Washington withdrew the long-standing trade concessions for India on June 1. President Trump said the preferential status had allowed India to sell goods worth $5.6 billion duty-free.
The US move was in line with President Donald Trump’s policy of reducing trade deficits – that is, equalising the import and export between the US and another nation. In his election campaign, Mr Trump had drawn attention to the fact that US is purchasing more from other nations than it sells, which has stunted manufacturing in the country.
