Nobody can argue with me on reciprocal tariff: Trump

PTI

Washington

US President Donald Trump has said that he made it clear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India will not be spared from Washington’s reciprocal tariffs, emphasising that “nobody can argue with me” on tariff structure.

Trump made these remarks during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity recently. Fox News aired a joint television interview with President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday night.

On February 13, hours before Prime Minister Modi’s bilateral meeting with Trump in the White House, the US President announced reciprocal tariffs.

Under the plan, the Trump administration “will work strenuously to counter non-reciprocal trading arrangements with trading partners by determining the equivalent of a reciprocal tariff with respect to each foreign trading partner.”

During the interview with Hannity, Trump reiterated his stance on existing tariff structures between the US and its partners, including India.

“I told Prime Minister Modi yesterday – he was here – I said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I’m charging,’” Trump said.

“He (Modi) goes, ‘No, no, I don’t like that.’ ‘No, no, whatever you charge, I’m going to charge.’ I’m doing that with every country.”

India has very strong tariffs on certain imports from the US. Like in the automobile sector, India charges 100 per cent.

Musk said, “ It’s 100 per cent – auto imports are 100 per cent.”

 “Yeah, that’s peanuts.  So, much higher.  And — and others too.  I said, “Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal.  Whatever you charge, I’m charging,” Trump said.

Under the reciprocal tariff system, the US would impose the same level of tariffs on Indian imports as India does on American goods.

“Nobody can argue with me,” President Trump insisted. “If I said 25 per cent, they’d say, ‘Oh, that’s terrible.’ I don’t say that anymore… Because I say, ‘Whatever they charge, we’ll charge.’ And you know what? They stop.”

During Modi’s visit to the US, while responding to a question on reciprocal tariffs on India, Trump said, “India has been, to us, just about the highest tariffed nation anywhere in the world. They’ve been very strong on tariffs, and I don’t blame them, necessarily, but it’s a different way of doing business. It’s very hard to sell to India because they have trade barriers and very strong tariffs.”

“We are right now a reciprocal nation. We are going to – if it’s India or if it’s somebody else with low tariffs, we’re going to have the same. We’re going to have whatever India charges, we’re charging them. Whatever another country charges, we’re charging them. So, it’s called reciprocal, which I think is a very fair way. We didn’t have that.”

Trump questioned the purpose of providing $21 million to India for “voter turnout” as he reiterated that the US  “can hardly get in there” because of high Indian tariffs.

Trump also said “India is one of the highest taxing countries in the world”.

He made these remarks after Elon Musk-led department of government efficiency (DOGE) disclosed that USAID contributed $21 million to Election Commission for boosting voter turnout.

On February 16, the DOGE listed items on which the “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent” and the list included “US $21M for voter turnout in India.”

The DOGE noted that all of the items have been cancelled.

The list also included $29 million to “strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh”, $20 million for “fiscal federalism” and $19 million for “biodiversity conversation” in Nepal as well as $47 million for “improving learning outcomes in Asia”.

While signing executive orders on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said,”…And $21 million for voter turnout in India. Why are we giving $21 million to India? They got a lot of money there. One of the highest taxing countries in the world in terms of us. We can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high.”