Trump once again claims India is willing to offer zero tariffs on US products
US President Donald Trump
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KENT NISHIMURA
US President Donald Trump has once again said that India was ready to eliminate import tariffs on American goods, a reiteration that could build up pressure on New Delhi ahead of crucial negotiations on the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) beginning in Washington this weekend.
“India is one of the highest tariff nation in the world. They almost make it impossible to do business. Do you know they are willing to cut a 100 per cent in their tariffs for the US,” Trump said in an interview to American television on Friday.
When asked if a deal with India was coming soon, Trump said yes it was, but added that he was in no rush as everyone wanted to make a deal with the US.
Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on various countries including India, announced in April this year, will lapse on July 8. India was slapped with a reciprocal tariff of 26 per cent, of which a 10 per cent baseline tariff was already levied in April.
Earlier this week, during his trip to West Asia, Trump moved towards a full-blown confrontation with India when he said he had asked Apple chief Tim Cook not to build in the country implying that New Delhi did not deserve investments from American companies because of its “high tariffs.”
Trump had also said that India had offered a deal where basically it agreed to charge “literally no tariffs.”
When asked to respond on Trump’s statement made in Doha on India’s offer of zero-tariffs to the US, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar rebutted the claims for the first time. He said trade talks were going on between India and the US and these were complicated negotiations. “Nothing is decided till everything is. Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature,” he said on Thursday.
Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will meet both US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to advance the talks on the BTA during his visit from May 17-20.
India’s negotiating team, headed by Commerce Special Secretary Rajesh Agarwal, will then hold talks with the negotiating team of the US, starting from May 19 to 22.
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Published on May 17, 2025
