US President Donald Trump has claimed victory as India has agreed to cut tariffs on American goods significantly. The move comes days after Trump confirmed that the reciprocal tariffs he had announced on countries, including India, would come into effect on April 2.
Throughout his first term in office and during the US presidential election cycle, Trump had singled out India for charging high tariffs on American-made goods.
On Friday, yet again, Trump said the tariffs India charged on US goods made it impossible to do business there. He also claimed that India agreed to cut the tariffs after 'somebody exposed them'.
"India charges us massive tariffs. Massive. You can't even sell anything in India... They have agreed, by the way; they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody is finally exposing them for what they have done," Trump said.
Earlier this week too, Trump targeted India's import duties in a speech to a joint session of Congress. "India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100 per cent," Trump said.
While the Indian government has not officially commented on reducing tariffs on US goods, a delegation led by Union Minister Piyush Goyal is currently in the US to work out a bilateral agreement on the matter.
Last month, ahead of the Modi-Trump meeting in the White House, India had announced the reduction of import duties on US-made bourbon whiskey from 150% to 50%.
Import duty on wines made of fresh grapes and vermouth, as well as some fermented beverages and unadulterated ethyl alcohol with 80% alcohol strength, has also been cut to 100 per cent.
India has also lowered tariffs on US products, including motorcycles, ICT products, and metals, as well as measures to enhance market access for US agricultural products like alfalfa hay and duck meat, and medical devices.
Earlier this week, it was also reported that Tesla, owned by Trump's right-hand man Elon Musk, which expressed its intention to enter the Indian market soon, was seeking zero per cent import duty. India currently imposes import duties of up to 110% on vehicles.
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