After Canada and Mexico, Donald Trump says reciprocal tariffs on India to come into effect from April 2
"Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it is our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India... and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them, it is very unfair," Trump said.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that reciprocal tariffs on countries including India will come into effect from April 2. Making his first speech at the joint session of the US Congress during his second term, Trump said other countries have used tariffs for decades, and now it is the turn of the US to start using them against them.
CREDIT: AP
Other countries use tariffs against US
"Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it is our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India... and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them, it is very unfair," Trump said.
He also called out India for unfair tariffs on US goods.
"India charges us tariffs 100%... the system is not fair to the US, it never was," he said.
Reciprocal tariffs from April 2
"On April 2, reciprocal tariffs kick in, and whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them... whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market," Trump said.
CREDIT: REUTERS
25 per cent tariffs on Canada, Mexico
The announcement of reciprocal tariffs on several countries came hours after the 25 per cent tariffs Trump had imposed on all goods from Canada and Mexico came into effect.
Canada, Mexico, and China have also announced retaliatory tariffs on imports from the US as the trade war escalated on Tuesday.
CREDIT: REUTERS
'Tariffs will cause some disturbance'
In his Congress address, Trump admitted that the tariffs result in the US economy facing "some disturbance".
"Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it¡¯s happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There¡¯ll be a little disturbance, but we¡¯re okay with that. It won¡¯t be much," he said.
CREDIT: REUTERS
Who pays the price?
While Trump has vowed to make the US richer by imposing tariffs on other countries, economists have pointed out that it is the American public that ends up paying the price, as the added cost will be passed on to the end customer by the importer.
For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
Read More