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Trump claims India has agreed to cut tariffs: ‘Somebody is finally exposing them’
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday asked India to bring down its ‘high tariffs’ as Washington aims to pursue ‘something grand’
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that India has agreed to cut tariffs significantly because he is finally exposing New Delhi for imposing ‘massive tariffs’ on American imports.
“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,” ANI quoted Trump as saying.
This is the third time in as many days that Trump has remarked about India’s tariffs. His comments come when India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is in Washington for trade talks with his US counterpart Howard Lutnick.
Also read | India working to protect its exports amid US tariffs threat: Nirmala Sitharaman
MEA says US deal can ‘boost trade’
The ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Saturday that the planned Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the US can potentially boost bilateral trade between the two countries.
“The two governments are in the process of advancing discussions on a multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement. Through the BTA, our objective is to strengthen and deepen India-US two-way trade in the goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries,” said Jaiswal.
Also read | Agriculture key focus in early India-US trade talks
Agriculture ‘has to open up’
Earlier on Saturday, Lutnick claimed that India's tariffs on American products are among the highest globally and urged New Delhi to reconsider its position, noting that the two countries share a “special” bilateral relationship.
Speaking virtually at the India Today Conclave, the commerce secretary stressed the need for India to open up its agricultural trade for imports and suggested that it can be “smarter” while dealing with the most "important trading partner" US on the other side of the table.
“The good thing is your government truly understands your market, and we understand ours. And the key is to try to find that place. So yes, the Indian market for agriculture, it has to open up,” Lutnick said.
