Washington: Even as he called India “our friend”, US President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to impose a 25 per cent tariff on India’s exports starting Friday after the negotiations have apparently stalled.
“India will be paying a tariff of 25 per cent” starting on August 1, Trump posted on Truth Social.
He said that India would also face an additional tariff penalty for buying Russian energy.
Trump had set the penalty, known as secondary tariffs, across the board at 100 per cent for all who are buying Russian energy if Moscow did not reach a ceasefire with Ukraine.
He shortened the deadline for that to ten days from Tuesday, setting it at August 7.
The threat to India could be a negotiating tactic to force India to reach an agreement after he and his officials, like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, had spoken optimistically that India would be among the first to make a deal.
India was among the first countries to start trade negotiations with Washington on tariffs, and Trump had repeatedly said that an agreement was imminent, most recently last week.
India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said last week in a media interview in London that the negotiations were making “fantastic” progress, adding, “I do hope we’ll be able to conclude a very consequential partnership”.
But with a day left for the August 1 deadline to complete tariff agreements, the negotiations have not concluded, even though negotiators have been racing against the clock to meet the deadline.
According to various reports, India and the US had been expected to announce an interim deal before the August 1 deadline, with a more comprehensive bilateral trade agreement to be completed possibly in time for Trump’s visit to India to participate in the Quad summit later this year.
Trump said in his post: “Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World”.
He accused India of having “the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country”.
He added: “They have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE”.
“ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST,” he wrote.
Tauntingly, he signed off, “MAGA” (Make America Great Again).
The US has been insisting on zero tariffs on its exports, and most countries and the European Union that have made a deal have agreed to this.
One of the sticking points in the negotiations with India is the opening of Indian markets to US agricultural products, which would affect India’s farm sector, the largest in the country.
In recently announced deals, the US set the tariffs at 15 per cent with Japan and the European Union, and with the Philippines and Indonesia, at 19 per cent.
Trump had already announced unilateral tariffs of 35 per cent for Bangladesh, 36 per cent for Thailand, and 25 per cent for Malaysia if there’s no deal before August 1.
(IANS)
