Ahead of maiden 2+2 meet, Trump accuses India of charging 100 per cent tariffs

Ahead of next week’s 2+2 dialogue with India, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that while he wanted to remove the tariffs, New Delhi was charging as high as 100 per cent American products.

“We have countries where, as an example, India, they charge up as much as 100 per cent tariff. We want the tariffs removed,” PTI quoted Trump as saying.

Responding to queries on his recent decision to impose tariffs on the import of foreign products, Trump said that the move was a retaliatory measure to balance the trade with major trading partners including, India, China and the European Union.

Trump’s accusations against India came days ahead of the maiden 2+2 dialogue between the countries. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit the US next week for the dialogue with their US counterparts Mike Pompeo and James Mattis.

Recently, India had raised import duties on agriculture and steel products in retaliation to US President’s move to increase tariffs on some products shipped from the country.

The move by India came after China, the European Union and other trading partners slapped high tariffs on US products in retaliation to Trump’s tariff abuse.

(With inputs from agencies)