US President Donald Trump has once again criticized India’s trade policies, saying the India-US relationship has been unfair for many years. He pointed out that high tariffs on American goods have made it difficult for US companies to sell in India.
Trump explained, “We get along with India very well. But India, you need to understand, for many years, it was a one-sided relationship.” He emphasized that India’s tariffs on US exports are some of the highest in the world. “India was charging us huge tariffs, about the highest anywhere. Because of that, we didn’t do much business with India. They were making a lot of products but weren’t buying from us,” he said.
He also criticized past US administrations for not taking stronger action when India imported large amounts of goods. “India sent in a lot of products into our market, but we didn’t send much back because they charged us 100% tariffs,” Trump said.
While some data from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Bank show that India’s tariffs are not the highest globally, India does impose high taxes on specific sectors, especially agriculture, to protect its farmers.
Trump brought up one of his favorite examples from his time in office — the tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. He mentioned that India had a 200% tax on motorcycles, which made it hard for Harley-Davidson to sell there. “Harley-Davidson couldn’t sell bikes in India because of that. So, they built a plant in India to avoid the tariffs,” he explained. However, the Indian plant was closed in 2020 due to low sales. Recently, India lowered import duties on foreign motorcycles from 50% to about 30-40%.
The trade relationship between India and the United States has been tense at times, especially after the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on Indian imports in August, later raising them to 50% over India’s purchase of Russian oil.
Overall, Trump’s comments highlight ongoing trade tensions, with both sides adjusting policies in response to economic and geopolitical issues.
