US President Donald Trump on Monday said he is considering imposing new tariffs on agricultural imports, including rice from India and fertiliser from Canada, in a bid to protect US farmers and other domestic producers, who have been complaining of “dumping” by other countries.
The President made the comments during a White House meeting, in which he announced a $12 billion support plan for American farmers, and said imports were “challenging” domestic producers.
On allegations of Indian rice being “dumped” into the US, he said, “They shouldn’t be dumping. I mean, I heard that, I heard that from others. You can’t do that.”
Adding that he is considering more tariff measures on fertiliser coming in from Canada, he said he would be encouraging local production. “A lot of it does come in from Canada, and so we’ll end up putting very severe tariffs on that, if we have to, because that’s the way you want to bolster here,” he said, adding, “And we can do it here. We can all do that here.”
Trump’s latest remarks come amid reports of the US economy struggling with inflationary pressures and rising consumer prices, even while the country’s trade deals with India and Canada have not made much progress.
With a US delegation expected to visit India this week to take forward trade negotiations, the steep 50 per cent tariffs on Indian products being sent to the US persist.
Also Read: India, US trade teams to resume talks in December, say sources
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