In a recent statement, President Donald Trump commented on the relationship between the United States and India, describing it as "one-sided" for many years due to what he saw as unfair trade practices.
Speaking at the White House, Trump asserted that while the two nations "get along with India very well," the trade dynamic was heavily imbalanced before his presidency.
Trump claimed that India had been "charging us tremendous tariffs, about the highest in the world." He explained that these high tariffs discouraged American businesses from exporting their goods to India.
"But they were doing business with us because we weren't charging them, foolishly, we weren't charging them," he said, arguing that this allowed India to "pour" its products into the US market. According to Trump, this one-way flow of goods negatively impacted American manufacturing, as products that could have been made in the US were instead imported from India.
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To illustrate his point, Trump specifically mentioned the example of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. He noted that the company faced a 200pc tariff on its bikes when trying to sell them in India.
As a result, he said, "Harley Davidson went to India and built a motorcycle plant, and now they don't have to pay tariffs, same thing as us." This example was used to highlight how high tariffs can force American companies to move production overseas to avoid the costs, a practice he aimed to change.
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