US President Donald Trump has said that the United States is engaged in trade negotiations with India, a day after he announced a 25 per cent tariff and additional penalties on imports from New Delhi.
Speaking at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday (local time), Trump described India as one of the highest tariff-imposing nations in the world but confirmed that talks are underway to address the imbalance.
“We're talking to them now. We'll see what happens,” Trump told reporters when asked if Washington was open to negotiations with India over the new tariff measures.
The US President reiterated that India remains among the countries with the steepest tariffs globally. “Again, India was the highest or just about the highest tariff nation in the world, one of the highest — 100 points, 150 points or percentages. So India was one of the highest in the world. They had 175 per cent and higher than that,” he said.
During the press briefing, Trump also linked India’s role in the Brics bloc to what he described as an “anti-United States” effort and accused the group of trying to weaken the US dollar. Brics includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“We're negotiating right now, and it's also Brics. They have Brics, which is basically a group of countries that are anti-United States, and India is a member of that, if you can believe it,” Trump said.
“It's an attack on the dollar, and we're not going to let anybody attack the dollar. It's partially Brics, and it's partially the trade. This trade situation is a deficit. We had a tremendous deficit,” he added.
Despite his criticism, Trump insisted that he maintains a good relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but expressed dissatisfaction over what he described as an unfair trade dynamic that he says benefits India more than the US.
“As you know, Prime Minister Modi is a friend of mine, but they don't do very much business in terms of business with us. They sell a lot to us, but we don't buy from them. You know why? Because the tariff is so high,” he said.
He indicated that India had signalled willingness to reduce tariff barriers. “Now they're willing to cut it very substantially. But we'll see what happens. We're talking to India now. We'll see what happens. It doesn't matter too much whether we have a deal or whether we charge them a certain tariff,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Trump used his social media platform, Truth Social, to officially announce the new tariffs, confirming they would come into effect on 1 August. He also cited India’s continued energy ties with Russia, particularly amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“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,” Trump posted.
“They have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country. Also, 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 1st. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!” he added.
In response, New Delhi said it would protect the interests of its farmers, entrepreneurs and MSMEs, while continuing dialogue with Washington.
“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective,” India said in a statement.
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