U.S President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he was confident the United States and India would reach a trade deal, despite fresh tariff proposals imposed on New Delhi threatening complications.
“We’ll get to a deal, because I like your prime minister [Narendra Modi] a lot,” said Trump “He’s a good friend of mine. We get along great, and we’re going to make a deal.”
Trump also criticised India’s trade policies, accusing New Delhi of taking advantage of Washington through high tariffs.
He told reporters, “They charged us tremendous tariffs and paid nothing…Now it is the exact reverse and we are making a lot of money with India.”
A U.S delegation led by Brendan Lynch attended several days of negotiations in New Delhi to finalise an interim trade agreement between the two nations.
India’s Ministry of Commerce said both countries remained committed to reach a mutually beneficial bilateral trade pact.
However, the U.S Trade Department, in the same week, proposed new tariffs on several countries, including India, over allegations of not fully committing to stop forced labour. The proposal imposed an additional tariff of 12.5% on these countries for its exports to the United States.
New Delhi said the proposed tariffs were not final and that the U.S Trade Representative was inviting public comments and testimony before making the final decision. India further added that talks to reach a broader trade agreement were in progress.
Both countries had agreed to a framework of the interim deal in February and expected to finalise it in March before the U.S Supreme Court struck down many of Trump’s tariffs, declaring them as “illegal”.
Trump had imposed tariffs of up to 50% on some Indian goods and later cut them to 18% in February after New Delhi committed to buy more American goods, including aircraft, technology, and $500 billion worth of agricultural products. After the Supreme Court’s ruling, the tariffs came down to 10%.
