Roving Periscope: Trump says India to cut ‘high tariffs’
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As Union Minister for Industry and Commerce Piyush Goyal wrapped up his week-long visit to the US on bilateral trade talks, President Donald Trump said India has agreed to cut ‘high tariffs.’
On Friday, he said India has agreed to “cut their tariffs way down,” signalling a potential shift in trade relations between the two countries.
Addressing the media from his Oval Office, he criticised India for imposing “massive” and “restrictive” tariffs that have made it difficult for American businesses to sell their products in the Indian market.
“They have agreed, by the way. They want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody’s finally exposing them for what they have done,” Trump said, the media reported on Saturday.
His comments come as the two countries geared up discussions on a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) aimed at reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers. In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the US, the two sides agreed to work out a trade deal to enhance market access and deepen supply chain integration.
“Our objective through the BTA is to strengthen and deepen India-US two-way trade across the goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries,” Jaiswal said on Friday, ahead of Trump’s comments.
Earlier this week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman acknowledged that the government is closely monitoring the ongoing talks, especially with the April 2 deadline for reciprocal tariffs imposed by the Trump administration approaching.
On Thursday, Sitharaman said, “Reciprocal tariff is something about which the US President has been talking about. Commerce Minister Goyal has already gone to the US and will be talking with the US Commerce Secretary and the US Trade Representative, and based on the negotiations, he will come back and then we will take a call.”
India would keep its interests at top, she said, stating, “It is only as we progress through the negotiations, we will be able to make an assessment but we keep Indian export interests in mind. At the moment, we are seized of the problem.”
The US has long pushed India to lower its trade surplus, which currently stands at nearly USD 45 billion. During recent meetings, they agreed to finalise a comprehensive trade deal by the end of 2025, with an ambitious goal of reaching USD 500 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2030. Achieving this would require “new, fair-trade terms,” and leaders have set a target to negotiate the first phase of the BTA by fall 2025, according to a joint statement from the Modi-Trump talks.
India has already announced in its Union Budget for 2025-26 tariff reductions for key American exports such as bourbon whiskey, wines, and electric vehicles.
However, Washington has also been urging New Delhi to increase imports of American oil, gas, and defence equipment to balance the trade relationship, as Trump continues to push his “America First” trade policy.
