Trump says India offered to remove all tariffs on US goods

President Donald Trump said India has made an offer to drop tariffs on US goods, as the Asian nation negotiates a deal to avert higher import taxes.

Speaking Thursday at an event with business leaders in Qatar, Trump said the Indian government has “offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff.”

Trump didn’t provide further details of New Delhi’s apparent offer and the Indian government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

India was one of the first countries to begin trade negotiations with the US following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the White House in February, with both sides agreeing to finalize the first phase of a bilateral deal by the fall. India’s trade minister is expected to meet Trump administration officials in the US from May 17-20 for further negotiations.

Trump’s comments came days after India threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs in response to higher US duties on steel and aluminum, a sign that New Delhi may be adopting a more assertive approach in its trade negotiations with the White House. The trade talks remain on track though, people familiar with the matter have said.

Some analysts in New Delhi suggested that Trump’s remarks could indicate either that India is close to finalizing a deal, or that the comments are a negotiating tactic by the White House.

“An India–US trade deal may be on the cards,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder of New Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Institute. “But the deal must ensure strict reciprocity, with both sides eliminating tariffs equally.”

Market reaction was relatively muted after Trump’s comments with the rupee recouping some of its losses. The benchmark NSE Nifty 50 index was up 1.7 per cent as of 2 p.m. local time.

Zero Tariffs

Since returning to the White House, Trump has been dialing up the pressure on the Indian government to address the trade imbalance between their two countries, running at about $47 billion last year. Having long complained that India’s tariffs were too high and hurt US businesses, Trump has pledged to impose “reciprocal” tariffs of 26 per cent on India. Those tariffs are currently on hold until early July.

India has made several moves to satisfy Trump’s grievances this year, including overhauling its tariff regime to reduce import duties on prominent American goods like bourbon whiskey and high-end motorcycles made by Harley-Davidson Inc.

As part of its trade negotiations, New Delhi has also proposed zero tariffs on some goods like auto components and pharmaceuticals on a reciprocal basis up to a certain quantity of imports, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.

While Modi and Trump share a strong personal rapport, there is growing frustration in New Delhi in recent days over the US president’s insistence he used trade as a bargaining tool to secure a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after four days of military conflict. Indian officials have disputed that.

The US president also said Thursday he spoke with Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to discourage him from expanding production in India.

“I said I don’t want you building in India,” Trump said about a conversation he said he had with Cook. He added that he told Cook “India can take care of themselves, they are doing very well.”

As a result of their discussion, Trump said Apple will be “upping their production in the United States.”