US President Donald Trump’s Diktat To India On Import Duties: Us Will Not Spare India From Reciprocal Tariffs

Modi and I agreed on a deal that would facilitate India to import more US oil and gas to bring down Washington’s trade deficit. Import duties imposed by India on certain US products ‘very unfair’ and ‘strong’ - Donald Trump, President, US

Washington: India and the US have announced that they will conclude the first phase of a mega trade pact by this year and set a target of $500 billion in annual trade by 2030 even as President Donald Trump asserted that Washington will not spare New Delhi from reciprocal tariffs. President Trump hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wide-ranging talks at the White House on Thursday (Friday India time) that focused on a range of critical issues including tariffs.

The meeting came hours after the US President announced a new reciprocal tariff policy for all the trading partners of the US including India. To broad-base overall ties in key sectors, Trump and Modi launched a new initiative called ‘US-India COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology) for the 21st Century’.

The initiative is aimed at driving transformative change across key pillars of cooperation. At a joint media briefing with Modi, Trump announced that he and Modi agreed on a deal that would facilitate India to import more US oil and gas to bring down Washington’s trade deficit. In his remarks to the press, Trump called import duties imposed by India on certain US products ‘very unfair’ and ‘strong’.

The bilateral trade between India and the US was around $130 billion last year and the trade deficit stands at around $45 billion in New Delhi’s favour.

“Today, we have set a target of more than doubling bilateral trade to 500 billion dollars by 2030. Our teams will work on an early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement,” Modi said. “We will strengthen the oil and gas trade to ensure India’s energy security. Investment in energy infrastructure will also increase,” he said.

The two leaders demonstrated mutual commitment to address bilateral trade barriers, according to officials. PM Modi had detailed discussions with President Trump on the concerns that were there on both sides regarding market access and the concerns arising from ‘other territories’ with over capacities that take advantage of consumption in countries like India and the US, sources said.