India has agreed to cut tariffs ‘way down’, says Trump
US President Donald Trump | Screenshot via The White House/YouTube
United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that India has agreed to “cut their tariffs way down”.
“India charges us massive tariffs, massive…you can’t even sell anything in India,” Trump told reporters at The White House. “It’s almost… it is restrictive. You know, we do very little business inside. 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 has repeatedly iterated his intention to impose a reciprocal tax on India, citing the high tariffs by New Delhi on foreign goods.
#WATCH | Washington, DC: US President Donald Trump says, "...India charges us massive tariffs. Massive. You can't even sell anything in India...They have agreed, by the way; they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody is finally exposing them for what they have… pic.twitter.com/XwytKPli48
— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2025
Trump’s comment came hours after the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that New Delhi was working to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers with Washington, and enhance trade in goods and services through “a mutually beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement”.
“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,” ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
The statement came in response to a question about Trump having announced reciprocal tariffs on India, among other countries, that are scheduled to take effect on April 2. His announcement about reciprocal tariffs on India came on the day the 25% tax he imposed on imports from Mexico and Canada kicked in.
On Friday, United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the India Today Conclave that New Delhi needs to lower its tariffs on US products and buy more defence products for the two countries to be able to sign a “grand” bilateral deal.
Lutnick also said that the Indian agriculture sector “has to open up” for American products. However, he indicated that Washington would accept limits and quotas.
Also read:A history lesson for Trump on how things went the last time the US slapped tariffs on imports