Donald Trump expects India to cut tariffs on US products, but ‘will charge them the same from April 2’
US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Breitbart News on Wednesday, said he believes India would reduce tariffs on American goods, news agency Reuters reported.
“I believe they are going to probably going to be lowering those tariffs substantially, but on April 2, we will be charging them the same tariffs they charge us,” Donald Trump was quoted as saying, reported Reuters.
Tariffs are government-imposed import duties that companies must pay to bring foreign goods into a country.
Last week, the Centre informed Parliament that, as of now, the United States has not imposed reciprocal tariffs on India. The clarification came after Trump criticised India and other nations for imposing high tariffs on American goods, calling them “very unfair”. He also announced that from April 2, the US would implement reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose levies on American products.
On February 13, the US issued a memorandum on reciprocal trade and tariffs, directing the commerce secretary and the US trade representative (USTR) to assess the impact of non-reciprocal trade arrangements on the US economy. They are required to investigate potential harm and submit a report with proposed remedies for each trading partner.
India, US commit to doubling two-way trade
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington last month, India and the US pledged to more than double their bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030. They also agreed to finalise the first phase of a multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall 2025.
In 2023, trade between the two nations reached USD 190.08 billion, comprising USD 123.89 billion in goods and USD 66.19 billion in services. India exported USD 83.77 billion worth of goods to the U.S. while importing USD 40.12 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of USD 43.65 billion for India.
From 2021 to 2024, the U.S. emerged as India’s largest trading partner and remains one of the few nations where India maintains a trade surplus.