Trump says India charges a lot of tariff, threatens to impose reciprocal tax

Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated his intention to impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation for the “high tariff” imposed by New Delhi on import of certain American products. “Reciprocal. If they tax us, we tax them the same amount. They tax us. We tax them. And they tax us. Almost in all cases, they’re taxing us, and we haven’t been taxing them,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

He made the remarks while responding to a question on a potential trade agreement with China. Trump said India and Brazil were among countries that impose high tariffs on certain US products.

“The word reciprocal is important because if somebody charges us – India, we don’t have to talk about our own – if India charges us 100 per cent, do we charge them nothing for the same? You know, they send in a bicycle and we send them a bicycle. They charge us 100 and 200. India charges a lot. Brazil charges a lot. If they want to charge us, that’s fine, but we’re going to charge them the same thing,” Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago.

Responding to a question, his Commerce Secretary pick Howard Lutnick said “reciprocity” is something that is going to be a key topic for the Trump administration. “How you treat us is how you should expect to be treated,” he said.