🍬Amid the row over US President Donald Trump's unending tariff threats, US President Donald Trump on Friday said that India has agreed to cut tariffs significantly all because of him exposing New Delhi for imposing ‘massive tariffs’ on American imports.
🦄“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 done,” ANI quoted Trump on Thursday.
🌠Trump's comments came when India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in Washington for trade talks with his US counterpart Howard Lutnick. The officials reportedly discussed the process of implementing a multi-sector bilateral trade pact.
🐻In line with Trump's words, Lutnick claimed that India's tariffs on American products are among the highest globally. Citing the India-US bilateral ties, he also urged New Delhi to reconsider its position.
During his virtual address at the India Today Conclaveඣ, the commerce secretary emphasised the need for India to open up its agricultural trade for imports.
𝕴“The good thing is your government truly understands your market, and we understand ours. And the key is to try to find that place. So yes, the Indian market for agriculture, it has to open up,” Lutnick said.
US Deal Can ‘Boost Trade’: MEA
🌸Cautiously reacting to Trump's announcement on reciprocal tariffs on its trading partners, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Saturday that the planned Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the US can potentially boost bilateral trade between the two countries.
🅷“The two governments are in the process of advancing discussions on a multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement. Through the BTA, our objective is to strengthen and deepen India-US two-way trade in the goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries,” said Jaiswal,as per PTI.
✃During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US last month, both sides announced plans to negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
