India will be dropping its tariffs very substantially: Trump says ahead of ‘Liberation Day’

U.S. President Donald Trump. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump said India will be “dropping its tariffs very substantially” as he readies to announce reciprocal tariffs on countries on April 2.

“I think a lot of [countries] will drop their tariffs because they’ve been unfairly tariffing the United States for years. If you look at the European Union on cars, the European Union already dropped their tariff to 2.5%. It was announced a couple of days ago. A very small tariff. The United States charged very little,” Mr. Trump said while responding to questions in the Oval Office on Monday.

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“I think I heard that India, just a little while ago, is going to be dropping its tariffs very substantially. I said, why didn’t somebody do this a long time ago. A lot of countries are going to be dropping their tariffs,” Mr. Trump said.

Just a few hours before Mr. Trump’s comments, the White House said India imposes a 100% tariff on American agricultural products.

It said the high tariffs imposed by other countries made it “virtually impossible” for U.S. products to be imported into those nations.

Mr. Trump has said that reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose levies on American goods will kick in on April 2.

Earlier this month, he said the current tariffs were “temporary” and “small ones” but “the predominant tariffs” reciprocal in nature would start from April 2.

Mr. Trump said the tariffs would be a “big game changer for our country”.