By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON (AA) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday called India a “high tariff nation ” and said he wanted to impose a reciprocal tax on imports from New Delhi.
“India is a very high tariff nation. They charge us a lot. When we send a motorcycle to India, it's a 100 percent tariff, they charge 100 percent. When India sends a motorcycle to us, we brilliant charge them nothing, ” Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “So I want a reciprocal tax, or at least I want to charge a tax. ”
Trump has repeatedly called out India for its high tariffs on imported products, and since taking office his administration has taken on New Delhi by restricting H-1B visas, largely granted to Indian technology workers.
Washington is also reportedly weighing a decision of whether to remove India from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a trade program for developing countries which allows Indian goods, of around billions of dollars, to enter the the U.S. duty-free.
When Trump spoke about India's high tariffs, he said that no one in Congress knew about it because “nobody knows what they’re doing in Washington. ”
In 2017, the trade between the U.S. and India stood at about $126 billion and as of the same year, New Delhi is Washington's 9th largest trading partner.
